children

Child Migration in Africa

Upphovspersoner:	Thorsen, Dorte | Hashim, Iman
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | London, Uppsala : Zed Books, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2011
Ämnesord:	Rural-urban migration, Labour migration, Labour mobility, Migrants, youth, children, Childhood, Living conditions, Social environment, cultural identity, Livelihood, Interviews, West Africa, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ethnography, Etnografi

Child Migration in Africa explores the mobility of children without their parents within West Africa. Drawing on the experiences of children from rural Burkina Faso and Ghana, the book provides rich material on the circumstances of children's voluntary migration and their experiences of it. Their accounts challenge the normative ideals of what a 'good' childhood is, which often underlie public debates about children's migration, education and work in developing countries. The comparative study of Burkina Faso and Ghana highlights that social networks operate in ways that can be both enabling and constraining for young migrants, as can cultural views on age- and gender-appropriate behaviour. The book questions easily made assumptions regarding children's experiences when migrating independently of their parents and, by drawing parallels with children's migration in Latin America and Asia, contributes to analytical and cross-cultural understandings of childhood. Part of the groundbreaking Africa Now series, Child Migration in Africa is an important and timely contribution to an under-researched area.

Imagining a peaceful society : a vision of children's literature in a post-conflict Zimbabwe

Upphovsperson:	Chitando, Anna
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2008
Ämnesord:	conflicts, Political crisis, peace, literature, Authors, children, Social change, Dispute settlement, Peaceful coexistence, Post-conflict reconstruction, Zimbabwe, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

Imagining a Peaceful Society: A Vision of Children's Literature in a Post-Conflict Zimbabwe addresses the marginalisation of children's literature from the discourse on conflict and peace building in Africa. By presenting a unique perspective to how writers of children's literature, and children themselves understand, grapple with, and envision peace in a post-conflict Zimbabwean society, this Discussion Paper calls attention to the immense, but largely untapped potential of literature as a critical resource for the promotion peace in Africa.

Navigating youth, generating adulthood : social becoming in an African context

Medarbetare:	Christiansen, Catrine | Utas, Mats | Vigh, Henrik E.
Utgivare:	Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2006
Ämnesord:	youth, adolescents, children, Social environment, Living conditions, human relations, Social and cultural anthropology, case studies, Africa, Social anthropology/ethnography, Socialantrolopologi/etnografi

This book focuses on the lives and experiences of young people in Africa. On agents who, willingly or unwillingly, see themselves as belonging to the socio-generational category of youth and the ways in which they seek to shape and unfold their lives in a positive manner. Rather than seeing youth as either a social or cultural entity in itself, or as a predefined life-stage, the book argues for an exploration of how youth position themselves and are positioned within generational categories. In studying young people, social scientists must conceptualise youth as both social being and social becoming; a position in movement. It is from the duality of being positioned and seeking one's own socio-generational position that this book engages in the debate on contemporary African youth.

Contexts of migration

Upphovspersoner:	Thorsen, Dorte | Hashim, Iman
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | London; Uppsala : Zed Books; Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2011
Ämnesord:	Rural-urban migration, Labour migration, Labour mobility, Migrants, youth, children, Childhood, Living conditions, Social environment, cultural identity, Livelihood, Interviews, West Africa, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ethnography, Etnografi

Child Migration in Africa explores the mobility of children without their parents within West Africa. Drawing on the experiences of children from rural Burkina Faso and Ghana, the book provides rich material on the circumstances of children's voluntary migration and their experiences of it. Their accounts challenge the normative ideals of what a 'good' childhood is, which often underlie public debates about children's migration, education and work in developing countries. The comparative study of Burkina Faso and Ghana highlights that social networks operate in ways that can be both enabling and constraining for young migrants, as can cultural views on age- and gender-appropriate behaviour. The book questions easily made assumptions regarding children's experiences when migrating independently of their parents and, by drawing parallels with children's migration in Latin America and Asia, contributes to analytical and cross-cultural understandings of childhood. Part of the groundbreaking Africa Now series, Child Migration in Africa is an important and timely contribution to an under-researched area.

The power of continuity : Ethiopia through the eyes of its children

Upphovsperson:	Poluha, Eva
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2004
Ämnesord:	children, Childhood, child rearing, cultural identity, Ethnicity, Family environment, gender roles, School environment, Social norms, Ethiopia, Social anthropology/ethnography, Socialantrolopologi/etnografi

Children play a vital role as a source of information on politics but have been neglected as political actors in research contexts. In this study, children are used as a window to an Ethiopian society where hierarchical relations persist, despite the numerous political and administrative transformations of the past century. With data gathered through participant observation the book examines how young, Addis Abeba school children learn to adapt to and reproduce relations of super- and/or subordination based on gender, age, strength and social position. The children’s experiences are viewed in the historical context of state-citizen relations where hierarchy and obsession with control have been and continue to be dominant. The discussion focuses on the power of continuity in the reproduction of cultural patterns and political behaviour, and on how change towards more egalitarian relations could come about.  

Umleavyo : the dilemma of parenting

Medarbetare:	Ntukula, Mary | Liljeström, Rita
Utgivare:	Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2004
Ämnesord:	Tanzania, parents, gender, generations, children, adolescents, sexuality, initiation, education, marriage, rites and ceremonies, customary law, modernization, child rearing, Sociology, Sociologi

Societies and families are changing all over the world. Less of what the older generations transmit of their experiences can be replicated by the younger generations in their own lives. What we are witnessing is a type of cultural delinking from past generations. Parents despair when their good intentions fail to have an effect and feel overwhelmed by circumstances they cannot control.The Reproductive Health Study Group linked to the University of Dar es Salaam published the first set of studies, Chelewa, Chelewa: The Dilemma of Teenage Girls, in 1994. The focus was on the teenage girl and the various reactions of the adult world to teenage out-of-wedlock pregnancies. The next set of studies, Haraka, Haraka: Look Before you Leap, appeared in 1998 and looked at the erosion of the customs that had regulated marriage, parenthood, and intergenerational obligations.This third and final report, Umleavyo: The Dilemma of Parenting, comprises studies on the generation gap and the ways in which this gap has widened over the past century. In these studies, the past serves as the seemingly stable background on which to project currently fluid and ambiguous parent-child relationships. The main focus of the studies is the different methods of, and goals for, bringing up the next generation. These include physical punishment; achieving compliance through fear and reference to supernatural forces; initiation ceremonies that provide multiple precautions and timely instruction on marriage and procreation; emphasis on relations between people as the most crucial experiences; and encouraging a sense of personal responsibility.The volume is based on the narratives of the grandparents, parents, and youths in the villages of the Pare people in the north and of the initiation leaders in Songea in the south, and on a comparison of the opinions of Nyakyusa elders and youths on gender issues. The central questions raised in the book are: How should one-support youths for whom there is no clear passage to full adulthood? And, how can one forge links between the plight of families and issues of citizenship and public action?