Kristen E. Cheney
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226437408
- eISBN:
- 9780226437682
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226437682.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, African Cultural Anthropology
The African HIV/AIDS pandemic has defined the childhoods of an entire generation. Many children have lost their parents to AIDS while HIV-infected children are now surviving thanks to life-saving ...
More
The African HIV/AIDS pandemic has defined the childhoods of an entire generation. Many children have lost their parents to AIDS while HIV-infected children are now surviving thanks to life-saving antiretroviral drugs (ARVs). In this incisive ethnography, Cheney argues that humanitarian misreadings of the 'AIDS orphan crisis' have affected children's lives as irrevocably as HIV/AIDS itself. Using participatory research with the “post-ARV generation” in Uganda, this book traces the social transformations caused by AIDS orphanhood and it impacts on children, families, and communities. Young people’s experiences in the post-ARV era show how orphan suffering is still compounded by poverty and other structural vulnerabilities. Cheney explains how these vulnerabilities have posed new challenges to traditional systems of family support and child protection. Moreover, she argues that global humanitarian responses such as Western ‘orphan rescue’ efforts to relieve the ‘orphan crisis’ have actually deepened it. Crying for Our Elders substantially expands theoretical discussions of humanitarianism, children’s studies, orphanhood, kinship and the resilience of family as well as methodological innovations in longitudinal participatory research with children. Privileging young people’s perspectives, Cheney demonstrates that despite the challenges of growing up in the era of HIV/AIDS, the post-ARV generation still holds out hope for the future.Less
The African HIV/AIDS pandemic has defined the childhoods of an entire generation. Many children have lost their parents to AIDS while HIV-infected children are now surviving thanks to life-saving antiretroviral drugs (ARVs). In this incisive ethnography, Cheney argues that humanitarian misreadings of the 'AIDS orphan crisis' have affected children's lives as irrevocably as HIV/AIDS itself. Using participatory research with the “post-ARV generation” in Uganda, this book traces the social transformations caused by AIDS orphanhood and it impacts on children, families, and communities. Young people’s experiences in the post-ARV era show how orphan suffering is still compounded by poverty and other structural vulnerabilities. Cheney explains how these vulnerabilities have posed new challenges to traditional systems of family support and child protection. Moreover, she argues that global humanitarian responses such as Western ‘orphan rescue’ efforts to relieve the ‘orphan crisis’ have actually deepened it. Crying for Our Elders substantially expands theoretical discussions of humanitarianism, children’s studies, orphanhood, kinship and the resilience of family as well as methodological innovations in longitudinal participatory research with children. Privileging young people’s perspectives, Cheney demonstrates that despite the challenges of growing up in the era of HIV/AIDS, the post-ARV generation still holds out hope for the future.
Kristen E. Cheney
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226437408
- eISBN:
- 9780226437682
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226437682.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, African Cultural Anthropology
This chapter introduces the rationale for the book and then lays out the main conceptual and methodological considerations utilized in the study of AIDS orphanhood, including critical children’s ...
More
This chapter introduces the rationale for the book and then lays out the main conceptual and methodological considerations utilized in the study of AIDS orphanhood, including critical children’s studies, posthumanitarianism, generations, and youth participatory research. It then provides an overview of the structure of the rest of the book.Less
This chapter introduces the rationale for the book and then lays out the main conceptual and methodological considerations utilized in the study of AIDS orphanhood, including critical children’s studies, posthumanitarianism, generations, and youth participatory research. It then provides an overview of the structure of the rest of the book.
Kristen E. Cheney
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226437408
- eISBN:
- 9780226437682
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226437682.003.0003
- Subject:
- Anthropology, African Cultural Anthropology
This chapter details the evolution of the global and national response to AIDS orphanhood and its unintended consequences. Drawing on critical humanitarian studies in order to examine the effects of ...
More
This chapter details the evolution of the global and national response to AIDS orphanhood and its unintended consequences. Drawing on critical humanitarian studies in order to examine the effects of OVC targeting, this chapter details the development of the definition of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), as well as its cultural translations. It argues that OVC targeting reified vulnerability as an ironically privileged and empowered childhood identity, in which orphanhood can actually raise the status of a child who has lost a parent precisely because orphans are made objects for intervention. Amidst scarce aid resources, then, children and families in need must adjust strategies to meet the criteria for vulnerability that might gain them access to such resources, thereby creating an untenable demand for orphan services.Less
This chapter details the evolution of the global and national response to AIDS orphanhood and its unintended consequences. Drawing on critical humanitarian studies in order to examine the effects of OVC targeting, this chapter details the development of the definition of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), as well as its cultural translations. It argues that OVC targeting reified vulnerability as an ironically privileged and empowered childhood identity, in which orphanhood can actually raise the status of a child who has lost a parent precisely because orphans are made objects for intervention. Amidst scarce aid resources, then, children and families in need must adjust strategies to meet the criteria for vulnerability that might gain them access to such resources, thereby creating an untenable demand for orphan services.
