The chapters presented in this volume provide a critical assessment of mainstream Western constructions relating to childhood
and how these impact children and youth in the developing world. The arguments are informed by a wide methodological approach largely anchored in feminist and African indigenous
epistemological approaches. Research methods used included interviews, discussions, and observation. The volume has eight chapters, which are thematically linked to inform each other. The chapters discuss a number of issues related to the use of numeric age in categorizing the northern Uganda
population, the naturalization of stages of human growth, the evolution of childhood
, how armed violence
impacts such constructions and the contestations emanating from the Global South
lived realities and experiences.
Chapter 2, Overview:
Childhood
and
Armed Violence
provide a general overview of discourses on childhood
in the Global South
. It explores the complexities of defining who a child is using the context of the Global South
. It is, however, a crucial stage that determines one’s roles and responsibilities, entitlement, and levels of participation as well as identity
and belonging. The understanding of childhood
is, however, not static since it is informed by circumstances and thus shifts with time and space.
Chapter 3, The Construction of
Childhood
, explores the construction of childhood
as a concept. It describes the historical base of the concept examining how it has evolved to the present state. The chapter also expounds on the features of childhood
that have been adopted as universal, paying special attention to chronological numeric age. I discuss how such hegemonic universalist understandings impact regions in the world that cannot live up to the ascribed standards. Children in situations of armed violence
provide a good start on understanding how essentialist constructions and frameworks can have limited applicability. In situations of conflict, for instance, both children and parents (if available) may not know their age or dates of birth, there are unaccompanied minors as well as child heads of households who instead of being protected, must protect those under their care. I also discuss childhood
as a human right looking at global, regional and national approaches to achieving children’s rights. I conclude that imposing dominant notions of childhood
to children in situations of distress is a colonialist approach that puts such children in more compromising situations since they cannot attain even the attributes recommended including security, protection, and education. Such colonial or neocolonial representations contribute to creating problematic portrayals of the range of childhoods in the third world by decontextualizing realities in such areas. It is thus crucial that specific social contexts under which children live are considered for the best interest and development
of the child. As other scholars have noted, alternative ways of conceptualizing age (besides numeric age) that reflect children’s lived realities need to be considered, including functional and relational age (Morrow 2011).
In Chapter 4, Local Perceptions of
Childhood
,
Youthhood
, and Adulthood, I explore alternative understandings to numeric age categorization, drawing on functional and relational age as critical in northern Uganda
. The chapter discusses the complexities incorporated in understanding childhood
(s) relating to individualism and collectivity. The main argument is that childhood
in war-torn regions such as northern Uganda
demands context-specific analysis since it cannot be accommodated by formal and universal understandings of childhood
. This chapter argues that there is no single understanding of childhood
, but rather various childhoods grounded in sociocultural perspectives. The chapter further discusses the dynamism in constructions of childhood
in Uganda
by exploring the transformations within the local understanding of childhood
created by war by comparing pre-conflict and post-conflict
communal perceptions to children and childhood
. This chapter also expounds on childhood
as a gendered construct with differentiated gendered experiences, needs, roles, and responsibilities.
Chapter 5, We Are What We Are Not, foregrounds the intersectional nature of youthhood
focusing on female youth. The chapter examines the local understanding of “a youth” and how this plays out in access to and use of humanitarian assistance
. I discuss the cultural relevance of the concept of youth to formerly displaced communities in Uganda
. I argue that single categorical analysis is limiting in understanding the experiences of female youth who simultaneously occupy multiple categories. Teenage mothers, for instance, cannot fully pass as adults if they are not married. They can neither fit in the children’s category because they have biological children, yet the youth category is locally understood to refer to young men. Female youth in such cases belong everywhere yet they belong nowhere, hence missing out on assistance and relief services, which target specific categories. Local communities find concepts like “child mothers” as belittling and constraining female youth’s full identity
as “real” mothers. Such out of context deframing externally constructed identity
markers function to exclude specific youth.
Chapter 6,
Girlhood, Violence
and
Humanitarian Assistance
, focuses on humanitarian assistance
as a major component of survival during situations of distress. Despite its contribution in saving lives, assistance has its own controversies especially from the perspective of the beneficiaries, which this chapter discusses. I examine the nature of aid provided and how respondents conceptualize it, the gendered experiences involved and the sociocultural dynamics that inform the implementation of assistance. This chapter also examines the link between aid and young people’s participation in violence
. I analyze how limited involvement of youth in humanitarian programs, public as well as cultural institutions may result in their increased involvement in violence
. Challenges facing both recipients and humanitarian providers are as well discussed.
While young people encounter numerous challenges as the previous chapters demonstrate, Chapter 7, Young People’s
Agency
and
Resilience
, acknowledges the organization and pliability young people portray during conflict and in post-conflict
reconstruction. I stretch beyond war to include absolute poverty and disease outbreaks. Children are not entirely victims and vulnerable but also resilient and creative. Chapter 8, Conclusion and Recommendations provides the conclusion, including recommendations for reconstruction. The chapter also highlights areas for further research in relation to childhood
and armed violence
.
Reference
- Morrow, V. (2011). Understanding children and childhood (Background Briefing Series, No. 1). Lismore: Centre for Children and Young People, Southern Cross University.