AIDS-affected children, family collectives and the social dynamics of care in Ethiopia

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• 作者：Tatek Abebe ^{tatek.abebe@svt.ntnu.no}
• 关键词：AIDS-affected children ; Family collectives ; Geography of care ; Orphanhood ; Poverty ; Ethiopia
• 刊名：Geoforum
• 出版年：2012
• 期刊代码：30_00167185
• 类别：soc
• 出版时间：May, 2012
• 卷：43
• 期：3
• 页码：540-550
• 文件大小：362 K

摘要

Many programmes for AIDS-affected children pursue resource-intensive and external interventions of care, and often place such children at the receiving end of the care continuum. The aim of this article is to explore from a socio-spatial perspective the capacities of families and children experiencing orphanhood and the policy significance of empowering both to address the growing challenge of orphan care in rural and urban Ethiopia. Drawing on participatory research (involving in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, story writing, photo essays, ranking, observation and household visits), the complex social dynamics of care and spatial diversities in the manifestations of the vulnerabilities, capacities, strengths, and potentials of children and their families are discussed. It is argued that rather than the lack of biological parents it is the combination of the absence of a carer and the presence of acute poverty and economic marginality that explain various forms of vulnerability in orphans and non-orphans. The article further argues that effective and sustainable care needs to be informed by identification and empowerment of 鈥榝amily collectives鈥?as sites of interventions. In doing so, it draws analytical attention to the importance of examining the socio-temporal processes of orphanhood and care, children鈥檚 changing circumstances, and family collectives鈥?variances in the capacity to provide support for them. Strategies for sustainable care should recognise the specific needs of AIDS-affected children and the resourceful ways in which they contribute to enhance the care-giving capacities of family collectives in the light of broader socio-cultural and political-economic contexts.