Hutchinson, E.;
(2007)
Private loss, public gain: Orphans in Malawi.
Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).
Abstract
In the twentieth century, concern with child welfare resulted in one of the fastest growing social movements in the West. From the establishment of the Save the Children Fund in the UK at the close of the First World War, to the setting up of United Nations Children's Fund following the Second, to the near universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, the child welfare movement has been marked by a concern with children internationally. In the last seventeen years, since the ratification of the convention, interest in the welfare of children in the developing world has grown dramatically. Children's welfare appeared in the 1997 UK Government white paper on international development, the World Bank suggested that child welfare was a useful development indicator, and large numbers of non-governmental-organisations were established (Boyden 1990). In Southern Africa, as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the close of the twentieth century saw increasing numbers of orphans appearing. As international concern regarding the social impacts of HIV/AIDS has risen, these orphans have become an issue of particular concern (Aspaas 1997). As a result of both the increasing interest in children's lives in general and the concern with orphans in particular, there are now a number of organisations specialising in orphan care (World Bank 2004, US Peace Corps 2004). These projects constitute a new social arena within which children live at least part of their daily lives. This thesis is an exploration of the social significance of four orphan-care projects functioning in Malawi. The analysis is made by looking at the identity of orphan as a social construct that has various uses, meanings and symbols attached to it and as a set of experiences that occur to children who have lost, through death, one or both of their parents.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Title: | Private loss, public gain: Orphans in Malawi. |
| Identifier: | PQ ETD:592987 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Thesis digitised by ProQuest. |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1445663 |
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