Re-thinking children's agency in extreme hardship: Zimbabwean children's draw-and-write about their HIV-affected peers

Catherine Campbell; Louise Andersen; Alice Mutsikiwa; Claudius Madanhire; Morten Skovdal; Constance Nyamukapa; Simon Gregson

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.09.008

Re-thinking children's agency in extreme hardship: Zimbabwean children's draw-and-write about their HIV-affected peers

Health Place. 2015 Jan:31:54-64. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.09.008. Epub 2014 Nov 25.

Authors

Catherine Campbell¹, Louise Andersen², Alice Mutsikiwa³, Claudius Madanhire⁴, Morten Skovdal⁵, Constance Nyamukapa⁶, Simon Gregson⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Social Psychology, The London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Social Psychology, The London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Biomedical Research and Training Institute, Harare, Zimbabwe. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ School of Applied Human Sciences, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁶ Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College School of Public Health, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁷ Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College School of Public Health, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom. Electronic address: [email protected].

Abstract

We compare two analyses of the same 'draw-and-write' exercises in which 128 Zimbabwean children represented their HIV-affected peers. The first, informed by the 'New Social Studies of Childhood', easily identified examples of independent reflection and action by children. The second, informed by Sen's understandings of agency, drew attention to the negative consequences of many of the choices available to children, and the contextual limits on outcomes children themselves would value: the support of caring adults, adequate food, and opportunities to advance their health and safety. Conceptualisations of agency need to take greater account of children's own accounts of outcomes they value, rather than identifying agency in any form of independent reflection and action per se.

Keywords: Agency; Children; HIV/AIDS; Zimbabwe.

Publication types

Comparative Study

MeSH terms

Art*
Child
Female
HIV Infections / psychology*
Humans
Male
Peer Group*
Social Perception
Stereotyping
Writing*
Zimbabwe

Grants and funding

084401/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom