Flora Hajdu

Learning from young people about their lives: using participatory methods to research the impacts of AIDS in southern Africa

Methods of participatory research have become popular among childrens geographers as they are believed to enable young people to speak openly about their lives in unthreatening contexts. In this article, we reflect on our experience of using participatory methods to explore the sensitive topic of (indirect) impacts of AIDS on young peoples livelihoods in Malawi and Lesotho. We examine how different methodological approaches generate varying knowledges of childrens lived realities; challenges of using ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ research assistants; the place of group-based approaches in participatory research; and ethical issues. We suggest that researchers of young peoples lives should take full account of the relationship between epistemology and methodology in selecting and employing methods appropriate to particular research questions.

The new variant famine hypothesis: moving beyond the household in exploring links between AIDS and food insecurity in southern Africa

A number of southern African countries have experienced food crises during recent years. The fact that the scale of these crises has been disproportionate to the apparent triggers of climatic adversity or production decline has led to the suggestion that they are more closely related to the AIDS pandemic, which is at its most extreme in many of the same countries. This hypothesis, developed by de Waal and Whiteside (2003), has been termed ‘New Variant Famine’(NVF). The New Variant Famine hypothesis is helpful in drawing attention to the effects of AIDS in diminishing both food production and capacity to purchase food, but it focuses more intensely on the household level than many other theories that seek to explain food insecurity, which tend to emphasise the integration of peasants into a capitalist market economy, and the functioning of markets and institutions. The household level focus also characterises much research on the impacts of AIDS. In this article we argue that the effects of AIDS on food security are not confined to the household level, and that an NVF analysis should also consider processes operating within and beyond the household including social relationships, relations of age and gender, colonial inheritance and contemporary national and international political economy. Recognition of these processes and how they interact with AIDS may offer greater scope for political mobilisation rather than technocratic responses.

Women’s changing domestic responsibilities in neoliberal Africa: a relational time-space analysis of Lesotho’s garment industry

Since 2001 when Lesotho embraced the neoliberal African Growth and Opportunities Act that offers preferential access to the US market, its garment industry has expanded dramatically to become the nation’s leading employer. Elsewhere, large-scale employment of women in low-paid factory jobs has entailed spatial restructuring of gender and age relations. Lesotho is a distinctive context, with socio-spatial relations historically adjusted to male labour migration, high levels of contemporary male unemployment and alarming AIDS prevalence. Based on semi-structured interviews with 40 female factoryworkers and 37 dependents, this article applies a relational time-space analysis to explore how financial and spatio-temporal aspects of factory employment articulate to alter women’s relationships with those for whom they have culturally determined responsibilities: their children, those suffering from ill health and their (generally rural) home communities. The analysis highlights that such employment is not merely adding to women’s responsibilities, but transforming how they are able to undertake social reproduction, as practical, social and emotional roles are converted to largely financial obligations.

Problems, causes and solutions in the forest carbon discourse: a framework for analysing degradation narratives

The term ‘degradation’ is often used in the current discourse on carbon forestry. Tree planting projects primarily aimed at mitigating climate change frequently claim that they simultaneously reduce degradation. However, despite the centrality of ‘degradation’ in the forest carbon discourse, reference is rarely made to the significant body of literature questioning generalizations about degradation in Africa since the mid-1990s. Many studies have exposed biases and problematic underlying motives in claims of degradation in various African regions. Combining this literature with discourse analysis, we present a framework for analysing degradation narratives in order to explore the extent to which these are based on evidence or opinion. We acknowledge that environmental change is complex, and increasingly so today in the face of climate change, and we stress that narratives cannot be pinned down as ‘true or false’. However, unconfirmed ‘truths’ about degradation being acute have resulted in significant, costly and far-reaching actions to halt it. Thus there is a need to scrutinize the empirical evidence using the best available knowledge. Our framework, designed to be easily applicable for practitioners, could facilitate increased engagement with and scrutiny of degradation claims in forest carbon interventions.

The importance of the will to improve: how ‘sustainability’ sidelined local livelihoods in a carbon-forestry investment in Uganda

ABSTRACT This paper describes a ‘win–win’ discourse on local sustainable development and global climate change mitigation regarding Kachung, a Swedish–Norwegian climate forestry investment in Uganda certified under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). In many ways, this investment is a typical example of how private interests and capital accumulation are prioritised over local concerns in natural resource management under neoliberalism. This study, however, indicated that investors had genuine intentions of creating mutual benefits for the global environment and local people. Drawing on Li (2007), we show that this ‘will to improve’ was nevertheless constructed in ways that resulted in prioritisation of global climate change mitigation over local context-specific concerns. We identify three core factors making the win–win discourse around Kachung plantation especially resilient: (i) the perceived urgency of climate change mitigation, (ii) the apolitical framing of ‘sustainability’ as an environmental issue that can be fixed through external technical interventions and (iii) the devaluation of local and context-specific knowledge. We end by suggesting that research on the neoliberalisation of nature focus more on analysing the rationales behind specific interventions. This would leave us better equipped to suggest how such interventions should be modified to produce true wins for local contexts.

“Helping my neighbour is like giving a loan … ” –the role of social relations in chronic illness in rural Uganda

BackgroundUnderstanding individuals’ experience of accessing care and tending to various other needs during chronic illness in a rural context is important for health systems aiming to increase access to healthcare and protect poor populations from unreasonable financial hardship. This study explored the impact on households of access to free healthcare and how they managed to meet needs during chronic illness.MethodsRich data from the life stories of individuals from 22 households in rural south-western Uganda collected in 2009 were analysed.ResultsThe data revealed that individuals and households depend heavily on their social relations in order to meet their needs during illness, including accessing the free healthcare and maintaining vital livelihood activities. The life stories illustrated ways in which households draw upon social relations to achieve the broader social protection necessary to prevent expenses becoming catastrophic, but also demonstrated the uncertainty in relying solely on informal relations.ConclusionImproving access to healthcare in a rural context greatly depends on broader social protection. Thus, the informal social protection that already exists in the form of strong reciprocal social relations must be acknowledged, supported and included in health policy planning.

Fears for the future: the incommensurability of securitisation and in/securities among southern African youth

Abstract Over the past two decades, southern Africa has experienced both exceptionally high AIDS prevalence and recurrent food shortages. International institutions have responded to these challenges by framing them as security concerns that demand urgent intervention. Young people are implicated in both crises and drawn into the securitisation discourse as agents (of risk and protection) and as (potential) victims. However, the concepts of security deployed by global institutions and translated into national policy do not reflect the ways in/security is experienced ‘on the ground’ as a subjective and embodied orientation to the future. This paper brings work on youth temporalities to bear on social and cultural geographies of in/security and securitisation. It reports on research that explored insecurities among young people in Lesotho and Malawi. It concludes that, by focusing on ‘threats’ in isolation, and seeking to protect ‘society’ as an abstract aggregate of people, global securitisation discourses fail either to engage with the complex contextualised ways in which marginalised people experience insecurity or to proffer the political responses that are needed if those felt insecurities are to be addressed. However, while securitisation is problematic, in/security is nonetheless an important element in young people’s orientation to the future.

The relevance of timing of illness and death events in the household life cycle for coping outcomes in rural Uganda in the era of HIV

IntroductionPredicting the household’s ability to cope with adult illness and death can be complicated in low-income countries with high HIV prevalence and multiple other stressors and shocks. This study explored the link between stage of the household in the life cycle and the household’s capacity to cope with illness and death of adults in rural Uganda.MethodsInterviews focusing on life histories were combined with observations during monthly visits to 22 households throughout 2009, and recorded livelihood activities and responses to illness and death events. For the analysis, households were categorised into three life cycle stages (‘Young’, ‘Middle-aged’ and ‘Old’) and the ability to cope and adapt to recorded events of prolonged illness or death was assessed.ResultsIn 16 of the 26 recorded events, a coping or struggling outcome was found to be related to household life cycle stage. ‘Young’ households usually had many dependants too young to contribute significantly to livelihoods, so were vulnerable to illness or death of the household head specifically. ‘Middle-aged’ households had adult children who participated in activities that contributed to livelihoods at home or sent remittances. More household members meant livelihood diversification, so these households usually coped best. Worst off were ‘Old’ households, where members were unable to work hard and often supported young grandchildren, while their adult children had stopped sending remittances as they had established households of their own.ConclusionsWhile households may adopt diverse coping mechanisms, the stage in the household life cycle when stressful events occur is important for coping outcomes. Households of the elderly and households with many young dependents are clearly vulnerable. These results demonstrate that household life cycle analysis can be useful in assessing ability to respond to stressors and shocks, including AIDS-related illness and death.