Comparing Children’s Care Work Across Majority and Minority Worlds

Abstract

Comparative qualitative methodologies that investigate children's lives in sharply contrasting socioeconomic , political and welfare contexts are relatively unusual. Yet within an increasingly interdependent globalised world, comparative research and dialogue across binaries seems ever more important. In this chapter, we critically reflect on global conceptualisations of young caregiving and discuss the methodological and ethical challenges that arose in our comparative study of children caring for a parent/relative living with HIV in Tanzania and the UK. We discuss the potential problems and benefits of using the term "young carer" and suggest that levels of support and recognition of children's caring roles in particular countries do not follow a simple Majority/Minority world binary, but rather reveal a more complex picture. We argue that developing global perspectives that work across geographical, linguistic and disciplinary boundaries can facilitate greater understanding of the commonalities and diversities of children's caring lives globally.

Unequal Conditions of Care and the Implications for Social Policies on Young Carers

“…As young carer research is circulated internationally amongst academic communities and policy-makers, the most influential interpretations of this topic are dominated by Minority world conceptualisations of young carers (Evans & Becker, 2019). These have not yet adequately been informed by a consideration the experiences of more marginalised young carers' in these locations, which are fundamentally shaped by poverty and inequalities.…”

“…It is a perspective that has been developed particularly in the UK and applied to other contexts (Leu & Becker, 2017). The young carer concept, based on research pursued in Minority World countries dominates the ways we think about and measure the phenomenon of children's care work (Evans & Becker, 2019). It remains challenging and, to a degree, contested, to estimate the number of young carers (Kelly et al, 2017).…”

Interpreting family struggles in West Africa across Majority-Minority world boundaries: tensions and possibilities

“…Indeed, Twum-Danso Imoh and colleagues' (2019) edited collection explicitly seeks to challenge Majority-Minority world binaries. As we argue (Evans and Becker, 2019), within an increasingly interdependent globalised world, comparative research that investigates children's lives in contrasting socioeconomic, political and welfare contexts and dialogue across binaries seems ever more important.…”

La infancia desde un enfoque interseccional sustanciado en el caso de los niños y niñas refugiados en Alemania

“…En una lectura hegemónica, los niños y niñas son vistos como un grupo social particularmente vulnerable que necesita ser protegido de responsabilidades y daños ocasionados por la familia y las instituciones educativas, y del cual debe promoverse su desarrollo como aprendices 4 . Las infancias que se desvían de tal construcción infantil están expuestas al control y las intervenciones sociopolíticas, como los niños y niñas que, como cuidadores, asumen la responsabilidad emocional, médica, económica y organizativa cotidiana de sus familiares con enfermedades crónicas; que logran huir sin que sean acompañados por padres; que son económicamente activos; que actúan como cabezas de familia, o se han convertido en madres y padres menores de edad (Evans y Becker, 2019;Wihstutz y Schiwarov, 2016;Payne, 2012).…”