Despite the recent significance children's geographies have been afforded within many geographical subdisciplines, their experiences of migration have received relatively little attention. However, children do migrate and their migration is often distinct from that of entire households. In this paper we explore children's migration in southern Africa within the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, focusing in particular on the impacts of moving house on children's sociospatial experiences. Migration has consequences for several areas of children's lives, and the nature of those consequences is shaped by the context within which migration takes place. In southern Africa AIDS is an unavoidable aspect of the sociospatial context, but the impact it has on children varies. This exemplar has wider implications for two areas of geographical research. First, in the paper we advocate the importance of including children's experiences of migration within culturally informed studies of migration. Second, there is a need for research in children's geographies to extend beyond the microlevel. We advocate a refocusing of research beyond children's static relationship to environments to also encompass children's transient geographies in discussions of their life experiences.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AinsworthMOverM, 1997Confronting AIDS: Public Priorities in a Global Epidemic (Oxford University Press, New York).
2.
AitkenS C, 2001The Geographies of Young People (Routledge, London).
AnsellNvan BlerkL, 2004, “Children's migration as a household/family strategy: Coping with AIDS in southern Africa”Journal of Southern African Studies30673–690.
5.
BakamaNumeB, 1996, “A geography of AIDS: Spatial variation of AIDS infection in Uganda, 1987–1994”, Department of Geography, Makerere University, Kampala.
6.
BandaweC RLouwJ, 1997, “The experience of family foster care in Malawi: A preliminary investigation”Child Welfare76535–547.
7.
BayliesC, 2001, “Precarious futures: The new demography of AIDS in Africa, Africa's young majority: Meanings, victims, actors”, Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh.
8.
BeazleyH, 2000, “Street boys in Yogyakarta: Social and spatial exclusion in the public spaces of the city”, in A Companion to the City Eds BridgeGWatsonS (Blackwell, Oxford) pp 474–488.
9.
BourdillonMFC, 1998, “Earn-and-learn: Work for education in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe”, Workshop on Children, Harare; copy available from the author, Department of Sociology, University of Zimbabwe, Harare.
10.
BourdillonMFC, 1999, “The next generation”, Conference on AIDS, Livelihood and Social Change in Africa, Wageningen; copy available from the author, Department of Sociology, University of Zimbabwe, Harare.
11.
BoydenJEnnewJ (Eds), 1997Children in Focus: A Manual for Participatory Research with Children Radda Barnen (Swedish Save the Children) SE-107 88 Stockholm.
12.
CaldwellJ CCaldwellP, 1993, “The nature and limits of the sub-Saharan African AIDS epidemic: Evidence from geographic and other patterns”Population and Development Review19817–848.
13.
CamachoAZV, 1999, “Family, child labour and migration: Child domestic workers in Metro Manila”Childhood6 (1) 57–73.
14.
CandappaMEgharevbaI, 2002, “Negotiating boundaries: Tensions within home and school life for refugee children”, in Children, Home and School: Regulation, Autonomy or Connection? Ed. EdwardsR (Routledge, London) pp 155–171.
15.
CliffA DSmallman-RaynorM R, 1992, “The AIDS pandemic: Global geographical patterns and local spatial processes”The Geographical Journal158182–198.
ColdreyB M, 1999, “‘… a place to which idle vagrants may be sent’: The first phase of children's migration during the 17th and 18th centuries”Children and Society1332–47.
CraddockS, 2000, “Disease, social identity, and risk: Rethinking the geography of AIDS”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series25153–168.
20.
CrushJUlickiTTseaneTvan VuurenJansen E, 1999Undermining Labour: Migrancy and Sub-contracting in the South African Gold Mining Industry (Idasa, Cape Town).
21.
DanzigerR, 1994, “The social impact of HIV/AIDS in developing countries”Social Science and Medicine39905–917.
22.
DavinA, 1996Growing Up Poor: Home, School and Street in London 1870–1914 (Rivers Oram Press, London).
23.
DesmondCMichaelKGowJ, 2000, “The hidden battle: HIV/AIDS in the household and community”South African Journal of International Affairs7 (2) 39–58.
24.
DobsonJStillwellJ, 2000, “Changing home, changing school: Towards a research agenda on child migration”Area32395–401.
25.
FindlayA MLiFLN, 1997, “An auto-biographical approach to understanding migration: The case of Hong Kong emigrants”Area29 (1) 34–44.
26.
FindlayA MLiFLN, 1999, “Methodological issues in researching migration”The Professional Geographer51 (1) 50–59.
27.
FontesM BHillisJWasekG K, 1998, “Children affected by AIDS in Brazil: Estimates of the number of children at risk of being orphaned and displaced by AIDS in Brazil”Childhood5345–363.
28.
FosterGShakespeareRChinemanaFJacksonHGregsonSMarangeCMashumbaS, 1995, “Orphan prevalence and extended family care in a peri-urban community in Zimbabwe”AIDS Care7 (1) 3–17.
29.
FosterGMakufaCDrewRKralovecE, 1997a, “Factors leading to the establishment of child-headed households: The case of Zimbabwe”Health Transition Review7 Supplement 2, 155–168.
30.
FosterGMakufaCDrewRMashumbaSKambeuS, 1997b, “Perceptions of children and community members concerning the circumstances of orphans in rural Zimbabwe”AIDS Care9391–405.
31.
GraingerCWebbDElliottL, 2001Children Affected by HIV/AIDS: Rights and Responsibilities in the Developing WorldSave the Children, 1 St. John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR.
32.
GustafsonP, 2001, “Roots and routes: Exploring the relationship between place attachment and mobility”Environment and Behavior33667–686.
33.
GuttingD, 1996, “Narrative identity and residential history”Area28482–490.
34.
HalfacreeK H, 1995, “Household migration and the structuration of patriarchy: Evidence from the USA”Progress in Human Geography19159–182.
35.
HalfacreeK HBoyleP J, 1993, “The challenge facing migration research: The case for a biographical approach”Progress in Human Geography17333–348.
HunterSWilliamsonJ, 2000a, “Children on the brink: Executive summary: Updated estimates and recommendations for intervention” (USAID, Washington, DC).
40.
HunterSWilliamsonJ, 2000b, “Children on the brink: Strategies to support a generation isolated by HIV/AIDS”, USAID, Washington, DC.
41.
ILO, 1998, “Internal and external migration and youth unemployment in Lesotho”, International Labour Organization, Maseru, Lesotho.
42.
IversenV, 2002, “Autonomy in child labor migrants”World Development30817–834.
43.
KamaliASeeleyJ ANunnA JKengeya-KayondoJ FRuberantwariAMulderD W, 1996, “The orphan problem: Experience of a sub-Saharan Africa rural population in the AIDS epidemic”AIDS Care8509–515.
44.
KandelWKaoG, 2001, “The impact of temporary labor migration on Mexican children's educational aspirations and performance”International Migration Review351205–1231.
45.
KatzC, 1993, “Growing girls/closing circles: Limits on the spaces of knowing in rural Sudan and United States cities”, in Full Circles: Geographies of Women over the Life Course Eds KatzCMonkJ (Routledge, London) pp 88–106.
46.
KatzC, 1994, “Textures of global changes: Eroding ecologies of childhood in New York and Sudan”Childhood2103–110.
47.
KearnsR A, 1996, “AIDS and medical geography: Embracing the Other?”Progress in Human Geography20123–131.
48.
KimaneIMturiA J, 2001Rapidly Assessing Children at Work in Lesotho. Volume 1: Context and Overview of FindingsGovernment of Lesotho, MASERU, with financial assistance from UNICEF.
49.
LarsonA, 1990, “Social epidemiology of Africa's AIDS epidemic”African Affairs895–25.
50.
LaubyJStarkP, 1988, “Individual migration as a family strategy: Young women in the Philippines”Population Studies42473–486.
51.
LawsonV A, 2000, “Arguments within geographies of movement: The theoretical potential of migrants' stories”Progress in Human Geography24173–189.
52.
McClureR, 1981Coram's Children: The London Foundling Hospital in the Eighteenth Century (Yale University Press, New Haven, CT).
53.
McDowellCde HaanA, 1997, “Migration and sustainable livelihoods: A critical review of the literature”, WP 65, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, Sussex.
54.
McHughK E, 2000, “Inside, outside, upside down, backward, forward, round and round: A case for ethnographic studies in migration”Progress in Human Geography2471–89.
55.
McKendrickJ, 1999, “Multi-method research: An introduction to its application in population geography”The Professional Geographer51 (1) 40–49.
56.
McKendrickJ H, 2001, “Coming of age: Rethinking the role of children in population studies”International Journal of Population Geography7461–472.
57.
MasseyD, 1998, “The spatial construction of youth cultures”, in Cool Places: Geographies of Youth Cultures Eds SkeltonTValentineG (Routledge, London) pp 121–129.
58.
MatthewsHLimbMTaylorM, 1999, “Reclaiming the street: The discourse of curfew”Environment and Planning A311713–1730.
59.
MatthewsHTaylorMPercy-SmithBLimbM, 2000, “The unacceptable flaneur: The shopping mall as a teenage hangout”Childhood7279–294.
60.
MunthaliA CAliS, 2000, “Adaptive strategies and coping mechanisms: The effect of HIV/AIDS on the informal social security system in Malawi”, Government of Malawi, National Economic Council, Lilongwe.
61.
NGO Coalition for the Rights of the Child, 2000, “‘Etsa letsete la kamoso, netefatsa litokelo tsa ka’: The state of children's rights in Lesotho/Boema ba litokelo tsa bana Lesotho”, Save the Children, St. John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR.
62.
NtoziJPM, 1997, “Effect of AIDS on children: The problem of orphans in Uganda”Health Transition Review7 Supplement, 23–40.
63.
OgdenP E, 1998, “Population geography”Progress in Human Geography22105–114.
64.
OrellanaM FThorneBCheeALamWSE, 2001, “Transnational childhoods: The participation of children in processes of family migration”Social Problems48572–591.
65.
PivnickAVillegasN, 2000, “Resilience and risk: Childhood and uncertainty in the AIDS epidemic”Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry24101–136.
66.
PottsD, 1995, “Shall we go home? Increasing urban poverty in African cities and migration processes”The Geographical Journal161245–264.
67.
PribilskyJ, 2001, “Nervios and ‘modern childhood’: Migration and shifting contexts of child life in the Ecuadorian Andes”Childhood8251–273.
68.
PunchS, 2000, “Children's strategies for creating playspaces: Negotiating independence in rural Bolivia”, in Children's Geographies: Playing, Living, Learning Eds HollowayS LValentineG (Routledge, London) pp 48–62.
69.
RobsonE, 2000, “Invisible carers: Young people in Zimbabwe's home-based healthcare”Area32 (1) 59–70.
70.
RobsonEAnsellN, 2000, “Young carers in southern Africa: Exploring stories from Zimbabwean secondary school students”, in Children's Geographies: Playing, Living, Learning Eds HollowayS LValentineG (Routledge, London) pp 174–193.
71.
SengendoJNambiJ, 1997, “The psychological effect of orphanhood: A study of orphans in Rakai district”Health Transition Review7 Supplement, 105–124.
72.
SilveyR, 2001, “Migration under crisis: Household safety nets in Indonesia's economic collapse”Geoforum3233–45.
73.
SkeldonR, 1995, “The challenge facing migration research: A case for greater awareness”Progress in Human Geography1991–96.
74.
SmithFBarkerJ, 2000, “‘Out of school’, in school: A social geography of out of school childcare”, in Children's Geographies: Playing, Living, Learning (Routledge, London) pp 245–256.
75.
SportonDThomasDSGMorrisonJ, 1999, “Outcomes of social and environmental change in the Kalahari of Botswana: The role of migration”Journal of Southern African Studies25441–459.
76.
TownsendN W, 1997, “Men, migration and households in Botswana: An exploration of connections over time and space”Journal of Southern African Studies23405–420.
77.
UNAIDS, 1999A Review of Household and Community Responses to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the Rural Areas of Southern Africa (UNAIDS, Geneva).
78.
UNAIDS, 2000Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic (UNAIDS, Geneva).
79.
UNAIDS, 2004Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic (UNAIDS, Geneva).
80.
UNAIDS, UNICEF, USAID, 2002Children on the Brink 2002: A Joint Report on Orphan Estimates and Program Strategies (USAID, Washington, DC).
81.
UNAIDS, UNICEF, USAID, 2004Children on the Brink 2004: A Joint Report on Orphan Estimates and Program Strategies (USAID, Washington, DC).
82.
UrassaMBoermaJNg'weshemiJIsingoRSchapinkDKumogolaY, 1997, “Orphanhood, child fostering and the AIDS epidemic in rural Tanzania”Health Transition Review7 Supplement 2, 141–153.
83.
UrassaMBoermaJIsingoRNgalulaJNg'weshemiJMwalukoGZabaB, 2001, “The impact of HIV/AIDS on mortality and household mobility in rural Tanzania”AIDS152017–2023.
84.
ValentineG, 1996, “Children should be seen and not heard: The production and transgression of adults' public space”Urban Geography17205–220.
85.
WilliamsBGouwsELurieMCrushJ, 2002, “Spaces of vulnerability: Migration and HIV/AIDS in South Africa”, Migration Policy Series number 24, South Africa Migration Project, Cape Town.
86.
WebbD, 1997HIV and AIDS in Africa (Pluto Press, London).
87.
WHO, UNICEF, 1994Action for Children Affected by AIDS: Programme Profiles and Lessons Learned (WHO, Geneva and UNICEF, New York).
88.
WoodW, 1988, “AIDS North and South: Diffusion patterns of a global epidemic and a research agenda for geographers”The Professional Geographer40266–269.
89.
YoungL, 2004, “Journeys to the street: The complex migration geographies of Ugandan street children”Geoforum35471–488.
90.
YoungLAnsellN, 2003, “Fluid households, complex families: The impacts of children's migration as a response to HIV/AIDS in southern Africa”The Professional Geographer55464–476.
91.
YoungLBarrettH, 2001, “Adapting visual methods: Action research with Kampala street children”Area33141–152.
