Beyond liminality: orphanhood and marginalisation in Botswana

Abstract

For children, the death of a parent initiates a rite of passage, a three-stage process: separation from their status as 'son' or 'daughter', a period of liminality with rituals of mourning, burial and interment, and finally re-aggregation into a re-formed social network with a new status as a 'child without parents'. Many orphans in Botswana are excluded from the funerals of their parents; they are structurally invisible. Sometimes, particularly in the case of young children, they are taken to another place, thus they are literally not seen. In the case of older children, some complete all three stages of the rite of passage and the transformation results in clear aggregation into a new status and role. Those children are often resilient and cope well with the trials of orphanhood. For others, liminality is prolonged and the orphans are not reincorporated into a new social network; they are marginalised and may seek 'belonging', 'acceptance' and 'membership' in alternative relationships and in socially unacceptable ways. This paper uses Van Gennep's concept of rite of passage as a framework for examining the coping strategies of orphans in Botswana, where some children demonstrate resilience as they emerge from liminality while others seem stuck in perpetual marginalisation.

Breaching cultural silence: enhancing resilience among Ugandan orphans

“…Freire's (1972) 'culture of silence', which is more about a society's sense of apathy resulting from internalising the message that it is backward, ignorant, incapable and lazy. 5 These concepts are also discussed in Daniel (2005a). 6 Quotations from Apila (2003) are referenced here as Study A, and those from Bjørgo (2001) as Study B.…”

Resiliency of children in child-headed households in Rwanda: implications for community based psychosocial interventions

“…As Daniel (2005) described, when faced with multiple stressors, children may resort to harmful mechanisms in order to cope. The comments in Box 2 show the depth of isolation that some children feel, and how this negatively impacts their ability to cope with other stressors in their lives.…”

“…It has also been argued that in post con£ict environments, young people should also be encouraged to take ownership of their development in order to decrease 'the likelihood that adolescents and youth will violently destroy Orphans are likely to be socially and economically marginalized throughout their lives, but by concentrating on promoting protective factors, their resilience can be strengthened (Daniel, 2005). Wherever possible, children should be encouraged to lead the programme, for example, in conducting the initial baseline survey.…”

“…Risk and protective factors function at various levels; in the attributes of the child themselves, at the household level, within the broader community, and the wider social system (i.e. Daniel (2005) suggests that the cumulative e¡ect of multiple risk factors reduces the child's ability to form and engage with supportive social networks and undermines their sense of self esteem and self worth. Vulnerability and resilience are seen as dynamic processes, where the interaction of various environmental factors and personal characteristics will change over time.…”

“It can save you if you just forget”: Closeness and Competence as Conditions for Coping among Ugandan Orphans

“…The magnitude of the orphaning crisis, as well as its devastating socioeconomic and psychological effects, has been well documented (UNAIDS, UNICEF, & USAID, 2004;UNICEF, 2003). While many studies concentrate on the negative effects of multiple losses (Oleke, 2005;Roalkvam, 2005;UNAIDS et al, 2004;Yamba, 2005) others have focused on resilience among children who have lost their parents (Daniel, 2005a;Evans, 2005). The emphasis on resilience represents a shift in thinking on childhood away from focusing on vulnerability to give a more contextualized understanding of children's responses to adversity (Evans, 2005).…”