7 - Growing up Pregnant: Events of Kinship in Everyday Life
Corresponding Author(s) : Mette Ringsted
African Sociological Review,
Vol. 8 No. 1 (2004): African Sociological Review
Abstract
This paper explores how pregnant girls and young mothers, between the ages of 14 and 19, manage their social relations during pregnancy and early motherhood. Whereas most of the pregnant girls and young mothers in this study lived as 'unwanted family members ' others were reintegrated into their families. The paper focuses on how they actively negotiate and form 'relatedness ' to reduce uncertainty in their daily life, and particularly how they and their children struggle not to be excluded from reciprocal family responsibilities. During recent decades, people in Tanzania as in most qf sub-Saharan Africa have been experiencing major changes in the family structure. Modernisation and urbanisation, and more recently the HIVIAJDS pandemic, have also resulted in the disintegration of social support networb and high Level of mobility also among young adolescents and children. The research is based on fieldwork in Muheza, a roadside town in north-eastern Tanzania (2002-2003).
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- AXIOS. 2003. Designing Programs for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in AIDS Affected Areas, Paris, AXIOS International.
- Bodenhom, Barbara. 2000. '"He Used to Be My Relative": Exploring the Bases of Relatedness among Ifiupiat ofN orthern Alaska', in Janet Carsten ( ed.), Cultures of Relatedness: New Approaches to the Study ofKinship, Cambridge, England, New York, Cambridge University pp. 128-48.
- Carsten, Janet 1995. 'The Substances ofKinship and the Heat of the Hearth: Feeding, Personhood, and Relatedness among Malays in Pulau Langkawi ', A merican Eth-nologist, vol. no. 2, pp. 223-41.
- Carsten, Janet. 1997. The lleat of the llearth: The Process of Kinship in a Malay flshing Community, Oxford. Clarendon Press.
- Carsten, Janet. 2000. 'Introduction: Cultures ofRelatedness', in Janet Carsten (ed.), Cultures cf Relatedness: New Approaches to the Study ofKinship, pp. 1-36, Cambridge, England, New York, Cambridge University Press.
- Feierman, Steven. 1974. The Shambaa Kingdom: A History, Madison, University of Wisconsin Press.
- Fivawo, M. 1986. 'Community Response to Malaria, Tanzania 1983-1984', PhD Thesis, University oflllinois.
- Fuglesang, Minou. 1997. 'Lessons for Life-- Past and Present Modes ofSexuality Education in Tanzanian Society', Social Science and Medicine, vol. 44, no. 8, pp. 1245-54.
- Gysels, Marjolein, Pool, Robert, and Betty Nnalusiba. 2002. 'Women who sell Sex in a Ugandan Trading Town: Life Histories, Survival Strategies and Risk', Social Sci-ence and Medicine, vol. no. 2, pp. 179-192.
- Haram, Liv. 1995. 'Negotiating Sexuality in Times ofEconomic Want: The Young and Modem Meru Women', in Klepp, Knut-Inge, Paul M. Biswalo and Aud Talle, Young People at Risk Fighting AlDS in Northern Tanzania, Oslo, Scandinavian University Press, pp. 31-48.
- Haram, Liv. l 999. "'Women Out ofSight": Modern Women in Gendered Worlds, The Case of the Meru ofNorthem Tanzania', PhD Dissertation, Bergen, University of Bergen.
- Katapa, Rosalia. 1998. 'Teenage Mothers in their Second Pregnaneies ', in Rwebangira, Magdalena, K. and Rita Liljestr0m, (eds.), Haraka, Haraka ... Look before you leap, Uppsala, The Nordic Afica Institute, pp. 122-143.
- Khwaya, Puja, Grace andTuli Kassirnoto. 1994.
- 'Girls in Education and Pregnancy at School', in Tumbo-Masabo, Zubeida and Rita Liljestrnm, (eds.), Chelewa, Chelewa: TheDilemma of Teenage Girls, Uppsala, The NordicAfrica Institute, pp. 54--?5.
- Klepp, Knut-lnge, Paul M. Biswalo and Aud Talle, (eds.). 1995. Young People at Risk Fighting AlDS in Northern Tanzania, Oslo, Scandinavia University Press. Lambert, Helen. 2000.
- 'Sentiment and Substance in North Indian Forms of Relatedness', in Janet Carsten, ed., Cultures of Relatedness: New Approaches to the Study of Kinship, Cambridge, England, New York, Cambridge University Press, pp. 73-89.
- Madhavan, Sangeetha. 2004. 'Fosterage Patterns in the Age of AIDS: Contirmity and Change', Social Science and Medicine, vol. 58, no. 7, pp.1443-1454.
- Middleton, John. 1992. The World of the Swahili: An African Mercantile Civilization, Michigan, Book Crafters. Ministry of Health. 1997. 'Strategy for Reproductive Health and Child Survival, Tanzania 1997-2001', Dar es Salaam, MOH,Reproductive and Chi!d Health Unit, Tanzania.
- Ministry ofHealth. 2001. 'Adult Morbidity and Mortality Project', Working Paper no. 1, Progress in Safe Motherhood in Tanzania During the 1990s, Findings Based on NSS/AMMP Monitoring, Dar es Salaam, MOH, Tanzania.
- Nader, Laura and Roberto J. Gonzalez. 2000. 'The Framing ofTeenage Health Care: Organizations, Culture, and Control', Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, vol. 24 no. 2, pp. 231-258 (28). Nuttall, Mark. 1992. Arctic Homeland: Kinship, Community, and Development in Northwest Green/and, Policy and Research Series, London, Bellhaven Press.
- Nyambedha, E., Wandibba, S. and J. Aagaard-Hansen. 2001. 'Policy Jmplications of the Inadequate Support Systems for Orphans in Western Kenya', Health Policy, vol. 58, pp. 83-96.
- Silberschmidt, Margrethe and Vibeke Rasch. 2001. 'Adolescent Girls, Illcgal Abortions and "Sugar Daddies" in Dar es Salaam: Vulnerable Victims and Active Social Agents', Social Science and Medicine, vol. 52. no. 12, pp. 1815-26.
- Simpson, Bob. 1994. 'Bringing the "Unclear" Family into Focus: Divorce and Re-Marriage in Contemporary Britain', Man N.S. vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 831-51.
- Simpson, Bob. 1998. Changing Families. An Ethnographie Approach to Divorce and Separation, Oxford, Berg.
- USPG. 2004.
- 'Teule Hospital, Muheza in Tanzania', update from USPG project 166,anuary 2004, www.hereford.anglican.org.
- Urassa, Mark, J., Ties Boerma, Raphael Isingo, Juliana Ngalula, Japhet Ng'weshemi, Gabriel Mwaluko, and Basia Zaba. 2001. 'The impact of HIV/ AlDS on mortality and household mobility in rural Tanzania', AIDS, voL 15, no. 15, pp. 2017-2023.
- Willis, Justin. 1993. 'The Nature of a Mission Community: The Univcrsitics' Mission to Central Africa in Bondei ', Past and Present, no. 140, pp. 127-154.
- Willis, Justin. 1994. 'The Makings ofa Tribe: Bondei ldentities and Histories', The Journal ofAfricanHistory, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 191-208.
References
AXIOS. 2003. Designing Programs for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in AIDS Affected Areas, Paris, AXIOS International.
Bodenhom, Barbara. 2000. '"He Used to Be My Relative": Exploring the Bases of Relatedness among Ifiupiat ofN orthern Alaska', in Janet Carsten ( ed.), Cultures of Relatedness: New Approaches to the Study ofKinship, Cambridge, England, New York, Cambridge University pp. 128-48.
Carsten, Janet 1995. 'The Substances ofKinship and the Heat of the Hearth: Feeding, Personhood, and Relatedness among Malays in Pulau Langkawi ', A merican Eth-nologist, vol. no. 2, pp. 223-41.
Carsten, Janet. 1997. The lleat of the llearth: The Process of Kinship in a Malay flshing Community, Oxford. Clarendon Press.
Carsten, Janet. 2000. 'Introduction: Cultures ofRelatedness', in Janet Carsten (ed.), Cultures cf Relatedness: New Approaches to the Study ofKinship, pp. 1-36, Cambridge, England, New York, Cambridge University Press.
Feierman, Steven. 1974. The Shambaa Kingdom: A History, Madison, University of Wisconsin Press.
Fivawo, M. 1986. 'Community Response to Malaria, Tanzania 1983-1984', PhD Thesis, University oflllinois.
Fuglesang, Minou. 1997. 'Lessons for Life-- Past and Present Modes ofSexuality Education in Tanzanian Society', Social Science and Medicine, vol. 44, no. 8, pp. 1245-54.
Gysels, Marjolein, Pool, Robert, and Betty Nnalusiba. 2002. 'Women who sell Sex in a Ugandan Trading Town: Life Histories, Survival Strategies and Risk', Social Sci-ence and Medicine, vol. no. 2, pp. 179-192.
Haram, Liv. 1995. 'Negotiating Sexuality in Times ofEconomic Want: The Young and Modem Meru Women', in Klepp, Knut-Inge, Paul M. Biswalo and Aud Talle, Young People at Risk Fighting AlDS in Northern Tanzania, Oslo, Scandinavian University Press, pp. 31-48.
Haram, Liv. l 999. "'Women Out ofSight": Modern Women in Gendered Worlds, The Case of the Meru ofNorthem Tanzania', PhD Dissertation, Bergen, University of Bergen.
Katapa, Rosalia. 1998. 'Teenage Mothers in their Second Pregnaneies ', in Rwebangira, Magdalena, K. and Rita Liljestr0m, (eds.), Haraka, Haraka ... Look before you leap, Uppsala, The Nordic Afica Institute, pp. 122-143.
Khwaya, Puja, Grace andTuli Kassirnoto. 1994.
'Girls in Education and Pregnancy at School', in Tumbo-Masabo, Zubeida and Rita Liljestrnm, (eds.), Chelewa, Chelewa: TheDilemma of Teenage Girls, Uppsala, The NordicAfrica Institute, pp. 54--?5.
Klepp, Knut-lnge, Paul M. Biswalo and Aud Talle, (eds.). 1995. Young People at Risk Fighting AlDS in Northern Tanzania, Oslo, Scandinavia University Press. Lambert, Helen. 2000.
'Sentiment and Substance in North Indian Forms of Relatedness', in Janet Carsten, ed., Cultures of Relatedness: New Approaches to the Study of Kinship, Cambridge, England, New York, Cambridge University Press, pp. 73-89.
Madhavan, Sangeetha. 2004. 'Fosterage Patterns in the Age of AIDS: Contirmity and Change', Social Science and Medicine, vol. 58, no. 7, pp.1443-1454.
Middleton, John. 1992. The World of the Swahili: An African Mercantile Civilization, Michigan, Book Crafters. Ministry of Health. 1997. 'Strategy for Reproductive Health and Child Survival, Tanzania 1997-2001', Dar es Salaam, MOH,Reproductive and Chi!d Health Unit, Tanzania.
Ministry ofHealth. 2001. 'Adult Morbidity and Mortality Project', Working Paper no. 1, Progress in Safe Motherhood in Tanzania During the 1990s, Findings Based on NSS/AMMP Monitoring, Dar es Salaam, MOH, Tanzania.
Nader, Laura and Roberto J. Gonzalez. 2000. 'The Framing ofTeenage Health Care: Organizations, Culture, and Control', Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, vol. 24 no. 2, pp. 231-258 (28). Nuttall, Mark. 1992. Arctic Homeland: Kinship, Community, and Development in Northwest Green/and, Policy and Research Series, London, Bellhaven Press.
Nyambedha, E., Wandibba, S. and J. Aagaard-Hansen. 2001. 'Policy Jmplications of the Inadequate Support Systems for Orphans in Western Kenya', Health Policy, vol. 58, pp. 83-96.
Silberschmidt, Margrethe and Vibeke Rasch. 2001. 'Adolescent Girls, Illcgal Abortions and "Sugar Daddies" in Dar es Salaam: Vulnerable Victims and Active Social Agents', Social Science and Medicine, vol. 52. no. 12, pp. 1815-26.
Simpson, Bob. 1994. 'Bringing the "Unclear" Family into Focus: Divorce and Re-Marriage in Contemporary Britain', Man N.S. vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 831-51.
Simpson, Bob. 1998. Changing Families. An Ethnographie Approach to Divorce and Separation, Oxford, Berg.
USPG. 2004.
'Teule Hospital, Muheza in Tanzania', update from USPG project 166,anuary 2004, www.hereford.anglican.org.
Urassa, Mark, J., Ties Boerma, Raphael Isingo, Juliana Ngalula, Japhet Ng'weshemi, Gabriel Mwaluko, and Basia Zaba. 2001. 'The impact of HIV/ AlDS on mortality and household mobility in rural Tanzania', AIDS, voL 15, no. 15, pp. 2017-2023.
Willis, Justin. 1993. 'The Nature of a Mission Community: The Univcrsitics' Mission to Central Africa in Bondei ', Past and Present, no. 140, pp. 127-154.
Willis, Justin. 1994. 'The Makings ofa Tribe: Bondei ldentities and Histories', The Journal ofAfricanHistory, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 191-208.