Not Just a Victim

This book's 10 chapters are based on selected papers from a 2008 conference organized by the Netherlands African Studies Association, entitled "African Children in Focus: A Paradigm Shift in Methodology and Theory?" Academics in African and Scandinavian countries argue for an anthropology of children in which children's own perceptions are at the center of analysis. Contributors use nontraditional ethnographic research methods to explore the roles and experiences of children in Africa and the strategies they develop to cope with difficult circumstances. Child-headed households, children orphaned by AIDS in North-Central Namibia, and perceptions of kinship and family history among Chagossian children in Mauritius are some of the subjects considered. The book is illustrated with b&w photos and drawings by children. Evers is affiliated with the department of social and cultural anthropology at VU University Amsterdam. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Sandra J.T.M. Evers, Ph.D. (Amsterdam 2001) is associate professor and senior researcher at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, VU University Amsterdam. She specializes in Africa and South West Indian Ocean studies. Dr Evers’ research covers the anthropology of children, migration, slavery, memory and cognition, natural resource management, and sustainable development.Catrien Notermans, Ph.D. (Nijmegen 1999) is an anthropologist working as a senior researcher and lecturer at the Department of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Radboud University Nijmegen. Her fields of interest include religion (African Christianity, pilgrimage, witchcraft, Hinduism, material religion) and kinship (polygyny, fosterage, transnational kin networks).Erik van Ommering is a PhD candidate at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, VU University Amsterdam, where he attained his M.Sc. in 2007. His research focuses on children’s experiences of primary education in settings of violent conflict. The regional focus of his study is Lebanon.