Competing meanings of childhood and the social construction of child sexual abuse in the Caribbean
Date
2013
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Childhood: A journal of global child research
Abstract
This article examines the dynamic interplay between competing meanings of childhood
and the social construction of sexual abuse in the Caribbean. Drawing on qualitative
data from a study undertaken in six Caribbean countries, the article suggests that
Caribbean childhoods are neither wholly global nor local but hybrid creations of the
region’s complex historical, social and cultural specificities, real or imagined. As
childhood is a concept that lies at the intersection of multiple frames of reference,
context-specific definitions of childhood – what it means to be a child – have a direct
impact on the way in which the issue of child sexual abuse is constructed and
understood.
Description
item.page.type
Article
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Keywords
social construction, child sexual abuse, Caribbean childhoods, qualitative research
Citation
Pasura, D., Jones, A., Hafner, J. A., Maharaj, P. E., Nathaniel¬-DeCaires, K., & Johnson, E. J. (2013). Competing meanings of childhood and the social construction of child sexual abuse in the Caribbean. Childhood: A journal of global child research, 20 (2),200¬-214