Abstract
In this chapter I explore how conflict as a contextual stressor interacts with parenting in Burundi, a country affected by repeated outbreaks of mass violence since Independence. Interested in understanding how these conflict experiences inform cultural understandings of what good parenting amounts to and how parenting may seek to prepare next generations for better futures, I conducted ethnographic research in 2014 and 2015 in Bujumbura, Burundi. Findings show how the enduring effects of conflict lead many parents to feel unable to pursue their culturally desired parenting goals, which largely continue to be framed with reference to goals and practices of precolonial, rural society. Parents describe current family and parenting practices in terms of “adaptation” to postwar poverty and hostility. Much to parents’ unease, however, these adaptations may augment experiences of abandonment and neglect, especially among the most vulnerable children.
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Acknowledgments
Fieldwork for this study was conducted with funding from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the UNICEF Peacebuilding, Education and Advocacy program in Burundi (2013–2016), and analysis and writing were done at the University of Amsterdam (2014–2016) and the African Studies Centre Leiden (2021).
I would like to express special thanks to my research assistant Aline Ndayisasiriye, who did a wonderful job during the fieldwork for this study in 2014 and 2015. I also express thanks to Prof. dr. Ria Reis who provided feedback on an early draft of this chapter.
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Berckmoes, L.H. (2022). Conflict and Parenting in Burundi. In: Selin, H. (eds) Parenting Across Cultures. Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15359-4_15
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