A Violent Heritage: Non-Governmental Organizations as an Arena for the Reproduction of Childhood Violence in the Context of HIV/AIDS

Abstract

This article used ethnographic fieldwork to explore the overt and covert patterns of childhood violence experienced in a community on the north of Durban, South Africa. Participants included nine female teachers, two hundred pre-school children (age range 6 months to 6 years), ten male and 12 female secondary school children. Twenty adult members of the community were also surveyed. Participant observation, unstructured and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data on the inter-play between violent macro structural forces and everyday violence which children experience. Findings suggest that where everyday macro, societal violence and micro familial and community-based violence blend, the violence-situation is exacerbated.