'An African way of doing things': reproducing gender and generation

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Periodical article

Title:	'An African way of doing things': reproducing gender and generation
Author:	Mkhwanazi, Nolwazi
Year:	2014
Periodical:	Anthropology Southern Africa (ISSN 2332-3264)
Volume:	37
Pages:	107-118
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	townships child care adolescents pregnancy
Abstract:	In this article the author draws on ethnographic research conducted in the townships of Nyanga East and Khayelitsha, South Africa, to suggest a link between normative ideals about the relations between children and adults, normative practises around the care of children, and the high rates of early child bearing. She argues that the attempt to uphold these ideals is what creates fertile ground for the occurrence of a pregnancy during the teenage years. Her investigation of the occurrence and management of teenage pregnancy draws attention to a marked and persistent discrepancy between normative ideals and practices. It suggests that the normative practices around the management of a teenage pregnancy and the care of children that have emerged contribute to the reproduction of a larger social system that allows for a pregnant teenager's successful moral transition to motherhood in the township. Bibliogr., notes, sum. [Journal abstract]