Books

Young Families: Gender, Sexuality and Care draws together unique and compelling essays about the contexts of early childbearing, a topic that is now taken for granted. It draws on empirical data, multi-level approaches and inter-disciplinary perspectives on the dynamics that underpin young people’s experiences of being pregnant, having a child and caring for the child.

The book explores the contexts in which young families are constituted and shaped along with the kinds of social relationships and communities of care that early childbearing creates (or in some instances destroys). It shows the entanglement of gender, sexuality, race, age and class in the formation of young families and its effects on caring practices.

This book draws together unique and compelling accounts that address a gap in the existing literature on families in South Africa while also providing an understanding of the diversity of young South African families. Young Families will be of interest and of benefit to those in the fields of Women and Gender studies, Anthropology, Education, Sociology, History and Demography.

Based on a review of existing research plus a national study on the status of youth in the country, this report relates the main findings of the study to the current policy environment and to attempt, particularly by government and governments-supported bodies, to transform policy into practice. It is, therefore, both a report of research carried out, and a record of, and commentary on, the practice of youth development as it is evolving in contemporary South Africa with its strengths and weaknesses, achievements and short comings.

The report intents to make a case, rather than simply describes a situation, and comes from within the youth development community. In a field where pessimism is rife, it makes no apologies for highlighting what appear to be successful or potentially successful youth policies, not with the intention of claiming easy victories where reflection and self-criticism may be more appropriate, but rather to identify what is working and to encourage more efforts along similar lines.