Children in the Archives

Epistolary Evidence, Youth Agency, and the Social Meanings of “Coming of Age” in Interwar Nyasaland

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6080368
AutoresC J Lee (0000-0001-5612-5927, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, autor correspondente)
Ano2010
Volume35
Fascículo1
Páginas25-47
Data de publicação2010-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Family History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0363-1990 • E-ISSN: 1552-5473
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0363199009348300
PMID20099403
OpenAlexW2019853411
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas36

This study looks at multiracial boys and girls, often referred to as “half castes,” in Nyasaland. It reconstructs the status and agency of these children by assessing the ways in which they maneuvered local African and European communities to explore opportunities that would improve their individual situations. At times they took initiative by writing letters to the Nyasaland administration for financial support. Furthermore, state responses to these letters provide evidence of how the state perceived these children, particularly the moral responsibility felt given that their fathers were often white settlers and at times colonial officials. This article also discusses the general challenges and opportunities that childhood experiences raise, with specific attention to the kind of subaltern social knowledge that such evidence presents—knowledge that challenges conventional visions of what constitutes history and who makes it

Agency (philosophy · Colonialism · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · Subaltern · Vision · White (mutation · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Law · South African History and Culture