Growing up in rural Malawi: dilemmas of childhood

Kholowa, Foster and Ellis, Sue; Clark, Margaret and Tucker, Stanley, eds. (2010) Growing up in rural Malawi: dilemmas of childhood. In: Early Childhoods In A Changing World. Trentham Books, Stoke-on-Trent, pp. 67-76. ISBN 9781858564739

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Abstract

Rural Malawi is a place where families are generally poor socio-economically. In this chapter we discuss childhood development in a typical Malawian rural setting by focusing on the overall challenges facing families with young children, and we consider how families are coping. Such challenges involve social structures, community involvement, preparation for schooling, and home versus school literacy and numeracy development for children. We argue that unless these key issues are addressed, rural children will continue to face dilemmas in their development and in the long run, this will limit their future opportunities for personal development and participation in the social and economic development of Malawi.