The socio-ecology of childcare in Apartheid South Africa: Retrospective experiences of a sample of caregivers

Abstract

We sought to retrospectively understand current caregivers’ childhood experiences of apartheid in South Africa. A sample of eight caregivers (black = 3, white = 2, mixed race = 3; age range = 29 to 55 years) took part in the study. We asked them to reflect on what it was to care for and to be a child in the apartheid era. We also asked them about the likely effects on child development and family well-being. Thematic analysis of the data suggested socio-ecologies of child and family to range from pathology and intergenerational trauma, through to indifference and reconcilement of historical traumas. Effects are likely to be intergenerational portending residual effects of apartheid among today’s child caregivers in post-colonial South Africa.