Visual and textual representations of childhood by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 1999 to 2003

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dc.contributor.authorStevens, Allisonen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-12-31T19:33:54Z
dc.date.available2014-12-31T19:33:54Z
dc.date.issued2004en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 88-96).en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThe objective of this paper is to investigate how UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund) represents the notion of childhood. A content analysis of 690 photographs as well as an in-depth textual analysis of the most authoritative publications is conducted to decode childhood representations. The methodological approaches are both quantitative (content analysis) and qualitative (textual analysis). The photographic and publications data are obtained from the UNICEF website for the period 1999 to 2003. Inscribed in the visual images are historical western notions of childhood as a blissful stage of life in which passivity and vulnerability are featured. These inscriptions are rooted in technologies of scientific knowledge and myths, which explains therefore their persuasiveness. As regards arguments that development institutions export ideal notions of childhood specific only to western societies, the paper finds that while such ideals certainly are present in the representations, the proper ideal is by no means the sole embodiment of exported notions. Over the last five years, UNICEF has begun to incorporate new views of children as socially competent, valuable social actors in their own right (a school of thought that has begun to be theorised, most notably, by the 'New Sociology of Childhood'). However, the ideas of children as social actors attains a particular meaning in UNICEF texts. Many instances of children's strength and resiliency in third worlds are not represented as constitutive of what the idea of child agency means.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationStevens, A. (2004). <i>Visual and textual representations of childhood by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 1999 to 2003</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Social Development. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10710en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationStevens, Allison. <i>"Visual and textual representations of childhood by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 1999 to 2003."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Social Development, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10710en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationStevens, A. 2004. Visual and textual representations of childhood by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 1999 to 2003. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Stevens, Allison AB - The objective of this paper is to investigate how UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund) represents the notion of childhood. A content analysis of 690 photographs as well as an in-depth textual analysis of the most authoritative publications is conducted to decode childhood representations. The methodological approaches are both quantitative (content analysis) and qualitative (textual analysis). The photographic and publications data are obtained from the UNICEF website for the period 1999 to 2003. Inscribed in the visual images are historical western notions of childhood as a blissful stage of life in which passivity and vulnerability are featured. These inscriptions are rooted in technologies of scientific knowledge and myths, which explains therefore their persuasiveness. As regards arguments that development institutions export ideal notions of childhood specific only to western societies, the paper finds that while such ideals certainly are present in the representations, the proper ideal is by no means the sole embodiment of exported notions. Over the last five years, UNICEF has begun to incorporate new views of children as socially competent, valuable social actors in their own right (a school of thought that has begun to be theorised, most notably, by the 'New Sociology of Childhood'). However, the ideas of children as social actors attains a particular meaning in UNICEF texts. Many instances of children's strength and resiliency in third worlds are not represented as constitutive of what the idea of child agency means. DA - 2004 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2004 T1 - Visual and textual representations of childhood by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 1999 to 2003 TI - Visual and textual representations of childhood by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 1999 to 2003 UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10710 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/10710
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationStevens A. Visual and textual representations of childhood by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 1999 to 2003. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Social Development, 2004 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10710en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Social Developmenten_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherDevelopment Studies and Social Transformationen_ZA
dc.titleVisual and textual representations of childhood by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 1999 to 2003en_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMPhilen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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