Vietnam's Children in a Changing World

Rachel Burr

Published by Rutgers University Press 2006

Vietnam's Children in a Changing World

Rachel Burr

In the series Rutgers Series in Childhood Studies

https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813539898

Overview
Contents

About this book

Like the majority of children living in the global South today, a large number of Vietnamese youths work to help support their families. International human rights organizations have focused on these children, seeking to bring their lives into line with an understanding of childhood that is generally accepted in the developed world.

In this ethnographic study, Rachel Burr draws on her daily observations of working children in Hanoi and argues that these youngsters are misunderstood by the majority of agencies that seek to help them. Most aid programs embrace a model of childhood that is based on Western notions of individualism and bountiful resources. They further assume that this model is universally applicable even in cultures that advocate a collective sense of self and in countries that do not share the same economic advantages.

Burr presents the voices and experiences of Vietnamese children in the streets, in a reform school, and in an orphanage to show that workable solutions have become lost within the rhetoric propagated by aid organizations. The reality of providing primary education or adequate healthcare for all children, for instance, does not stand a chance of being achieved until adequate resources are put in place. Yet, organizations preoccupied with the child rights agenda are failing to acknowledge the distorted global distribution of wealth in favor of Western nations.

Offering a unique, firsthand look at the experiences of children in contemporary Vietnam, this book also provides a broad analysis of how internationally led human rights agendas are often received at the local level.

Author information

Rachel Burr is an associate lecturer at the Open University in the United Kingdom.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
One. What Is Childhood? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Two. Background to Vietnam Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
Three. Child Rights and the International Aid Community Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
Four. Why Children Work Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
Five. Children on the Streets Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
Six. Life in a Reform School Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
Seven. Childhood without Discrimination Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
Eight. Institutional Life and Children’s Coping Strategies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
Nine. Children on the Global Margins? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
About the Author Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249