Is the Mzungu phenomenon a help or hinderance?

Abstract

The deprivation, adversity, and lack of protection for children on the streets of urban Uganda are well known; as is the reality that most of their support is facilitated by Western Missionary operated, non-government organisations (NGOs). However, their approach is problematised as ineffective, oppressive, and colonial. Yet there is a dearth of research from the children’s perspectives, capturing the meaning of such actors’ interventions within their lifeworld’s, and no such literature within the Ugandan context. Therefore, this case study focuses on the ‘Mzungu Phenomenon’, a theme unearthed from critical hermeneutic analyses of the life stories of 30 former street children within an orphanage in Kampala, Uganda. The Mzungu phenomenon refers to the meaning and influence of the Western Missionaries and volunteers that feature within the children’s experiences, captured within their narratives. Underpinned by Ricœur’s narrative philosophy, this study illuminates and problematises the way in which Western NGO actors feature within the children’s lifeworld’s, and the wider ramifications from postcolonial, and postcolonial feminist theoretical perspectives. This includes the perpetuation of colonial legacies, ideologies, and praxis, that contribute to disempowerment for children, their families, and their communities, and the dual oppression of women. Therefore, this piece argues that despite a need to enhance child protection measures in Uganda, the current approaches that do not align with national and international rights-based policies must be further critically examined, challenged, and reformed, to ensure the wellbeing of the children.

Keywords: {'name': 'Uganda'}, {'name': 'Street Children'}, {'name': 'Orphans'}, {'name': 'Cross-cultural Research'}, {'name': 'Social Research'}, {'name': 'Qualitative Research'}, {'name': 'Narrative Research'}, {'name': 'Empowerment'}, {'name': 'Critical Research'}, {'name': 'Psychosocial Wellbeing'}, {'name': 'Critical Hermeneutics'}

Authors & affiliations

Elle Bunyan
Affiliation not supplied

Deposited references

Supplied references, not a list of publications citing this article.

DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104920

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2017.12.006

DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2017.1298150

Beyene, Y., & Berhane, Y. (2017). Health and social problems of street children. The Ethiopian Journal of Health Development, 12(1). https://www.ejhd.org/index.php/ejhd/article/view/935

DOI: 10.4324/9780203820551

DOI: 10.1186/s12939-017-0635-6

DOI: 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

DOI: 10.1080/2159676X.2019.1628806

DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105222

Bunyan, E. (2021). Can I Tell You My Story? The Story Beyond the Stories: An Exploration into The Use and Value of Autoethnography Within Cross-Cultural Qualitative Research in Uganda, A Postcolonial Approach. International Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Science, 02(07), 12–25. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.5201625

Bunyan, E. (2021). Can I Tell you My Story? Adversity and Agency among Ugandan Orphans and Street Children in Kampala. Manuscript In Preparation

Busacchi, V. (2016). The Ricøeurian Way: Towards A Critical Hermeneutics for the Human and Social Sciences.

DOI: 10.2307/2692957

DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-6712.2007.00566.x

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-4585-98-9_3-1

DOI: 10.1186/s12887-018-1267-8

DOI: 10.4324/9781315456539

Crotty, M. (1998). The foundations of social research: Meaning and perspective in the research process. London: Sage Publications.

DOI: 10.4081/jphia.2015.566

DOI: 10.1080/09612025.2016.1250528

Denzin, N., & Lincoln, Y. (2005). The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research.

De Wet, L. (2016) Silencing the Subaltern – A Postcolonial Critique of NGO-run Orphanages in Jinja, Uganda. Lund University, Lund, Sweden, accessed July 21 2021, <https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/search/publication/8881816>

DOI: 10.18357/ijcyfs91201818120

Fallon, A. (2014). The Guardian. Retrieved from ‘Uganda’s street children: “the police beat us with canes. We live badly’”. Available online at: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jul/21/uganda- streetchildren- homeless-police (accessed 1/4/2021).

Flaherty, J. (2016). No More Heroes: Grassroots Challenges to the Savior Mentality. Chico, CA: AK Press.

Gadamer, H. (1976). Philosophical hermeneutics (D. Linge, Trans). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

DOI: 10.1046/j.1440-1800.2000.00062.x

DOI: 10.2167/jost725.0

Gumisiriza, P. (2021). Street Vending in Kampala: From Corruption to Crisis. African Studies Quarterly, 20, 81–100.

Hansson, D. (2003). 'Strolling' as a gendered experience: a feminist analysis of young females in Cape town. Children, Youth and Environments, 13 (1):1-28.

DOI: 10.1075/ni.14.1.01jos

DOI: 10.1075/ni.16.1.03jos

DOI: 10.5897/JASD2018.0523

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-48535-5_10

DOI: 10.11604/pamj.supp.2020.35.2.24664

DOI: 10.30845/ijhss.v9n8p21

DOI: 10.1093/fmls/cqv106

Mandalazi, P., Banda, C., & Umar, E. (2013). Street children’s vulnerability to HIV and sexually transmitted infections in Malawian cities. Malawi Medical Journal?: The Journal of Medical Association of Malawi, 25(1), 1–4. PubMed.

Marus, E., Epiphany, O. P., Ejang, M., Ogwel, B. P., & Mwosi, F. (2019). Financial accessibility and poverty reduction in Northern Uganda, Lango Sub-Region. International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research, 07(02), 271–281. http://137.63.168.4/handle/20.500.12260/306

Minha, T. T. (1989). Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism. Indiana University Press.

DOI: 10.1111/nup.12254

DOI: 10.1177/160940690600500405

DOI: 10.1057/fr.1988.42

DOI: 10.1007/s13178-021-00584-9

Mulumba, M., Ruano, A., & Perehudoff, K. (2021). J U N E 2 0 2 1 Decolonizing Health Governance: A Uganda Case Study on the Influence of Political History on Community Participation. Health and Human Rights, 23, 259.

DOI: 10.1007/s40609-019-00140-9

Olson, J. S., & Shadle, R. (1996). Historical dictionary of the British empire. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.

Oy?wùmí, O. (1997). The Invention of Women (NED-New edition). University of Minnesota Press; JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctttt0vh

DOI: 10.1080/13688790.2016.1317388

Pathak, A. (2010). Opening My Voice, Claiming My Space: Theorizing the Possibilities of Postcolonial Approaches to Autoethnography. Journal of Research Practice, 6.

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169721

Riley, M. (2012). Baseline Study: The state of Institutional Care in Uganda. Kampala: Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social development. Retrieved 30 July, 2021 from http://www.alternative-care-uganda.org/resources.html

DOI: 10.5840/philtoday197317233

Ricœur, P. (1976). Interpretation theory: Discourse and the surplus of meaning (5th ed.). Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press.

DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781316534984

Ricœur, P. (1984). Time and narrative. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Ricœur, P. (1992). Oneself as Another. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.

DOI: 10.1177/0725513611411682

DOI: 10.1007/s11019-021-10020-9

DOI: 10.5840/philosophin200314275

DOI: 10.1177/160940690900800401

DOI: 10.4135/9781526430212.n12

DOI: 10.1177/1532708617735133

Uganda Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development. (2011). National strategic programme plan of interventions for orphans and other vulnerable children 2011/12-2015/6. Kampala: MGLSD. http://www.unicef.org/uganda/Final_Printed_OVC_Strategic_Plan_Uganda_-NSPPI_2.pdf. Accessed 28 Jul 2021.

Uganda Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development. (2012). National alternative care

framework. Kampala: MGLSD. http://www.alternative-care-uganda.org/alternative-care-framework.

html. Accessed 30 Jul 2021.

The United Nations. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child. Treaty Series, 1577, 3.

United Nations Population Fund. (2017). Reproductive Health and Rights in

the age of inequality. The state of the World’s Population Report 2017. https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/sowp/downloads/UNFPA_PUB_2017_EN_SWOP.pdf

DOI: 10.1080/17450128.2014.934750

World Bank. (2016). Global Monitoring Report. Retrieved from

http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/global-monitoring-report

DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2003.09.005

DOI: 10.1080/03626784.1997.11075488