Conflict and Parenting in Burundi

In this chapter Lidewyde Berckmoes explores how conflict as a contextual stressor interacts with parenting in Burundi, a country affected by repeated outbreaks of mass violence since independence. Interested in understanding how these conflict experiences inform cultural understandings of what good parenting amounts to and how parenting may seek to prepare next generations for better futures, Berckmoes conducted ethnographic research in 2014 and 2015 in Bujumbura, Burundi. Findings show how the enduring effects of conflict lead many parents to feel unable to pursue their culturally desired parenting goals, which largely continue to be framed with reference to goals and practices of precolonial, rural society.

This book chapter appeared in 'Parenting Across Cultures Childrearing, Motherhood and Fatherhood in Non-Western Cultures' edited by Helaine Selin, second edition (2022). Berlin: Springer. ISBN: 978-3-031-15359-4.