International Institute of Social Studies

(Kristen) K.E. Cheney

(Kristen) K.E. Cheney
Associate Professor Children & Youth Studies International Institute of Social Studies (ISS)
Location
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Room
I 4-11
Telephone
+31 70 4260575
Email
cheney@iss.nl

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Profile

Dr. Cheney’s research deals with children’s survival strategies amidst difficult circumstances and the politics of humanitarian intervention for such children, mainly in Eastern and Southern Africa. Her first book, Pillars of the Nation: Child Citizens and Ugandan National Development (2007), looks broadly at the social intersections of childhood and nationhood in international development, while her new book, Crying for Our Elders: African Orphanhood in the Age of HIV/AIDS (2017, University of Chicago Press) draws on youth participatory ethnographic research with orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) to examine issues of social exclusion, policy, and protection for children affected by HIV/AIDS.

Her most recent research…

Dr. Cheney’s research deals with children’s survival strategies amidst difficult circumstances and the politics of humanitarian intervention for such children, mainly in Eastern and Southern Africa. Her first book, Pillars of the Nation: Child Citizens and Ugandan National Development (2007), looks broadly at the social intersections of childhood and nationhood in international development, while her new book, Crying for Our Elders: African Orphanhood in the Age of HIV/AIDS (2017, University of Chicago Press) draws on youth participatory ethnographic research with orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) to examine issues of social exclusion, policy, and protection for children affected by HIV/AIDS.

Her most recent research examines the impact of the global 'orphan industrial complex' -- including orphan tourism, childcare institutions, and intercountry adoption practices-- on child protection in developing countries. She has also led several studies using youth participatory research to explore issues of youth sexual and reproductive health. 

From 2007-13, Dr. Cheney served as co-founder and advisory board chair for the American Anthropological Association’s Anthropology of Children & Youth Interest Group. She is currently on the editorial board of the journal Childhood, a member of the CABA Working Group Netherlands, and ISS representative to the European Network of Masters in Children’s Rights (ENMCR) and Share-Net NL (Netherlands Network on Sexual and Reproductive Health and AIDS).

Dr. Cheney has participated in research, consultancy, and capacity-building projects in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East on issues from children’s rights to youth sexual and reproductive health. Her work takes an explicitly child-centered approach that considers how children experience and respond to the various hegemonic institutional and structural elements of global and local development practices. 

      • K.E. Cheney (2017). Crying for our elders: African orphanhood in the age of HIV and AIDS. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press
      • K.E. Cheney (2007). Pillars of the Nation: Child Citizens and Ugandan National Development. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press

      • K.E. Cheney (2019). Anthropology and the Politics of Childhood in Africa. In R.R. Grinker, S.C. Lubkemann & C. Steiner (Eds.), Companion to the Anthropology of Africa (Wiley Blackwell Companions to Anthropology) (pp. 307-322). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell
      • K.E. Cheney (2018). The making of 'orphans': How the 'orphan rescue' movement is transforming family and jeopardizing child wellbeing in Uganda. In M.R.T. de Guzman, J. Brown & C. Pope Edwards (Eds.), Parenting From Afar and the Reconfiguration of Family Across Distance (pp. 133-149). Oxford: Oxford University Press
      • K.E. Cheney (2018). Decolonizing Childhood Studies: Overcoming Patriarchy and Prejudice in Child-related Research and Practice. In S. Spyrou, R. Rosen & D.T. Cook (Eds.), Reimagining Childhood Studies (pp. 91-104). London: Bloomsbury
      • K.E. Cheney (2018). International commercial surrogacy: Beyond feminist conundrums and the child as product. In R. Rosen & K. Twamley (Eds.), Feminism and the Politics of Childhood: Friends or Foes? (pp. 155-171) London: UCL Press
      • K.E. Cheney (2016). Blood always finds a way home: AIDS orphanhood and the transformation of kinship, fosterage, and children’s circulation strategies in Uganda. In C. Hunner-Kreisel & S. Bohne (Eds.), Childhood, Youth and Migration: Connecting Global and Local Perspectives (Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research, 12) (pp. 245-259). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing
      • K.E. Cheney & K.S. Rotabi (2015). Addicted to Orphans: how the orphan industrial complex jeopardizes child protection. In K. Horschelmann & C. Harker (Eds.), Geographies of Children and Young People. Springer
      • K.E. Cheney (2014). Conflicting protectionist and participation models of children’s rights: Their consequences for Uganda’s orphans and vulnerable children. In A. Twum-Danso Imoh & N. Ansell (Eds.), Children's lives in an era of childrens rights : the progress of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Africa (Routledge Research in Human Rights Law) (pp. 17-33). New York: Routledge
      • K.E. Cheney (2013). Malik and His Three Mothers: AIDS Orphans¿ Survival Strategies and How Children¿s Rights Translations Hinder Them. In K. Hanson & O. Nieuwenhuys (Eds.), Reconceptualizing Children's Rights in International Development: : Living Rights, Social Justice, Translations (pp. 152-172). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
      • K.E. Cheney (2012). Seen but not Heard: African Orphanhood as Lived Experience. In M.O. Ensor (Ed.), African Childhoods: Education, Development, Peacebuilding, and the Youngest Continent (pp. 95-108). New York: Palgrave Macmillan
      • K.E. Cheney (2011). Ethnographic research with young people on AIDS orphans¿ survival strategies in Uganda. In P. Alderson & V. Morrow (Eds.), The Ethics of Research with Children and Young People : A Practical Handbook (pp. 61-61). London: Sage
      • K.E. Cheney (2008). Forced military conscription. In C.M. Renzetti & J.L. Edleson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of interpersonal violence. Los Angeles: Sage publishers

      • K.E. Cheney (2013). Youth and the City in the Global South [Bespreking van het boek Youth and the City in the Global South]. ETHNOS, 78(4), 569-570.

      • K.E. Cheney (2014). Executive Summary of the International Forum on Intercountry Adoption and Global Surrogacy. (Preprints, ISS working papers. General series, no 596). The Hague: International Institute of Social Studies

      • K.E. Cheney (2007). Global Rights Discourse, National Developments, and Local Childhoods: Dilemmas of Childhood and Nationhood in Uganda, East Africa. In R. Findlay & S. Salbayre (Eds.), Histoires d’enfant, histoires d’enfance, Tome I: Civilisation (GRAAT No. 36, June 2007) Histoire de l' Education. Tours, France: Presses Universitaires François Rabelais

        • K.E. Cheney (2018, november 20). Let’s Make Families Stronger, Not ‘Better’ Orphanages, for Children. Humanity House, Hague Talks: Is There Justice for Children whose Rights have been Violated?.
        • L.A. Okwany, K.E. Cheney & A. Kamusiime (2018, september 18). Adolescent Participatory Research: A Proactive Approach to Violence affecting Young People. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, VAC Conference - Children and Youth facing Violence in Africa: What do we know? What can we do?.
        • K.E. Cheney & L.A. Okwany (2018, september 2). Overcoming the Adult Gaze in Participatory Research with Young People. University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Contemporary Childhood Conference - Young Citizens and Society: Fostering Civic Participation.

        • K.E. Cheney & A. Sinervo (2015, november 17). Children as objects of humanitarian intervention: NGO commodification of disadvantaged childhoods. Denver, CO, USA, American Anthropological Association NGO and Nonprofit Interest Group conference “NGO-graphies”.
        • K.E. Cheney & A. Okwany (2015, juni 9). Promoting Youth-Led Participatory Research: overcoming presumptions and prejudices. European University, Nicosia, Cyprus, 3rd international conference of the International Childhood and Youth Research Network.
        • K.E. Cheney (2015, november 22). “Feeling 'Blue': exploring the influence of pornography and sexualized media on young people's sexual identity formation in eastern Africa”. Denver, CO, USA, American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting.
        • K.E. Cheney (2014, april 10). Waithood and Restricted Futures: focusing on the involvement of youth in the development of SRHR programmes. ISS, The Hague, Netherlands:, Partos Symposium on Youth Research and Development.
        • K.E. Cheney (2015, april 20). Feeling 'Blue': exploring the influence of pornography and sexualised media on young people's sexual identity formation in Eastern Africa. University of Groningen, Netherlands, Population Policies and Interventions Masters course.
        • K.E. Cheney (2015, november 4). ‘Feeling Blue’: studying the effects of children’s exposure to pornography and other sexually explicit media. Harare, Zimbabwe, Child Sensitive Social Policies conference, ‘Tracking child rights in Africa through research’.
        • K.E. Cheney (2014, februari 21). 'Addicted to Orphans': Donor Influence in Uganda's Child Protection System. ISHS, University of Liège, Belgium, Young Lives and Globalization in Africa.
        • K.E. Cheney (2014, februari 14). Blood Binds: confronting the moral and political economies of orphanhood and international adoption in Uganda. Berlin, Germany, Doing Politics – Making Kinship: Back towards a Future Anthropology of Social Organisation and Belonging.
        • K.E. Cheney (2014, augustus 22). ‘Addicted to Orphans’: The Orphan Industrial Complex and Donor Influence in Uganda’s Child Protection System. National University, Galway, Ireland, Keynote Speaker for Symposium on 'Children, Young People and Development'.
        • K.E. Cheney (2014, september 16). Manning Up Women or Resisting Pornification? Interrogating Daily Sexism and Misogyny. University of Amsterdam, Netherlands:, Discussant for IS Academie Education and International Development lecture series event.
        • K.E. Cheney (2014, november 21). Why does the post-2015 development agenda need to pay more attention to children’s issues? University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, International Development Studies Lecture Series.
        • K.E. Cheney (2013, november 20). Recontextualizing the NGO as Fieldsite: Questions from the Field [Roundtable]. Chicago, IL, The Future of NGO Studies conference.
        • K.E. CheneyRendering Invisible Children Visible: New Media, 'Spectacular Humanitarianism', and the Problem with Youth Activism in Kony 2012. Chicago, IL, USA, American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting.
        • K.E. Cheney (2013, april 5). Theorizing intercountry adoption in the global economy of childhood. San Diego, CA, USA, Society for Psychological Anthropology/Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group joint meeting.
        • K.E. Cheney (2013, november 7). ‘Baby come back’: inter-country adoption, globalization, and crises of social reproduction. Bilbao, Spain, 4th International Conference on Adoption Research / ICAR4.
        • K.E. Cheney & L.A. Okwany (2013, juni 10). Neocolonialism and Homophobia in Uganda. ISS, The Hague, Netherlands, Development Research Seminar/Sexuality Research Initiative series.
        • K.E. CheneyA Multidisciplinary Approach: Anthropological Perspectives. Antwerp, Belgium, Human Rights for Development (HR4DEV) international training programme 2013.
        • K.E. CheneySeen but Not Heard: African Orphanhood as Lived Experience. San Francisco, CA, USA, American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting.
        • K.E. CheneyAdoption and the Contradictory Significance of ‘Blood’ in the Era of AIDS Orphanhood. Center for the Study of Childhood and Youth, University of Sheffield, UK, Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth 4th International Conference, ‘Celebrating Childhood Diversity’.
        • K.E. CheneyChildren as ethnographers: Reflections on the importance of participatory research in assessing orphans’ needs. KIT, Bhubaneswar, India, International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences Inter-Congress on ‘Children and Youth in a Changing World’.
        • K.E. Cheney (2012, augustus 28). ‘Giving Them a Better Life’?: Poverty, Inequality, and the Circulation of Children in Difficult Circumstances. University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, Children and Youth Studies program lecture.
        • K.E. Cheney“Blood Always Finds a Way Home": AIDS Orphanhood and the Transformation of Kinship, Fosterage, and Children’s Circulation Strategies in Uganda. The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK, AEGIS Thematic Workshop: Children & Migration in Africa: an Interdisciplinary Perspective.
        • K.E. CheneyLocating Neocolonialism, ‘Tradition’, and Human Rights in Uganda’s ‘Gay Death Penalty’. Montreal, Canada, American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting.
        • K.E. CheneyRethinking Humanitarianism Involving Children. Charleston, SC, USA, American Anthropological Association Childhood Interest Group (AAACIG) joint meeting with the Society for Cross-Cultural Research (SCCR).
        • K.E. CheneyHIV/AIDS Orphanhood, Vulnerability, and the Conundrum of Humanitarian Intervention in Africa. Liege, Belgium, Towards an Anthropology of Childhood and Children conference.
        • K.E. Cheney (2011, juni 9). Locating Neocolonialism, ‘Tradition’, and Human Rights in Uganda’s ‘Gay Death Penalty’. Leiden University, Netherlands, African Studies Center Seminar.
        • K.E. Cheney (2011, april 4). Killing Them Softly? Conflicting Protectionist and Empowerment Models of Children’s Rights and their Consequences for African AIDS Orphans. New York, NY, USA, Columbia University Human Rights Seminar.
        • K.E. CheneyWhose ‘Best Interests?’ Revisiting African Orphan Circulation and Children’s Rights in the Age of HIV/AIDS. New Orleans, LA, USA, American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting.
        • K.E. CheneyChildren as Ethnographers of Childhood: the benefits of participatory research with African AIDS orphans. VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, The Doors of Perception: Viewing Anthropology through the Eyes of Children conference.

      • K.E. Cheney & L.A. Okwany (Eds.). (2017) Childhood in Africa, 4 (1).
      • K.E. Cheney (Ed.). (2015) AnthropoChildren: Perspectives ethnographiques sur les enfants et l’enfance.
      • K.E. Cheney (Ed.). (2015) Global Studies of Childhood, 5(2).
      • K.E. Cheney (Ed.). (2014) Childhood-A Global Journal of Child Research.

      • K.E. Cheney (2016). The making of 'orphans': How the adoption movement is transforming family and jeopardizing child wellbeing in Uganda. 5th International Conference on Adoption Research (ICAR5): Auckland, New Zealand (2016, januari 7 - 2016, januari 11).
      • K.E. Cheney (2014). Expert Meeting on Comprehensive Sexuality Education.
      • K.E. Cheney (2014). Organizer, International Forum on Intercountry Adoption and Global Surrogacy.
      • K.E. Cheney (2013). AIDS Orphanhood and the Transformation of Kinship, Fosterage, and Children’s Circulation Strategies in Uganda. International Conference on Children and Migration: Gendered and Generational Perspectives: University of Vechta, Germany (2013, december 5 - 2013, december 6).
      • K.E. Cheney (2013). 'Baby Come Back': Child Circulation, Crises of Social Reproduction, and the Politica. IIPPE - International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy 4th Annual Conference in Political Economy: The Hague, Netherlands (2013, juli 9 - 2013, juli 11).

      • K.E. Cheney (Interview) (2015, okt 18). De Bulgaarse adoptie-industrie. [televisie-uitzending]. In Brandpunt Reporter. The Hague: KRO. http://www.npo.nl/brandpunt-reporter/18-10-2015/KN_1673048

  • 3105 Research Paper Preparation

    Title
    3105 Research Paper Preparation
    Year
    2018

    4154 Critical Social Policy

    Title
    4154 Critical Social Policy
    Year
    2018

    4218 Children and Youth Studies

    Title
    4218 Children and Youth Studies
    Year
    2018

    4394 SPD: Working towards the RP

    Title
    4394 SPD: Working towards the RP
    Year
    2018

    5401 Research Paper

    Title
    5401 Research Paper
    Year
    2018

    Board of Examiners

    Title
    Board of Examiners
    Year
    2018

    Child and Youth Studies in Development

    Title
    Child and Youth Studies in Development
    Year
    2018

    Major SPD

    Title
    Major SPD
    Year
    2018

    General Information

    Title
    General Information
    Year
    2018

  • Childhood-A Global Journal of Child Research

    Role
    Editor
    Start date approval
    May/2014

  • Associate Professor Children & Youth Studies

    University
    Erasmus University Rotterdam
    School
    International Institute of Social Studies (ISS)
    Country
    Nederland
    Telephone
    +31 70 4260575

  • American Anthropological Association Anthropology of Children & Youth Interest Group

    Additional Information
    http://acyig.americananthro.org/
    Role
    Co-founder and Convener
    Start date approval
    Jun/2007
    End date approval
    Dec/2013

Address

Visiting address

Kortenaerkade 12 2518 AX 's-Gravenhage

Postal address

Postbus 29776 2502 LT 's-Gravenhage

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