Political repression and children in South Africa: The social construction of damaging effects

This article discusses some dilemmas facing mental health and social service workers studying and providing services for children affected by political repression in South Africa. We argue that it is almost inevitable that progressive care providers are affected by an image of childhood as one of passive innocence and vulnerability, an image which is both outmoded in terms of modern developmental psychology and potentially destructive if the aim of intervention is empowerment. Practical experience with children affected by repression has led us to question commonly held views on the nature of psychological damage, and to recognise that our views on stress tend to be class-bound. Questions of partiality and credibility affect both practical work and the way that social service workers conceive of their role. Without an approach to the understanding of repression which takes account of underlying ideological factors, the social construction of illness and symptoms, and the historical antecedents of current abuses of children in South Africa, we are unable adequately to situate and evaluate critically the work we are doing. Even the focus on children as particular victims of apartheid needs to be thoroughly examined.