Doctoral Dissertation Research: Women's Child Support Claims and Household Dynamics

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University of Michigan doctoral candidate Brady G'sell, under the supervision of Dr. Adam Ashforth, will examine the role of women's child support claims in remaking household dynamics and how child support policy shapes women's political identities. In South Africa, nearly 5% of the country's national budget funds a child support grant which has become the central poverty alleviation tool. This proposal follows women in the city of Durban as they seek support in various forms from not only the state grant, but also churches, family members, NGOs, and fathers. These sources of support demand that women embody different personae (e.g., the good citizen, the caring mother) to justify their entitlement. This research asks how these diverse self presentations shape women's relationships with support sources and how the received resources affect relationships within the household. Over 12 months of field research, G'sell will utilize a variety of qualitative methods. This will involve (1) participant observation and analysis of women's support seeking interactions; (2) interviews with women, extended family, fathers, and staff at NGOs, government offices, and other institutions that offer women support; and (3) content analysis of a selective sample of popular print media, legislative debates around child support policy, and child support court cases since 1960 to track salient themes and their longitudinal resonances in national imagination.By locating this study in South Africa, this research offers a unique insight into broader social issues in a global context where state assistance plays an increasingly critical role. It considers how the grant figures as one strategy among many for procuring child support, placing it in a larger network of familial, institutional, and community relations. This research will reveal the unintended consequences of state policy on family relationships, household structure, and marriage practices and will encourage such considerations in policy design and implementation. The research contributes to the training of a doctoral student in anthropology.