Eating in Mouthfuls while Facing the Door

Following one child referred to as Priscilla, the article explores the fluid nature of childhood and parenthood within the complexities and losses of contemporary Zimbabwean chaos while also noting the historical precursors of current social forms. The extreme hardships faced by Zimbabwean children are thrown into relief by the exigencies of living with HIV, and further dramatized by being marginal actors in the failing state. The article argues that, methodologically, children's experiences require the ‘thick description’ generated through attention to the use of language and, more theoretically, that the social costs of mass impoverishment and displacement require scholarly attention to the most marginal, liminal and expendable members of Zimbabwean society.