Dr Lorraine van Blerk

Research Interests

Broadly located at the intersection of social and development geography with a particular focus on children, youth and families, my research currently encompasses three main strands:

• Young people living in 'street' situations. Over the last ten years a key strand of my research, funded by the ESRC and Nuffield Foundation, has been dedicated to understanding the complexity of the lives of young people living in 'street' situations exploring aspects of their 'work', lifestyle, crime, and subculture. In particular I have examined the relationships between identity, mobility and exclusion within and between space and at different scales.
• Impacts of AIDS on families and communities. I am especially interested in the effects of the southern African AIDS pandemic on the social, economic and emotional aspects of family and community life. To this end I have been involved with two major projects (ESRC and DFID funded) in Malawi and Lesotho: exploring children's migration as a response to AIDS and examining the connections between youth, AIDS and rural livelihoods.
• Participatory methodologies, ethics and dissemination. My third area of interest lies in the practical process of research from inception to dissemination. As a guiding principle I have sought to develop new ways of giving marginalised participants a voice in the research process (notably children/youth in situations of poverty). This has been especially important for creating dialogue between participants and potential research users and for informing policy and intervention. I am currently exploring the possibilities of using play and games as methodological tools for including young children in research about their lives.

Recent Research Grants

Academic Background

Appointments

Professional Memberships

Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society/ Institute of British Geographers (committee member of the Geographies of Children, Youth and Families Research Group, also affiliated to: Developing Areas Research Group and Social and Cultural Geography Research Group)

Professional Roles

• 2012 - member of Expert-led Group on Child Protection – Child Poverty Linkages, Overseas Development Institute, London.
• 2012 - member of PASSPORT Global Steering Group for the street to school participatory assessment, Aviva PLC London.
• 2012 - present core member of the Consortium for Street Children Research Centre, London.
• 2011 - present Advisor to the board of Trustees: Signpost International (registered UK charity based in Dundee)
• 2011 - Invited Expert: Expert Consultation Forum for United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva 1-2 November 2011
• Associate Editor for Children's Geographies: advancing interdisciplinary understanding of younger people's lives
• Editorial Board Member for The Open Area Studies Journal
• Committee member for the RGS-IBG Geographies of Children, Youth and Families Research Group
• Committee member for the RGS-IBG Geographies of Justice Working Group

Books

Horchelmann, K and van Blerk, L (2011) Children, Youth and the City, Routledge, London.

van Blerk, L and Kesby, M (eds.) 2008 'Doing Children's Geographies: methodological issues in research with young people', Routledge London

Articles in refereed journals

van Blerk L 2012 (in press) Berg-en-See street boys: merging street and family relationships in Cape Town, South Africa, Children’s Geographies: special issue on family relationships,  10 (3): xx-xx

Ansell N, van Blerk et al. 2012 Learning from young people about their lives: using participatory methods to research the impacts of AIDS in southern AfricaChildren’s Geographies, 10(1):xx-xx.

van Blerk, L 2011 Managing Cape Town's street children/youth: the impact of the 2010 world cup bid on street life in the city, South African Geographical Journal, 93(1): 29-37.

Ansell, N van Blerk, L et al. 2011 Spaces, times and critical moments: a relational time-space analysis of the impacts of AIDS on rural youth in Malawi and Lesotho, Environment and Planning A, 43(3): 525-544

Hadju, F Ansell, N Robson, E van Blerk, L and Chipeta, L 2010 Income-generating activities for young people in southern Africa: Exploring AIDS and other constraints, The Geographical Journal, doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4959.2010.00381 176(x):1-13

van Blerk, L 2011 Negotiating boundaries: the sex work identities of bar girls in Ethiopia, Gender Place and Culture, 18 (2): 217-234.

Ansell, N Robson, E Hadju, F van Blerk, L and Chipeta, L 2009 The new variant famine hypothesis: moving beyond the household in exploring links between AIDS and food insecurity in southern Africa, Progress in Development Studies, 9(3):187-208

Hadju, F Ansell, N Robson, E van Blerk, L Chipeta, L 2009 Socio-economic cases of food insecurity in Malawi, Society of Malawi Journal 62(2): 6-18

van Blerk, L 2008 Poverty, migration and sex work: youth transitions in Ethiopia, Area, 40(2):245-253

van Blerk L Ansell N Robson E Hadju F and Chipeta L 2008 Youth, AIDS and rural livelihoods in southern Africa, Geography Compass, 2/3(2008): 709-727

van Blerk, L and Barker, J 2008 The wider relevance of undertaking research with children, Guest Editorial, Children's Geographies,6(2): 117-119

Robson, E Ansell, N van Blerk, L Chipeta, L and Hadju, F 2008 AIDS and food insecurity: 'New variant famine' in Malawi?, Malawi Medical Journal, 19(4): 136-137

van Blerk, L and Ansell, N 2007 Participatory feedback and dissemination with and for children: reflections from research with young migrants in southern Africa, Children's Geographies, 5:(3):313-324

van Blerk, L and Ansell, N 2007 Alternative care giving in the context of HIV/AIDS in southern Africa: complex strategies for care, Journal for International Development,19(2007):865-884

van Blerk, L 2007 AIDS, mobility and commercial sex in Ethiopia: implications for policy, AIDS Care, 19 (1): 79-86

van Blerk, L 2006'Diversity and difference in the everyday lives of Ugandan street children, Social Dynamics, 32(1):47-74.

van Blerk, L and Ansell, N 2006 Moving in the wake of AIDS: children's experiences of migration in Southern Africa, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 24(3): 449 - 471

Robson, E, Ansell, N, Huber, U S, Gould, W T S and van Blerk, L 2006 Young caregivers in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa Population, Space and Place, 12(2):93-111.

van Blerk, L and Ansell, N 2006 Imagining migration: placing children's understanding of moving house in southern Africa, Geoforum, 37(2):256-272.

van Blerk, L 2005 Negotiating spatial identities: mobile perspectives on street life in Uganda, Children's Geographies, 3(1): 5-21.

Ansell, N and van Blerk, L 2005 Introduction: children and youth in developing areas, Children's Geographies, 3(2): 145-147.

Ansell, N and van Blerk, L 2005 Joining the conspiracy? Researching around ethics and emotions of AIDS in southern Africa, Ethics, Place and Environment: a Journal of Philosophy and Geography, 8(1):61-82.

Ansell, N and van Blerk, L 2005 Children's experiences of rented accommodation in southern Africa, Environment and Planning A, 37: 423-440

Young, L 2004 Journeys to the street: the complex migration geographies of Ugandan street children, Geoforum, 35(4):471-488.

Ansell, N and van Blerk, L 2004 Children's migration as a household/family strategy: coping with AIDS in southern Africa, Journal of Southern African Studies, 30(3): 673-690.

Ansell, N and Young, L 2004 Enabling households to support successful migration of AIDS orphans in southern Africa, AIDS Care, 16(1): 3-10.

Young L 2003 The place of street children in Kampala, Uganda: marginalisation, resistance and acceptance in the urban environment, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 21(5):607-628.

Young, L and Ansell, N 2003 Fluid households, complex families: the impacts of children's migration as a response to HIV/AIDS in southern Africa, The Professional Geographer, 55(4): 464-476.

Young, L and Ansell, N 2003 Young AIDS migrants in Southern Africa: policy implications for empowering children, AIDS Care, 15 (3): 337-346.

Young, L and Barrett, H 2001 Adapting visual methods: action research with Kampala street children, Area,33(2): 141-152.

Young, L and Barrett, H 2001 Issues of access and identity: Adapting research methods with Kampala street children, Childhood: A Global Journal of Child Research, 8(3): 383-395.

Young, L and Barrett, H 2001 Ethics and participation: reflections on research with street children', Ethics, Place and the Environment, 4(2): 130-134.

Book chapters/policy series

van Blerk, L(2011 in press) Homeless people: street children - Africa, in Smith, S. J. (ed.) The International Encyclopaedia of Housing and Home, Chapter 342: xx-xx

van Blerk, L 2009 Contested bodies: negotiating sex work in Ethiopia in Colls, R and Horchelmann, K (eds.) Contested Bodies of childhood and youth, Ashgate, London.

van Blerk, L 2009 Young commercial sex workers in Ethiopia: linking migration, sex work and AIDS in Aggleton, P Haour-Knipe,M and Thomas, F (eds.) Migration, Sexuality and AIDS, Routledge, London.

van Blerk, L and Ansell, N 2009 Alternative caregiving in the context of AIDS in southern Africa: complex strategies for care in Bentley, G and Mace, R (Eds) Substitute Parents, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

van Blerk, L Barker, J Ansell, N Smith, F and Kesby, M 2008 Researching children's geographies in van Blerk, L and Kesby, M (eds) Doing Children's Geographies: methodological issues in research with young people, Taylor and Francis, London.

van Blerk,L and Ansell, N 2008 Disseminating with and for children: strategies for success from southern Africa, in van Blerk, L and Kesby, M (eds) Doing Children's Geographies: methodological issues in research with young people, Taylor and Francis, London.

Kesby, M Ansell, N van Blerk L Barker J and Smith F 2008 Contributions to methodological innovation, in van Blerk, L and Kesby, M (eds) Doing Children's Geographies: methodological issues in research with young people, Taylor and Francis, London.

Ansell N and van Blerk, L 2007 Doing and belonging: toward a more-than-representational account of young migrant identities in Lesotho and Malawi in Panelli R, Punch S and Robson E (eds) Global Perspectives on Rural Childhood and Youth: young rural lives Routledge, London

van Blerk, L 2006 Working with children in development, in Desai, V and Potter, R (eds) Doing Development Research, Sage,London.

Ansell, N and van Blerk, L 2004 HIV/AIDS and children's migration in southern Africa, Southern African Migration Project, Policy Series No. 33