Childhood and disability: an anthropological study on the consequences of the Zika virus epidemic in the lives of potiguares children
disability; Childhood; Children; Zika.
During an epidemic, many social actors get involved: researchers, health professionals, carers, public policies makers, authority figures, media sectors. In this dissertation, I try to contribute with the on-going research and studies dealing with the unfolding of events related to the Zika Virus epidemics in Brazil over the last 4 years. This work aims to think about childhood, disability and the lives of children affected and implicated in the epidemics in Rio Grande do Norte. This work is divided in two parts. In part I, I persue the notion of “child development”, trying to evaluate the effects of this category in the conception of childhood, as well as in the lives and experiences of the children met during research and their carers. Part II is dedicated to the experiences, transformations and impressions of children who’ve become siblings to a child born with the Congenital Zika Syndromme, trying to keep up with their understandings, feelings and needs. This work, as a whole, discusses the diferente articulations between disability, childhood and the lives of children in times of Zika.