The social and political construction of policies on adolescent pregnancy and child marriage in Zambia (1964-2018)

Abstract

This thesis explores the social and political construction of adolescent pregnancy and child marriage policy and practices in Zambia between the nation's birth in 1964 and 2018 using a social constructionist approach. This approach questions the many ways social problems are defined, labelled, framed and understood by different groups/actors. Using a multimodal research method, I combined archival materials, policy documents, parliamentary speeches, newspapers and interviews with non-state actors. The main findings show that firstly (in a broader context), Zambia is caught up in multiple spatio-temporalities: its colonial past, “Christian nation notion/ideology”, and neoliberal developmentalism.