Transformations of orphan care and support Producing orphans and caring communities in Tanzania

This dissertation is an anthropological analysis of how orphan care and support has been transformed in the era of HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. It is a multi-sited study in a context of limited care and support resources. With the coming of AIDS, care for orphans was no longer left exclusively to kin, neighbors, and friends; it went beyond family, community, and even national boundaries. This dissertation shows how the increased demand for care and support for children who have lost their parent(s) attracted the attention of international agencies, thus making it no longer a concern only of relatives, community members, and the state but also of international organizations that advocated for universal human rights, including children rights. These international organizations, working in partnership with the state or and/or with local partners, supported existing care and support initiatives and introduced new initiatives that included massive efforts to document, enumerate, and categorize children. As a consequence, the provision of care and support for children became not only a matter of charity but also of rights, while at the same time creating “thin citizens” and “the caring community”.