Theorising Children’s Rights as a Multi- and Inter-disciplinary Field of Study

Abstract

In this paper, the author advocates the use of multi-disciplinary approaches and research to meet the demands of the many societal problems in South Africa today. It is argued that children’s rights and related issues escape disciplinary classification and inadvertently place researchers between the disciplines. For instance, it is argued that children’s rights in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic are too complex to be resolved by applying the subject knowledge of a single discipline. Accordingly, the author proposes the use of multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches in understanding and interpreting the human rights of children.