Understanding Child Sexual Abuse : Perspectives from the Caribbean

This book is the first comprehensive study of child sexual abuse in the Caribbean, exploring issues such as the ontology of childhood, links between slavery, colonialism and present-day gender-based violence, the impact of child sexual abuse on the brain and child protection after natural disasters.

This is the first book to address the issue of child sexual abuse within a region of the world constructed as a ''paradise'' in the language of global travel and thus makes a significant contribution to the international literature on the topic. The book follows on the heels of the most recent research into the topic (commissioned by UNICEF) and draws extensively from previously unpublished material. While child sexual abuse occurs in all countries, few books explore the nuanced conceptual, cultural and social behaviours which underpin it. The book is distinctive in that it addresses the limitations of dominant models for child protection that have emerged out of the richer countries of the West and which are often ineffective in the majority world and provides practice and policy examples for transforming child protection in sustainable ways. This edited volume includes contributions from a wide range of disciplines such as psychology, psychotherapy, law, social work, sociology, early childhood education and counselling.