ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF

CHILDHOOD STUDIES AND

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT

This Routledge Handbook of Childhood Studies and Global Development explores how global
development agendas and economic development influence children’s lives. It demonstrates that
children are not only the frequent targets or objects of development but that they also shape and
influence processes of development and social change in diverse and meaningful ways.
The handbook makes the case for the importance of placing children at the heart of devel-
opment debates, examining the complex social, historical, cultural, economic, epidemiological,
ecological, geopolitical, and institutional processes transforming what it means to be young in
the world today. Through reports on field research as well as a critical engagement with theories
in development studies and childhood studies, contributions unravel the structural connections
of global development processes as they relate to children’s life worlds. They tease out and tease
apart how global developmental processes influence children’s lives, how children inform and
shape development, why it is important to keep children at the centre of debates linked to develop-
ment and socio-​cultural change, and ways of engaging children in development research, policies
and practices.
Showcasing research from both established scholars and early career researchers, and with
particular prominence given to the work of authors from the global south, this handbook will
be an essential reference for policymakers, practitioners, and for researchers and students across
childhood studies, education, geography, sociology, and international development.

Tatek Abebe is a professor of childhood studies at the Norwegian University of Science and
Technology.

Anandini Dar is associate professor of sociology at the School of Liberal Studies, BML Munjal
University, India.

Karen Wells is a professor of international development and childhood studies at Birkbeck,

University of London.
ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF
CHILDHOOD STUDIES AND
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT

Edited by Tatek Abebe, Anandini Dar and Karen Wells

 Designed cover image: Punnarong
First published 2025
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
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605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
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© 2025 selection and editorial matter, Tatek Abebe, Anandini Dar and Karen Wells;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Tatek Abebe, Anandini Dar and Karen Wells to be identified as the authors
of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-​in-​Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 9780367740436
ISBN: 9780367740443
ISBN: 9781003155843
DOI: 10.4324/​9781003155843
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Newgen Publishing UK
To Anandini’s child, Ragini Dar Singh, who came into the world
around the same time as this book.
 CONTENTS

List of Figures xii

List of Tables xiii
About the Editors xiv
List of Contributors xv

Childhood Studies and Global Development: Introduction 1

Tatek Abebe, Anandini Dar, and Karen Wells

SECTION 1
Researching Childhood and Development 11

1 Section Introduction 13
Anandini Dar

2 The Dispersed Child: Indian Children and Their Archival Presence in

Missionary Collections 17
Hia Sen

3 Development Research with Children from a Decolonial

Perspective: Experimentation with Knowledge and Learning to
Think Otherwise 32
Lucia Rabello de Castro

4 Participatory Knowledge Co-​Generation with Children: Ethics and

Politics of Engagement 46
Tatek Abebe and Hilde Refstie

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 Contents

5 Ethics and Consent in Research with Children and Young People in

Global Development 61
Julia Truscott, Antonia Canosa, and Anne Graham

6 Visual Research 76
Karen Wells

7 Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Identify Pathways to Adolescent

Girl Empowerment 88
Mallika Tharakan, R. Maithreyi, and Manideep Govindu

SECTION 2
Political Activism and Development 107

8 Section Introduction 109

Karen Wells

9 Political Socialisation in Militarised State: Youth in Armed Conflict of

Indian-​Administered Kashmir 113
Khalid Wasim Hassan

10 New Readings for Palestinian Children and Youth’s Experiences during

the British Mandate: The Birth of Children’s Political Agency 126
Janette Habashi

11 “Capitalism Doesn’t Empower Me”: Latin American Children’s

Activism and Critiques of Neoliberal Development 139
Jessica K. Taft

12 Children as Environmental Actors: A Generational Perspective on

Climate Activism in an Overheated World 151
Tanu Biswas and Thomas Hylland Eriksen

13 Colombian Child-​Soldiers and Their Status as Political Actors 163

Diana Carolina García Gómez

SECTION 3
Migration, Children and Development 175

14 Section Introduction 177

Anandini Dar

viii
 Contents

15 Exclusionary Locales of Migration and Education in India: Situating

Heterogeneous Manifestations of NGO Schooling 182
Vijitha Rajan

16 Children’s Health and Well-​Being in the Context of Parental

Migration: The Case of Southeast Asia 196
Yao Fu, Lucy P. Jordan, Thida Kim, and Elspeth Graham

17 The Politics of Unaccompanied Child Migration at the US/​Mexico Border 221

Kate Swanson

18 Transnational Migration and Childhood, Social Reproduction and

Economic Crisis 235
Michael Boampong

SECTION 4
Health, Gender Norms and Development 253

19 Section Introduction 255

Karen Wells

20 Sexual Violence against Children 259

Janelle Rabe

21 Navigating Social and Gender Norms in Early Childhood: A Case Study

in a Flood-​Prone Area in Amazonian Perú 278
Karina Padilla, Deborah Fry, and María Cecilia Dedios Sanguineti

22 Influence of Policies on Early Adolescent’s Sexual and

Reproductive Health 293
Liseth Lourdes Arias López

23 Sexuality, Bodies and Desire through the Schooling of Girls 304

Deevia Bhana

24 Children and Adolescents Living with and Affected by HIV in African

Countries: Converging Crises, Vulnerability, and Resilience 319
Courtney Myers, Edith Apondi, and Leslie A. Enane

ix
 Contents

SECTION 5
Governing Childhoods: Law and Rights 339

25 Section Introduction 341

Tatek Abebe

26 Child Rights Governance in International Development 348

Anna Holzscheiter, Felix Stadelmann, and Benjamin Stachursky

27 The Politics of Child Rights: Protecting the “World-​Child,” Governing

the Future 364
Jana Tabak

28 The Global Politics of Child Labour: A Critical Analysis 376

Laurence LeBlanc and Edward van Daalen

29 Disability and Education under Conflict and Crisis in the Global South 391
Dina Kiwan

30 Explaining Variation in Compliance with Anti-​FGM and Child Marriage

Law in Burkina Faso 403
Josephine Wouango and Susan L. Ostermann

31 A Critical Reflection on Ghana’s Childhood, Child Rights, and Child

Labour Governance Modalities: A Case Study of Abolitionist Discourses
and Practices on Children’s Work in the Fishing Sector 420
Sam Okyere, Nana K. Agyeman, and Bernard Koomson

SECTION 6
Childhood and Social Reproduction 433

32 Section Introduction 435

Tatek Abebe

33 Gendered Navigations of Space, Work and Education in Young Adivasi

Lives in India 442
Gunjan Wadhwa

34 ‘Skilling’ Educated Youth for Insecure Employment in the Informal

Economy 455
Sarada Balagopalan and Ketaki Prabha

x
 Contents

35 Mothers’ Reflections on Generational Changes in Childhood in a Mayan

Town: Globalization Challenges to Convivencia/​Togetherness 470
Itzel Aceves-​Azuara, Barbara Rogoff, and Marta Navichoc Cotuc

36 Children as Agents of Change to Reach the Water Security Sustainable

Development Goal in the Climate Crisis 495
Martina Angela Caretta and Bronwyn Hayward

37 Early Childhood Education in Turkana Pastoralist Communities of Kenya 505

John Teria Ng’askie

38 From Post-​Development to Post-​Schooling: Rethinking Educational

Pathways with Agro-​Pastoralists in Southwest Ethiopia 519
Sabrina Maurus

SECTION 7
Culture, Childhood, and Development 535

39 Section Introduction 537

Karen Wells

40 Language Policy, Development, and Translanguaging in Africa 542

Karen Wells and Girma Shimelis Muluneh

41 Children’s Play Cultures in West Africa 557

Peace Mamle Tetteh

42 The Role of Video games in the Socio-​Cultural Life of Children in Peru 569
Manuel Jerjes Loayza Javier and Translated by Karen Wells

43 Sport for Development 581

Itamar Dubinsky

44 Resisting State-​Sponsored Oppression through Applied Theatre: A

Brazilian Case Study 595
Marina Henriques Coutinho with Tim Prentki and Translated by
Miguel Herman

Index 606

xi
 FIGURES

7.1 The Sphoorthi model’s theory of change 93

16.1 A snapshot of migration from and within Southeast Asia 198
16.2 International migration stock and top destinations by countries of origin 200
16.3 A conceptual framework linking parental migration and child well-​being 206
17.1 Unaccompanied migrant child apprehensions 2008–​2021 226
21.1 The main street of the neighbourhood. Picture taken on January 2019 282
21.2 The main street of the neighbourhood. Picture taken on October 2018 282
21.3 Andy’s house 284
21.4 Heidi’s house 284
24.1 HIV care cascade 321
35.1 These families engage in everyday convivencia at the lakeshore. They are
ancestors of the mothers that we interviewed, from about the time (1941) of
our interviewees’ great-​grandmothers. Some of the children help their mothers
wash clothes, bathe themselves or smaller children, and play together as their
mothers share local news 472
35.2 In San Pedro, in 1941, mothers’ work was generally at home, in the company
of their children and other relatives. This mother is preparing threads for the
loom to weave clothes for the family, while several of her children watch her
and entertain themselves together. She keeps an eye on the children, and her
older daughter (Marta’s mother) tends to a baby 480
37.1 Three-​year-​old child playing by herself near a farm at Kakuma in Turkana 507
37.2 Children playing at a pathway 509
37.3 An overcrowded preschool class at Lokichar in Turkana 510
42.1 Per capita online consumption of the ten largest consumers of online video games 570
42.2 Characteristics of gamers in Peru 571
42.3 Sociodemographic characteristics of people download or play internet video
games, 2019 (percentage) 571

xii
 TABLES

7.1 Empowerment domains derived from principal components analyses from the
quantitative survey 94
7.2 Associations between individual power domains and well-​being among
adolescent girls 96
7.3 Logistic regression analysis to identify the interactive effects of the power
domains and well-​being among adolescent girls 99
15.1 Idea of school, education and mainstreaming in the NGO schools 190
16.1 Country profiles of economic indicators, child population, and household
structure in Southeastern countries 197
30.1 Estimation of planned future FGM/​C prevalence using list experiment in
Burkina Faso 408

xiii
 ABOUT THE EDITORS

Tatek Abebe is a professor of childhood studies at the Norwegian University of Science and
Technology.

Anandini Dar is associate professor of sociology at the School of Liberal Studies, BML Munjal
University, India.

Karen Wells is a professor of international development and childhood studies at Birkbeck,

University of London.

xiv
 CONTRIBUTORS

Itzel Aceves-​Azuara, Ph.D., University of California Santa Cruz, is an assistant professor of psych-
ology at California State University, Sacramento. She is a socio-​cultural developmental psycholo-
gist studying cultural differences in childrearing practices and family life. Her research contributes
to understanding the strengths of learning of children and families from cultural backgrounds that
have been historically underserved and underrepresented.

Nana K. Agyeman is an expert in international human rights law, public international law, and
public law. He is the Head of Law at Sheffield Hallam University School of Law. He is interested
in the intersections (if any) of international law and international policing on the question of crim-
inal jurisdiction in Africa. His recent research is on ‘policing’ rescue operations of anti-​trafficking
NGOs in Ghana to present a counter-​narrative.

Edith Apondi, MBChB, MMed, is a pediatrician at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH)
in Eldoret, Kenya. She serves as the Director of the Rafiki Center for Excellence in Adolescent
Health at MTRH. Her research and clinical work are focused on adolescent health, HIV, and sexual
and reproductive health, including the implementation of adolescent-​friendly services.

Liseth Lourdes Arias López graduated as a medical doctor from the Universidad Mayor de San
Andrés and holds a Ph.D. in Public Health from the Universidad San Francisco Xavier. Currently
Arias-​López is Director of Medicine in Universidad Privada Abierta Latinoamericana. She was
involved in public health issues, focusing on HIV, and children and adolescents. She was the
Principal Investigator in the Global Early Adolescent Study in Bolivia.

Sarada Balagopalan is an associate professor at the Department of Childhood Studies at Rutgers

University –​Camden. She is the author of Inhabiting ‘Childhood’: Children, Labour and Schooling
in Postcolonial India (Palgrave, 2014). Her current research is focused on young women’s gen-
dered navigation of post-​school futures through skilling and affective labour.

Deevia Bhana is the DSI/​NRF South African Research Chair in Gender and Childhood Sexuality
at the University of KwaZulu-​Natal. Her research examines children and young people’s

xv
 List of Contributors

experience of gender and sexuality in the young life course. Her latest book is entitled Girls and
the Negotiation of Porn in South Africa: Power, Play and Sexuality (Routledge, 2023).

Tanu Biswas is a childist philosopher of education. She is an associate professor of pedagogy at

the University of Stavanger (Norway), co-​director of the research programme Childism Institute
hosted by the University of Rutgers –​ Camden (USA), and mentor for students at the Doctoral
School for Intersectionality at the University of Bayreuth (Germany).

Michael Boampong, Senior Youth Advisor at ChildFund International and Visiting Fellow
at Open University, explores globalisation and effects on childhood and youth transitions. He
authored key publications like ‘Transnational practices and children’s local lives in times of eco-
nomic crisis’ in ‘Intersectionality and Difference in Childhood and Youth’ and ‘Diverse families’
in ‘An Introduction to Childhood and Youth Studies and Psychology’.

Antonia Canosa is a social anthropologist and research fellow at the Centre for Children and
Young People, Southern Cross University, Australia. Antonia’s work focuses on ethical research,
children’s rights, participation and well-​being. Her work is grounded in social justice with an
emphasis on participatory and ethnographic methodologies to empower children to contribute to
research, policy, and practice.

Martina Angela Caretta is an associate professor at the Department of Human Geography at Lund
University, Sweden. She is a feminist geographer researching human–​environment interactions
with expertise in water, climate change adaptation, extractivism and gender. She carries out research
grounded on feminist epistemology prioritising situated, lived and Indigenous Knowledge, epi-
stemic plurality, participatory methodologies, ethics of care, and a decolonising approach.

Marta Navichoc Cotuc is a Mayan research assistant, working as an interviewer, Tz’utujil-​

Spanish translator, and consultant for more than four decades with Barbara Rogoff. She is also a
leading weaver and runs a Spanish school for foreigners.

Marina Henriques Coutinho is from the Federal University of State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO).
In Brazil, her doctoral thesis, ‘The Favela as a Stage and Persona’, received an Honorable Mention
at thesis CAPES Award (2011). She has articles published in The Applied Theatre Reader (2009 e
2020); (volume 2, 2022) and The Routledge Companion to Drama in Education (2022).

Lucia Rabello de Castro is a full professor of childhood and youth at the Institute of Psychology,
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Co-​founder and Director (1998–​2013) of the
Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Childhood and Youth of this university. Her recent publications
include the following: Twum-​Danso Imoh, A. Rabello de Castro, L & Naftali, O. (2023). Studies of
childhoods in the Global South: towards an epistemic turn in transnational childhood research?
Third World Thematics 7 (1–​3); De Castro, L. R. (2022) Righting Adults; Wrongs: generationing
on the battlefied. A decolonial approach. Childhood 29(3); De Castro, L .R. (2020). Why global?
Children and childhood from a decolonial The Companion to Applied Performance perspective.
Childhood 27 (1).

María Cecilia Dedios Sanguineti, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Los Andes University
School of Government in Colombia. Her research focuses on the impact of social vulnerability

xvi
 List of Contributors

on interpersonal violence and mental health outcomes. Dedios works mostly with young people,
employing qualitative and participatory methods.

Itamar Dubinsky is an adjunct lecturer at the African Studies Program, Ben-​Gurion University
of the Negev, Israel, and a post-​doctoral fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute for International
Relations, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. His research focuses on the usage of sports
to promote development initiatives. He is the author of Entrepreneurial Goals: Development and
Africapitalism in Ghanaian Soccer Academies (University of Wisconsin Press, 2022).

Leslie A. Enane, MD, MSc, is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School
of Medicine, in the Ryan White Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Global Health, and
the Director of HIV services at Riley Hospital for Children. A physician-​scientist, her research
investigates HIV and TB care engagement, outcomes, and interventions among adolescents
and youth.

Thomas Hylland Eriksen is an anthropologist and public thinker. He is a professor of social

anthropology at the University of Oslo, the 2015–​2016 president of the European Association
of Social Anthropologists, a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, and the
principal investigator of the (completed) EU project Overheating –​The three crises of globalisa-
tion: An anthropological history of the early 21st century.

Deborah Fry is a professor and chair in International Child Protection Research and Director
of Data for Childlight –​ Global Child Safety Institute at the University of Edinburgh. Fry has
authored more than 100 publications on violence against children specifically child sexual exploit-
ation and abuse. She is also the Programme Director for the new MSc in Child Protection Data
Futures at UoE.

Yao Fu is currently a research assistant professor in the Department of Applied Social Sciences,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her work focuses on how protective factors at multiple
levels of ecosystems promote child well-​being and family resilience in the context of migration.
She has participated in diverse consultancy projects with International Organization for Migration
(IOM) and Innovations for Poverty Action (USA), as well as intervention programmes funded by
The Ministry of Civil Affairs (China), Caring for Children Foundation (HK), and Wofoo Social
Enterprises (HK).

Diana Carolina García Gómez is a postdoctoral fellow in the childhood studies concentration at
George Mason University. Her work centres children’s and youth’s self-​constructions as political
subjects in ‘post-​conflict’ Colombia. She has published work about children’s representations and
participation in the Colombian Truth Commission. In a forthcoming publication, she discusses
children’s views on Colombian citizenship as a category under constant dispute.

Manideep Govindu holds an M.Phil in Biostatistics and Demography, with over six years of
experience in handling large-​scale datasets and advanced statistical analysis. He received the
Dr. C. Chandrasekharan Young Scientist Award from IASP in 2018. He is currently working
as MERL Manager at KHPT, designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation plans for
Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health interventions.

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 List of Contributors

Anne Graham is a professor of childhood studies and Director of the Centre for Children and
Young People, at Southern Cross University, Australia. Anne is nationally and internationally
known for her research on children and young people’s rights and well-​being. She has published
widely in areas related to well-​being, participation rights and practices, adapting to loss and grief,
and ethical research and practice.

Elspeth Graham has published widely on population and health topics in Europe and Southeast
Asia, as well as on theory and methodology in the social sciences. She initiated the Child Health
and Migrant Parents in South-​East Asia (CHAMPSEA) project and was joint PI for over a decade.
She is currently Emeritus Professor at the University of St Andrews, UK.

Janette Habashi is a professor of educational psychology in the Department of Human Relations,

University of Oklahoma. Her research examines children’s political socialisation and its impact on
their agency. She is currently examining the interconnectedness of climate change and children’s
political status. She’s also serving on the Scientific Committee to ACoRN-​Palestine which
promotes children’s rights participation in Palestine.

Khalid Wasim Hassan is an assistant professor at the Department of Politics and Governance of
the Central University of Kashmir, India. His research focuses on gender, public spaces and chil-
dren in conflict zones of South Asia. He teaches a course on children’s rights: theory and practice
at postgraduate level. His work is published in Third World Quarterly and American Ethnologist.

Bronwyn Hayward is Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations
at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. She leads a study following children growing
up in seven cities around the world and coleads Mana Rangatahi a Deep South Science project
supporting Maori and Pacific local youth leadership in a changing climate. Her most recent book
is Children, Citizenship and Environment #SchoolStrike Edition (Routledge).

Miguel Herman is currently pursuing a Master's in International Relations at the Pontifical

Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-​Rio). His research interests lie at the intersection of
International Relations, International Political Economy, and, Science, Technology and Society
Studies.

Anna Holzscheiter is a professor of international politics at TUD Dresden University of

Technology and a research fellow at the Global Governance Unit at WZB Berlin Social Science
Center. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Freie Universität Berlin and has published
widely on children’s rights in international politics and law, youth representation, and non-​state
actors in global governance.

Lucy P. Jordan is head of Social Work, College of Arts and Sciences, James Cook University.
Her research explores the longer-​term impact of transnational migration on families and children,
diversity within Asia’s global cities and social development challenges in lower-​middle income
countries.

Thida Kim is undertaking a Ph.D. with the University of Hong Kong. Her background is in psych-
ology and development, with many years of experience in research on trauma, parenting, migra-
tion, gender, and women issues.

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 List of Contributors

Dina Kiwan is Professor in Comparative Education, and College of Social Sciences Deputy
Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer, University of Birmingham, UK. She currently
leads the Global Challenges Research Fund Arts and Humanities Research Council (GCRF-​
AHRC) Network Plus Disability Under Siege programme (2020–​2024) working with partners in
Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine to address the challenge that most children with disabilities never
go to school.

Bernard Koomson is a research fellow at the University of Warwick, UK, and a former Postdoctoral
researcher at the University of Bristol. His research interests are on childhood and youth studies,
and its intersection with work, health, and policy intervention. His doctoral research addressed the
post-​rescue living realities of young adults considered trafficked in Ghanaian fishing communities.

Laurence LeBlanc holds a Juris Doctor in Law from McGill University. Having worked and
researched in the fields of human rights law, humanitarian law, and international development
across four continents, she embraces critical academic work with enthusiasm. She is excited to be
part of this handbook for her overlapping interests in children’s rights, gender equality, and global
governance.

Manuel Jerjes Loayza Javier, Doctor in Social Sciences from the Universidad Nacional
Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM). Master in Sociology with a mention in Political Studies and
a degree in Sociology from the same university. Lawyer. Visiting professor of the Doctorate in
Communication at the Universidad de la Frontera –​ Universidad Austral, Chile. Director of the
Academic Department of Sociology at UNMSM, where he is also an associate professor.

R. Maithreyi is the Strategic Lead of the Adolescent Thematic at KHPT, Bangalore. Her work
spans the areas of childhood and youth, intervention and research. Maithreyi has a book on skilling
youth, published by Sage Publications, and several publications on skilling and education in
international journals such as Childhood, Children’s Geographies, Comparative Education, and
Compare.

Sabrina Maurus holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the Bayreuth International Graduate
School of African Studies. Her research interests are the study of young people and education,
with a focus on Africa. She has studied the dilemmas of compulsory schooling among agro-​
pastoralists in southwest Ethiopia and as a postdoc worked on the learning trajectories of youths
in northern Benin.

Girma Shimelis Muluneh is a senior education expert at Partners in Education Ethiopia. He holds
a Ph.D. degree in Education Policy and Leadership. He has published six articles and two book
chapters. He was the senior researcher on TEMARI, a British Academy funded project in collab-
oration with Birkbeck, University of London.

Courtney Myers, MD, MPH, is an assistant professor of medicine at SUNY Upstate Medical
University in Syracuse, New York. She is an internist & infectious diseases physician with expertise
in HIV treatment and pre-​exposure prophylaxis. Her research interests focus on identifying and
addressing barriers to care for people affected by HIV. Education is her hobby and her passion.

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 List of Contributors

John Teria Ng’asike is a senior lecturer at Mount Kenya University, Thika, Kenya. He holds
a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Arizona State University at Tempe in the USA and
a Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Early Childhood Education from Kenyatta University in
Kenya. Ng’asike researches in pastoralist communities of Kenya on the African concept of child
development to argue for a context-​based education framed on African indigenous knowledge
practices.

Sam Okyere is a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Bristol. He specialises in critical
reflections on the interplay between human and child rights, inequality, race, legacies of colon-
isation and the transatlantic slave trade and globalisation. He has pursued these interests through
extensive field research on children’s and adults’ precarious labour, migration, trafficking, and
other phenomena popularly termed ‘modern slavery’.

Susan L. Ostermann is an assistant professor of global affairs and political science at the
University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs. She completed her Ph.D. in the
Travers Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. She also holds a
law degree from Stanford Law School and worked for several years as a practicing litigator.

Karina Padilla holds a Ph.D. in Social Policy and has a proven track record of leading multidis-
ciplinary teams in the design, implementation, and evaluation of programs, policies, and research
initiatives aimed at enhancing the well-​being of children. Padilla has participated in several studies
aiming to understand the risks and protective factors associated with violence against children,
especially those living in challenging conditions.

Ketaki Prabha is a doctoral student at the Department of Childhood Studies at Rutgers University –​
Camden. Her research examines the relationship between skilling discourse, youth, and labour
in India.

Tim Prentki is the author of The Fool in European Theatre and Applied Theatre: Development. He
is co-​editor of The Applied Theatre Reader, Performance & Civic Engagement and The Companion
to Applied Performance. He is currently a member of the editorial group of the Routledge
Handbook of Arts and Development. He is also a playwright and has written Half Measures and
Lear in Brexitland for the One Hour Theatre Company, performing at the Shakespeare North
Playhouse, UK.

Janelle Rabe is an ESRC-​funded doctoral researcher at Durham University. Her ongoing par-
ticipatory research project with young people (13–​18 years old) from Northeast England seeks
to understand their perspectives on sexual violence and its responses. She led a research pro-
ject engaging Philippine legislators on amending the law to raise the age of sexual consent from
12 years old.

Vijitha Rajan, currently a faculty member at Azim Premji University in Bangalore since 2020,
previously held the role of senior research fellow at the University of Delhi from 2015 to 2020.
She also conducted research as a Commonwealth Scholar at the University of Leeds, UK, in 2018–​
2019. Her doctoral research is focused on understanding the educational exclusion of migrant
children at the urban margins of India.

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 List of Contributors

Hilde Refstie is Associate Professor in Geography at the Norwegian University of Science and
Technology. Her work centers on participatory urban governance, citizenship, and forced migra-
tion in conflicts and disasters. Refstie has worked for more than a decade in Uganda, Malawi,
Ghana, and Norway at the interface between academia and practice using participatory methods
and action research.

Barbara Rogoff, Ph.D., Harvard, is UCSC Foundation Distinguished Professor of Psychology at

the University of California, Santa Cruz. She investigates cultural aspects of children’s learning,
finding sophisticated collaboration and attention among children from Indigenous communities of
the Americas. Her work has been especially informed by her research and participation in a Mayan
town in Guatemala for over four decades. Barbara is author of award-​winning books published by
Oxford, including Learning Together: Children and Adults in a School Community; The Cultural
Nature of Human Development; and Developing Destinies: A Mayan Midwife and Town.

Hia Sen is an assistant professor in sociology at Presidency University, Kolkata. She works on cul-
tural formations around children. Her recent work was on the emergence of the children’s theatre
scene in India, and she is currently working with radio and print archives in India. She completed
her doctoral research on how ideas about childhood translate into experiences of children among
the middle-​classes from the Albert-​Ludwigs Universität, Freiburg. In 2013 her monograph ‘Time-​
Out’ in the Land of Apu: Childhoods, Bildungsmoratorium and the Middle Classes of Urban West
Bengal was published by Springer Wiesbaden in 2013.

Benjamin Stachursky is Senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor at Amnesty International Germany.
He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science/​International Relations from the University of Potsdam,
and he is an acknowledged expert on human rights, gender, and development. He has previously
worked as a consultant on human rights and gender issues in development cooperation for national
and international, governmental and non-​governmental organisations.

Felix Stadelmann is a research assistant at the Chair of International Politics at TUD Dresden
University of Technology. He conducts research on youth representation in global politics and
discourse in international organisations. Previously, he worked for the German Agency for
International Cooperation at headquarters and for the United Nations World Food Programme in
Honduras.

Kate Swanson is a Canada research chair in international peace, security and children, a professor
in international development studies, and the Director of the Children and Borders Research Lab
at Dalhousie University. Swanson has been working with displaced children and youth in Latin
America for over 20 years, and with unaccompanied migrant youth in the U.S./​Mexico border
region for over a decade.

Jana Tabak is Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations at the State
University of Rio de Janeiro. Her publications include The Child and the World: Child-​Soldiers
and the Claim for Progress (University of Georgia Press, 2020), a co-​edited volume Childhoods
in Peace and Conflict (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), and a co-​edited Special Issue in Childhood
(‘Children, Childhoods and Everyday Militarisms’, 2020).

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newgenprepdf

List of Contributors

Jessica K. Taft is Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of California,
Santa Cruz. She is the author of Rebel Girls: Youth Activism and Social Change Across the Americas
(NYU Press, 2011) and The Kids Are in Charge: Activism and Power in Peru’s Movement of
Working Children (NYU Press, 2019).

Peace Mamle Tetteh is a senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology, University of Ghana.
Her doctoral research in child domestic labour foregrounded her research interests and expertise
in global childhoods studies, leading to extensive research and publications in child labour, rights
and rights monitoring, abuse, marriage, and children’s learning in the global south.

Mallika Tharakan holds a Ph.D. in Development Studies. She has over 16 years of experience
working in the social sector, closely involved in development communications and community
engagement initiatives in the public health space. She currently leads the Knowledge Management
portfolio at KHPT focussing on new knowledge generation and translation to influence public
health discourse nationally and globally.

Julia Truscott is a childhood researcher and founder of The CYRA Service (Childhood and Youth
Research for All), a specialist ‘knowledge translation’ service. She works closely with the Centre
for Children and Young People at Southern Cross University, Australia. For the past ten years she
has been part of the team managing the international ethical research involving children (ERIC)
initiative.

Edward van Daalen is a research fellow at McGill University’s Centre for Human Rights and
Legal Pluralism. He works at the intersections of international development and international
children’s rights. He holds a Ph.D. in law from the University of Geneva, for which he studied the
role of organised working children in the development of international child labour law.

Gunjan Wadhwa is a lecturer in international education at the Centre for International Education,
University of Sussex. Her research focusses on the dominant discursive strains that produce the
post-​colonial nation-​state and citizen, and through this position groups like the Adivasis and rural
youth in opposition to ideas of the ‘modern’. This chapter is based on her doctoral research at the
University of Sussex titled ‘They are like that only’: Adivasi identities in an area of civil unrest
in India.

Joséphine Wouango is a senior researcher at the University of Liège, Belgium. She completed
her Ph.D. on the child protection system in Burkina Faso. She has led and conducted extensive
research on issues predominantly affecting children and youth including child rights and protec-
tion, gender, education and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) mainly, but not
exclusively, in African contexts.

xxii
 CHILDHOOD STUDIES AND
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT
Introduction

Tatek Abebe, Anandini Dar, and Karen Wells

Conversing with Development Studies and Childhood Studies

This Handbook bridges the gaps between childhood studies and development studies, contributing
interdisciplinary knowledge on the role of children in development as well as how ideas of chil-
dren, development and the future are intertwined. As opposed to conventional wisdom in develop-
ment research that sees children as victims of exploitation or recipients of top-​down development
interventions, this handbook focuses on how children are both subjects of development and actors
in transforming the environments in which they live. More specifically, the Handbook provides
critical reviews of and engagement with current debates/​discourses on children and global devel-
opment by considering future trends, including policies and practices in child development, social
reproduction, education, rights, well-​being, mobilities and life chances. In so doing, it foregrounds
ideas about how children and development are tangled, articulating the connections between
childhood and complex ecologies of culture, economics, society, environments and politics.
Recent scholarship on development has examined how Western-​derived global development
affects children whereas childhood studies has begun to show the role of children in development,
as social actors (e.g., Huijsmans 2016, Ansell 2017a, Ansell, Klocker and Skelton 2017). Yet, des­­­
pite the recognition of children as subjects of development, the fields of development studies and
childhood studies are rarely in conversation, a gap this handbook aims to fill. Development studies
scholarship seldom recognises and values the active contribution that children make –​and have
the potential to make –​to the development of their societies. Children are participants in and are
often thought of as embodiments of development and the future, but they are also economic and
political actors driving profound processes of sociocultural change. Yet, young people’s ideas and
concerns about development are not always met with optimism and support from adult-​dominated
institutions and politics, raising the issue of how to make development work for and with them.
Childhood studies as a field is a ‘Western invention’, taught primarily in a few higher educational
institutions of the global north. In the global south, some disciplines –​education, social work and
psychology –​focus on children and youth from a social welfare angle, yet many social science and
humanities disciplines are hesitant to claim the field. Whereas development studies share a similar
historical legacy of being Western and normative, reflecting deeply rooted power inequalities; it
is a relatively well-​established field of research and teaching in both the global south and global

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-1 1
 Tatek Abebe, Anandini Dar, and Karen Wells

north, with a long lineage of scholarly publications (e.g., Escobar 1993; Nieuwenhuys 1994; Potter
et al 2004; Desai and Potter 2002; Williams, Meth and Willis 2014; Rigg 2007 to mention few). To
date, there are undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in development studies in universities
worldwide. As scholars who teach and conduct research in these ‘twin disciplines’, we notice gaps
for critical intellectual inquiry and contact zones for fruitful interdisciplinary dialogues.
Global development processes, that is, the politics, policies, programmes and practices of
development affect the younger generation in unique and complex ways. As Huijsmans (2016)
notes, development is a distinctly generational phenomenon. Huijsmans argues that recognising
generations as relational not only appreciates young people’s situated agency but also views devel-
opment as an intervention in the relations through which childhoods are re-​constituted as lived
experiences. A mere focus on ‘children’ below 18 years of age, thus, disconnects how children
are deeply entangled with multiple generations, especially in economically and politically precar-
ious contexts, not the least due to the very workings of development itself. Development affects
all age groups and restructures social organisation, but it also affects children’s lives, their social
relationships and futures in distinct ways. Within national policy-​making contexts, for example,
there is the need to critically scrutinise how the development agendas of nation-​building and educa-
tion have informed ideals of childhood and children’s lives –​both historically and in contemporary
times. Development linked to the expansion of formal education is entwined with certain entitle-
ments and ideas of what it means to be a child, reconfiguring questions around social reproduction
and how societies imagine their futures. These issues further connect to and require teasing apart
the problematics of some global developmental agendas that impact children’s everyday lives.
The idea for this Handbook emerges from our academic commitment to invigorate debates in
childhood studies, unravelling the structural connection of global development processes as they
relate to children’s life worlds. We are inspired by and build on the work of scholars who have
produced important texts on these areas (Ansell 2017a, b; Huijsmans 2016, Katz 2004, Wells
2021). We also seek to contribute to the ongoing discussions relevant to diverse social sciences dis­
ciplines including anthropology, gender studies and development studies. These disciplines have a
growing interest in most parts of the global south where we undertake field research and where our
research collaborators, several chapter authors and one of the co-​editors reside. We are interested
in not only providing a fresh overview of current debates, concepts, theories and research findings
on childhood and children but also integrating perspectives from diverse world regions. Moreover,
whereas childhood studies draws considerably from social sciences and humanities and has suc-
cessfully improved institutions and transformed the scientific disciplines, this is not widespread
and made intersectional with practice. Nor is there sufficient South–​North dialogue across these
related fields. With this Handbook, we foster a reverse cascade of perspectives on how research
with children generates results that will impact knowledge on health, migration, education, pol-
itics and life conditions, etcetera, in ways cognate disciplines learn from the interdisciplinary
approaches and perspectives of childhood studies.
Global development processes as they entangle with young people’s everyday lives underpins
the framework for understanding social change and transformation and is a key focus of this
Handbook. By ‘global development’ we mean the intricate flows of capital, ideas, policies and
discourses embedded in historical processes and moments of colonialism, the ‘development era’
as well as that of neoliberal globalisation. These flows produce not only uneven geographies of
development and material realities for the young but also have differentiated effects on multiple
generations. We note that ‘global development’ is a contested terrain not only because it tends
to homogenise the differential working of development in diverse parts of the world but also

2
 Introduction

ignores the southern origins of development concerns, including those which are reframed by the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The current global moment of war, acts of state violence, post-​COVID precarity, the immediate
and looming impacts of climate change and racial inequality all call for rethinking development,
history and the future in every register, as well as for interrogating their effects on material social
practices outside of conventional temporal and spatial frames. The dynamics of ongoing, large-​
scale environmental problems, resource extraction, and degradation of the physical environment
also imply alterations of the material grounds on which children come of age, with consequences
for their futures. Therefore, for us, global development is a constituent of the historical–​structural
processes that engender inequality in the global world order, and we argue that the effects of devel-
opment are more detrimental in certain regions than in others. At the same time, we are cognisant
of the circular workings of capitalism and inequality, and we do not intend to reproduce any arbi-
trary binaries between the global north and the global south. Yet, many development practices are
aimed specifically at global south contexts and assume a logic of economic growth that ought to
follow the trajectory of global north and Western nations.
While being critical of this modern conception of development as teleological and linear, we
argue that global development can also be seen as an ‘intervention’ by donors and international
institutions that tend to perceive African and Asian societies as inferior, subjecting them to dom-
ination and othering that reflects colonial paternalism and the asymmetrical distribution of power
in the global development industry (Sud and Sanchez-​Ancochea 2022). With MDGs as a signifi­
cant marker and SDGs as ‘the latest reference point on which much Development Studies funding
depends, development discourse has entered a new stage by shifting from a North–​South perspec-
tive towards a more holistic view of global challenges’ (Biekart et al 2024, p. 9). And, whereas
both MDGs and SDGs have been championed in international policymaking, they draw attention
to the importance of incorporating children’s views in superfluous ways, emphasising particular
ideologies of childhood and of development imagined often in neo-​colonial and neoliberal terms.
It is no coincidence that the activities planned for implementation of the SDGs target global south
contexts, wherein programmes designed to improve the local lives of the young, whether through
empowerment strategies for adolescent girls or better parenting skills paradoxically ‘sustain the
geopolitical order that maintains underdevelopment, global inequity and gender injustice’ (Desai
2016, p. 261).
The ‘global development’ agenda is a universalistic framing that crowds out analytical
perspectives, including from the global south, and remains highly relevant for the study of con-
temporary capitalist development (Wiegratz et al 2023). This is not the least because the very cap­
italist logic and unsustainable lifestyles of the richer world that engender precarious existence for
humans and the natural environment are taken as a model of economic growth and development
to be emulated elsewhere. Global development, driven by the industrial capitalist mode of accu-
mulation, serves as a structure of extraction and dispossession that heightens and highlights the
conditions of childhood precarity, marginality and exclusion (Boyden and Hart 2019, Wells 2021).
In essence, it engenders the material conditions of life, but it has profound social implications
too; often in the form of the denigration of the livelihoods, knowledge and wisdom of vernacular
cultures. By presenting ‘common challenges for all’, global development agendas further depoliti-
cise development, ‘playing down hierarchies within the global political economy that function to
impose immense, although not insurmountable, barriers to development for most former colonies’
and, thus, are ‘unable to adequately speak to or address North-​South asymmetries and inequalities’
(Wiegratz 2023, p.5).

3
 Tatek Abebe, Anandini Dar, and Karen Wells

The topics this Handbook broadly engages with –​children’s health, political subjectivities,
migration and mobility, social reproduction, law and rights as well as cultural practices –​reveal
how childhood is entangled with practices and ideologies of (global) development. We are
interested in exploring the ways in which questions of education, mobility, care, sexual violence
and sexual reproductive health shape the lives of children and young people as well as how they
could be envisaged afresh in development research and policy. Ecofeminists and scholars studying
social reproduction have long critiqued the ‘endgame’ of development arguing how, for example,
well-​being indicators or measures of Human Development hinge purely on economics, neglecting
ecological considerations, interpersonal relationships or life’s work (Ranhnema and Bewatree
1997; Mitchell, Marston and Katz 2004). The immaterial, affective and cultural requirements of
childhood such as playing, imagining or feeling emotionally secure as they relate to universal
conditions of care and interdependency are the dimensions of life that are unaccounted for in eco-
nomic development.
The goals of development are broad and range from the utopic to the venal; from encompassing
on the one hand dreams that are as varied as the human imagination –​freedom from scarcity,
a world without conflict, discrimination and oppression or a future with ecological harmony –​
and on the other the frictionless movement of capital facilitating the accumulation of capital for
private profit. These diverse driving ambitions have their own limitations and contradictions.
Likewise, the contents of development policies and practices are equally deeply contested.
‘Development’ depends on economic, social, technological, infrastructural and political con-
tingencies. Large-​scale investments in infrastructures such as mega dams and commercial
agriculture that increase pressure on farmlands, rapid urbanisation and its attendant demands
for housing, expansion of schools, roads, airports etc. which are traditionally cornerstones of
national development plans have now become objects of international speculation too (Van
Wolputte, Greiner and Bollig 2022). These development projects assemble local elites and
global capital in ways that not only transform the local political economy but also create
profound social and economic inequalities. Whereas the consequences of adverse incorpor-
ation of communities into grand development projects are well-​documented, the generational
implications of destabilisation of long-​established material social practices –​in terms of chan-
ging aspirations, futures, roles and places of children in society –​remain key empirical and
theoretical questions.
Forces of the global political economy contribute to the crisis of social reproduction in
locations that presumably ‘need’ development, but this logic of ‘needing development’ justifies
interventions that reify hegemonic approaches and seek to ‘tame’ young lives in some teleo-
logical sense. Development practices are predicated on policies and norms, including assumptions
about how, where and by whom the burden of social reproduction is to be borne, under what
circumstances and with what consequences (Abebe 2017). Arguably, mainstream discourses con­
tinue to view development as a project for children –​to attain their rights in the global south
contexts which are considered as sites that deny or are unable to fulfil often narrowly defined
childhood entitlements. These assumptions generate problematic constructions of the child trope
that is detached from its social world: the ‘child labourer’, ‘the street child’, ‘the girl child’,
‘the orphan child’ or ‘the unaccompanied migrant child’. Development is presented as a project
that the ‘global south’ needs to do not just to catch up with its counterpart but also to ‘rescue’
or ‘solve’ the problems such children face and, in so doing, paradoxically support a series of
measures that disempower them. As several chapters in this Handbook make it evident, however,
the raison-​d’être of ‘development’, and how it relates to experiences of childhood and children
need careful appraisal.

4
 Introduction

Development policy has a long way to go to consider children seriously, by viewing them as
more than mere beneficiaries of development. As development plays out differently in different
contexts, children may not necessarily live better lives either. Instead, they experience uncertain
and precarious futures in new ways. There is still a lack of guarantee of the exercise of children’s
rights, necessitating the importance of strengthening children’s participation in development based
on the demand for their rights. Yet, development discourses can oversimplify Southern children’s
lives and by so doing produce powerful real-​world effects. At its most destructive, development
discourses can label societies as ‘backward’ or whole cultures as impediments to ‘modernization’
with the result that they are seen as in need of ‘correction’ from some outside agency (Williams,
Meth and Willis 2009). But before the development industry –​including the growth of develop­
ment studies within academia –​ is written off as the neo-​colonial domination of southern people
and countries, it is important to remember that at its most optimistic, development also contains a
sense of possibility, progress and emancipation (Corbridge 2007).
One of the ways development connects to childhood is through policies and projects that inscribe
children’s universal rights. Yet, after more than three decades of implementing the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which has been used as a benchmark instrument
in shaping laws and policies for children worldwide, we find ourselves in a global moment where
there is a mounting push-​back against children’s rights, raising question around why such a widely
ratified convention could not hold the optimism and hope it once had for childhood. In fact, how
rights-​based approaches relate to and are articulated in development work –​especially in contexts
where ‘development’ may not be necessarily seen in a human rights framework –​has been under
scrutiny by scholars for some time now (e.g., Escobar 1993; Furgeson 1999; Esteva and Prakash
1998; de Castro 2021). With changing discourses and outcomes of development, there is a need to
understand how global development agendas reshape young lives in diverse societies. The know-
ledge that draws on, integrates and interrogates the expertise of stakeholders in child development
and broader societal development is lacking.
As we write this introduction in November 2023, 10,000 people have been killed by Israeli
bombs in 20 days and 4,000 of these people are children. The justification for this illegal collective
punishment of Gazans was an attack by Hamas on Israel on the night of October 7, 2023, in which
1,400 Israelis were killed and over 200 were taken hostage, including children. Despite the fact
that the UN and a coalition of NGOs have denounced Israel for war crimes, and the governments
of Bolivia, Chile and Colombia have withdrawn their ambassadors, the UNCRC has barely been
invoked, and it is clear that the regime of children’s rights has no power to protect these gross
violations of children’s right to life or Gaza’s right to development. Israel has been supported by
the global hegemonic powers including the US which has committed USD 14.9 billion to Israel
in military ‘aid’ to continue their illegal targeting of civilians. The inability of the UNCRC to pro-
vide any meaningful redress for children in this war reveals the UNCRC as political theatre, which
costs governments very little in real action to sign, ratify or enforce but which cloaks the extractive
violence of the hegemonic powers in a sentimental glow.
From a methodological point of view, one of the limitations of child-​focused development
research is the tendency to valorise the vocal child whose ‘independent’ views could be captured
through methods designed precisely for that purpose. Another is the privileging of statistics and
indicators in measuring development and progress, what Harris (2016) terms ‘dataism’. Both
approaches, as standalone, are problematic for knowledge production concerning children’s lives
in development contexts. The desire to tackle the ‘tyranny of the quantitative’ (Beazley 2006) in
childhood studies has resulted in an emphasis on a child’s voice or child perspective. Yet, this
volume takes cognisance of the interplay of ‘numbers’ and ‘words’: ideas get currency for policy

5
 Tatek Abebe, Anandini Dar, and Karen Wells

uptake when they are backed by quantifiable data, and statistics derive meanings only through
words or language. In this sense, moving beyond participatory methods and, borrowing Spyrou’s
(2018) term, ‘de-​centering voice’ by weaving the stories, statistics and experiences of children,
showing (dis)connections over space and time, underscores the idea that knowledge production is
not just about listening to children per se but, instead, using childhood as a lens through which we
can understand wider societal transformations.
The problem of the theoretical north-​empirical south binary that childhood studies scholars
have critiqued (Balagopalan 2019) further calls into reflection the global political economy of
knowledge production. It invites scholarship that centres on Southern epistemologies and ways of
knowing to disrupt the persistence of colonial epistemes within academia (Abebe, Dar and Lyså
2022; Twum-​Danso Imoh, de Castro and Naftali 2022). This reimagination, as the chapters in
this volume suggest, comprises reflexivity and relationality that take into account the geopolitical
locations of the researcher herself, the material realities of children as well as the broader field of
power within which all forms of knowledge are situated. If centring Southern Theory enables us
‘to examine periphery-​centre relations, to recognise that theory does emerge from so-​called periph-
eral positions and to remember that social thinking and intellectual work occur in specific settings
rather than in abstract or invisible locations’ (Connell 2007, p. ix), then exposing the research
and the researcher’s position and the erasure of the knowledge produced by those in subordinated
positions make knowledge production a deeply political project. It also raises questions about the
ethical and social justice imperatives of knowledge production and how to re-​think scholarship
on global development and childhoods in ways that challenge the myopic, unequal knowledge
systems as well as contribute to new research pathways and epistemological reimaginations.

Aims of the Handbook

This Handbook brings into conversation scholars working at the interfaces of development pol-
icies, processes and practices, and how that plays out in children’s everyday lives. Our contributors
undertake research and, in most cases, are institutionally affiliated with, live or/​and work in parts
of the world where global development agendas are more pronounced: Africa, Asia and Latin
America. Their chapters engage with debates that lie within the burgeoning field of childhood
studies and beyond the narrow confines of the agentic child, offering a productive dialogue with
broader topics that development research is known for. When inviting authors for chapters,
we asked them to reflect on four sets of ideas: (a) how global developmental processes influ-
ence children’s lives, (b) how children inform and shape development (c) why it is important
to keep children at the heart of debates linked to development and (d) ways of engaging chil-
dren in development research, policies and practices. Through field research as well as a crit-
ical engagement with theories in development studies and childhood studies, contributors contest
normative assumptions about childhood and global development. They tease out and tease apart
the complex social, historical, cultural, economic, epidemiological, ecological, geopolitical and
institutional processes transforming what it means to be young in the world today. In so doing,
the Handbook offers a comprehensive scholarly insight into the relatively nascent collabor-
ation between childhood studies and development studies, while simultaneously examining the
dynamic interconnections among diverse ideologies, policies and practices of development and
their impacts on children’s lives.
A further contribution of the Handbook is that it uncovers new and emerging ideas of devel-
opment and how childhood and children shape them. While scholars of development studies have
examined development processes and practices that impact children, their key focus may have

6
 Introduction

been on the practices and policies but less on the everyday negotiations, contests and actions of
children. The authors of chapters in this volume are primarily located in the field of childhood
studies and hence more attuned to centring children, exploring how childhood studies have
constructed or made children subjects of development and rights. Yet, they also explore childhoods
and children’s lives in development contexts, understood as ‘locales thick with the discourses,
practices, and institutions of international development’ (Jakimow 2016, p. 11). They document
how development plays out in children’s social and material worlds, how childhoods interact with
the complicated terrain of global development as well as the diverse ways in which it unfolds, both
in children’s everyday lives and in the societies in which children live.
The chapters are carefully curated to present a balanced perspective –​geographically, the-
matically, theoretically and empirically –​and draw on the work of established scholars and
early career researchers. Whereas some themes such as ecology and environment were initially
quite central to developing the proposal for the Handbook, they do not have a separate section,
but they are integral aspects of several chapters. We also attend debates within the field of
development policies and childhood research and –​albeit to a limited degree –​create linkages
between them. Another approach of the handbook is that it encourages authors to reflect on
the interplay between childhood research and knowledge from communities of practice. To
redress the existing imbalance in knowledge production, we actively solicited contributions
from authors who are based in research and educational institutions in non-​English speaking
countries. This is necessary not just because it aids in breaking away from Anglo-​American
scholarship that dominates these fields but also bringing new ideas and perspectives from
underrepresented linguistic regions of the world.

Synopsis of Sections
In addition to this Introduction, the Handbook comprises 39 chapters divided into seven sections.
Each section has its own introduction and begins with a brief synthesis of the key issues for devel-
opment studies and childhood studies of the section focus and a summary of each of the chapters
in the section.
Section 1, Researching Childhood and Development, engages with the idea of conducting
reflexive research with children in development contexts. Most chapters argue for the need for
and substantiate reflexive epistemologies in childhood studies, recognising ethical, fragmentary
and relational approaches to knowledge production, along with the need for the co-​generation of
knowledge by children and adult researchers together. This section also problematises the use of
images in development research related to child subjects and suggests the significance of mixed
methods studies in analysing development programmes targeted towards children in global South
contexts. Overall, this section advances the need to move beyond the ‘authentic child voice’, fur-
ther problematising participatory research with children in contexts of global development.
Section 2, Political Activism and Development, investigates the impacts of uneven and unequal
development on children and youth political subjectivities. A key theme is that school is used by
the state as a space to inculcate in the young a political subjectivity that aligns with that of the
ruling regime, yet children and youth forge in these same spaces an oppositional political identity
from which they organise to change the distribution of power. This section also shows that many
of the struggles that children align themselves with, and in which they have developed novel
forms of political practice, have been ongoing for decades and that it is precisely the longevity of
the conflicts and the intergenerational traumas that this generates that forges children’s political
subjectivities.

7
 Tatek Abebe, Anandini Dar, and Karen Wells

In Section 3, Migration, Children, and Development, the chapters argue for the need to situate
children at the centre of debates on policies related to migration. They demonstrate the problem
with how migration policies are in alignment with ‘development’ oriented policies –​ both at
international and national levels –​and ignore the needs and well-​being of migrant children. The
chapters in this section review issues related to migrant children’s education in India, the impact
of economic crises in the global north on Ghanaian-​British transnational families and children,
the problems faced by children who are left behind at home by migrating parents in the South-​
East Asian countries and the hostile immigration policies of the US towards asylum-​seeking chil-
dren from Central America. Put together, this section advances the idea that migrant children’s
experiences are marred by exclusionary and detrimental global development policies.
Section 4, Health, Gender Norms and Development, primarily focuses on how gender norms
affect children’s negotiation of risk and safety, especially on teenagers’ sexual and reproductive
health, including the increased risk of HIV transmission in adolescence, which is much greater for
girls than it is for boys; the pervasiveness of sexual violence, again, especially against girls; and
how girls navigate their own sexual desires. Authors in this section point to the global pervasive-
ness of restrictive gender norms that become increasingly enforced as children transition towards
adulthood.
In Section 5, Governing Childhoods: Law and Rights, chapters focus on how international
norms, laws, conventions and development goals discursively produce categories of the neoliberal
and sovereign child subject for whom most social policies are envisaged. Key themes include
how development policies and interventions interact with children’s lives who are, for example,
disabled, working, married at an early age or considered needing ‘rescue’. The sections shed light
on how normative children’s rights frameworks used in international development reproduce
not only powerful ideologies of childhood innocence and protection but also sediment govern-
ance regimes with punitive and abolitionist bent, such as the elimination of child labour or early
marriage. Some chapters elucidate how these policies are sites of contestation and controversies
for multiple actors of development.
Section 6, Childhood and Social Reproduction, engages with how learning, skills formation,
intergenerational familial relationships, participation in informal community livelihoods, care and
socialisation of the young are sites of social reproduction and social transformation. Here, the role
of children and young people in social reproduction is foregrounded alongside an understanding
of the gendered, generational and societal contexts that underpin access to resources such as water
and land, education, livelihoods, employment and means of sustenance. The workings of some
forces of social change such as schooling, reskilling projects and livelihood transitions in diverse
ecological and political–​economic contexts are analysed, and policy implications are drawn out.
Section 7, Culture, Childhood and Development, engages with several cultural forms that are
impacted by development and/​or contribute to development strategies. The authors in this section
explore language, play, sport and music as cultural forms that have been deeply impacted by devel-
opment and at the same time as expressions of a ‘way of life’ that, in general, people are deeply
attached to. The chapters explore how development (changes in sociocultural life generated by
processes of economic change) and Development (policies and practices aimed at stimulating spe-
cific forms of economic change) can unravel the cultures that underpin and support other forms of
economic life. The chapters in this section also show how play and games, language and theatre
can speak back to d/​Development and even provide alternative models of development.
As co-​editors of this Handbook, we share deep personal, ethical and political commitments
to foregrounding scholarship in childhood studies and global development within academia but

8
 Introduction

also as an ongoing epistemic justice endeavour. Among other things, these stakes challenged us
to broaden the intellectual horizon of childhood studies and its ontological basis by recentring
southern theories and authors as well as decolonial, indigenous knowledge systems about
childhood, children, development and progress (see Abebe, Dar and Lyså 2022; Dar and Kannan
2023). Having backgrounds in human geography, sociology and development studies, we were
aware of the need for an interdisciplinary engagement on such topics as health, development,
culture, education, mobility and their connections to young people’s lives. We also wanted to see
how the theoretical and methodological advances in childhood studies could ‘speak back’ to social
science and cognate fields from which the former is birthed and in ways that are both expansive
and attentive to its epistemological and ontological potentials. We hope that this handbook has
accomplished these aims and that you, the reader, will find in it new ways of conceptualising the
intersections between development studies and childhood studies.

References
Abebe, T. (2017). Political economy of children’s work: Economic restructuring, the coffee trade and
social reproduction in post-​ socialist Ethiopia. In: Ansell, N., Klocker, N., and Skelton, T. (eds)
Geographies of Children and Young People 8: Geographies of Global Issues. Change and Threat, 21–​42.
Singapore: Springer.
Abebe, T., Dar, A., and Lyså, I. M. (2022). Southern theories and decolonial childhood studies. Childhood,
29(3), 255–​275.
Ansell, N. (2017a). Children, Youth and Development (2nd edition). London: Routledge.
Ansell N. (2017b). Global south research in children’s geographies: From useful illustration to conceptual
challenge. In: Skelton T., and Aitken, S. (eds) Establishing Geographies of Children and Young People,
Geographies of Children and Young People 1, 51–​70. Singapore: Springer.
Ansell, T., Klocker, N., and Skelton, T. (2017). Geographies of Children and Young People 8. Geographies of
Global Issues: Change and Threat . Singapore: Springer.
Balagopalan, S. (2019). Childhood, culture and history: Redeploying ‘multiple childhoods. In: Spyrou S,
Rosen, R., and Cook, D. (eds) Reimagining Childhood Studies, 23–​41. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Beazley, H. (Ed.) (2006). Participatory Methods and Approaches: Tackling the Two Tyrannies. SAGE
Publications, Ltd. https://​doi.org/​10.4135/​978184​9208​925
Biekart, K., Camfield, L., Kothari, U., and Melber, H. (2024). Rethinking development and decolonising
development studies. In: Melber, H., Kothari, U., Camfield, L., and Biekart, K. (eds) Challenging Global
Development. EADI Global Development Series. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://​doi.org/​10.1007/​
978-​3-​031-​30308-​1_​1
Boyden, J., and Hart, J. (2019) Childhood (re)materialized: Bringing political-​economy into the field.
In: Spyrou S, Rosen R., and Cook, D. (eds) Reimagining Childhood Studies, 75–​90. London: Bloomsbury
Academic.
Connell, R. (2007). Southern Theory: The Global Dynamics of Knowledge in the Social Sciences.
Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Corbridge, S. (2007). The (im)Possibility of Development Studies. Economy and Society, 36(2), 179–​211.
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de Castro, L. R. (2021). Decolonising child studies: development and globalism as orientalist perspectives.
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Desai, K. (2016). Teaching the Third World Girl: Girl Rising as a precarious curriculum of empathy,
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9
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Ferguson, J. (1999). Expectations of Modernity: Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian
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Development. London: Palgrave.
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Telangana, India. Ethos, 44(1), 11–​31.
Katz, C. (2004). Growing Up Global: Economic Restructuring and Children’s Everyday Lives. Minneapolis,
MN: University of Minnesota.
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Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
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a Changing World (2nd edition). London: Routledge.

10
 SECTION 1

Researching Childhood and

Development
 1
SECTION INTRODUCTION
Anandini Dar

How can we research childhood and children’s lives in development contexts? Does researching
children specifically in the Global South regions require a re-​thinking of our epistemological
frameworks? Can childhood studies offer something distinct and new to our methodological
imaginations and directions for research in development studies? These are some of the questions
that guide this section on “researching childhood and development”. The collection of chapters
in this section present critical reflections on conducting ethical, archival, visual, participatory,
and mixed methods research, specifically in contexts of children and development. Overall, this
section argues that the production of knowledge in the intersecting fields of childhood studies and
development studies ought to be co-​generationally produced (Abebe and Refstie, this volume)
and requires reflexivity that recognises relational (de Castro, this volume), ethical (Truscott et al,
this volume), and fragmentary (Hia, this volume) approaches to data collection and analysis. This
section also problematises the use of images in development research related to child subjects
(Wells, this volume) and highlights the significance of employing mixed methods in analysing
development programmes for children (Tharakan et al, this volume).
The chapters in this volume highlight the significance of power and positionality in conducting
research with children and on development. They argue that ethical and accurate research requires
addressing the power differentials in adult–​child relations, and there is a need to examine the
effects of unequal and uneven global development on the conditions of knowledge production, and
the ongoing hegemony of the Global North in setting research agendas. In fact, these chapters help
build the argument that the project of researching children and development requires an epistemo-
logical re-​imagination. Interrogating our epistemological assumptions, how we choose to view the
world, where we locate ourselves, and how we arrive at the methods of conducting research with
children in development contexts are all part of a reflexive epistemology necessary for research
in this field. What are the implications of a scholar from the Global North intervening in research
on children in the Global South? How and by whom are NGO visual representations of children
being made sense of? How do development agendas, such as girls’ empowerment programmes
in Global South regions, schooling projects for marginalised children, and other development
work get carried out on the ground? These become pertinent questions for researchers to reflect
upon prior to research design, and in the choice of methodologies and methods employed for

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-3 13
 Anandini Dar

researching childhoods in the context of global development, and which the authors of the chapters
in this section address.
Childhood studies has been dominated by an emphasis on ethnography. This has also resulted
in the search for an authentic “child voice,” which has sufficiently been recognised as problematic
for the field (Bushin, 2008; Hammersley, 2017; Spyros, 2011). Adding to this debate, in the first
chapter on this volume, Hia Sen suggests that searching for the “authentic voice” of children has
also found ways into studies on the history of childhood, however, contends that it is a moot effort
for researchers in the Global South in particulat, as there are largely textured and fragmentary
sources available on children from the past. Drawing on her own archival research experience on
missionary work in India, Sen presents the difficulty faced by scholars in accessing archives, as
most archival sources are often located in regions of their past colonisers. In studying child-​saving
endeavours, Sen’s paper demonstrates a need for a relational epistemological standpoint –​wherin
the identity and location of the researcher bears consequence -​-​, and which can open up new
pathways of examining and understanding the colonised child of the past. Her findings reveal dis-
tinct narratives, negotiations, and experiences of children as opposed to the commonly accepted
findings associated with the missionary agenda of proselytising and educating the “heathen”
child. Sen’s chapter also raises important questions for the field at large: what does the absence
of children in archives mean to what passes as knowledge in academia? What can be counted as
knowledge if all the ways in which “unschooled” societies hold and share knowledge can also be
equally privileged as ways of holding and sharing knowledge in schooled societies?
Many scholars in childhood studies are now reflecting on the problematics related to the
researcher’s own positionality (Kannan et al, 2022). Lucia de Castro, in this volume, also asks
who should conduct research with/​on children in developing contexts. This issue of the location
becomes important as researchers too are embedded in the geopolitical perspectives that affect
knowledge production at all levels. Hence, epistemological choices also inform the subject of
study at hand: in our case the very material realities of children in developing worlds. These
epistemological choices are of course linked to the ontological imaginations of the worlds and
subjects we study, and hence, together –​our positionality, bias, theoretical and philosophical
assumptions, and emotions –​will shape the knowledge we produce (Spyros, Rosen, and Cook,
2019). Hence, for de Castro, it is pertinent to locate her study with children in Brazil’s govern­
ment schools in context of ideas of social change, which she claims ought to accommodate for
“pluriversal modes of being and inhabiting the world” and her own location as a Brazilian offers
her a contextualised understanding of the realities in which children are embedded (de Castro,
this volume). It is within this framework that she examines how children’s participation in a study
on understanding school reform is informed by issues of generational power imbalance, and she
proposes a “subjective and epistemic reconstruction,” a decolonial insight (Mignolo & Walsh,
2018), which can enhance “knowledge experimentation and decolonial freedom.” For de Castro,
an epistemic reconstruction or a re-​imagination entails a process of inclusion, wherein both chil-
dren and their oft-​claimed others, their teachers, can advance students’ claim for reform of longer
break times at school.
This form of epistemic re-​imagining in childhood studies has also been witnessed in claims
for ‘participatory’ research methods, wherein researchers adopt ways of including children in the
research process, primarily in an effort to mitigate the power imbalance between the adult researcher
and the child subject, and to effectively engage with the interests of the researched. Tatek Abebe
and Hilde Refstie (this volume) are most concerned about the co-​generation of knowledge in par-
ticipatory research, in which they highlight the significance of three intertwined aspects of politics,
practice, and ethics of engagement. In their chapter, Abebe and Refstie provide a detailed review

14
 Section Introduction

of various participatory approaches adopted in childhood and development research, indicating

both the potentials and harms of conducting participatory research with children in development
contexts. For them, “participatory ethics of engagement” provide a way to ensure that researchers
“do no harm” in the precarious contexts in which children are located and also contribute to trans-
formative knowledge production along with children.
Similarly, Julia Truscott, Antonia Canosa, and Anne Graham engage with the ethical challenges
of research with children, in particular the issue of informed consent. In their chapter in this
section, they review the extensive literature on ethical dilemmas in conducting research with chil-
dren in diverse contexts and present an alternative for researching children and development by
drawing on a major international ethics initiative, the Ethical Research Involving Children (ERIC).
They emphasise the significance of the “Three Rs” –​ rights, relationships, and reflexivity –​ to
assist researchers in accommodating the needs, safety, and wellbeing of children in diverse
circumstances. In their chapter, they argue that a rights-​based approach to ethics in research with
children in development contexts does not sufficiently address the relational ethics required in
such situations. Relational ethics, drawn on from feminist literature, and other disciplines, offers
an imagination of ethics as an ongoing social practice, not something that ends with consent, and
is highly dependent upon mutual respect, embodied knowledge, and an understanding that the
research environment is a constituent of uncertainty and interdependence. Hence, a re-​imagination
of our epistemic positions in childhood studies would also include a relational ethical process,
guided by a rights framework but more importantly, by reflexivity.
This emphasis on reflexivity in research is not new in the social sciences and is now increasingly
accepted in research in childhood studies. Several feminist scholars have argued how reflexivity
offers ways in which to balance the power relationship between the researcher and the researched
(Haraway, 1988; Harding, 1991; Rose, 1997), with reflexivity being understood as “a self-​critical
sympathetic introspection and the self-​conscious analytical scrutiny of the self as a researcher”
which results in self-​discovery and can also lead to newer insights about the design, ethics, and
subject of study (England, 1994, p. 242). Hence, to ensure the mitigation of power imbalance
between adult–​child, researcher–​researched, and Global North–​South, and various other geopolit-
ical and economic inequalities would require a reflexive approach. In most of the chapters in this
section, reflexivity is central to ethical, participatory, decolonial, and archival research in the con-
text of children and development.
The last two chapters of this section, on visual methods, and mixed methods, offer a critique
of the existing scholarship in childhood studies and suggest alternative and holistic approaches to
research with children in development contexts. Karen Wells provides an overview of the various
visual methods employed in childhood research, including photo-​elicitation, photo-​voice, images
of suffering, and images of children in fund-​raising campaigns, and argues that visual research in
childhood studies has rarely studied the image itself as the object of analysis. Rather, images, par-
ticularly in photo-​elicitation and photo-​voice, have been employed to generate talk and discussion,
ultimately feeding into what has been discussed in this introduction earlier –​the problematics of
the “sacrosanct authentic voice.” When images have been analysed, Wells argues, they have been
purely indexical –​that is –​“the image indexes the thing in the real world.” Further, when images of
child suffering have been studied, she opines that analysis grounded in disciplines such as cultural
studies, semiotic analysis, and genre theory shows that these draw on and construct a “melodra-
matic imagination” of poverty and development. Wells ultimately suggests that scholars studying
childhood in contexts of development need to draw on different genres of communication in visual
research, offering a unique insight into the growth of critical methods in researching children and
development.

15
 Anandini Dar

The final chapter in this section by Mallika Tharakan, R. Maithreyi, and Manideep Govindu
elicits how mixed methods approaches can be productive for childhood studies and development
studies research, which also help de-​centre the normative assumptions about children and develop-
ment produced in global North contexts. Situating within the larger context of a move in childhood
studies towards qualitative research methods, they argue that quantitative methods, once de-​located
from their epistemic and ontological underpinnings, can be productive for the field. By drawing on
the case of studying empowerment programmes for girls in the south of India, they demonstrate
that mixed methods research, which includes quantitative methods, can

(i) increase our understanding of children’s subjective world and experiences; (ii) enable
possibilities for testing theories against real-​world contexts; (iii) improve the predictive
power of the research; and (iv) contribute to the development of an empathetic response to
children’s contexts and conditions.

They find that this methodological approach also facilitates in analysing the empowerment
processes that are embedded within specificities of generational ordering and social locations.
Hence, overall, these chapters suggest that by adopting critical methods, and a reflexive epis-
temology in the study of children and development, the field of childhood studies can go beyond
the search for children’s agency and an authentic child voice. The possibilities opened up through
this framework and critical methods include reflective, empathetic, and engaged responses to
children’s very real and material conditions of living that are impacted by the unequal geopolitical
and capitalist orderings of the world order. In this way, this section hopes to advance the ways in
which childhood scholars can conduct research with children and in development contexts.

References
Bushin, N. (2008). Quantitative datasets and children’s geographies: Examples and reflections from migration
research. Children’s Geographies, 6, 451–​457.
England, K. (1994). Getting personal: Reflexivity, positionality, and feminist research. The Professional
Geographer, 46(1), 80–​89.
Hammersley, M. (2017). Childhood studies: A sustainable paradigm? Childhood, 24(1), 113–​127. Retrieved
from https://​doi.org/​10.1177/​09075​6821​6631​399
Haraway, D. (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial per-
spective. Feminist Studies,14(3), 575–​599.
Harding, S. (1991). Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women’s Lives. Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press.
Kannan, D., Dar, A., Duff, S., Sen, H., Nag, S., & Bergere, C. (2022). Childhood, youth, and identity:
A roundtable conversation from the Global South. Journal of Childhood Studies, 47(2), 20–​31.
Mignolo, W. & Walsh, C. (2018). On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics and Praxis. Durham, NC: Duke
University Press.
Rose, G. (1997). Situating knowledges: Positionality, reflexivities and other tactics. Progress in Human
Geography, 21(3), 305–​320.
Sánchez-​Eppler, K. (2013). In the Archives of Childhood. In A.M. Duane (ed.) The Children’s Table: Childhood
and the Humanities, 1–​14. London: University of Georgia Press.
Spyrou, S. (2011). The limits of children’s voices: From authenticity to critical, reflexive representation.
Childhood, 18(2), 151–​165.
Spyrou, S., Rosen, R., & Cook, D. T. (2019). Reimagining Childhood Studies. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

16
 2
THE DISPERSED CHILD
Indian Children and Their Archival Presence in
Missionary Collections

Hia Sen

The presence of Indian children in the archives connected with the Christian missions is as
confounding as it is revelatory. For even if somewhat spectral within the existing historiography
on colonial India, in the records of Christian missionary societies, Indian children are often both
visible and audible. My engagement with archival sources had emerged from an interest in records
around the ‘actions’ of children. While generic ‘native child’ figures abound in missionary litera-
ture of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, I was interested in more textured records inscribing
the actions and experiences of individual children, which might have been produced in the context
of missionary work. Missionary collections make for a significant source on Indian children, since
various Christian evangelical organizations from the nineteenth century onwards were deeply
invested in the project of schooling ‘native’ children. Moreover, the diversity in terms of official/​
private, textual/​visual, published/​unpublished sources, which such collections offered, hold much
promise for producing scholarship on South Asian children from the past.
The Protestant missions’ extensive involvement with education in the British colonies brought
them in contact with children from diverse backgrounds. This involvement has been most closely
researched by scholars working on the history of education in colonial India. Historians continue
to explore a wide range of issues connected with the missionary schooling enterprise in India,
making use primarily of textual records (Bellenoit 2007, May, Kaur & Prochner 2016). This apart,
the involvement of Anglican missions in fields of medical work, famine relief and the running of
various kinds of orphanages and homes led them to be deeply implicated in the lives of children
from economically marginalized Hindu, Muslim and various tribal communities. References to
children appear often within this context of evangelically motivated humanitarian work that has
often been compared with the ‘development’ work of today (Smith 2017). As a possible crucible of
children’s interaction with missionaries in India, these two areas of evangelical work have not yet
elicited great interest in existing scholarship, with some exceptions (see Vallgårda 2015).
Archives of the various missionary societies associated with the Anglican Church are greatly
dispersed, to start with. Records of societies like the Church Missionary Society, London
Missionary Society or the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society are scattered across
countries, with a bulk of holdings housed across the UK. Often, the records connected with spe-
cific mission stations in India are housed in a mix of archives, some of which are linked to edu-
cational institutions in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and the UK. Some collections are kept in the

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-4 17
 Hia Sen

repositories of local Church bodies or dioceses, within which particular institutions associated
with a missionary society were active. While children appear often in these collections, as individ-
uals with names and backgrounds, only traces of their presence are available.
Additionally, the ‘dispersal’ is not simply geographical in nature. References to children from
India within these collections are not only fragmented across varying repositories but spread
across a range of sources, whose very status as ‘archival source’ requires reflection. As this chapter
will later address, many times ‘records’ which have something of an ‘evidentiary status’ cannot be
completely distinguished from fictionalized accounts about children.
Scholars have in recent years been deploying varied archival sources connected to children
in the past. These innovations imply in part the rethinking of archival sources and of archives in
particular. Particularly where access to some archives is fairly limited, such innovations are all
the more significant for scholars working on childhood. Although this is true for many scholars
working on past childhood, scholars working from Global South contexts often need to ‘innovate’
all the more as shall be discussed.
In the first part of this chapter some of these practices have been discussed, with a view to
reflecting on how traces of children in the context of missionary work might be read. Some of the
archives and archival sources I am presently working with have then been outlined. Reflecting on
the dispersed nature of these archives, implications of using such sources for plotting children’s
place within evangelically motivated humanitarian work are explored. Finally, this chapter asks
how such fragmentary and sometimes inarticulate sources might inform current scholarship, apart
from making claims about children’s actions. It opens discussion about how the exploration of
sources on children from the past might enliven and also enrich scholarship on development work.

Archival Practices
As the body of child-​centric research has expanded over the years, the discussion on archival
practices for scholars interested in recovering something of children’s lives has seen certain key
developments. Innovative approaches towards different kinds of archives are also being debated
at a larger level. Scholars from varied disciplines have been drawing attention to the need for
reimagining archival research. I engage with only two strands of this discussion related to archives,
as background to my engagement with the missionary archives.
The first strand is connected with an emphasis on ‘fragmentary’ sources as well as the signifi-
cance of non-​textual sources in archives. Scholars have often emphasized the importance of partial,
incomplete archival sources, including non-​textual artefacts as the objects of analysis. Sources,
such as books and toys, are well-​known material ephemera. Letters written by children are a rare
yet valuable source. Discussing the work around children’s letters, Mills refers to scholars’ inclu-
sion of other enclosed objects like baby teeth, as constituting an ‘embodied record of childhood’
(Mills 2015: 133). Other artefacts and a range of audio-​visual records have also evinced scholarly
attention (Capshaw 2021, Gallagher & Prior 2014).
However, it is not simply their inclusion in research, rather the means of accessing some of
them that is demonstrated by scholars like Mills (2015). She underscores the implications of
reaching some of these objects in fragmentary ways –​such as accessing a used book from eBay in
which a child’s name is inscribed, instead of a pristine copy in the archives (Mills 2013, 2015). The
importance of such fragmentary sources for enlivening the archives has been discussed at great
length. A related line of thinking emerges in another context of work. Some of these arguments
resonate with larger scholarly conversations outside the field of childhood research. Photographs
and other visual documents have always been important archival sources which researchers have

18
 The Dispersed Child

often turned to. Many have drawn attention to the power of visual material in influencing research.
Mukerji in her work on gardens in Versailles stresses on ‘inarticulate objects’ as archival material,
such as plans of gardens, prints and designs for the arrangement of trees –​which allow the scholar
‘to see the past through the eyes that were there’ (Mukerji 2020: 308). This inarticulacy, according
to Mukerji, renders such objects ‘bad evidence’, even if these were themselves once effective tools
of power (Ibid).
The second strand concerns the reading of archival sources related to children from the past.
As interest in recovering child-​produced or unmediated sources from archives deepened over the
years, giving rise to a conviction that such sources were the prerequisite to doing ‘good’ children’s
history, there also emerged a conversation around the drawbacks of using such sources. Many
scholars have voiced their misgivings about research practices, which in all the eagerness to priv-
ilege ‘children’s voices’ from the archives tend to forgo a critical view of the representational
politics of the archive in this context (Alexander 2012). While this criticism has leavened the
approach of researchers towards children’s traces in archives, the interest in recuperating some-
thing of children’s agency has not really abated. Rather, scholars have sometimes responded to the
challenge of researching children in the past by resorting to methodological and other innovations,
which allow a critical view of how the actions or experiences of some children are inscribed in
the archives in the first place. Gagen (2001), for example, in her work on children’s participa­
tion in playground reforms makes use of textual sources on children’s behaviour and their spatial
consequences, at the same time reading them in conjunction with other texts that allow her to
identify the discourses about ‘gender and discipline’ within which the reports about children were
produced. Through her emphasis on ‘moments of agency’, she avoids overstating children’s polit-
ical intentions. Other scholars in recent years have been more trenchant in their criticism of a body
of research which still considers the researchers’ central task is demonstrating that children shaped
histories (Maza 2020). The very utility of a canonical notion of agency determining the production
of research on children is questioned from such a position. While this strand of discussion is more
about historiographical intent, it has direct bearings on archival practices. For once freed from an
imperative to look for or privilege children’s ‘voices’, researchers need to have a sense of what
kinds of archival sources could be meaningful for them and how these sources could be read.
This chapter speaks to these two strands of discussion with whom it shares some concerns.
However, the discussions need contextualization, given how they are inflected by broader
discussions about archives and their place within contemporary scholarship. The turn to archives
as subjects of scrutiny as opposed to authoritative sources is not exactly recent. Nowhere is this
clearer than in the conversations around how colonial archives, if not viewed critically, might end
up reaffirming narratives of past regimes. Against this, scholars have devised various strategies.
Reading ‘against the archival grain’ has become one of the clearest espousals of this approach
today, and in its own way something of an imperative, especially within the context of using State
or colonial archives.
These discussions are integral for scholars researching lives or actions of children from
Southern contexts for whom sources ‘authored’ by children themselves in the early twentieth cen-
tury are sparse compared with the Global North. Wherever traces of children’s lived experience
are inscribed, such as in missionary collections, they are often filtered through a lens which regards
them in terms of their faith and racialized identities, and also as integral to the evangelical project.
There is the need to reimagine archival sources, as well as to ask if such archival sources can be
read in a way that the scholarly conversation can move beyond imperial or evangelical agendas of
shaping children.

19
 Hia Sen

Children’s Presence in Archives

My initiation into archival work related to children started with the holdings at the Bishops’
College Archives, Kolkata. The archives were an extension of the College Library, containing
those documents that were related to the Calcutta diocese. Thus, records related to missionary
societies, schools, Sunday Schools, other organizations within the diocese, including the cor-
respondence with the Metropolitan, were the principal sources of the otherwise small archive.
Hoping to find something on children, I rifled through the sources on schools. File upon file
contained references to children but obliquely, containing financial records of schools, letters in
reply to pleas for grants, records of personnel recruitment, gifts received and sometimes numer-
ical details about enrolled students with a break up of their religious backgrounds. Children’s
experiences, actions or other details that would directly take into account their personhood
did not feature in such collections. Yet, resonating with children’s voices and their movements
were an array of papers under the label of Relief and Rescue. Mostly pertaining to the famines
of the 1940s, a few pamphlets and newsletters documenting the relief work done in the dio-
cese recorded among other things children’s movements, such as when some of them strayed
away from their families queuing for rations. Others contained accounts of children who were
abandoned and now in the custody of missionary schools. Some of these records implied an
affectionate tone in describing the cheeky, resilient children who were not dampened by the
famine. Such accounts brought an element of texture to children who were otherwise rarely vis-
ible as entities who acted.
Some of the archives I went to over the years contained sources offering textured records
about children from colonial India. While these records were on missionary stations within India,
they were housed in archives in other countries, particularly the United Kingdom, Ireland and the
United States of America. Of the different kinds of archival sources in connection with missionary
work in India, diaries were some of the most enticing yields. A few of these, written by mission-
aries at the time they were stationed in India, contain detailed records of children, produced within
the crucible of education, medical work or proselytization. Against this background, the diary
writers punctiliously recorded the progress of their wards and the challenges of their work. The
allure of these sources came from the appearance of specific children –​ who were named, whose
backgrounds and idiosyncrasies were etched out in contrast with the generic ‘child’ figure one
encounters in reform-​centric debates of colonial India.
For example, in one diary a missionary who ran an orphanage in Bihar from 1906 to 1933
recorded the progress of his individual wards, not only keeping note of the dates they came to the
orphanage, but also of their predominant proclivities for running away or for making trouble.1
Family histories of abandonment, ill-​treatment and orphaning history were recorded in conjunc-
tion with summaries of the children’s willingness or their reluctance to continue in the care of
the Regions Beyond Missionary Union (RBMU) Orphanage. Some of the entries concluded with
short notes about the death of the ward, or about the child running away or being taken away by
the extended family. Implied in these accounts was a categorization of the wards based on their
successful transition from sick, shy waifs to healthy children ‘full of fun and jokes’. Resisting
the fetishism of such archival sources was nonetheless a challenge, owing to the melancholy
images that took shape around the entries (Freshwater 2003). The photographs of the children
accompanying the entries were tinged with this developmentalist vision, accentuating the diarist’s
appraisal of a child’s progress and the success of the missionary enterprise.
Another diary that I came across in the Representative Church Body Library, Dublin, spoke of
children within the context of mission work, but in a less direct manner.2 The diarist, a missionary

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 The Dispersed Child

affiliated to the Church of Ireland, came to India around 1910 and was tasked with setting up a
mission station in Manoharpur, in the Anglican diocese of Chota Nagpur. The diary, or diaries –​
since they span a period from 1910 to 1939 –​ contained records of confirmations and baptisms,
donations sent and expenses for the building of a Church, and of a boys’ school. Children’s actions
were faintly embossed against the background of these records, sometimes mentioning a dispute
among the tribal boys with regard to the food served at the hostel, or in anecdotes about hockey
games or annual picnics. While children were usually not directly named, the name of the first
student baptized from St. Augustine’s school –​Leo Hembrom –​is recorded. Many of the lantern
slides in Revd. Dickson’s collection featured Oraon or Routiya children, who in most images were
congregated in front of a Church or a school. The most common image was of baptisms, with rows
of children standing on the banks wearing white baptismal clothes. Though the images of children
did not have specific captions, from the diary entries –​the education of tribal children emerges as
a central project.3
Accounts about the progress shown by children in schools, orphanages or Babies’ Homes were
not always confined to the domain of personal collections of missionaries. From around the early
twentieth century, various monographs were published that were written by Zenana missionaries
who recorded their work or reminisced about their time in the Foreign Missions. The monographs
of Amy Wilson Carmichael, a missionary who was initially associated with the Church of England
Zenana Missionary Society, bear a family resemblance to some of the diaries. Wilson Carmichael
wrote several accounts of her work with children, whom she is said to have ‘rescued’ from the
Devadasi4 tradition in Tamil Nadu. Works like ‘Lotus Buds’ (Wilson Carmichael 1909), which
garnered considerable attention in the early twentieth century, outlined the travails of missionary
work and its taxing and often unrewarding fight against idolatrous practices and heathen cus-
toms. Like the two unpublished diaries, the account of the orphanage and of evangelical work in
the region makes children’s actions the centre of the narrative. However, Wilson-​Carmichael’s
monographs are set apart from the diaries in that they privilege the voices of children. Even the
photographs of some of her wards are captioned with (make-​believe) exclamations the children
might have uttered. Throughout Lotus Buds, she provides excerpts of things the children appar-
ently say. One of her wards, a child nicknamed Star is quoted as saying:

And I tried some other gods, but I got tired of it. And I wondered the more who made me,
and why I was made. And I wondered who I was. I said, I am I; I am I. But how is it that I
am I? Then I got tired of wondering. And I got tired of wanting to be good, for I could not
change my disposition, and I did not know who could.
(Carmichael 1906: 19)

Such excerpts were almost always inscribed with a humorous touch. The way in which the self-​
reflection of a five-​or six-​year-​old is worded would make one reasonably wary of the credibility
of such a ‘voice’. Not all the excerpts inscribing child voices and actions are about the complexity
of their religious ideas. Some speak of the child wards behaving inexcusably at Church on Sunday,
parodying Christian parables, causing an uproar and so on (Wilson-​Carmichael 1909). But they
too are spoken of accommodatingly, instead of in terms that might invite negative reactions from
readers.
Yet these voices like the photographs from the RBMU Orphanage in Siwan are refracted
through the lens of evangelical accomplishment. The voices of Indian children resound even in
published sources like memoir-​styled monographs of Zenana missionaries and the periodicals of
the Church Missionary Society, many of which are now available in digital archives like the Adam

21
 Hia Sen

Matthew CMS archives.5 The children’s magazine of the Church Missionary Society, for example,
featured letters that were apparently written by children from India to children in Britain –​particu-
larly where they were enmeshed in missionary networks of funds and gifts.
Images made for a significant part of the personal collections of missionaries. Many images
show groups of children, or sometimes children accompanied by adults. The library at RCB had
two sets of photos connected with the Dublin University Mission to Chota Nagpur (DUMCN) mis-
sionaries, apart from the album that accompanied the Dickson material. One set of photographs
were part of the personal collection of a missionary woman who in the 1920s and 1930s was
connected with a girls’ school in Hazaribagh.6 Groups of children, mostly girls are featured in
some of the photographs –​involved in occasions of celebration at the school or the mission com-
pound. Some of these images are captioned, such as one showing a group of children moving
around, holding the ends of ribbons, which are tied at the other end to a bamboo. In fact, the
photograph bears the caption ‘Prize-​giving day Maypole dance’. The Maypole is fashioned out of
the stout bamboo stem, with the children, mostly girls of varying ages standing around it. There is
only one boy in a dhoti-​kurta, standing with his back to the camera, holding one end of his ribbon.
A girl next to him has flowers in her hair. Standing on the left is a woman in a sari, head covered,
showing the girl how to hold the ribbon. Most of the girls are wearing dresses that come to their
knees, except for two who are in saris which are neatly draped round them. Almost all the girls
have their hair pinned at the back and left open, or braided and tied with a bow. The tidiness of
their appearance suggests something of the significance of the occasion. Other group photos are
of picnic groups or guides or of special occasions. Unlike the Dickson material, the absence of
texts here makes it challenging to learn anything more of the children, or even of their exact asso-
ciation with the missionaries in Hassardganj, unless they were mentioned in the captions. Most
photographs bear generic captions, such as ‘Hospital Babies’ or sometimes ‘Orphanage’.
The other images were part of a collection of photographs and press cuttings related to Eva
Jellett who worked in Hazaribagh as a medical missionary. The images are all of a pageant which
the press clippings and the captions describe as the ‘Pageant of the Early Irish Saints’.7 While they
are all taken in Ireland and show various of groups of actors, most presumably Irish, some images
were connected to India in particular. As to the participants, nothing is revealed.
The absence of accompanying textual sources in most of these cases was in stark contrast to
a range of published material, such as Wilson-​Carmichael’s writings, which present readers with
narratives, a disjunct that has been discussed later. Yet it was these fragmentary sources, which
elicited great interest at first than the seemingly more ‘complete’ accounts of children. Taken
together these diverse accounts, and often ‘inarticulate’ sources appeared to be peopled with chil-
dren from the past, even if their presence was only in traces.

Published Material
In recent years various missionary collections of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
have been digitized or in the process of digitization. Many such collections, especially those
that are publicly accessible, include a range of published material like missionary periodicals
and newsletters. That digital archives today have also started indexing literary works within their
collections warrants a discussion on the significance of such sources for research on children.
A broader debate on the status of certain material, especially ‘fiction’, has existed for many years
(Radwan 2008). Rather than reiterate the issues they address, I draw from some of them in order
to discuss a more specific challenge for researchers with regard to archival sources on children and
missionary work.

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 The Dispersed Child

Indian children are a ubiquitous presence in the reportage of the numerous periodicals, annual
newsletters and children’s magazines of the Church Missionary Society, some of which are avail-
able digitally, for example the CMS Archive made available by Adam Matthew. Apart from these
the collection includes various monographs authored by missionaries. Some are works of fiction,
intended for readers of specific ages. Books about children from different parts of the world make
up an important part of this repository. From the advertisements in CMS periodicals, the children’s
titles appear to be commercial successes very often, promoted around the holidays or sometimes
prescribed as readings for the examinations of juvenile organizations of the missionary societies.
Not all books about children might be seen as children’s fiction.
From the late nineteenth century, a number of missionary women started gaining recognition as
popular writers of children’s fiction.8 A closer reading of some of their works reveals that fiction is
not intended only for children, as it is for a presumably older readership, chronicling not only the
lives of specific children in the mission field, but also the travails and rewards of evangelical work.
Such works bear a strong resemblance to the monographs by Wilson-​Carmichael in privileging the
voices and actions of children. Even where its chapters hint at adventure the possibility of climax,
its similarities with the larger tenor of missionary writing are clear. Yet these are among the only
sources in mission archives that speak of particular children, often mentioning names, histories
and usually recording their doings.

Development Work in Light of Children’s Archival Traces

These different records were produced within the larger context of the missionary societies’ inter-
vention in fields such as children’s welfare, education and medicine. Missionary work, however,
not only entailed the establishment and running of schools, orphanages, hospitals etc. rather a sig-
nificant part of this work involved negotiation with a range of actors and institutions. Something of
the taxing and unpredictable nature of evangelical work is described in the works of Zenana mis-
sionaries chronicling their interaction with women from Hindu and Muslim households. Response
to the Gospel however –​either through expression of interest, willingness to send one’s children
to missionary schools, or conversion –​was usually not seen as a secure win. Children by them-
selves did not offer this security either. Missionary work also entailed many concerns apart from
proselytization. In the orphanages, day schools and within the mission compound, a number of
children were either second-​generation Christians, or in the absence of any family, they were
baptized at an early age at the orphanage itself. Conversion was not considered an accomplishment
that counted as an end in itself. Some of the sources have been discussed here to draw attention to
how the labour involved in ‘development work’ or in this case missionary work is made visible in
records about children.
The diaries reveal missionary work as being fraught with uncertainties, particularly where
works with the young are concerned. The missionaries appeared to have to reckon with the
reactions and temperaments of children in their care, especially where they were solely in charge
of an institution or a missionary compound. Of the children who were brought to the orphanage in
Sewan, many attempted to escape or at some point resisted attempts at schooling them. A number
of entries are about children who run away, some of whom would rather beg on the streets than
return. Some of the children however, upon losing their parents, request the orphanage to let them
stay with them, instead of with their kins. The term ‘discontented’ is often used by the Revd.
Alex Banks, to speak of how the children felt about the ministrations shown unto them.9 Children
frequently resisted or made their ‘discontentment’ known, when being sent to the Mission hos-
pital, for example. One of the wards, ‘Prassan’ who was 12 years old, ran away since he was

23
 Hia Sen

‘discontented’ with school. Even if children willingly stayed at the orphanage, it did not imply
total cooperation. The Revd. Banks speaks of a ten-​year-​old who came to the orphanage on his
own, yet let the missionaries know that he did not like school and preferred gardening –​a bargain
they agreed to. Descriptions of the children such as ‘dull and thickheaded’, or ‘quick learner’ or
‘wandering type’ imply Revd. Banks’ appraisal, not so much of children’s proclivities as of their
implications for everyday interactions.
The diary about the school in Manoharpur, though not entirely about children, also implies
a wariness about them. Yet the lantern slides of children’s baptisms and school picnics on the
other hand speak of a different narrative –​ of a relatively harmonious life within the missionary
station. Such images of smiling children whose appearances were tidy are common among other
missionary sources, including Dorothy Jenkins’ –​motifs of successful evangelical work. Perhaps
the mass conversions in areas like Manoharpur –​with a tribal population –​meant that baptisms of
children were not resisted as they would be in other regions. At any rate, the lantern slides imply a
degree of order in the missionary station, even when the entries speak of disruptions and challenges
of evangelical work. The diary entries reflect how significant children were to missionaries in the
region. Apart from the Anglican missionaries, the Roman Catholics and German Lutherans worked
in the Chota Nagpur region. During the First World War, when the Lutherans were interned by the
colonial government, Revd. Dickson’s entries show how the abandoned schools once under the
Gossner Evangelical Mission became sites other missionary societies vied for.
Some of the images of children in the missionary collections tend to act as evidentiary records
of the success of evangelical work in a particular mission field. Photographs of children who
are well-​clad and laughing or engaging in seemingly carefree or productive activities appear to
embody all that can be achieved through dedicated missionary work. But it is equally significant
that unlike published works, or lantern slides for display, some of these photographs were perhaps
not intended by their producer/​owner for public viewing.
A photograph from Dorothy Jenkins’ album, for example, shows a girl of about ten standing
against a netted fence, smiling broadly.10 She is wearing a knee-​length dress and is barefoot. Her
hair, which looks oiled, is neatly combed back and she has bangles on both hands. Like other
photographs from the collection, this too has a rather generic caption which reads ‘Little Christian
girl at Hassardganj’. Such images might be read from an equally generic point of view, which
identifies a singular missionary agenda behind such a photograph that promises visible material
comforts like clothes, a full stomach and worldly pleasures like Maypole dancing if one embraces
the Christian way. The promise of spiritual comfort, even if not as directly evident, is implied in
the laughing, young faces.
At the same time if these photographs were not entirely intended for exhibition, how would
one read such sources? Most images from the Jenkins collection documented everyday moments
and practices in the context of missionary work involving children. Surprising, however, was
that despite her engagement of eight years in Hazaribagh, the album appears content to mark
the subjects in such generic captions. One would imagine that such a close engagement with
the school and orphanage would yield some specific names, or details, like those in Wilson-​
Carmichael’s books. Some of the images had a similar quality, where toddlers glare at the camera
or other groups of children grin broadly. Yet the reluctance to name any of the children, raise
some questions. I wondered if in her lifetime Jenkins looked at the photo albums and remembered
finer details about the subjects –​ names, stories, what became of them after they left the school
in Hassardganj. Or if she remembered her former associations in terms of the broad categories
used in the captions. Lantern slides and photographs amassed during the career of a missionary
were often shown at exhibitions, or accompanied special lectures of missionaries on furlough

24
 The Dispersed Child

when they were not posted at abroad. They were part of the popular material familiarizing those
at home with evangelical work overseas. The ethnographic lens was a fixture in such images –​
which often documented and labelled various categories of indigenous people, photographed
in traditional costumes, with traditional arms, or during some of their rituals. The Dickson
slides included several such images of the tribes of Chota Nagpur. Dorothy Jenkins’ album also
contained some such images, of people from different tribes around India, in traditional costumes.
It would be in keeping with the captioning practice from this point of view –​to provide a broad
sense of the subjects to an imagined public. The images of people from the missionary station
of Hassardganj, however, betrayed something of an intimacy. The women and children from the
school and orphanage, even where they are wearing the sari or the dhoti, are shown in moments
which ascribe a certain familiarity to them, either through the use of material objects or activ-
ities familiar to the British/​Irish viewers, or from their facial expressions that mark them apart
from the unsmiling, slightly ornamental photographs of some of the other subjects. As archival
sources, such images of children produced in the course of ‘development work’ arouses questions
about their intended status as public/​private material.
The images from Eva Jellett’s Pageant of the Early Irish Saints are in contrast about one
event. They imply that children from India were not only significant within localized contexts
of evangelical work but were also enmeshed in transcultural networks. One of the photographs
shows a small procession of people in an open space, holding banners and descending steps into
what looks like a park. Upon closer look, some of the participants appear to be either Indian or
in Indian attire. A boy in his teens, who racial identity cannot be discerned from the image, leads
the procession, holding a banner of the DUMCN. The women and children in the procession
are presumably Irish, even if some of them are in saris. One of the children with a sari covering
her head appears to have darkened her skin. Portions of her face shine, showing a lighter skin
tone and hair. Behind, the banners of St. Kiran’s orphanage, the Hindi and the Bengali Girls’
School are carried by some members of the procession. The press cuttings describe the event as
a pageant of the early Irish Saints, held in 1921 in Ireland, and one in which Dr. Jellett played
an important role as the organizer. Even assuming none of the children were Indian –​something
which is difficult to determine from the images –​their symbolic presence in the form of the chil-
dren who were dressed like them and the banners of the schools and orphanage draws attention
to the imaginaries of a transcultural faith-​based community which missionary societies started
promoting around the early twentieth century. Some of the published missionary material from
the 1920s and 1930s often emphasized this imaginary of Indian children as traversing complex
global missionary networks.
Such fragmentary sources allowed a closer look at the various arenas of development work in
which children mattered –​either as actual persons, interactions with whom were significant, or as
ideas –​where their symbolic presence or participation was relevant to a cause.

Dispersals
These sources, which speak of children from India, are dispersed across archives and collections,
ranging from public to private collections, and inscribed in varying forms, from visual material
to published monographs. For various reasons –​ wars and decolonization being the two primary
ones –​many of the papers pertaining to the missionary institutions were shifted across regions and
countries. As such, the material on CMS’ work in India was sparse in archives like the Bishop’s
College, which houses records from missionary societies of diverse liturgical traditions, inasmuch
as they were connected to the diocese. Some of the institutions which worked with missionary

25
 Hia Sen

societies might have discontinued their work in a certain diocese, accounting for the absence of
records for some years, while some societies were merged. Some of the societies like the Zenana
Bible and Medical Missionaries, whose records referred to children, were renamed; other soci-
eties like the CEZMS were absorbed in the CMS. Thus looking for records under the names of
missionary societies or institutions over successive years sometimes yielded no findings at the local
archive. Added to this, many missionaries who wrote about the Indian children in their schools
and orphanages used initials or remained anonymous, as was the case of the contributors of Round
World. Sometimes, missionaries who wrote about children from specific CMS orphanages in India
could be identified from their contributions in other records, like the Annual Letters which the
CMS published, records in which they also sometimes mentioned experiences with the children
of the school or orphanage.
Finding records of individual missionaries associated with CMS boarding schools and
orphanages in India was impossible with some exceptions. Children, where they were written about
in the published sources or the diaries, were often identified by their first names or nicknames –​
this being a general issue with archival research on children. Ethical imperatives play an important
role, since most archives do not allow access to files connected to orphanage. The possibilities of
finding records on children who were in missionary care in vernacular language sources were even
slimmer.
Given how dispersed the sources of missionaries are –​it is impossible to speak of
‘missionary archives’ in the singular, even for a specific society associated with the Church
of England. Some of the more comprehensive material is available online, but with their own
set of challenges. Digital archives like the Adam Matthew collections are in some ways useful
for scholars located in Southern contexts who cannot easily access physical archives in the
UK or Ireland. Yet apart from questions of their license cost, the prioritization of sources
in English means that any vernacular language sources produced by native missionaries or
native Christians who grew up in missionary care and might have written about their childhood
experiences were not to be found within the digital archives. These questions of access and
availability of resources which draw attention to the location of the researcher are being asked
only recently (Kannan et al 2022).
The sources inscribing actions or experiences of children from India are thus greatly fragmented.
A significant challenge was piecing together diverse forms of sources –​especially visual material,
which without specific captions and accompanying text –​ were ‘inarticulate’ sources. On the
other hand, the abundant narratives about Indian children which were inscribed in missionary
monographs and other published material made no secret of a very clear evangelical agenda.
The dispersal of the sources also has to be imagined in formal terms. A large number of fictional
works about Indian children and missionaries from CMS or CEZMS populate digital archives
today. The works of missionaries like DS Batley, in whose works Bengali children are often the
protagonists, are one of the many examples. The possibility of seeing such works as ‘archival
sources’ which might say something about children’s place in the work of Anglican missionary
societies ought to invite discussion. As an increasing number of institutions and projects, including
those from South Asia are creating digital repositories which contain works of children’s fiction,
and children’s periodicals from the past, a discussion on how such sources can inform the scholar-
ship on children beyond questions of cultural representation is required.
As the involvement of Anglican missionaries with children in India has left a trail that is
transcultural, many possible remnants of the time and enterprise, which could allow one to make
sense of some of the fragmentary sources, cannot be located, or have no presence in formal
archives. The unevenness in sources found around children often influences how and if at all the

26
 The Dispersed Child

fragmentary sources are used or read in contemporary scholarship. While the children’s magazine
of the CMS mentions gifts of dolls and other items sent by children within the missionary network
to ‘friends’ in India, I have not come across any, or even know where to look for them. Letters
written by children would also be useful sources, yet the records amassed from archives in India
are erratic and sparse.
Finally, archival sources connected with the Church of North India, or any of the missionary
societies which worked in India, are sometimes part of repositories attached to institutions like theo-
logical or missionary colleges. Since many such regional repositories in India and its neighbours
have no online presence, they remain either largely inaccessible or unknown to scholars.

Reading Fragments
The importance of dispersed and fragmentary sources in enlivening archives has been emphasized
by many scholars in recent years. Some of these discussions have taken place around sources
connected to children, with some scholars emphasizing the alternatives to conventional archives,
such as colonial or State archives. Drawing from some of these discussions, I shall reflect on some
of the implications of using the fragments which emerge within the context of missionary work.
These can be categorized into three broad sets.
Of these, the first is related to the nature of the sources. In recent years scholars, particularly
those from cultural geography, have often emphasized the importance of personal collections for
research related to children from the past. In the context of my work too, I have usually found
the material from personal collections of missionaries, especially visual material as offering
more textured ‘traces’ of children’s worlds and their everyday lives. Yet, comparing them with
some of the child-​centric material in collections which were more ‘public’ revealed important
resemblances which need to be reflected on. Reportage in CMS periodicals, monographs like
Wilson-​Carmichael’s and Batley’s often embraced an explicit narrative in which the moral and
material improvement of children in their care was exhibited, regardless of these being separated
by categories of non-​fiction and fiction. On the other hand, images such as ones in the Dorothy
Jenkins collection betrayed a similar message very often. If ‘official’ missionary narratives are
thought to be produced from an evangelical impetus, how would one read apparently ‘personal’
sources which depicted very similar moments? Thinking about the public/​private status of some
of these ‘fragments’ and to an extent questioning the neatness of this divide revealed how chil-
dren mattered –​not only in missionary work –​but also for missionary life (Vallgårda 2015).
Additionally, the presence of a considerable number of fiction in missionary collections and their
resemblance with CMS reportage of the early twentieth century drew attention to certain formal
imperatives where children’s experiences were concerned. Where official records like reports of
schools, orphanages, and formal correspondence hardly speak of actual and concrete Indian chil-
dren, it is these other forms which allow the moments and traces of children’s experiences to be
inscribed and kept within the rubric of missionary work. Especially the practice of changing the
names of places and mission stations while including photographs of the protagonists render the
status of such fictional works more complex. These diverse forms of sources might be uneven
in terms of their ‘evidentiary status’, yet they demonstrate the social power of these different
objects –​ from images to books, which were integral in a field of work that was precarious in its
outcomes, and often very lonely.
The second set of reflections are related to the practices of archiving. Some of the ‘official’
sources which have been discussed here were often found in the interstices of collections within
the physical archives. At the Bishop’s College archives, some of the most textured sources were

27
 Hia Sen

not in the boxes where references to children would be expected –​ under ‘education’ or ‘Sunday
Schools’, but in one marked ‘Relief’, and the other ‘Miscellaneous’. The contents of these two
boxes were an assortment of papers, which possibly because of their inconsistence or incomplete-
ness eluded the archiving logic, earning them their place.
The Relief Box contained some of the papers connected with the Society for the Protection of
Children in India. A range of ‘rescue’ work with regard to children was recorded, reflecting the
scope of their work in child welfare. The progress of a Chinese girl, whom the Society for the
Protection of Children in India (SPCI) rescued from slavery, is reported in one of the Society’s
newsletters.11 The letter describes how she was evacuated to Rajshahi and sent to a missionary
school. The extent of the Society’s involvement in rehabilitating children is obvious, since the
newsletter talks about arrangements for her to visit a Chinese lady in Calcutta so she would not
forget her native tongue. Such accounts also underscore the fact that it was not only the children
who were ethnically ‘Indian’ who were rescued in colonial India. While I came across no sources
authored by Indian children, I found among the records labelled ‘Miscellaneous’ a letter written
in pencil, addressed to the then Bishop of Calcutta, the Rev. Arabinda Mukherjee.12 The writers,
school children from Florida, explain how their class had chosen India as a mission field they
would like to aid and ask about the work being done there. The address given is of St. John’s
Church in Tampa. A copy of the Bishop’s reply is also kept in the same file, yet it is directed
towards Dorothy Allen, their teacher. Such sources, when read in conjunction with the more
personal collections, draw attention to the logic of archives that account for the places in which
child-​related sources are often found. When it comes to official records, sources about specific
children are few. Where available, they are found often in the interstices of archives, or among
miscellaneous papers. The works of fiction and the array of visual sources on the other hand are
widely available in the missionary collections. This disparate nature of the sources and places
which they occupy in archives as ‘public’ or ‘private’ draws attention to the permissible forms
assigned to child-​related sources ensuring their accommodation within archives. This inclusion
itself points to the significance of children within the missionary enterprise, not simply as objects
of rehabilitation but as figures whose actions had important ramifications for missionary work and
its day-​to-​day administration.
The third set of reflections are about how these sources might enrich scholarship on develop-
ment work itself, beyond questions of children’s experiences. Some scholars have questioned the
tendency of overstating the political intentions of children from the past, alleging that such singular
focus renders children’s history an exceedingly myopic field that cannot enter larger conversations
within the discipline (Maza 2020). Engaging with some of these concerns I argue that fragmentary
sources on children reveal what missionary work entailed. For example, Revd. Dickson’s diary
showed how crucial children’s work was to competing missionary societies in maintaining and
broadening the expanse of their hold. The SPCI papers also reflect how rehabilitation of Indian chil-
dren necessitated the cooperation of missionary societies with many secular institutions in the twen-
tieth century. The Bishop of Calcutta was its President, with the Maharajadhiraja of Burdwan as
co-​President. From the papers it appears that rescued children were sent to missionary care. At the
same time the newsletters recording the society’s work for some years are authored by Ela Sen, who
was known for her involvement in famine relief efforts and a figure connected with the Communist
Party. These sources, when read in retrospect, offer a glimpse of the many entanglements of local
and colonial development work, which emerge within missionary work with children in India.
The scholarship on missionary work in India often speaks of missionary education in order
to emphasize the fault lines between the missionaries and the colonial State (Allender 2003).

28
 The Dispersed Child

A broader tendency has been to look at missionary sources –​especially children’s periodicals
and fiction as subject-​making enterprises. The methodological imperative of reading against the
grain has meant that records which evangelicals left behind tend mostly to be analysed for their
racialized imaginaries and evangelical agendas. While this reminder is significant, especially
where missionary collections reveal sources inscribing voices of children, it is also important
to ask if fragmentary sources may not allow us to forge ‘new evidentiary pathways’ that are not
always self-​evident and to interrogate the contingencies of ‘postcolonial history-​writing’ (Allman
2013: 126). This chapter has emerged from some of these concerns –​not so much from an austere
impulse for converting scarcity into a virtue, but rather as the scholarship within the field has been
too partial to certain silos.

Conclusion
As I look at the material I have amassed from forays into different archives to look for chil-
dren from colonial India, I grow conscious of how their specificity, coupled with my location,
has leavened my understanding of children. My choice of archives was determined as much by
funding concerns as by an interest in Protestant missionaries and their exchanges with children
from colonial India. One of the foremost reasons for choosing Kolkata at the start of my work
was because of the ease of access. In fact, over the years, the choice of archives apart from being
determined by the kinds of sources they held was also governed by questions of access and lack
of funding available for research trips, something which researchers particularly from the Global
South reckon with often.
By reading some of the ‘disorderly’, ‘inarticulate’ sources which I could access, and in conjunc-
tion with each other –​like odds and ends laid out on a surface –​I have tried to show how textured
sources on children from the past allow us to think beyond questions of education and care. The
stray items –​ miscellanea, photo albums with no accompanying texts –​ and the array of fiction
draw attention to a social world in which children were part of a network of social actors shaping
missionary work in India.
Within contemporary scholarship, sources connected with missionary educational institutions
and orphanages have primarily been unpacked to see what children were subjected to, and
thereby to chart out in yet another way, imperialist or evangelical strategies of subject produc-
tion. Inarticulate and often fragmentary records about the antics of children on the other hand
reveal something of the nature of missionary work –​showing how it is comprised of a series of
negotiations. The records of children’s idiosyncrasies, as well as the existence of such a prac-
tice of record-​keeping in the first place reveals how much one had to reckon with the children’s
actions and their development, for these had implications for missionary life at an everyday level.
This insight while being more about the labour aspect of missionary work than about children’s
‘experience’ is also relevant to understanding children’s positions within the later ‘development’
enterprise.
Most of these archival sources offer a perspective of the ordinary in the lives of the chil-
dren, recording something of their everyday activities and exchanges. The anecdotes or images
about children’s experiences and actions gleaned from the archives are not easily subsumed
within the grid of subject-​making or imperial anxieties –​some of the dominant lines of argu-
ment within the contemporary historiography of childhood. As stray sources from transnationally
dispersed archives, they offer limited and mottled images of children’s worlds within the con-
text of missionary work. The insights that emerge from such varied sources appear somewhat

29
 Hia Sen

incongruous within predominant narratives around ‘evangelical agendas’ of proselytization and

control, and missionary education in colonies. The fact that they do not sit well or fit well within
the existing frameworks for studying children stirs a certain amount of unease. And it is unease at
the end of the day that urges one to look for ways out of the silo.

Notes
1 MS 380389, Banks, Personal Papers, Box 3, File 4, SOAS London.
2 Transcript of Revd. G.W. Dickson’s Diary, 1910–​1939, RCB Library, Dublin.
3 A short piece on Dickson’s diary and the images I had written based on the sources at RCB Dublin was
published on its website under ‘Archive of the Month’ in April 1921. See ‘A Glimpse of Mission Work in
Chota Nagpur (1910–​1939) from the Collections of the Revd Gerald Dickson’. https://​dub​lin.angli​can.
org/​news/​2021/​04/​01/​a-​glim​pse-​of-​miss​ion-​work
4 According to this tradition that is followed in different parts of South India, Dalit girls are ‘given up’ to
the service of the temple deity. It is frequently alluded to as a practice of ‘temple prostitution’.
5 www.chur​chmi​ssio​nary​soci​ety.amdigi​tal.co.uk/​
6 Photograph Albums of Dorothy Jenkins, 1926–​34, RCB Library MS617.
7 Jellett, Eva: Photographs, correspondence, press-​cuttings and printed material related to ‘A Pageant of
Early Irish Saints’, RCB Library MS 159.
8 See for example Batley, D.S. (1923) The Taming of Ambo, Great Britain: Church of England Zenana
Missionary Society; Batley, D.S. (1926) The Two Shilling Baby, London: Zenith Press; King, R. (1946)
‘Aziz Gets her Chance: A Story of North India’, The Round World, January, pp. 4–​5.
9 MS 380389, Banks, Personal Papers, Box 3, File 4, SOAS London.
10 Photographs from the Dorothy Jenkins’ collection. RCB Dublin MS 617.
11 Newsletter No. 13, July 1945, Relief Box 1, File 5, BCA.
12 Correspondence 1952, File 2, Miscellaneous Box 1, BCA.

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Alexander, K. (2012) Can the Girl Guide Speak? The Perils and Pleasures of Looking for Children’s Voices
in Archival Research. Jeunesse, 4(1), 132–​145.
Allender, T. (2003) Anglican Evangelism in North India and the Punjabi Missionary Classroom: The Failure
to Educate “The Masses”, 1860-​77. History of Education, 32(3), 273–​288.
Allman, J. (2013) AHR Forum Phantoms of the Archive: Kwame Nkrumah, a Nazi Pilot Named Hanna, and
the Contingencies of Postcolonial History-​Writing, American Historical Review, 2, 104–​129.
Bellenoit, H. J. A. (2007) Missionary Education, Religion and Knowledge in India, c.1880–​1915. Modern
Asian Studies, 41(2), 369–​394.
Capshaw, K. (2021) “Come on In!”: Play as Community and Liberation in The Brownies’ Book. The Journal
of the History of Childhood and Youth, 14(3), 367–​392. www.muse.jhu.edu/​arti​cle/​804​300.
Freshwater, H. (2003) The Allure of the Archive. Poetics Today, 24(4), 729–​758.
Gagen, E. A. (2001) Too Good to Be True: Representing Children’s Agency in the Archives of playground
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Geography, 38(2), 267–​284.
Kannan, D., Dar, A., Duff, S., Sen, H., Nag, S., & Bergere, C. (2022) Childhood, Youth, and Identity:
A Roundtable Conversation from the Global South. Journal of Childhood Studies, 20–​31. https://​doi.org/​
10.18357/​jcs20​2220​249
May, H., Kaur, B., & Prochner, L. (2016) Empire, Education, and Indigenous Childhoods: Nineteenth-​
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Mills, S. (2015) Archival Fieldwork and Children’s Geographies. In: Evans R., Holt L., Skelton T.
(eds) Methodological Approaches. Geographies of Children and Young People, vol 2, 405–​421.
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 3
DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH
WITH CHILDREN FROM A
DECOLONIAL PERSPECTIVE 1
Experimentation with Knowledge and
Learning to Think Otherwise

Lucia Rabello de Castro

Processes of social change have been part and parcel of how societies thematize their own tempor-
alities, interpreting past legacies to make sense of the present and envisage what is still to come.
It is, however, much more recently that the future came to be conceived as an open and indeter-
minate temporality unfolding according to the wished-​for directions of change, conceptualized
as progress, to be cultivated and prepared in the present (Koselleck, 2012). Among narratives
of progress, that of development has inspired and stipulated ways to go forward for nations and
subjectivities for at least one century, despite the very different values that these narratives came to
assume in different parts of the world. According to Rahnema (2005), the concept of development
has been introduced in the languages of the older civilizations (for instance, Persian, Ethiopian)
to co-​opt all forms of endogenous processes of improvement in favour of a particular modern
(European) worldview, such as ‘growth and change’.
In Third World countries development narratives, considered ‘their moment of truth’ after the
Second World War, have completely failed their promises as a way towards prosperity and well-​
being. Different critics, such as Amin (2014), Nandy (2003), Kothari (1989), Furtado (1961) and
others, from diverse geographical, theoretical and disciplinarian positions, have turned against
development; in common, they shared a Third World perspective which foregrounds the deceit
of a single Eurocentric representation to encompass the destinies and trajectories of all cultures
enforcing a single vision and path towards the future. More recently, globalized economic devel-
opment has brought about the dissemination of Western values –​competition, individualism,
prosperity –​and entailed a certain hierarchy of cultures ranked according to their wealth on a
linear scale (Marglin, 2010). In this vein, the yoking of development to the imperatives of glo­
balization has, as Dirlik (2012) argues, produced deleterious social and subjective effects seizing
consciousnesses through the ideology of developmentalism, characterized by the fetishization of
development once it cannot be resisted ‘at the risk of […one] being condemned to stagnation and
poverty’ (2012:31).

32 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-5
 Development Research with Children from a Decolonial Perspective

Children’s lives have also been significantly affected by such development narratives. Modern
childhood has been conceived as a genealogical stage from where the human species is thought
to differentiate itself from lower forms of existence to attain rationality and individual autonomy,
the baseline of a unilinear process of development towards being fully human. Regarded as not-​
yet-​beings and non-​social, children have had to be educated/​civilized/​developed according to the
moral, cognitive and emotional parameters of a good development (Walkerdine,1993) in com­
plicity with the social demands of adults. By the same token, formal education in schools has
been a by-​product of developmentalism evading incorporating children’s own views about the
world they would like to live in and reflecting adults’ self-​attributed cognitive and moral super-
iority to develop them. Thus, development narratives have curbed nations’ future trajectories and
children’s alternative self-​projects providing an overarching multi-​scale binding programme of
social change, specially in the Global South.
One must ask, however, how can processes of social change be conceived to allow for
pluriversal modes of being and inhabiting the world? How can they allow pathways of the road
ahead that are not fixed beforehand but discovered and built as collectives strive for a better
and fairer future? To do that, children’s enrolment in research is fundamental. The discussion
of this chapter addresses the issue of bringing children into processes of change arguing for the
relevance of experimentation as a methodological asset conceived as a reflexive and patient co-​
learning project of alternative ways of looking ahead to the future. Giving up certainties about
what we know and how to proceed, as argued here, constitutes a key feature of such a research
methodology when it is realized that there is always a myriad of possibilities to do research and
produce knowledge. Some are conventional, legitimate and canonical, but others, still unforeseen
and unknown, are necessary to creatively respond to present challenges and revive the sterility
of many of our academic endeavours. Along this chapter, decolonial theories will inspire us to
interrogate and delink (Mignolo, 2007) from established epistemologies that have naturalized
concepts, theories, cosmologies and ontologies. Delinking tries to foreground other principles
of knowledge and understanding, thus other ethics and politics. Having been originated from
Global South scholars (Mignolo, 2000; Quijano, 2005, 2020; Lander, 2011), these theories urge
us to think afresh from European universal narratives which have been constitutive of worldwide
processes of domination and imperialism controlling knowledges, selves and processes of ‘devel-
opment’.2 Decolonial theories, as well as the Global South as their symbolic cartographic referent
(Grovogui, 2011), have become the place of struggles between, on the one hand, the rhetoric of
modernity, development, democracy together with the logic of domination and coloniality, and,
on the other, the struggle for independent thought and decolonial freedom (Levander & Mignolo,
2011). Thus, in the first part of the chapter methodological choices in childhood research are
discussed from a geopolitical perspective which foregrounds the underpinnings of the produc-
tion of knowledge within the local and the macro-​level colonial order of power. Following from
that, we discuss how the asymmetrical balance of generational power in research encounters
between children and adults must be addressed in terms of a search for a ‘subjective and epi-
stemic reconstruction’, a decolonial insight (Mignolo & Walsh, 2018), seeking to enhance know­
ledge experimentation and decolonial freedom. In the last part, an illustration of doing research
with children, as pleasure and freedom are envisaged as constitutive of the ways ahead, discusses
how directions of change had to be tentatively tried out by researcher and children themselves in
a movement that put into question the certainties of the way forward and assumed the challenges
of risk and experimentation.

33
 Lucia Rabello de Castro

Research choices in face of the geopolitical context:

the relevance of localization
Localization of knowledge and self becomes a foremost concern to avoid the production of priv-
ilege narratives about children, those of the Global South, specially, in view of constructing alter-
native ways to look at the present and the future.
In their instigating Introduction to the edited book Reimagining Childhood Studies, Spyrou,
Rosen and Cook (2019) highlight the complex entanglement of childhood research which involves
the researcher as a co-​constitutive presence in the research assemblage to the effect that it is due to
the researcher’s theoretical and methodological choices to bring out some childhood realities rather
than others. This very remarkable perception urges us to reflect on the onus of the researcher’s pos-
ition ever accountable for what childhood realities one ‘preferably’ brings out. They argue that
in the present, as children’s lives become nested in multiple-​scale and far-​away determinacies,
especially the economic global processes, research concern should be directed at bringing polit-
ical economy into childhood studies, an effort to reimagine childhood as part of, and constituted
by, financialized capitalism. In this way, a finer picture of present accumulation processes can
emerge, while making, at best, a difference in children’s lives. We take Spyrou et al.’s (2019)
inspiring affirmation here to argue that financialized capitalism bears not only on children, but
also, on the researcher’s life, trajectory, research experience, interests, world vision as well as in
her positionality in the international division of knowledge production. Thus, positionalities of
both the researcher and the children are directly implicated in the wider web of determinants of
the international division of labour, power and wealth, bearing on the relationality produced in
research. Essential as it may be to bring political economy into childhood studies, as Spyrou et al.
claim, a still missing element is how any researcher, and the knowledge she produces, takes part
in the international division of academic labour where different locations of enunciation ensure
unequal visibility, authorization and legitimation of the produced knowledge (Alatas, 2003; de
Castro, 2020; Connell et al., 2017) leading to the formation of privilege narratives. Thus, political
economy is not enough since it does not account for the geopolitical location of the researcher as
it impacts the theoretical and methodological choices she makes when, for instance, the local can
be narrativized from a single and dominant perspective.
Seminal as it may have been, research that sought to examine the impact of global economic
transitions in different localities, such as Cindi Katz’s comparative work in Sudan and New York
(2004), the researcher’s geopolitical localization vis à vis her research subjects is not accounted
for as underpinnings of the knowledge thus produced. Or, to understand it through the frame-
work of decoloniality, it becomes important to ask, what sort of mediations bear on a white
Northern researcher’s relationality with so distant and unfamiliar societies and children and what
implications these mediations have for the production and the circulation of knowledge about chil-
dren. In this case, it must be an issue that, in the first place, it is Northern researchers who move to
distant Southern regions to research children there, and not the other way round. This should not be
naturalized but must be questioned as a key feature of the international division of academic labour
when it is Global North scholars who produce privilege narratives about local children of far-​away
corners. Has this scholarship allowed for pluriversal understandings of self, ‘development’ and
future orientations? Or, was it captive of a lingering epistemological racism (Biswas, 2022) that,
inadvertently, re-​affirmed the ‘(Northern) researcher’s universal self’, positioned over and above
her own locality and thus, able to cope with whatever other localities as if one’s own? This is (only)
to say that, in the present division of academic labour, where some knowledges appear to be more
evident and valuable than others –​the so-​called privilege narratives, the researcher’s geopolitical

34
 Development Research with Children from a Decolonial Perspective

localization must be spelt out as part and parcel of the eventual relationalities established with her
(also) localized children.
Studies about children and ‘development’ could gain if denaturalized methodological choices
could also legitimate Global South researchers to investigate Northern children in an effort for ‘gen-
erative south-​north and south-​south encounters’ (Abebe, Dar & Lysa, 2022), and a fairer exchange
framework of narrative disputes among Global South and North scholars. Harassed by globaliza-
tion, an abstract reality that seems to impinge on us as our ‘new form of society’ (Connell, 2007),
research encounters with children may reiterate the face value of global processes, supposing to
operate within a frame where the researcher’s subjectivity, unquestionably ‘globalized’, relates to
children’s subjectivities (very) less globalized. The superior (globalized) cognizant mode of the
researcher is only made possible because it veils its own (local) conditions of production.
The eventually different geopolitical localizations, the researcher’s and the children’s, challenge
researchers to go beyond the methodological demands of how to research others. In this vein, the
relevance of geopolitical localization to knowledge production in a globalized world has been
demanded by those who argue that ‘knowledge is necessarily local’ (Okere, Njoku & Devisch,
2011), meaning that it must be aligned with the deeper symbolic and material forces that shape a
particular way of inhabiting the world in order to resist forms of epistemic alienation and dom-
ination. Otherwise, the act of knowing might be subject to ‘extraversion’, a subjective condition
highlighted by the Benin philosopher Paulin Hountondji (1990, 1997), and also other African
scholars (Mafeje, 2000; Mkanwidere, 2015), based on both the willing consent and the uncon­­
scious projective identification with the powerful other and her knowledge positionality. Recently,
Mbembe (2017) has argued for an ‘African paradigm in social sciences’ as only Africans are cap­
able to say the truth about Africa (‘sont en mesure de dire la vérité au sujet de l’Afrique’, p. 382)
so that the understanding of African reality, carried out by Africans, can be faithful to it without
others’ directives and government. Clearly, Mbembe is referring to colonial power structures still at
play now whose enforcing world views interfere with people’s own imaginations of their societies
and futures. On the side of childhood research, this claim has been resonated by those who contest
knowledge that is produced from a ‘globalized’/​universal location and considered valid to fare
well wherever (Miedema, Koster & Pow, 2020; Balagopalan, 2019a; Abebe, Dar & Lysa, 2022).
On the other hand, localization of knowledge also leads to impasses. The urgency and the
gravity of the reality of children in the South often make local child researchers of the Global
South overwhelmed by it. In these cases, the prevailing child hunger, adolescent assassination,
children’s sexual abuse and maltreatment and the family-​and-​child social and economic abandon-
ment and many other social demands impinge on the researcher who feels committed to respon-
sively embrace these issues in a morally concerned research agenda. Here researchers may be
gripped by the calamity of social problems which outstand their capacity to stand aside and not be
obfuscated by one’s own localization with regard to research subjects.
The goals of social transformation (‘development’) in childhood research have been claimed
from various corners. Often it has been aligned with ways ‘forward’ stipulated and provided by
international agencies and NGOs (Reynolds, Nieuwenhuys & Hanson 2006; Baraldi & Castro,
2020). In this vein, local realities become pigeonholed and understood along the linear histor­
ical narrative of modernization, ‘development’ and globalization as dictated by Euro or North
American-​centric values. In Third World countries, an agenda to reduce poverty conducted by
international agencies such as the World Bank since the 1980s has led to a re-​inscription of ‘pov-
erty’ in the social imaginary of these countries whose economies had to be adjusted by criteria
imposed by the dominating economies (Yeldan, 2007). Furthermore, the ‘poor child’ has incarnated,
most opportunely, the ‘othered’ subject in childhood scholarship (Hopkins and Sriprakash, 2016;

35
 Lucia Rabello de Castro

Burman, 2016) a hegemony, which shapes the way many local Southern researchers think about
their own childhood realities. Paradoxically, such a rendering up to the clamour of material depriv-
ation and social disadvantages that children face can, ultimately, unfold a conservative research
agenda that holds up to the mainstream theoretical and methodological conceptualizations of
childhood. Social problems, seen as needing urgent remedial intervention and correction, come to
be regarded as bizarre instances of lack, backwardness, barbarism, or even, uncivilized traditions.
The researcher’s enunciation positionality, though supposedly sympathetic to reducing suffering
and improving children’s lives, may inadvertently reinforce available and reified visions of social
change overlooking those that can be contextually emergent and eventually divergent.

Experimenting in knowledge construction: the subjective and

epistemic reconstruction of researcher and children
‘Subjective and epistemic reconstruction’ consists of a decolonial expression leading to engage-
ment ‘in forms of life that we like to preserve rather than be hostage of modernity’s designs and
desires’ (Mignolo & Walsh, 2018:120). As a methodological tenet it demands from researchers a
gradual realization of the partiality of the knowledge produced fueling disposition to delink and
experiment research with children.
How children are going to participate in knowledge production becomes an ever dilemmatic
question as it poses challenges for the real collaboration with children to construct the destiny of
societies. The investigation of children as subjects, rather than objects of research (Christensen
& James, 2000), puts into question the intrinsic and essential difference between adults and chil­
dren forwarded by Developmental Psychology. The new childhood studies paradigm (James &
Prout, 1990; Qvortrup et al.,1994) focused on the question of what childhood is about (as well
as adulthood) and how children and adults are constituted, simultaneously and contextually, in a
differential relationality. In this case, research with children conceptualized children and adults as
reciprocally constituted and related, taking into account that their positionalities, determined by
a gamut of cultural and social conditions where they inhabit and relate, are structured by power
asymmetries between them.
Power is entangled in the process of knowledge production about children in the researcher’s
choices about what kind of knowledge, how and for what purposes it is produced. As Gallagher
(2008) argued the differential of power in childhood research ‘is not an evil’ per se, for adult dom­
ination, though seemingly coherent and imposing, will always meet with children’s resistances and
opposition making the former ‘a tottering edifice crumbling on all sides’ (p. 145).
It can be argued that all knowledge and the methods they employ can potentially affect
children’s lives for better or for worse, be it formulated and conducted within an adult dominated
or a children’s own framework. The fact that children can be interpellated to engage in know-
ledge production with the researcher as an open-​ended and unpredictable process (Gallagher &
Gallagher, 2008) de-​centers childhood (Spyrou, 2017) and positions both researcher and chil­­
dren as necessarily included in this process (Wyness, 2012) regarded as constitutionally imma­
ture in the context of a necessarily incomplete and messy process –​‘a process without guarantee’
(Gallagher & Gallagher, 2008:512). Thus, the ethical commitment in childhood research may
consist of, rather than the so-​called empowerment primer that undertakes explicit goals of social
change, the humbler ambition of a tentative knowledge experimentation together with children.
A decolonizing caveat to the issue of the entanglement of power and knowledge points at the per-
manent process of ‘epistemic and subjective reconstruction’ (Mignolo & Walsh, 2018, my italics).
Thus, for children, epistemic reconstruction concerns the process of feeling authorized to think on

36
 Development Research with Children from a Decolonial Perspective

their own terms and not being thwarted by the knowledge of others. For researchers, epistemic
and subjective reconstruction entails learning to think and feel otherwise, to delink from known
methods and theories, or as Mignolo puts, ‘border gnosis’ (Mignolo, 2011), calling for epistemic
disobedience, sensuous/​cognitive capacities (Fals-​Borda, 2009) and ethical reflectivity (Spyrou,
2011; Canosa, Graham & Wilson, 2018).
Children’s participation in developmental research –​whatever choices are made –​does not
guarantee effective social change which often resides out of the reach of children and researchers
themselves, so what can be desired and attained by children, and with them, is the chance of
experimenting in knowing. The urge to free children from adult’s control and power, making them
‘equals of adults and autonomous’, may lead, as described by Kjørholt (2007) to essentializing
autonomy, choice and freedom, and hegemonizing these constructs as the summum bonum of all
children’s lives. In this case, and quite often so, children’s empowerment process may automatic-
ally take nearby adults, who often are equally part and parcel of one same system of oppression
(Nandy, 2010), for example, in the case of teachers and parents, as adversaries. In this case, one
bypasses the chance to engage children in knowledge construction so that the agency of other de
facto adversaries who have a real stake in reproducing an unequal social order can be put in relief
(de Castro, 2022).
The joint partnership between the researcher and children must attend to how the latter are
brought into this relationship. The subjective reconstruction of children within the research context
implies that adults listen to them in their different capacity to voice their minds. Oswell (2009a,
2009b) has noted the liminal condition of infancy with regard to speech questions both as who can
be constituted as a political subject and what can be taken as a political speech. His important point
is that noises are not only distinguished from (political) speech on the basis of the physical sounds,
but, most importantly, on the basis of who is making them, who is hearing them, the context where
they are made, what he names ‘the architectonics of audible spaces’ (p. 14). To approach and to
understand those in a different capacity from the researcher demands, as Spyrou (2011) has put it,
time to go through multi-​layered and more nuanced meanings in order to develop an understanding
of children’s own semantics and reflection of the researcher’s underlying motivations that shape
the analyses and presentations of research findings. Thus, for this author, the issue of voice and
representation are not to be dismissed but should provoke researchers, putting it decolonially, to
reflect on their own epistemic and subjective reconstruction through a permanent examination
of what ideologies underlie our images and representations of children and what veiled interests
and conditions guide our research methodology and findings. The political moment of research
encounters with children lies then in the inherent ambivalence which, on one side, ensures that
their voice and representation can become a reality and, on the other, dangerously longs for the
eradication of generational power or its dilution, particularly through the so-​called child-​led
research (Cuevas-​Parra & Tisdall, 2019).

Experimenting to develop educational realities through research

with children –​by way of conclusion
Childhood research in the Brazilian educational context has been an arena of experimentation of
social changes to quote but a few examples: towards better racial peer relations (Petronilha, 2007),
non-​medicalized and non-​pathologized students’ diagnostic procedures (Carneiro & Coutinho,
2021), improved teacher–​pupil relationships (Silva, 2021), enhancing students’ democratic partici­­
pation in school (de Castro & Tumolo, 2019). Local researchers, many of whom are interpellated
by the appallingly bad quality of public education, have set their hearts to instrumentalize research

37
 Lucia Rabello de Castro

endeavours towards changing educational realities, although research agendas guided by an eth-
ical and political concern with social change can hardly produce effects with some residuality.
Neoliberal structural adjustments in Global South countries (McMichael, 2017) have victimized
mostly children (Vergara, Llobet & Nascimento, 2021). However, it is here argued, it is those chil­
dren who face greatest adversities, ‘those children living outside childhood’ (Nieuwenhuys, 1998)
that are in the position to indicate future destinies not envisaged in opulent capitalist societies.
Here, I invoke Nandy (2010) when he affirms that the cognizant mode of the oppressed is morally
superior to their oppressors’, for the former can envisage more clearly the evil of oppression and
must struggle to overcome it on their own terms, rather than with the oppressors’ violence (Nandy,
2010; de Castro, 2018a 2018b). The general point here is that, most probably, a more promising
futures orientation for all is, and has already been, annunciated by those subjects, and from those
corners, acutely victimized by coloniality and domination, like indigenous and Black populations
in the Americas (Menchu & Burgos, 2013; Racionais, 2022). Accordingly, for Grovogui (2011),
the territoriality encoded in the term ‘Global South’ signifies the emergence of nothing less than a
different world based on responsibility to self and others.
The Brazilian Census of Schools of 2020 (Brasil/​Inep, 2020) shows that 10,105 public schools
in the country do not have running water, near 4,000 do not have electricity, over 50% of them
do not possess info labs and almost 9,000 do not have a sanitation system. Neoliberal policies
to cut down public funding for education have been followed by an array of market-​oriented
measures: the downsizing of schools, the freezing of teachers’ salaries, curriculum streaming to
segregate worse off students, an entrepreneurial perspective on educational aims and methods
whose packages have been sold to the state and the federal governments and last, but not the least,
top-​down policies to evaluate children’s and teachers’ performance. Since the 1990s the Ministry of
Education in Brazil evaluates the quality of basic education through national testing called SAEB
(Sistema Nacional de Avaliação da Educação Básica)s. However, the elaboration of rationales and
the matrices for such an evaluative system has been moulded after international studies, especially
those of the Program of International Student Evaluation (PISA) of the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), as well as the LLECE (Laboratório Latinoamericano de
Evaluación de la Calidad de la Educación) of UNESCO (Brazil/​Mec/​Daeb, 2019). This means
that increasingly students’, as well as teachers’, performances have been subjected to certain
homogeneous criteria regarded as universally valid and desirable, which suits international cross-​
comparisons and marketable remedial services.3 What comes to be considered an efficient, good
and successful education, as measured by such psychometric tools which have been inspired by
universal guidelines of the child’s good development, is imbued with the professed values that pre-
sent adult societies, especially those of ‘developed’ countries, assume as end-​states of children’s
lives; and what futures, from adults’ points of view, are worth striving for. An increasing hom-
ogenization of formal learning processes in schools has resulted where the evaluative procedures
have become instrumental to foster values of competitiveness and individualism among pupils and
schools through mechanisms of rankings and awards (Gomes, 2019; Silva, 2010).
This sombre scenario, hard to deal with daily, contextualizes one’s research within by far good
conditions when planning and long-​term agreements must be ensured. Entering public schools
unveils an atmosphere of short-​term provision, small expectation and shriveled hopes for change,
especially on the side of teachers and educational staff (Silva, 2021). This sharply contrasts with
the energetic demands which children frequently demonstrate as they acquiesce to collaborate in
research, even if these contain diffidence, hostility and distrustful looks. Even if both researcher
and children are united in their desire for changes, it is the researcher’s responsibility and charge
to cope with a fallible and messy framework which, nonetheless, can allow for ‘an ontology of

38
 Development Research with Children from a Decolonial Perspective

emergence’ (Gallagher & Gallagher, 2008). Thereby ‘beings’ arise from processes of action rather
than actions being the result of conscious intentions of pregiven subjects. In what follows, I will
discuss one instance of my own research foregrounding aspects of epistemic and subjective recon-
struction of both children’s and the researchers’ as well as aspects of localization of self and
knowledge.
The research project in this particular school was to examine the ways whereby children
organized themselves in students’ councils which had become an obligatory institutional demand
from the educational authorities along that year. We4 had been researching students’ participation
in schools for many years (de Castro et al., 2010), but the aforementioned regulation created a
novel circumstance mobilizing the school staff to respond adequately to such a demand. It also
mobilized our research team as, shown by national and international scholarship, the way chil-
dren should participate in schools was through school councils. This selected school already had
a formal students’ council with elected students’ representatives but the first thing we learnt was
that students themselves did not think there was one, as nobody had heard about it. Staff was not
very helpful either to let us know which students had been elected and had assumed this job. They
did not seem to be too worried about the school council’s practical non-​existence. At length we
were able to contact the students’ representatives in order to, as planned, set up a conversation
group with them to discuss their views on representation and students’ collective voice in schools.
We insisted on this initial planning for a long time whilst we spent long hours sitting around,
chatting with children and, sometimes, with the educational staff. As we became more involved
in this school for a long period of two years, the initial research focus on the formalized activities
of representation became gradually dimmer. It seemed hard to go on ‘believing’ in the democra-
tizing effects of the school council, when most students’ feelings and voices considered students’
councils of no use, and even student representatives only saw their role as adjuncts to the teacher’s
role: to supervise their peers and keep them under control whenever the teacher was out of class-
room, and help her with minor other tasks, like to run errands, for instance. On the other hand, our
research team was being really instigated by overhearing on all corners of the school a student’s
complaint even if it appeared at first erratic and not clearly formulated. This most significant aspect
was the constant claim and complaint of not having a proper breaktime. Slowly we understood
that the demand for ‘a fair breaktime at school’ consisted of the students’ collective voice that
was loudly echoing there despite the idiomatic diversity in which it was coded: in rather incisive
terms such as ‘with no breaktime school is like a prison’, or ‘adults have forgotten that they were
children once and liked to play’, or in subtler terms as ‘the thing I most love to do in school is to
talk to my friends’. Not only were students allowed only 15 minutes to eat and play daily, but there
was no space in this school where they could play except a gymnasium that was kept locked up
and reserved for classes of Physical Education once a week. On account of lack of space, children
were forbidden to run, to play with balls or to shout, being these permanent conflict issues with the
educational staff. Parallel to the conversation groups with students’ representatives, our research
focus was gradually duplicated to listen to students’ claims about breaktime and observe them at
play when they made breaches in the school norms. As part of the researchers’ subjective and epi-
stemic reconstruction, this was not an easy move to take as we were being guided by the intense
affective moods of children that in different forms (grumbles, insignificant gestures, playfulness,
anger) reiterated the same message –​the importance of a longer breaktime.
As we talked with school staff about our impressions on the importance of breaktime as voiced
by children, we were quite astonished to hear how they thoroughly dismissed its importance and
how sure they were about ensuring quiet moods, physical immobility and the self-​evident use of
breaktime suspension for disciplinarian or intimidating reasons. Children, on the other hand, got

39
 Lucia Rabello de Castro

euphoric as they believed we had the power to change this situation, so that for them a subjective
reconstruction was necessary to go on trusting the researchers and what they were doing together.
Our position certainly affected the relationality with some children; many of whom after some
time showed diffidence and anger as we, adults, could not change such an unfair situation. At this
point, and many others, the research team was called to a long ethical reflection about the devel-
opment of the research. At stake was a complete reversal of our methodological design, with all
the implications this implied, besides risking a bet on following the lost string ends emergent in
our relationalities with children. In this sense, moments of subjective and epistemic reconstruc-
tion can be dysphorically evocative of a sense of loss, incompetence and utter uncertainty about
what to do.
What seemed clear to us at that moment was that we had to understand more about this demand
and whether it concerned the situation of other schools of the Municipality. As we participated
in educational meetings that gathered students and staff’s representatives of nearby schools, we
learnt through informal conversations with children how extensive the claim about breaktime was.
However, even if children learnt from their peers that they suffered alike with regard to breaktime,
most children were doubtful about its ethical and political statute, that is, whether such a claim was
at all legitimate and plausible. This concerned a most painful subjective and epistemic reconstruc-
tion for children because as we advanced with them in proposals to claim what they (unclearly)
apprehended as their ‘right’, more doubtful they were about the plausibility of their rights-​claimer
position; a point that has also been remarked by Balagopalan (2019b) on the ‘bafflement’ produced
in those subjected to long past conditions of exclusion and oppression in situations when they are
expected to show claim-​making capacities over their entitled rights.
More still was to come after that period of ethnographic work at that school as the municipal
government of Rio de Janeiro was to make more ‘flexible’ ongoing educational practices, such as
to permit changing the lunch menu to sandwich and biscuits instead of a hot food thus reducing
both food provision and the time for lunch and play on account of the ‘need’ to cut down educa-
tional expenses. In fact, educational authorities of Rio de Janeiro do not acknowledge the time
of children’s recreation as an official aspect of the school curriculum. What is scheduled is time
for lunch which schools can use to their own discretion quite often to bargain with children their
acquiescence to act or behave in prescribed ways.
Our research has increasingly concentrated its focus on ‘breaktime claims’ and other ‘students’
commons’ which were then also emergent (de Castro, 2018b). Looking back, what seems poten­
tially inspiring is the fact that there was a constructive effort between researcher and children to
learn more about such erratic grievances: what they were about, whether and how they could be
coded as claims and what sort of unfairness they implied. This was a long, difficult, patient pro-
cess of co-​learning together and experimenting in knowledge building. Furthermore, the change
of research focus which since then has foregrounded the ‘demand for a proper breaktime’ does
not entail, per se, a direction of what do, or where to go, rather entails a permanent ‘construction’
with children of what can be done and how. Better yet, to envisage a school which can be ‘a hos-
pitable world’ to children will require the inclusiveness of those adults who daily work with them,
the teachers and other educational staff. The process of subjective and epistemic reconstruction,
besides being long and tentative, should be inclusive, not only of children, but of their necessary
others, like their teachers. Our present research is looking at the ‘breaktime claims’ of students in
a more extensive way so that in the near future this data can hopefully yield a report constructed
by the researcher, the teachers and the children to be handed to educational authorities and muni-
cipal councillors.

40
 Development Research with Children from a Decolonial Perspective

This rather short excerpt of a long ethnography in one school in Rio de Janeiro illustrates the
difficult educational contexts of the Global South where research also fundamentally requires that
children and researchers develop a trusting relationship (Hunleth, 2011) to experiment with know­
ledge construction with no guarantees with respect to what will result along and from this process.
Therefore, trust is hinged with tensions, contradictions and impasses deriving from the uncer-
tainties of methodological choices that allow for what is emergent in adult–​child relationalities
and can lead to creative co-​learning. On the other hand, the research process must also involve
pleasure, creativity and invention for both researcher and children, since, from a Freirian point of
view, there must be joy and enjoyment in the search for knowledge.
This piece of research also put forward questions about possible entrapments of local researchers
in their vested interests to identify with school children and their plight about breaktime. As argued
before, Global South researchers can be overwhelmed by the locality, in this case, children’s
conditions of destitution, which obfuscate seeing more clearly desirable paths ahead and more
articulated methodological choices. Certainly, the methodological principle here –​of co-​learning,
experimentation in knowledge construction and emergence –​helped to put aside the desirability
of a clear and clean research design, in an attempt to deconstruct the normativity and certainty
of its ontology (Spyrou, 2022); besides, it deliberately assumed the risks of alternative forms of
knowing and researching. Even so, this is an important issue that needs further discussion calling
for research openness about the difficult aspects of research processes.
The geopolitical encroachments were also object of our reflection. It seemed necessary to ana-
lyse in what ways children’s breaktime claims, in their supposed ludicrous materiality, concerned
the costs of social reproduction in Brazil. Brazilian élites, in their acquiescent subordination to
a globalized international order, have systematically dealt with, and decided, the long-​standing
disputes about the burden social reproduction by implementing educational policies unfavourable
to a fairer social order. Children of the poor continue to have the worst quality of education. As
Monjo (2012) puts it, the time of childhood (the extension of the time for preparation in our pre­
sent societies), notwithstanding its demands for a fairer balance of rights and obligations among
generations and social classes, has not only been shortened but vilified with regard to worse off
children in Brazil. Thus, here, it has been those children, who are poor, Black, rural and living in
the city peripheries, who are receiving the least of our society’s share and resources, being called
to leave school before they finish fundamental schooling because it does not seem relevant to their
lives, or they need to earn their living. These children will grow up to be the lumpen proletariat
of the cities, or the exploited rural workers who sell their labour force for less than a meal. It is
noteworthy that, as Ferguson (2017) analyses children’s play in present capitalist societies, she
notes how play, as a sensuous, imaginative and autotelic activity, counteracts capitalist designs
for subjectivities who must channel their energies and motivations to instrumentalized labour that
is required to produce value for capital. Then it is not a coincidence that it is precisely those chil-
dren of the lower social classes who attend public schools in Rio de Janeiro that are left with no
breaktime, though vehemently reclaiming it back. Rather, ‘breaktime embargo’ must be regarded
as a political strategy to downplay these children’s potentialities to unsettle an extremely unfair
social order that is falling apart and being summoned to change, nationally and internationally.
Therefore, as we made the important methodological choice of taking up the challenge of learning
from children and with them about how to proceed in this research, breaktime claims could no
longer be regarded as a trifle –​ a minor aspect of children’s lives and educational projects but a
persuasively legitimate and convincing demand about how they understood a fair, affectively and
ethically concerned educational project for them. We were imbued with a feeling that a true, albeit

41
 Lucia Rabello de Castro

unknowingly so, ‘decolonial ethos’ was at work in children’s demands where a libertarian vision
of their present was at stake.
As discussed above, global economic conditions structure differently, and unequally, national
possibilities, projects, research conditions and positionalities. It is a fact that the ferocity of capit-
alism has coopted Global South élites internally, so that the coloniality of power, knowledge and
being (Quijano, 2005) is also exerted by those counterparts supposedly representing the people’s
desires and voices to improve the world. In the present circumstances of great inequalities,
directions of social change that have paved the way of developed societies must be problematized
so that visions of what is ahead, with children included, can emerge but contextually and alter-
natively. And this takes time. Apffel-​Marglin and Marglin’s (1996) edited book on Decolonizing
Knowledge stands as a noteworthy contribution of how agendas of ‘development’, contrarily to
assuming a progress-​oriented understanding luring everyone ‘forward’, can refuse top-​down uni-
versal epistemes and be affected by other traditions of knowledge and world visions. Thus, a cri-
tique of ‘development’ is not only regarded as necessary to go beyond ‘development’ but, also,
to construct new semiotics and praxis about how ‘to go from here and now’ with less certainties.

Notes
1 I am greatly thankful to the editors Anandini Dar and Tatek Abebe for the valuable suggestions to an
earlier version of this chapter.
2 I will be using the term development in inverted commas to denote that its use here serves the purpose
of both reckoning the lexical and epistemic inevitability of the concept and my critical distance in rela-
tion to it.
3 Undoubtedly, these international comparisons do not only serve educational intentions to improve the
quality of education worldwide but also provide aggregate economic and exchange value to institutions,
corporations and individuals in the globalized market of educational merit and competition.
4 I change the pronoun to the plural ‘we’ as, in the empirical part of the research, the present author was
accompanied by her research assistants.

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Walkerdine, V. (1993). Beyond developmentalism? Theory and Psychology 3, 451–​469.
Wyness, M. (2012). Children’s participation and intergenerational dialogue: Bringing back adults into the
analysis. Childhood 20(4), 429–​442.
Yeldan, E. (2007). Globalization as the Hegemonic Concept of Neoliberal Ideology. In A. Kose, F. Senses &
E. Yelda (eds.), Neoliberal Globalization as New Imperialism: Case Studies in the Reconstruction of the
Periphery, 43–​54. New York: New Science Publishers.

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 4
PARTICIPATORY KNOWLEDGE
CO-​G ENERATION
WITH CHILDREN
Ethics and Politics of Engagement

Tatek Abebe and Hilde Refstie

Introduction
In this chapter we explore principles underpinning participatory approaches and their application
in research with or alongside marginalized children in the context of social change. We discuss
the epistemological foundation of the ‘participatory turn’ to highlight the shift toward greater col-
laboration in knowledge production, which is aimed at giving young research participants voice
and choice about what is researched, how, why, and with what outcomes. In recent years there has
been a growing body of publications on participatory methodologies (e.g., Kindon et al., 2007;
Schubotz, 2020; Chilisa, 2020). In this chapter we discuss three intertwined aspects of partici­­
patory research with children –​politics, practice, and ethics of engagement –​that we argue have
received insufficient attention. What does knowledge co-​generation mean and how does it unfold
in participatory research with children? How do practices of giving children a voice connect to
broader structures of economics, institutions, culture, and worldviews within which knowledge
about childhoods is located and produced? What are the challenges of representation in partici-
patory approaches, and how can we prevent children from exploitation in research? What are the
ethics and politics of engagements in transformative participatory research and how can children
shape the wider research agenda/​relationship?
In this chapter we draw on our training and research in development studies and human geog-
raphy at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), involving participatory
fieldwork with diverse groups of people in sub-​Saharan Africa. Abebe has undertaken participa-
tory research on precarious childhoods and youth with particular attention to care, labor, learning,
and their connections to social reproduction and political economy in Ethiopia (Abebe, 2008,
2009, 2012, 2020a, b). He has also been involved in collaborative interdisciplinary projects on
childhood and local knowledge in Zambia (Abebe & Kjørholt, 2013; Phiri & Abebe, 2016). Refstie
has conducted action-​oriented research in Uganda and Malawi, working with forced migrants
and informal settlement groups (Refstie & Brun, 2012, 2016; Refstie, 2019). Abebe teaches and
supervises international postgraduate students on how participatory methods can be used to elicit

46 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-6
 Participatory Knowledge Co-Generation with Children

knowledge about childhoods and children’s everyday lives in different social and spatial contexts.
This involves facilitating participatory training workshops on doing scholarly and ethical research
with children predicated on the idea of the “right to be properly researched” (Ennew et al., 2009)
as well as the moral, ethical, ideological, social, and practical dilemmas of doing so (Abebe,
2018). Refstie teaches participatory methodologies in geography and has, through her research,
developed action research approaches that aim to respond to the need for research to be critical and
rooted, explanatory, and actionable (Refstie, 2018, 2022).
The chapter begins with a brief history of participatory approaches and the multiple meanings
and practices of knowledge co-​generation with children. Then we explore how matching research
methods with child research participants both enhances collaborative knowledge production and
further locates children’s knowledge in the broader material and cultural world. Building on fem-
inist politics and ethics of care and responsibilities, we distinguish between institutional ethical
research as a rational way of interacting with and knowing the world on the one hand and, on the
other hand, participatory ethics as a way of engaging with human subjects with emotional and rela-
tional sensibilities –​with a commitment to social and epistemic justice. In so doing, we shed light
on the potential and limits of participatory research, highlighting what a participatory ethics of
engagement might entail for going beyond ‘do no harm’ and enabling transformative knowledge
production with children.

Historicizing Participatory Approaches

Although participatory approaches have multiple genealogies and forms, they generally represent
methodologies that move away from the notion of the researcher as a sole expert in knowledge
production. The basic premise of participatory research is that people are experts of their own lives
and that they should have a say in both its production and outcomes. In development studies, the
‘participatory turn’ emerged as a response to the widespread observation of failed development
interventions designed by practitioners operating with technocratic, white-​gazed, and outsider
perspectives as well as limited contextual insights that pathologize certain populations (Chambers,
1983). Under the heading of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and later participatory learning
and action (PLA) a more bottom-​up approach to development was sought to put local communities
at the center of knowledge production. PRA represented an engagement with research that aimed
to develop relevant and accurate knowledge but also to empower research participants to have
more say in processes affecting their lives. It promotes horizontal relationships that dissolve the
researcher–​researched binary with a potential for collective, political organization. This empower-
ment thinking was largely inspired by Freirean pedagogies that emphasize the emancipatory poten-
tial of collective inquiry (Freire, 1970). PRA also drew on participatory action research (PAR), a
core goal of which is to improve the lives of research participants through collaborative research
and community action (Fals Borda, 2001; Kindon et al., 2007).
Participatory action-​oriented research offers a democratic approach to the production, owner-
ship, and application of knowledge. Action is emphasized as a way of extending the relevance of
research for policy, advocacy, and practice to make a difference in the lives of research participants.
However, participatory approaches are not always and necessarily genuine or ethical. They can
be exploitative, with researchers giving nothing back to participants who might also be “coerced
into activities and decisions for which they are unprepared, which almost always overburden them
in the name of (limited and largely spurious) empowerment” (Beazley & Ennew, 2006, p. 191).
Participatory co-​production of research results has been critiqued for flattening divergent, at times
disruptive perspectives and practices, and for encouraging ‘consensual’ knowledge. They also

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been employed to legitimize outside and top-​down interventions (Gaventa & Cornwall, 2008). In
other words, participatory research has been hailed both for its transformative potential (Hickey &
Mohan, 2004) and critiqued for its pitfalls and potential abuse (Cooke & Kothari, 2001).
The impetus for and concerns about participatory action-​oriented approaches are shared in the
inter-​ and multi-​disciplinary field of childhood studies. The epistemological and methodological
break of social studies of childhood that view children as knowledgeable human beings who can
provide a detailed account of their everyday experiences are strengthened by children’s partici-
pation rights embedded in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989).
Inspired by Article 12 focusing on participation, listening to the views of children –​“children’s
voice”/​“children’s perspectives” –​became a popular trend in research situated within children’s
rights where, it is argued, knowledge should be generated not just on or about children but for
and with them (e.g., James & Prout, 1997). Accordingly, children are positioned as competent
participants who can take part in detailed research processes. Scholars have further argued that
children should be viewed as meaning-​makers, researchers, and explorers (e.g., Clark, 2010)
as well as skillful communicators who have different ways of engaging with adult researchers
depending on age, disability, gender, and culture (e.g., Christiansen, 2004). This recognition has
encouraged researchers to develop a plethora of participatory tools, informed by collaborative and
constructivist views of knowledge (Clark, 2010, 2011, 2014). Yet, how productively could chil­­­
dren be involved in participatory research as well as how ‘power’, ‘participation’, and ‘empower-
ment’ unfold in real-​world research continues to be contested.

Co-​Generating Knowledge with Children

We conceptualize ‘generation’ to mean “that which is generated”, or the “act of generating”
(Oxford English Dictionary, as cited in Whyte et al., 2008, p. 3), which implies agency and cre­
ativity. Yet, generation also refers to how people take up generational positions through histor-
ical forces and social relations with implications to enactment of knowledge for or about them
(Whyte et al., 2008). Childhood studies scholars frame children’s varying degrees of participation
in co-​generating knowledge in three ways: “children as research assistants” (where they play a
role in data collection); “children as research partners” (where they are actively involved in co-​
developing ideas for research and how data is generated); and “children as researchers” (where
they are leading the research in their own right (e.g., Grant, 2017, p. 161). Whether children can be
research leaders in terms of, for example, their capacity to theorize and recognize wider structures
of (academic and institutional) power remains unresolved. So is the ambiguity and elision present
in categories loosely based on age and research, which are defined differently in various societal
and cultural contexts. Spyrou (2018) notes that the challenge of critical child research is to “create
the space that allows for knowledge production that is different …and offers new ways of thinking
about the world and our place in it” (p. 176). This evokes, we add, recognizing children’s role and
capacity (or the lack thereof) in the age or generation segregated world in which adult researchers
are seen as people who ‘know’ and children are considered subjects ‘to be known’.
Cuevas-​Parra and Tisdall (2019) offer conceptions of how and why knowledge needs to be produced
collaboratively. They argue that “child-​led research is challenging ‘traditional’ social research by
questioning what constitutes knowledge within the context of generational difference and power”
(p. 10). Participatory approaches persuade us “to see children differently” (Fielding, 2007, p. 308).
This ‘seeing’ challenges the static ways in which we tend to describe children as learners, or know-
ledge absorbers, instead of knowledge holders and co-​creators who contribute to epistemic justice.
Knowledge co-​generation further presupposes critical engagement with (institutional) practices of

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research, recognizing children as generational equals in knowledge production. Without this, putting
children at the heart of the development of knowledge is about fostering social and political practices
that continue to ignore young differences and different knowledge (Aitken 2014). A key challenge
in participatory co-​generation processes is, therefore, the recognition of not just how children can
contest, resist, and push back against dominant frameworks of knowledge/​childhood created by adult
power and institutions, but also how these might be reworked.
Knowledge co-​generation with children presupposes that adult researchers “learn from
voices we do not want to hear” and “learn to hear the voices we do not know how to hear”
(Cook-​Sather, 2007, p. 394). Co-​generation emphasizes mutual learning, perceiving know­
ledge as co-​produced as well as seeing adults and children as co-​learners in a community of
learners (Rogoff et al., 2001). Drawing on the ‘relational ontological turn’ in childhood studies
(Spyrou, 2018; Spyrou et al., 2019), we understand participatory co-​generation as essentially
an intergenerational practice of knowledge formation through the transformative potential of
collaboration. While participatory methodologies open space for an intergenerational transfer
of knowledge, values, and skills, we argue that these approaches need to be reciprocal and co-​
generational. By co-​generational, we also mean an “understanding of relationality that moves
away from the hierarchy of adults as knowers and children as subjects [to be researched]
to instead fostering horizontal practices of knowledge sharing, with children and adults as
co-​learners” (Abebe & Biswas, 2021, p. 122). Our approach ties in with ongoing debates in
childhood studies in which “activist approaches that understand research practices (including
academic practices) as political interventions carrying responsibilities and opportunities for
solidarity and transformation” (Burman, 2019, p. 3; see also Wall, 2019). Such recognitions
contribute to transformation of conventional ideas, norms, and social position of adults in the
knowledge economy or hierarchy, thereby fostering epistemic justice.
The view of meaning formation as co-​generational underpins the idea that knowledge is a site
of social struggle rather than delivered in bite-​size pieces. It evokes collaborative contestation of
knowledge in which ‘outsiders’ (including adult researchers) and ‘insiders’ (including children)
work together to produce new insights into the topic that is being addressed. Seeing children as
‘beings’ with local knowledge can raise the status of knowledge held by community members and
improve methods of researching, knowing, or communicating (Clark, 2010). Yet, as noted above,
this requires a certain ‘view of the child’, turning the gaze toward children’s ‘cultures of commu-
nication’ (Christiansen, 2004). Such gazing as a research practice is a reminder that children may
have different ways of sharing knowledge, depending on age, disability, gender, class, geography,
etc. This turns the emphasis onto learning new languages (including their vocabularies) and modes
of communication rather than squeezing them into researchers’ preferred ways of knowing (Clark
2010, 2011). It underscores the importance of identifying and matching research methods with the
capacities and experiences of children in ways that are inclusive and empowering.
The aforementioned perspectives on knowledge production have implications for how chil-
dren –​especially in resource-​poor contexts where economic, social, and educational divides are
wide and expanding –​participate in research. As we will discuss below, it also shapes the role of
researchers, choice of research methods, and dissemination of results.

Matching Methods with Child Research Participants

As noted above, by participatory methodologies we mean constructivist approaches that place
research participants as co-​constructors of meanings. We note that no single method is inherently
‘participatory’ because any method can be ‘participatory’ or not depending upon its application i.e.,

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how it is designed and put into work in practice. Drawing, for example, can be ‘non-​participatory’
if children do not take part in the process of interpreting and discussing meanings of their drawings
in favor of researchers’ interpretations. Similarly, questionnaires can be participatory if children
take part in the development of ideas for the questions, are involved in the design of questionnaires,
and even administer them.
Participatory approaches are, thus, creative ways and processes that serve as constructivist
tools to assist participants to describe and analyze their experiences and give them meaning (Veale,
2005, p. 254). The goal of participatory processes is not ‘consensus formation’ or generation of a
unified story. As van den Hove (2006) notes, participatory approaches tend to be “located some­
where on a continuum between consensus-​oriented processes in the pursuit of a common interest
and compromise-​oriented negotiation processes aiming at the adjustment of particular interests”
(p. 10). We add that the goal of participation should be to unravel a multitude of perspectives from
participants in different landscapes of power and positionality. Participatory approaches “facili-
tate the process of knowledge production as opposed to knowledge ‘gathering’ ” (Veale, 2005,
p. 254). They are predicated on the idea that knowledge production is rarely a linear process, “not
a well-​structured problem-​solving task, but a creative problem-​finding and problem-​crafting task”
(Ulibarri et al., 2014, p. 251).
Participatory approaches incorporate diverse methodologies, including verbal methods (e.g.,
storytelling, drama, music), visual methods, written methods, and acting methods. In conventional
academic research, the choice of methods typically remains with the researcher, with participants
taking part only in data collection. However, in tandem with being flexible, adaptable, and sensi-
tive toward children’s ‘cultures of communication’ (Christensen, 2004), we argue that matching
the methods with research participants is a pivotal aspect of participatory research practice. This
“matching process” includes knowing the timing and context of communication throughout the
entire cycle of the research and could potentially enable a higher degree of participation through
sharing decisions with the participants (Grant, 2017, p. 266). The research methods that one
chooses, thus, need to be adapted to local knowledge, understandings, and culture, acknowledging
the different modes of participation.
Participatory approaches are based on the premise that children are knowledgeable human
beings who can articulate verbally and visually, for example, by talking about their experiences
and recording in images. It emphasizes their ‘local knowledge’, meaning attention is given to
studying local everyday practices to construct wider understandings about society. Researchers
working with children develop insight into connecting the mundane and social structures through
a variety of tools adjusted to the child’s wishes and abilities. It requires flexibility regarding the
choice of methods in which participants –​especially those who are likely to be excluded (other-
wise illiterate, people with a disability, differently raced/​casted children, socio-​economically
disadvantaged, etc.) –​take part.
The importance of matching methods with research participants is illustrated by the transference
and application of certain “participatory tools” such as drawings or photography into resource-​
poor contexts. Some scholars invoke the “tyranny of participation” (Gaventa & Cornwall, 2008,
p. 172), arguing that under the rubric of participatory and child-​focused approaches, some methods
(e.g., photography, drawings, diary, etc.) that are valuable for eliciting children’s viewpoints in
literate, minority world contexts dominate in participatory methodologies. This happens despite,
as noted by Punch (2018, in Hanson et al. 2018), participatory methods such as PRA, which were
initially used and developed in development studies by researchers working in the majority world
before becoming more commonplace in minority world contexts. Visual methods developed out
of PRA tools in rural communities of Asia included natural materials (for example, beans) to rank,

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or sticks to draw in mud rather than relying on materials used with more ‘literate’ groups such as
paper/​flip chart drawings.
There is a growing recognition that children’s drawings are not open to objective (or con-
sensual) interpretation as they represent emotional or cultural characteristics. However, it is not
uncommon for researchers to introduce the visual activity of drawing and pictures to the host
community without considering the children’s experience with drawing. A considerable body of
research has documented that, for example, drawing is not a common play or school activity
of children in Africa, suggesting that drawings by children could be ecologically atypical (e.g.,
Serpell & Deregowski, 1980). Although access to schooling has grown considerably in recent
decades, drawing is still not a widely practiced activity among children of low-​resource contexts.
Recognition of that culturally alien feature of drawing as a mode of representation has prompted
a widely expressed methodological theme, namely that pictorial materials evoke unreliable
manifestations of children’s cognition or meaning-​making processes in many African contexts
(Matafwali & Serpell, 2014; Zuilkowski et al., 2015; Hruschka et al., 2018). Ennew et al. (2009)
furthermore document that children and communities alike in rural Asia described the stick figure,
commonly used to represent a person, as anything but a person. Another study on children’s local
knowledge using photography reveals that rural girls and boys did not have experiences with
seeing themselves or others in photos (Abebe & Kjørholt, 2013).
In Abebe’s (2009) research, it was found that creating a two-​or three-​dimensional represen­
tation of the physical or social world was a difficult conceptual exercise for young or unschooled
children. This raises wider epistemological concerns connected to who loses, gains, or gets
empowered from participatory visual representation (for a detailed discussion on visual methods,
see K. Wells in this volume). Although asking children to connect the physical experiences of their
environment with drawing/​map-​making or using their photographs is useful for knowledge co-​
generation; such visual tools require children’s orientation and practice in everyday life contexts
and may not necessarily be transferable to rural children or children who do not attend school.
A study that involves children drawing their experiences of grief, parental loss, and bereave-
ment in Zambia, for example, found that “epistemologically, the images the children [created]…
made the researchers aware of the complex space-​time dimensions of their worldview and cul-
tural imaginations and the contexts in which they interpreted their lives” (Smørholm & Simonsen,
2017, p. 400). This implies that the communicative outcome of one’s worldview was not achieved
by using graphic images alone. It was embedded in, and dependent on, verbal explanations about
their representational intentions.
This critique is neither to downplay the significance of drawing or photography in research nor
to discount the capacity of children to be participants. Instead, it is to underscore the role of con-
text and the cultural interpretations given to drawings and other visuals as well as the danger that
researchers could impose their conceptual framework by choosing methods that are unfamiliar
to the children with whom they seek to co-​generate knowledge. The critique also highlights the
significance of triangulation, identifying methods that suit research participants and that include
rather than exclude children’s material world; this is as important as the knowledge itself.
A decontextualized application of participatory methods that are often considered effective for
working with children or provide testimony about their points of view in minority world contexts
also often comes at the expense of the modalities that many illiterate and rural children use to make
their voices heard. In these instances, participatory methods can reinforce inequalities.
Methods such as storytelling, music, and oral traditions in general have not received enough
attention in participatory research, despite their common presence in children’s everyday lives in
Africa (see M’tonga, 2012). This point is significant because to reveal local knowledge (including

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knowledge for and about development) it is pivotal to understand the broader culture of communi-
cation as well as how it is rooted in the material world and the knowledge systems in which chil-
dren are part. Furthermore, as knowledge is possessed differently by different generational groups,
it is fruitful to gain an understanding of how societal contexts allow or restrict it or how access
can be negotiated (Abebe, 2009; Skovdal & Abebe, 2012). The knowledge of elders or commu­­
nity leaders (linked to healing, spirituality, religion, herbal medicine, sexuality) may be sacred
and may not be readily shared or released to ‘outsiders’ as they are entwined with identity and
social cohesion. In unschooled populations, the relational context in which knowledge is shared
or held as well as its processes of production –​the naming, concepts, thought analysis, sources of
knowledge, what is accepted as evidence –​is also different from the ways Euro-​Western commu-
nities view research and knowledge (Archibald, 2008; Smith, 2012). In these contexts, knowledge
sharing is engrained in responsible use, sharing, and transmission of it to others including younger
generations (Archibald, 2008).
Participatory research has consequences for the meaning of research itself. That is, not just for
how knowledge is created and shared but also how it is appropriated and enacted by stakeholders.
It implies the possibility to transform research practice, including ethical codes of conduct and
research relationships. One of the potential advantages of participatory approaches is that ethical
issues are considered at the outset of the research so that they are accommodated in the resource
planning, budget, and timeline of the research. Seeing ethical considerations as ongoing throughout
the research, not just during the research process, or data collection implies that participants need
to be involved in formulating ethical interaction as part of the research design. Ethical dilemmas
can also be mitigated by methods that are suitable and appropriate for exploring certain topics are
chosen. This means that children’s involvement in the detailed research process –​from the incep-
tion of a project through data collection, interpretation, dissemination of findings, and advocacy –​
can be informed by an ethics of engagement whereby they are not exploited or harmed.

Feminist Politics and Ethics of Care

There are many dilemmas in researching across social, generational, and geographical boundaries.
Development research, for example, has received extensive criticism for its role in furthering
dominant Eurocentric, and in some instances neo-​colonial discourses and perspectives of devel-
opment (Spivak, 1994, 1998; Chilisa, 2020). Participatory methodologies offer a way forward in
this regard, as they hold the potential to democratize knowledge production. At the same time,
asymmetrical power relations in participatory projects are not easy to overcome. Participatory
research processes, therefore, require constant ethical reflection on how research projects are built,
who participates in them, and how engagement with participants can be empowering rather than
exploitative (Kobayashi, 1994). This is particularly pertinent in participatory research with chil­
dren who tend to have less control over the research process and outcome. Whereas participatory
research recognizes that knowledge is a site of social struggle, much is left to be desired for incorp-
orating and dealing with the intractable challenges of human suffering and emotional labor that
inevitably (ought to) shape the rationale, process, and outcome of research.
Feminist politics and ethics of care begin with a social ontology of connection and are concerned
with structuring research relationships in a way that enhances mutuality and well-​being (Lawson,
2007). It attends to embodied and emotional ways of being and becoming and developing long-​
term relationships with participants through conversations, discussions, and working together.
Developing such relationships enables responsible research, with researchers becoming more
accountable to the communities they study (Brun, 2009). This opens space for reciprocal and

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immediate research encounters that attend to urgent issues in participants’ lives. Heynen (2006)
called for academic knowledge production “that does not take for granted the fundamental material
necessities of human bodies surviving amidst dire material inequality” (p. 919). Research that
focuses on the “most serious questions at the heart of survival” (Heynen, 2006, p. 920) faced by
disadvantaged children urges us to broaden our understanding of meaning and significance of
knowledge in ways that go beyond the mere representation of their lifeworlds. Lawson (2009,
p. 210) has argued that scholars have “much to learn from care ethics” and that we must ultim-
ately account for the “centrality of care” in research encounters. Recognizing the important role
of emotions in knowledge production, she further highlights that “caring relations of dependency,
frailty, grief and love all shape the ways we reason and act in the world” (p. 210).
Care is also predicated on attending to psychological hurt, such as alienation and deprivation,
as well as more “concealed” forms of everyday violence, including the hidden effects of struc-
tural adjustment programs, poverty, exclusion, and discrimination (Wells & Montgomery, 2014).
While these types of violence are often neglected in more traditional research, they are extremely
important for contextualizing the everyday lives of marginalized children and the knowledge
generated about and with them (Wood et al. 2020). Wood et al. (2020) propose a radical form of
care ethics that brings together the complementary approaches of feminist radical scholarships’
concern for social justice and care ethics’ concern for relationality and emotions. They argue that
whereas “engaging with the realities of existence and survival for those on the margins is impera-
tive, and arguably more necessary now than ever; […] maintaining, recognizing, and bringing care
into systems where care is devalued is itself a radical act” (p. 426). Such ‘care-full’ understandings
of research urge us to consider questions of social justice such as “exclusion, marginalization, and
structural violence and acknowledge the constraints and burdens that inequality places on the lives
of the poor” (Wells & Mongtomery, 2014, p. 5). We need an engagement in research that does not
just obstruct understanding these structural disadvantages but also trespass them in productive ways.
We inject feminist politics of research and ethics of care into the debates about participatory
research with children because they call forth a radical interpretation of research, ethics, and
research relationships. They evoke an understanding of accountability in research –​a bottom-​
up approach in research whereby researchers are accountable to and hand over ethical frames
to participants. Developing care and justice in relationships depends on both access to the field,
funding, the opportunity to spend time with research participants, and the academic space for
pursuing long-​term research collaborations. We also note that participatory research informed by
feminist politics and ethics of care goes beyond doing no harm and incorporates diverse strategies
of mitigating harm and contributing to social justice.
In participatory ethics, researchers ask how it is possible to do no harm, and which set of
actions contains the least risk of doing harm? (Cramer et al., 2011). Harm reduction consists of
four interrelated dimensions. First, it implies the need for foresight and imagination of researchers
to envision how children may best stay free of harm (both anticipated and unanticipated). Second,
it means that research results should be free from harm. This speaks to the important question of
whether children are not exploited in the process of research including via representation: whose
words and interpretations are deployed in the analysis/​interpretation of data and do the conclusions
that are drawn reflect the co-​constructivist approach pursued? This ethics of representation further
relate to questions of recognition, including what artifacts are made in the participatory projects,
what happens to research artifacts, and whose views count as to whether children and young
people’s artifacts are named or made anonymous (see Clark 2010, 2011). Third, harm reduction
implies that research results should contribute to reducing harm and vulnerability (e.g., through
facilitating policy making and advocacy). Finally, it implies that research helps achieve social

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justice for and with children in ways that makes it go beyond ‘doing no harm’ toward ‘doing good’
(Hugman et al., 2011).
For participatory knowledge production with children, the multiple dimensions of doing no
harm (harm prevention, harm reduction, harm mitigation) as well as doing good urge us to rethink
practices of collaborative ethics in ways that acknowledge the role of commitment and the conse-
quence of action for a more just research encounter. Harm reduction, prevention from harm, and
doing good are far from straightforward. For example, researchers can neither know for certain
whether the results of their study are or will be harmful nor whether their study can contribute to
social justice. One potential strength of participatory methodologies is that they “encompass the
struggle for social justice and criticism of a status quo that favors some and marginalizes others”
(Besnier & Morales, 2018, p. 165). In this sense, justice can be achieved by researchers using the
power of creating a narrative/​result about the people or the social world they study.
Participatory approaches –​including those with children –​are about developing knowledge
through collaboration, iteration, probing, etc. for a better representation of different worldviews.
That way, the knowledge generated can reflect the lived and collective experiences of those who
are otherwise excluded or marginalized. The challenge for a participatory researcher is, then, to
listen participants to remember that which has been excluded, forgotten, or marginalized (Cahill
et al., 2007) as well as share or represent their knowledge “respectfully, responsibly, and accur­
ately” (Archibald, 2008, p. 13). As Jackson (1995) argues, participatory research needs to “do
justice to the way others experience the world, and whatever is at stake for them” (p. 54). For chil-
dren whose everyday lives are impacted by development or poverty, justice research could mean
knowing their social realities and providing insight into the web of interdependent social relations
of which they are part. It could also mean foresight to local perceptions of development, priorities,
and understandings of how others can assist them so that the suffering and marginalization is not
unnecessarily deepened or prolonged.

What May a Participatory Ethics of Engagement Look Like?

“The right to be properly researched” framework developed by Ennew et al. (2009) reinterprets
children’s participatory rights and what they mean to research, highlighting how and why they
should be part of all stages of the research process. These include children’s participation (Article
12), triangulation of methods, and use of multiple tools that enable children to share and express
themselves freely (Article 3) and developing an ethical strategy to ensure children’s protection
from exploitation and potential harm (Article 36) (Ennew et al., 2009). We argue that a feminist
political and ethics of care framework adds value to how we understand children’s participatory
rights in research. Since participatory approaches involve epistemological humility (commitment
to epistemic justice), which values the narratives of others, the researcher needs to permit their
own narrative to be in the backseat or even allow for them to be taken over by other, otherwise
marginalized, or silenced narratives. This includes that researchers relinquish or share power in
the research encounter, but also in the processes before and after fieldwork. Moreover, although
participatory research with children is co-​constructivist –​as opposed to extractivist ‘gathering’ of
data –​ the real power of research is often held in the research phases before the fieldwork, when
the research topic and process is designed, or afterward, when the researcher is making sense of
data generated. These are segments of the participatory research process that participants continue
to be left out from and that require a deep relational engagement over time.
Participatory ethics and engaging children in research are different from institutional ethics
requirements. Institutional ethics is about what research relationships with children should be like,

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whereas participatory ethics is about what research relationships with them could be –​the former
is prescriptive, whereas the latter is imaginative (Cahill et al., 2007). Institutionalized standardized
guidelines can be useful as a basis for reflection but are not always appropriate, especially in social
research involving children in resource-​poor contexts. Standard ethical frameworks developed
by Institutional Review Boards and funding organizations to ‘govern’ child research are not just
normative but also marked by diminishing reciprocal sensibility and devaluation of the emotions
and sentiments that frame relational obligations. Scholars have drawn attention to the disjuncture
between ethical guidelines and real-​world participatory research, highlighting how complex eth-
ical dilemmas arise precisely because of blind adherence to specific normative principles of ethics
generated in socio-​cultural contexts that are different from where they are applied (see Abebe &
Bessell, 2014; Aldersen & Morrow, 2017).
Ethical considerations such as informed consent, voluntary participation, confidentiality, etc.
are key aspects of undertaking (participatory) research. Yet, what they mean and how they play
out in participatory fieldwork has become complex, demonstrating the need for an overhaul of
ethical guidelines (for more discussion on informed consent see Truscott et al.’s chapter in this
volume). For example, the advice of institutional ethics and the principle of do no harm tend to
both depoliticize and decontextualize the researched (in terms of age, gender, social class, priv-
ilege, status, power, etc.). It also falls short of reflecting on the diversity of actors (including
multiple layers of gatekeepers) who participate in research and who may have wide-​ranging and
competing expectations regarding the research process and outcome. Another example is informed
consent in real-​world research. To seek informed consent from individual children is a norm rather
than the exception, although studies in many African contexts show that children see themselves
and are seen by their societies as members of the wider family collective with implications for the
significance of engaging everyone who has a stake in childhood. In rural communities, children
may not be always literate or able to participate in a research practice if the methods do not match
their knowledge, skills, and interests.
Feminist politics and ethics of care framework, and their emphasis on the processes through
which responsibility is assumed and acted upon, allow for a critical assessment of (reciprocal)
care engendered in research encounters. It also allows us to examine how structures, relationships,
and resources influence individual researcher’s opportunity to produce, give and receive care. In
trying to understand researchers’ effect on participants and participants’ perceptions of researchers,
the ethics of care framework reminds us to be reflective and mindful of ethics-​based relationships
(Warin, 2011, p. 809). A reflective researcher has a caring attitude toward the researched, embra­
cing and reflecting on the relationship of their position with participants, including attention to the
immediacy that fieldwork often demands (Abebe, 2020a). Phillips (1998) noted how respectful
caring relationships are at the core of participatory ethical research, arguing for ethical reflexivity
i.e., the capacity of researchers to be conscious of, and give an account of, their careful actions
are both a skill and a virtue –​a process through which tacit knowledge might be rendered explicit
and shared. This idea lends useful interpretations for participatory ethics; the everyday, messy, and
real-​world experience of research encounters (Robson et al., 2009), one that creates possibilities
for participants to define the space of research before, during, and after fieldwork so that research
can truly contribute toward positive social change on issues identified by the collective (Cahill
et al., 2007).
Participatory ethics is grounded in the ethos, philosophies, and worldviews of the researched,
and their ways of interaction, knowing, and sharing information. It includes identifying and
using local language, oral literature, storytelling, etc. as sources of knowledge, methods of data
collection, strategy for the obtainment of informed consent/​assent, analysis, and interpretation.

55
 Tatek Abebe and Hilde Refstie

The process of imagining research through the lens of participatory ethics enables us to decenter
dominant (institutional) ethical frameworks, articulating the overlapping spaces of respect and
empowerment in/​during/​through research. In this sense, participatory ethics becomes a vehicle for
contesting different aspects of the research process, viewing ethical research as a living practice
that is situated in places, cultures, and relationships and in ways that value and respect them.
Participatory ethical research is also about addressing concerns of injustice that one stumbles
upon or experiences in the research process. It is about attending to the material, social, and polit-
ical realities that children inhabit, allowing space and time to develop “strategies that foreground
collaborative, collective, communal ways forward” (Mountz, 2015, p. 1237). As researchers who
undertake participatory fieldwork in resource-​poor contexts, we often stumbled upon issues that
we were unprepared for and that were personal and political. We thus note that participating
in children’s lives is an inevitable part of participatory research. Scheper-​Hughes (1995) argues
that politically and morally engaged research requires its practitioners to be “witnesses” instead
of “spectators” (p. 419) and that we must bear witness to the lived realities and contexts of the
participants’ care-​fully. If researchers deny themselves the power to identify an ill or a wrong
and choose to ignore the extent to which people experience suffering, they collaborate with the
relations of power that allow the suffering to continue (Scheper-​Hughes, 1995).
Our experience with participatory research raises important questions of reciprocity, consent,
and research relationships. For example, Abebe (2020b) conceptualizes reciprocity as some­
thing that goes beyond material rewards to instead listening to what and how children talk about
research relations. Refstie (2018) has worked to collaboratively root research in struggles for
inclusion driven by research participants’ demands and expectations. These examples demonstrate
the need to unpack consent for research in terms of ownership of the research process and outcome
including ownership of the stories and aspects of life participants choose to share with researchers.
Participatory researchers have the responsibility to ensure that the stories, narratives, and artifacts
children co-​produce with adults are in fact co-​owned. Our participatory ethics of engagement fur-
ther provokes questions that challenge funding mechanisms, existing institutional power structures,
and values. This includes questions about how universities and funding agencies could allow what
Mountz et al. (2015) call ‘slow scholarship’, affording scholars the space for slow-​moving conver­
sation and time for critical engagement, reflection, and collective action (Refstie, 2022). This calls
for a redefinition of the role of institutional ethical review committees, their research protocols
and guidelines that need to be redeveloped in ways that enhance ethics of care and empowerment
of research subjects rather than be led by rigid principles of protectionism (Abebe, 2018; Abebe
& Bessell, 2014). Engaged scholarship is predicated on valuing human connection and knowing
children’s, families’, and communities’ immediate concerns, knowledge, priorities, and realities.
It is imaginative and transformative in the sense that it values genuine collaboration so that the
knowledge produced is co-​owned by communities including the children.

Conclusion
Participatory approaches are ways of knowledge production that not only produce contextual
and emic knowledge of children but that also contest hegemonic frameworks that marginalize or
‘other’ their childhoods. Yet, in participatory research, less acknowledged traits of the researcher’s
privileges, identities, and worldviews often influence different stages of the research process.
These traits affect the choice of methods, the topic of research, how results are interpreted and
represented as well as how outcomes of research are deployed for practice and advocacy. Power
and knowledge are inextricably linked, and the process of knowledge generation is not separate

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from the political, social, and cultural contexts in which methods originate or are applied. In other
words, as participatory research methods do not just describe social realities but are also involved
in creating them; the choice of methods and how they are used to elicit knowledge are as political
as the knowledge they generate.
Participatory ethical research engenders how to put in place strategies that mitigate harm, so
that (unintended) implementation of research practice and outcomes are evaluated continuously. It
also needs to pay attention to how voices at the rim –​including marginal or dissenting voices –​are
incorporated in ways that can contribute to social and epistemic justice. Putting children into focus
through participatory research implies sensitivity toward local interpretations and constructions of
knowledge about childhood. It requires respect for the families and communities of children and
for the local social and cultural structures underpinning their everyday life. As we have argued,
the conceptualization of knowledge production as co-​generational may help us understand that
participatory research with children is not just about rendering children’s voices audible but about
letting children and the environment –​institutional, social, cultural, material, and political –​they
are part of and interact with to have some control over the research process.
There is an inevitable disjuncture between the ideals of participatory research and its real-​world
practice. Given the uneven structures of power in which knowledge is created and shared, the
ideals of participatory research are neither easy to undertake nor to implement in full. However,
they represent an approach to knowing children in ways that strive to transform conventional
structures, practices, and ethics of research. We view participatory research with children as prac-
tice of reimagining childhoods and do so through the transformative potentials of collaboration. As
Fine (2016) argues, “critical participatory work harvested in […] messy folds of the borderlands
can be a rich, if sometimes fraught, setting for refocusing critical scholarship toward critique,
possibility, and transformation” (p. 362). Drawing on feminist research practices, we advocate for
striving for reflexive participatory research that recognizes researchers’ privilege and power and
commits to ethical research based on the tenets of ethics of care. This allows for solidarity and
mutual dialogue among stakeholders of childhood and acknowledges that knowledge is not just
situated at the contextual but also the relational, political, and emotional.

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 5
ETHICS AND CONSENT
IN RESEARCH WITH CHILDREN
AND YOUNG PEOPLE
IN GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT
Julia Truscott, Antonia Canosa, and Anne Graham

Introduction
There is no singular or universal childhood. Childhood is constructed and experienced in different
ways within and across familial, social and cultural milieus, in both Minority and Majority
World contexts (Abebe & Ofosu-​Kusi, 2016; de Castro, 2020; Ebrahim, 2010; Foxcroft, 2017;
Konstantoni & Emejulu, 2017; Punch, 2016). Correspondingly, hearing directly from children in
the diverse contexts in which they live their lives is key to improving services intended to pro-
tect and to enhance their wellbeing and lives more broadly, as enshrined in the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (United Nations, 1989). But how do we ethically
access the views of children across a broad spectrum of socio-​economic and cultural contexts,
including those who are marginalised within or across societies?
In this chapter, we reflect upon some of the ethical challenges of engaging children in research,
with a particular emphasis on informed consent. Drawing on previous literature in this space and
a major international ethics initiative (the Ethical Research Involving Children (ERIC) initiative),
we explore four ‘best practice’ principles for approaching informed consent in ERIC: (1) Consent
involves an explicit act; (2) consent must be informed; (3) consent must be given voluntarily; and
(4) consent must be renegotiable (Graham, Powell, Taylor, Anderson, & Fitzgerald, 2013, p. 13).
Framed by these principles, we discuss some of the challenges that can pose barriers to children’s
meaningful participation in development research at global and local levels (Abebe & Bessell,
2014; Ebrahim, 2010; Garcia-​Quiroga & Agoglia, 2020; Lundy, 2019; Porter et al., 2010; Skovdal
& Abebe, 2012). Drawing upon the aspirational goals of ERIC, along with other literature, we
propose an ethical approach to such dilemmas, grounded in the ERIC framework of ‘Three Rs’ –​
rights, relationships and reflexivity –​to assist researchers in remaining attuned to the needs, safety
and wellbeing of children in diverse circumstances (Canosa, Graham, & Wilson, 2018; Graham
et al., 2013). Ultimately, we highlight that when informed consent is approached as an on-​going
and relational process that extends throughout the research process, it can help create a respectful
and dialogic space within which researchers and the children involved in their research (whether

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-7 61
 Julia Truscott, Antonia Canosa, and Anne Graham

as participants, co-​researchers or something in-​between) can continue to discuss and negotiate

arising ethical issues.

Background
There are a number of treaties and agreements relevant to research involving children in the field
of global development, particularly the United Nations 2030 Agenda agreements (most notably the
Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2015)), which frame children not only as future
benefactors but as key stakeholders in development processes. While such agreements motivate
much global development research, it is the UNCRC (United Nations, 1989), along with insights
from the interdisciplinary field known as Childhood Studies or the (not so) ‘new’ sociology of
childhood (Prout & James, 1997), that provide the most critical backgrounding to our specific
focus in this chapter on ethics in global development research involving children.
Given the above interests underpin this handbook, we do not explore them in detail here. Suffice
to say that the UNCRC was adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by the
General Assembly in 1989 and is now one of the most ratified international human rights treaties
(United Nations, 1989). The 54 Articles of the Convention recognise children’s fundamental
human rights and highlight their inherent dignity, equal and inalienable rights as a foundation
of freedom, justice and peace in the world (United Nations, 1989). The UNCRC also recognises
children’s evolving capacities and the importance of traditions and cultural values for the care,
protection and harmonious development of the child. The 54 Articles of the Convention can be
grouped into provision rights (to health, identity, food, shelter, education and wellbeing), protec-
tion rights (against exploitation, abuse and neglect) and participation rights. Collectively, these
are often referred to as the 3Ps (United Nations, 1989). The ‘participation rights’ are specifically
aimed at ensuring children are provided with opportunities to voice their opinions in all matters
affecting them (Article 12), freedom of expression and access to information (Article 13), freedom
of thought, conscience and religion (Article 14) and freedom of association and peaceful assembly
(Article 15). While the UNCRC does not specifically mention research, subsequent conceptual
work has translated children’s rights for research and other related contexts. Notable amongst
these include Hart’s Ladder of Participation (1992), the Lundy Model (2007) and the notion of
children’s ‘right to be properly researched’ (Beazley, Bessell, Ennew & Waterson, 2009), upon
which others have expanded.
All articles of the Convention must be realised concurrently to ensure children’s wellbeing
and safety (Warrington & Larkins, 2019). However, children’s participation rights are those most
often eclipsed by their vulnerability (Canosa, van Doore, Beazley & Graham, 2022; Lundy, 2019;
Moletsane, Wiebesiek, Treffry-​Goatley & Mandrona, 2021). In research, the ethical and meth­
odological complexities of involving children –​any children, but particularly those who are
marginalised or in vulnerable contexts –​can create considerable hurdles for researchers (Moletsane
et al., 2021). For example, a recent scoping review exploring children in the context of global
development and the tourism industry (such as orphanage tourism) found that insights were pre-
dominately gathered from adults working with the children (Canosa et al., 2022). The researchers
and adults in the studies conceptualised the children as too vulnerable and they were not given the
opportunity to participate.
Excluding children from research is problematic given children have important and unique
insights essential to informing improvements in policies and practices, including the distribution
of sustainable (and useful) development aid and associated intervention (Beazley & Ball, 2017;
Foxcroft, 2017; Ipe, 2019; Powell et al., 2020; Warrington & Larkins, 2019). When children’s

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experiences and perspectives are conveyed solely by adults, the emphasis can be in documenting
primarily the ‘suffering and breaches to child rights’ at the expense of also revealing children’s
resilience in such circumstances (Lundy, 2019, p. 597). Yet, identifying the enablers and barriers
to resilience within and across multisystem structures, grounded in local realities and experiences
(Masten & Motti-​Stefanidi, 2020), may be where some of the opportunities lie for development
research and associated policies (Abebe & Ofosu-​Kusi, 2016; Beazley & Ball, 2017; Bennouna
& Stark, 2020; Foxcroft, 2017; Ipe, 2019; Porter et al., 2010). Arguably, those in precarious situ­­­­
ations may have the greatest need for improved policy and practice, meaning they risk being
marginalised further if their perspectives and experiences are not heard (Ipe, 2019; Moletsane
et al., 2021). For such reasons, the UNCRC has, and continues to be, instrumental in recognising,
upholding and promoting children’s participation rights (Canosa & Graham, 2020).
That said, the UNCRC is not without critique, some of which is particularly pertinent to global
development research contexts. One key criticism is that the UNCRC is based on Euro-​American
moral and cultural ideals for children, the assumption that there is a ‘global child’ (Beazley &
Ball, 2017; de Castro, 2020; Faulkner & Nyamutata, 2020; Ipe, 2019). Of course, development
research takes place in high income countries (Sumner & Tribe, 2008) –​disasters such as flooding,
hurricanes and wildfires, for example, are increasingly an issue in many Minority World nations,
and few countries are free of socio-​economic differences and associated issues surrounding rela-
tive and even absolute poverty. Even so, much of the focus in the global development field lies in
Majority World countries. Hence, the importance of being attentive to, and continually critiquing,
constructions of childhood and perceptions surrounding what childhood is, ‘should’ or could be,
and how these inform (ethical) research practice (Abebe & Ofosu-​Kusi, 2016; de Castro, 2020;
Ebrahim, 2010; Foxcroft, 2017; Ipe, 2019; Porter et al., 2010).

The ERIC project

The ERIC project is an international collaboration that first emerged around a decade ago. At that
time, spurred by the UNCRC and Childhood Studies, there was increased interest in involving
children in research across many disciplines internationally, resulting in considerable methodo-
logical innovation and creativity that is arguably unparalleled with any other research population
(Canosa et al., 2018; Graham, Powell, & Truscott, 2016). However, concerns were beginning to
emerge that adopting participatory, visual and creative methods may be seen as ethically ‘fool-​
proof’ (Gallacher & Gallagher, 2008, p. 513). Indeed, while the development and growth of such
approaches was largely motivated by ethical and epistemological concerns, such as competency,
power and ‘voice’, it was also clear that participatory methods cannot, in and of themselves, ensure
a project is intrinsically ethical, nor safeguard ethical practice for the duration of a study (Horgan,
2017; Meloni, Vanthuyne, & Rousseau, 2015; Morrow, 2013; Powell, Graham, & Truscott, 2016).
As such, there was increased consideration of the socio-​relational dilemmas and ethical moments
that arise in participatory research practice, along with emergence of terms such as ‘situated’
ethics, ‘in-​situ’ ethics and ‘ethics in practice’ (Ebrahim, 2010; Gildersleeve, 2010; Guillemin &
Gillam, 2004; Morrow, 2013; Porter et al., 2010; Skovdal & Abebe, 2012). These terms seek to
distinguish the on-​going, ‘messy’ reality of ethics in the field from the compliance-​oriented pro-
cedural common to many institutional procedures.
The aim of the ERIC project was to help unify and further these efforts: to create a touchstone
of ethical principles and guidance for research involving children that could not only support
improved research practice but offer a shared language and understanding for continuing to evolve
thinking and ethical research practice. The hope was that this would be relevant across disciplines,

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approaches, contexts and cultures, lifting ethical practice across disciplines and reducing the iso-
lation many researchers reported in trying to put ethical ideals into practice. It also aimed to be
supportive of researchers working without any other ethical guidance, such as in some Majority
World contexts where institutional review processes can be less established.
The project began with an online survey, responded to by 39 researchers involved in child
research across 22 Majority world countries, and 213 across 24 Majority world countries (Powell,
Graham, Taylor, Newell, & Fitzgerald, 2011), followed by an extensive literature review (Powell,
Fitzgerald, Taylor, & Graham, 2012). This led to the formation of an Advisory Group, comprising
leading international researchers, and an extensive consultation process, undertaken with nearly
400 researchers and other stakeholders, on ethical considerations and existing resources to support
ethical research. The project led to the development of a suite of resources, now freely accessible
and kept up-​to-​date online and currently downloadable in six languages (English, French, Spanish,
South Korean, Turkish and Bahasa Indonesian) (Graham et al., 2013). Researchers, researcher
centres, journals and other groups involved in ethical research can continue to engage with ERIC
through social media, case studies and blogs and by making a public commitment to ethical
research in their work by becoming a signatory to the ERIC Charter.
As the ERIC project developed, it became apparent that a more explicit understanding of how
ethics was being conceptualised by childhood scholars was an important foundation for improving
ethical research practice globally. Children’s rights was a key starting point, being a central con-
sideration motivating childhood scholars’ creativity and evolving practice surrounding children’s
research participation (Canosa & Graham, 2020; Lundy, 2007). Yet, it was clear through the
survey, consultation and literature reviews undertaken early in the project that ethical dilemmas
arise in the relational space between researchers and the multiple others involved in the research
process. Correspondingly, relational ethics (Bergum & Dossetor, 2005; Noddings, 1984), which
positions research ethics as an on-​going social practice that emphasises mutual respect, engage-
ment, embodied knowledge, attention to the interdependent environment and uncertainty, emerged
as a key area of theoretical interest alongside rights-​based understandings of ethics.
However, rights-​based and relational understandings of ethics are often considered at odds
in the theorisation of ethics (Bergum, 1992; Herring, 2013). In understanding the tension, it is
helpful to highlight that a rights-​based approach to ethics conceives of notions of right and wrong
from justice or legal standpoints (Fisher, 2006; Herring, 2013; Noddings, 1984). By contrast, rela­­­
tional ethics emerges more from healthcare, where there has been long-​standing recognition that
justice-​oriented, rights-​based ethics did not always reflect practitioners’ experiences of ethics as
care (Bergum & Dossetor, 2005; Fisher, 2006; Noddings, 1984). While there are of course cer­­­
tain actions that are clearly unethical and morally ‘wrong’, a relational ethics approach highlights
that in many cases the ‘right’ response or course of action can depend upon the circumstances
(Noddings, 1984).
Herring (2013) highlights the complexity further, drawing out four key points of tension. We
have previously summarised these in Truscott, Graham and Powell (2019), but we reiterate them
here. First, rights tend to focus on a particular point in time, whereas relationships are constantly
evolving. Second, focusing on the rights of each party assumes these exist in isolation, rather than
recognising their messy interconnectivity. Third, a focus on rights places real-​world lives into a
legal framework, potentially objectifying or marginalising lived experiences. Lastly, privileging
rights downplays the extent of responsibility inherent in relationships.
In developing ERIC, a relational ethics approach was clearly resonant with many researchers’
experiences (see, for example, Morrow, 2013). Yet, to in any way diminish the centrality of human
rights and associated core principles such as justice and beneficence would, of course, be untenable.

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Part of the groundwork of the project then involved reconciling the theoretical tensions, to bring
rights-​based and relational understandings of ethics together and find a way to reflect both in the
ERIC approach (Truscott et al., 2019). Much like Herring (2013), we resolved that a relational
reality does not need to be at the expense of an emphasis on (children’s) rights. We concluded that
‘relational ethics invites closer consideration of the relational contexts in which children’s rights
are applied’ (Truscott et al., 2019, p. 24).
Having identified the foundational ethical understandings of the ‘ERIC approach’, we then had
to consider how to operationalise this; to move beyond understanding ethics to consider how to
enact a relational, rights-​informed approach in practice. The inclusion of relational ethics, with
its situated nature of right and wrong, reminded that a prescribed set of rules or code of conduct
would not suffice (Carnevale et al., 2021; Turney, 2012). While such codes play an important
role, in and of themselves they do not facilitate the kind of critical engagement that many ethical
issues warrant. Hence, in line with increasing calls from the literature (see Powell et al., 2016),
it was clear that we needed to provoke a greater understanding and engagement with reflexivity
(Bourdieu & Wacquant, 2005) in practice.
Reflexivity in research refers to consideration of the impact of the research ‘on participants and
their communities, on researchers themselves, and on the body of knowledge under investigation’
(Graham et al., 2013, p. 176). It should act to provoke critical engagement with ‘in-​situ’ eth­
ical decision-​making and encourage researchers to challenge their assumptions and beliefs about
childhood and about the role and place of children in society (Foxcroft, 2017; Gildersleeve, 2010;
Powell et al., 2016; Skovdal & Abebe, 2012), including questioning assumptions surrounding the
notion of the ‘global child’ (de Castro, 2020). There is considerable theorisation around reflex­
ivity (which we have explored further in Powell et al., 2016), but a useful conceptual proxy is the
notion of ‘ethical mindfulness’ (Warin, 2011). This helps to highlight that reflexivity differs from
reflection in that it is a pre-​emptive and on-​going process, important throughout the research pro-
cess. The ERIC resources –​through the philosophy, guidance, reflexive question prompts and case
studies –​endeavour to support researchers, across disciplines and methodological approaches, to
take a reflexive approach.
Overall, then, the ERIC project drew together children’s rights, research relationships and
researcher reflexivity into a framework of ‘Three Rs’ to form the aspirational cornerstones under-
pinning ERIC (Graham et al., 2016; Powell et al., 2016). This framework articulates values for
research encounters but allows for flexibility surrounding ‘what is ethical in a given situation’.
It encourages ethics to be reflexively negotiated in the context of real, socio-​economically and
culturally situated research relationships. This approach is particularly relevant to development
research, both internationally and locally (Burningham et al., 2020; Foxcroft, 2017; Hejoaka et al.,
2019; Lahman, Geist, Rodriguez, Graglia, & Deroche, 2011; Morrow, 2013; Porter et al., 2010).
Otherwise, as Abebe and Bessell (2014, p. 129) document, there is a risk that ethical guidelines,
much like concerns surrounding the ‘global child’, are developed from ‘Western thought and
experience and imposed inflexibly in the Global South’. In this chapter, then, we lean on the ERIC
framework of the Three Rs to consider informed consent in ERIC.

How to approach informed consent in ethical research involving children

Informed consent is only one aspect of ethical research. Indeed, the ERIC ethical guidance is
centred around four key ethical issues: harms and benefits, informed consent, privacy and con-
fidentiality, and payment and compensation. However, informed consent offers a particularly
useful starting point for an ethical research endeavour, necessitating consideration of all other

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aspects prior to and throughout the research process, such that these might be communicated and
discussed with children and other stakeholders. Furthermore, planning for, and engaging in, the
informed consent process is when ethics moves from an intellectual subject to become project and
relationally focused. For these reasons, we take it as our focal point and organisational structure
for this chapter.
Informed consent can be understood as an explicit agreement that requires participants (and
where appropriate their parents/​guardians, institutions or community leaders) to be informed
about, and have an understanding of, a study. As advocated in the ERIC compendium (Graham
et al., 2013, p. 56):

[Informed consent] is the cornerstone of the research relationship and reflects important
underlying ethical considerations, including demonstrating respect for the individual
research participant’s dignity; that is, their capability and right to make decisions about
matters that affect them. This extends to respecting the participant’s knowledge about their
own situation and ability to assess potential risks associated with research participation,
recognising that children may be best placed to assess any risks to themselves.

It is important to highlight that while many researchers use the term ‘assent’ in relation to children’s
own voice in this process, the ERIC approach advocates the use of the term ‘informed consent’
for all parties, including children and young people. In many respects, the two terms describe
synonymous processes and values. However, assent potentially carries greater risk of children not
being fully ‘informed’ about participation, of children’s consent or dissent not being explicitly
sought and recorded, and it also carries lower weight and status (Graham et al., 2013). Hence,
‘informed consent’ is the term used within the ERIC resources.
The following four principles summarise the ERIC approach to informed consent:

• Children must have an understanding of the research and their participation within it;
• Consent should be an explicit agreement (typically involving the researchers(s), the child, their
parents/​carers and sometimes their institution/​community leaders);
• Children’s consent must be given voluntarily (and without coercion); and
• Consent should be renegotiable, so that children can withdraw at any stage of the research
process.

We explore each of these in turn.

Principle 1: Children must have an understanding of the research

and their participation within it
If informed consent is understood as a two-​part process which involves ‘informing’ and ‘consenting’
aspects (Mayne, Howitt, & Rennie, 2016), then this first principle underlines the importance of
ensuring due attention is given to the former not only the latter. Informing children (and where
relevant their families and other gatekeepers) requires supporting their understanding –​engaging
ethically, and without bias, in what may be an educational process (Arnott, Martinez-​Lejarreta,
Wall, Blaisdell, & Palaiologou, 2020; Burningham et al., 2020; Markwei & Tetteh, 2021; Rogers
& Labadie, 2018). The informed consent process involves children considering (in a developmen­
tally and contextually appropriate manner) abstract ethical concepts that they may have little prior
experience of so they can ultimately make an informed decision about their participation in the

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research (Arnott et al., 2020; Lundy & McEvoy, 2012; Rogers & Labadie, 2018). While researchers
frequently cite Article 12 of the UNCRC to support such participation, equally important at this
stage is children’s right to information (UNCRC Article 13) (Lundy & McEvoy, 2012; Lundy,
McEvoy, & Byrne, 2011). As one UN statement advocates, this ‘is essential, because it is the
precondition of the child’s clarified decisions’ (United Nations, 2009, para. 25). Reaching such a
decision may involve not only being provided with suitable learning material, but also opportun-
ities to process this, ask questions and sometimes negotiate aspects of participation (Arnott et al.,
2020; Jackson-​Hollis, 2019; Ruiz-​Casares & Thompson, 2016).
In line with the ERIC approach, there are a number of core issues, which typically need to be
explained to children during the informed consent process. These might include:

• What is research/​the role of researchers;

• Understandings of privacy, confidentiality and anonymity;
• That research participation is voluntary;
• That consenting to participate is renegotiable.

In addition, there will be project-​specific information such as:

• What is this research about?

• What would participation involve (methods, duration etc.)?
• Are there any benefits or risks related to taking part?
• Other practical project details (such as dates, and location).

There is now considerable literature sharing researchers’ creative approaches to informed

consent materials (Dockett, Einarsdóttir, & Perry, 2012; Ferrer-​Albero & Díez-​Domingo, 2021;
Benton & Truscott, 2022). However, empirical research exploring children’s understandings of the
researcher role and ethical concepts such as confidentiality, harm in research or their right to with-
draw remains limited (Hejoaka et al., 2019; Rogers & Labadie, 2018; Ruiz-​Casares & Thompson,
2016). Perhaps not surprisingly, given children’s increasing grasp of abstract thinking, existing
research suggests that children’s initial understandings of such concepts typically improve with
age (Dutt & Roopesh, 2018). A small body of recent research from the medical field supports the
notion that providing information in a pictorial format (such as comic strips) can support children’s
understandings (Dutt & Roopesh, 2018; Ferrer-​Albero & Díez-​Domingo, 2021; Grootens-​Wiegers,
de Vries, van Beusekom, van Dijck, & van den Broek, 2015), with the benefits most noticeable
among participants in the lower percentiles of the comprehension score (when compared with
understandings of standard text ethics review board materials) (Ferrer-​Albero & Díez-​Domingo,
2021). Such insights may be valuable when planning informed consent processes with children
with low literacy or where children, researchers and field assistants are working across several
languages, as highlighted in an ERIC case study by Jennifer Thompson (2013) working in Sierra
Leone. However, attention must be paid to the choice of graphics and how they may be interpreted
by children (Dockett et al., 2012), including those in different contexts/​cultures to the researcher.
Evidence from research with young children builds upon such ideas, underscoring that any
creative and innovative processes of providing informed consent information must be embedded
within an educational and dialogic approach to informed consent (Arnott et al., 2020; Mayne et al.,
2016; Rogers & Labadie, 2018). This is particularly important in global development research
where additional complex issues and forces impinge upon the notion of consent. For example,
as HIV research with minors flags, many children and even adolescents have not had their HIV

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status disclosed to them, raising complex ethical questions when seeking to ‘inform’ them about
research participation (Hejoaka et al., 2019). Somewhat similarly, in some contexts the very con­
cept of seeking children’s consent and gathering and believing their contributions for research
can be viewed as a suspicious, ‘western’ idea (Ipe, 2019). The notion of child co-​researchers can
be perceived as particularly suspect, viewed as potentially seeking to destabilise established cul-
tural hierarchies or bolster a locally undesirable youth sub-​culture (Porter et al., 2010). Indeed,
development research interests, local contexts, children’s participation (as participants through to
co-​researchers or even child-​led research) and children’s experiences are endlessly diverse, and
as such no prescriptive tool or form of explanation could possibly remain relevant across contexts
(as multi-​country study illustrates). Therefore, much like the application of creative participatory
research methods, use of novel and innovative informed consent tools is not fool-​proof, rather
they should be approached as offering a vehicle to open-​up reflexive dialogue to operationalise the
‘Three Rs’ in practice.

Principle 2: Consent should be an explicit agreement (typically involving the

researchers(s), the child, their parents/​carers and sometimes their institution/​
community leaders)
The second principle is that consent should be an explicit agreement; initial consent must be expli-
citly sought and typically recorded in some way. Commonly this involves children or young people
indicating their initial consent (or dissent) on a paper or digital form, either by signature, finger-
print, sticker or other mark, although sometimes written consent is not culturally or practically
appropriate and children may indicate their consent verbally, through body language or movement
(such as raising a hand, showing positive body language or moving towards the research space)
(Sherwood & Parsons, 2021). As indicated earlier, based on the UNCRC, it is ethical, respectful
and children’s legal right to have their perspective heard and honoured regarding their research
participation, even though this may feel strange or alien in some contexts (Foxcroft, 2017; Ipe,
2019). Children’s dissent must overrule their parents or others’ wishes for them to participate.
That said, it is often necessary to approach a hierarchy of relevant gatekeepers ahead of begin-
ning the informed consent process with children. Amongst these, it remains standard practice (and
usually an obligation of ethics review processes) to seek parental/​guardian consent. Of course,
there are contexts when parental/​guardian consent may not always be possible, such as children
living without (or without consistent) adult caregivers (Santelli, Haerizadeh, McGovern, 2017;
Shaw, 2018). There are also research interests, such as family violence or abuse, or experiences of
LGBT+​youth, where seeking parental consent may potentially place children and young people
at greater risk than participating in the research without such consent (Markwei & Tetteh, 2021;
Pickles, 2020). These kinds of research contexts are more complex to navigate, particularly in
terms of ethics committee review, but undertaking ethical, rights-​respecting research is still pos-
sible (Markwei & Tetteh, 2021; Pickles, 2020).

Principle 3: Children’s consent must be given voluntarily (and without coercion)

The third ERIC principle surrounds the importance of ensuring that children’s consent is given
voluntarily and without coercion. This has been touched on above, but it is important to under-
score here researchers’ responsibility to educate children about the voluntary nature of partici-
pation. Such responsibility includes ensuring children have both the opportunity to dissent and
that the social and spatial conditions make it possible for them to refuse or withdraw (Bourke &

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Loveridge, 2014). Evidence-​based strategies for this are emerging in literature, such as providing
children with time to make consent decisions (Ruiz-​Casares & Thompson, 2016), offering scope
for children to consent or dissent through play (Ramsden & Jones, 2011), sealed envelopes to
submit consent forms or making ‘dissent’ flags with children at the beginning of a focus group
and practising using them (Jackson-​Hollis, 2019). Nevertheless, these often do not fully avoid
the social and cultural complexities surrounding consent and dissent in school, family or com-
munity contexts (Foxcroft, 2017; Gallagher, Haywood, Jones, & Milne, 2010; Porter et al., 2010;
Vreeman et al., 2012). In some studies, pressure upon children to participate may not be direct but
still remains, bound to power differentials between adults and children. As Bennouna and Stark
(2020, p. 133) note:

recruitment into armed groups or armed forces, abduction into trafficking operations. These
violations, which abuse the power differential between adults and children, can make it
especially difficult for children to interact comfortably with adult researchers. Given their
experiences, these children may also be particularly afraid, not only of discussing personal
matters with adult researchers but also of disagreeing with them and refusing to participate.

Such complexity underscores the relational nature of ethical research and the critical importance
of reflexivity in remaining alert to, and navigating, emergent, context-​specific issues.

Principle 4: Consent should be renegotiable, so that children can

withdraw at any stage of the research process
The final principle advocated by the ERIC approach is that consent must be renegotiable. This
is closely connected to the discussion above around dissent. Some research lends itself to mul-
tiple steps, activities or phases, which offers opportunities for researchers to regularly check-​in
with children regarding their willingness to continue. Researchers should also remain attuned
to children’s body language or other cues to indicate discomfort, distress or disinterest during
research encounters (Sherwood & Parsons, 2021).
The notion that consent is renegotiable can also be applied to the ‘terms’ of any given consent.
A paper by Moore, McArthur, and Noble-​Carr (2017), which is also described in an ERIC case
study (Moore, 2020), discusses the way they revisited consent at the end of their focus groups,
with a specific focus on data use. The focus groups, which involved children across a wide range
of settings, ages and abilities, culminated by discussing what information could be shared, how
and with whom (e.g., service providers, and anonymous reports). This approach aligns strongly
with understandings of children’s evolving capacities. Specifically, the increased understanding
they gain about a study and about research participation through the lived experience of taking
part (Moore et al., 2017). The educational process –​the ‘informed’ aspect of consent –​is on-​going.
Researchers are also increasingly engaging in such critical-​reflexive conversations with young
people in other research roles (Vosz, 2020). Co-​researchers, for example, can seek to be recognised
for their contributions or to be involved in data dissemination activities, which may make them
identifiable (Canosa et al., 2021; Shier, 2021; Yanar et al., 2016). Informed consent, then, in line
with the ERIC approach, goes beyond a moment of closure at the beginning of a study. Rather it
seeks to foster a respectful, relational and dialogic space within which researchers and the chil-
dren involved in their research (whether as participants, co-​researchers or something in-​between)
can continue to discuss and negotiate arising ethical issues (Mayne & Howitt, 2022; Moore et al.,
2017; Rogers & Labadie, 2018; Shier, 2021; Vosz, 2020; Yanar et al., 2016).

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It should be noted that this relational space can itself become complicated. Two recent ERIC
case studies by Tatek Abebe (2020a, 2020b) highlight this for research undertaken in a Majority
World country by a researcher based in a Minority World contexts. Given the nature of develop-
ment interests, and the relative wealth, status and power of researchers, there can be expectations
amongst participant communities that go beyond the scope of a researcher’s professional position.
Abebe (2020b) writes:

While participants’ requests or expectations may exceed the role of researcher and even
what might be possible, not attending to participants’ expectations may risk leaving them
feeling exploited despite best intentions to the contrary. On the other hand, attempting to
meet participants’ requests risks opening the flood gates and /​or further disadvantaging their
peers who were unable or ‘unlucky’ enough to participate in the research.

A further complication, as Abebe points out, is that it can become increasingly difficult to draw
the line around spontaneous assistance, particularly during fieldwork or participatory research
once researchers become increasingly involved in the lives of children, their families and com-
munities. Such accounts highlight the importance of closely considering communication around
the research parameters and the researcher role during the initial informed consent process, while
accepting that complexity will inevitably arise. Emergent complex issues need to be attended to
as reflexively and respectfully as possible, in dialogue with research participants and stakeholders.

Conclusion
This chapter has explored best practice principles for approaching informed consent in ERIC with
a focus on global development. Drawing on the ERIC project, we have discussed how informed
consent is a useful starting point for ethical research, moving the project from an intellectual,
abstract plan to a relationally focused endeavour which extends throughout the research process.
When approached in line with the four principles detailed in this chapter, and underpinned by the
ERIC Three Rs (rights, relationships and reflexivity), the informed consent process can contribute
to creating respectful dialogical spaces within which both researchers and children can navigate
on-​going ethical challenges. These include, but are not limited to, matters of privacy, anonymity
and confidentiality, harm, reciprocity, payment and compensation, and individual support. Such
an approach is particularly salient in discussions of global development given the added social,
cultural, economic and political complexities that shape children’s involvement in research in
different World contexts.
In examining how these complexities might be approached, we have focused particular
attention on the informed consent process as a relational space between the researcher/​s and child
participant/​s or child co-​researchers. Principle 1 stipulates that information is shared with children
in a contextually sensitive way to aid informed decision-​making about their participation in the
research. In the context of global development, this might require close attention to the communi-
cation or perceptions of potential benefits, both from the research itself and from their experience
of participating. In practice, researchers need to continually look for creative ways to translate
informed consent material (see, for example, Benton & Truscott, 2022) to ensure it is readily
accessible for a wide range of contexts where life circumstances are challenging and research
is unfamiliar territory. Attention also needs to be given to the choice of images or graphics in
aiding such accessibility and how these may be interpreted by both children and adults in different
contexts and cultures.

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Principles 2 and 3 highlight that initial consent to participate in research should be an explicit and
voluntary agreement, generally between the researcher, the child, their parents/​carers and some-
times their institution/​community leaders. This can be complex in development research where
parental/​guardian consent may not be possible due to children living without adult caregivers
or in inconsistent family relationships, and/​or where cultural norms may mean that children are
socialised to comply with adults’ instructions. This is further compounded if the topic of research
is sensitive in nature such as exploring family violence, abuse or experiences of LGBTQI+​youth.
Finally, Principle 4 of the ERIC approach focuses on consent as always being renegoti-
able. While this means children have the opportunity to cease participation at any time, many
may not feel comfortable to signal this or may need help to communicate changing needs
and preferences verbally. Paying close attention to body language and other signs of disen-
gagement/​discomfort/​disinterest is critical. We have also indicated, though, that children’s
understanding of the research and their participation often evolves through their experience
of taking part. In this way, a carefully planned research process allows for them to become
more ‘informed’. This underlines the ethical significance of revisiting aspects of initial consent
towards the end of a research encounter.
We opened this chapter by highlighting that there is no singular or universal childhood but
rather childhood is experienced in different ways across familial, social, cultural and economic
milieus. We conclude here by reiterating the critical importance of conceptualising ethical issues
such as ‘informed consent’ not simply as procedural matters but rather as a relational and dialogical
process between researchers and children (and their caregivers) that is attuned and responsive to
a diversity of childhoods. What this looks like will differ depending upon context, as well as the
individuals involved. Underpinned by both rights-​based and relational understandings of ethics,
the approach promoted by the ERIC initiative requires researchers to stay reflexively attentive to
children, their evolving capacities and the socio-​cultural contexts of the research. This does not
seek to diminish the procedural requirements of institutional ethics committees, although these
may not exist in many Global South contexts. Rather the ERIC approach supports researchers to
engage critically and reflexively with ethics at all stages of the research, from planning, through
institutional review (where this exists) and into the complexities and realities of the in-​situ ethical
dilemmas and decision-​making that unfold during the research process.

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 6
VISUAL RESEARCH
Karen Wells

Photo-​elicitation and photovoice in research with children and youth

Photo-​elicitation (PE) is a widely used method in social science qualitative research, which has
grown significantly over the last 20 years. Whilst the visual sociologist Doug Harper in a literature
review in 2002 identified only eight books and 25 research articles using PE, since then, and per-
haps due to the availability of digital images, there has been a significant increase in the use of the
method. An academic library catalogue search using ‘photo elicitation’ in the title for the period
2002–​2021 returned over 400 research papers.
Strictly speaking PE is not a visual method since the images themselves are rarely subjected
to analysis. Rather the images are used to structure or shape in-​depth qualitative interviews. The
rationale for this practice is that interviewer-​generated questions may not capture the social reality
of the interviewee or will only capture it to the extent that it aligns with issues that are already
familiar from extant research. PE generally uses images that are produced by or significant to the
research participant and this is also intended to further open up control and relevance of the inter-
view content for the respondent. Many scholars claim that giving the framing of the interview to
the respondents, especially those whose social reality is often stigmatised through racism, immi-
gration status or class discrimination, means that they can present their worlds in ways that dem-
onstrate their strengths. Miller (2016) makes this argument in her study of working-​class families
preparing their children for starting kindergarten and Clark-​Ibáñez (2007) makes a similar point
in her study of poor children in a US school. In a study of children with renal failure, Wells et al
(2013) note that very little health research on chronic childhood illness is based on children’s own
accounts and claim that PE facilitates their engagement in ways that allow them to control the
narrative. Carter et al (2015) in a comparative study of children with chronic illness in the UK,
New Zealand and Tasmania make similar claims. Indeed, the use of PE in research on child health
seems to be growing (Sibeoni et al 2017). Clark, in her study of children with chronic illness,
called this approach ‘autodriven interview’ and emphasised its usefulness in research with chil-
dren (Clark 1999). This assumption that PE generates talk about issues, perspectives or events that
would otherwise not be brought into the interview is, I think, a valid one, but nonetheless one that
is undertheorised. It seems to rest on a presumption that there is something about images, their
sensory apprehension through sight (and maybe touch) and their indexical character or close refer-
ential relationship to actual events, people or places, which activates different kinds of reflections,
memories and discourse than text does.

76 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-8
 Visual Research

In addition to the argument that PE gives respondents the opportunity to frame the interview
discourse in ways that align with their realities, it is widely claimed that PE works with children’s
strengths, in contrast to text-​based interviews (Pyle 2013). However, since the purpose of PE
is to provide a frame for verbal interviews, it is not at all clear that it is an adequate method for
working with young children or speaks to their strengths. The core data output, the thing that gets
analysed, is the written transcript of the verbal interview. In a comparative study of Japanese and
US students’ views of play, for example, children seemed unable to offer very much verbal elabor-
ation (or elicitation) of their photographs (Izumi-​Taylor et al 2016).
Very often PE involves giving respondents a disposable camera or camera-​phones (Wells 2011)
and an open-​ended instruction to take pictures about some phenomena. It has been used in studies
on social identity (Cooper 2017), and cross-​cultural studies of resilience (Liebenberg et al 2014).
A study of children’s attachment networks in middle childhood among a clan in Cameroon with
distinct concepts of care, family and childhood (Becke and Bongard 2018) used PE to understand
the expanding circle of children’s networks. A comparative project on children’s consumption,
CYCLES (Children and Youth in Cities –​Lifestyle Evaluations and Sustainability) in seven inter-
national cities Dhaka (Bangladesh), São Paulo (Brazil), New Delhi (India), Yokohama (Japan),
Christchurch (New Zealand), Makhanda (South Africa) and London (UK) used PE with 12 to
24 year olds, followed by a survey (Burningham et al 2020). In a comparative study of elem­
entary schools in Pakistan and Luxembourg, Ali-​Khan and Siry (2014) argue that PE of images
taken by young respondents enables children to challenge knowledge hierarchies, challenge visual
conventions, and creates a generative space for a critical pedagogy in the Freirean sense. This
is a slightly different point to the one above, about the space that images may open up for the
respondents to take control of the discourse. Claiming that PE can do the work of critical peda-
gogy aligns PE closely with the goals of Photovoice (PV) but without the developed structure of
the PV method.
In a study of fatigue of adolescents with sickle-​cell anaemia in Ghana, Poku et al (2019) expand
the PE method to include drawings, recognising that their participants might not have the resources
or the cultural permission to take photographs of other people. Making similar claims to those
made for PE, they felt that this method led to the active engagement of children in the research and
shifted adult–​child power imbalance in a gerontocratic society.
PE is often advocated in the research of sensitive topics, where it is felt that a classic interview
tool, even if qualitative, could lead to participants having to talk about things they find upsetting.
This is not without its ethical problems. A study of children who had experienced the death of a
sibling, mother or grandmother used PE to make a place for children’s voices in research on grief
and loss. Here again, the contradiction of using a visual method and technology (a camera) that
children are often competent and familiar with but then to ask them to talk about the images was
palpable. While the children’s accounts of their photos (reproduced in the paper) are certainly
affecting, they clearly struggle to articulate their feelings and in one of the four cases was hoping
that the research would become a therapeutic encounter (Stutey et al 2016). Similarly, in a study
of the needs of orphaned adolescents in South Africa, the thinness of the recounted text, while
poignant, points to the limitations of PE for eliciting in-​depth talk about an issue. It is also striking
that the images that children and youth produce are often semiotically obscure (Thupayagale-​
Tshweneagae and Mokomane 2013).
Less common in PE is that the researcher selects or makes the images that are used in the inter-
view. An unusual use of PE for quantitative analysis involved showing respondents in rural India
(Tamil Nadu) pictures of children doing a range of activities and asking parents if they thought
these activities could cause injury and what could be done to mitigate the likelihood of injury

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(Inbaraj et al 2020). In another study of the transition of children in Bangladesh from informal to
formal schools, the photographs were made by the researchers and they found that, in comparison
to the first stage of the research which were non-​image-​based interviews, the images generated
much richer and more affective responses (Shohel and Howes 2007). Similarly, in a study on the
perspectives of children with cancer on attending a therapeutic summer camp, the researchers took
photographs that they then used to initiate interviews with participants (Epstein et al 2006). The
success of this method suggests that at least researchers should consider whether children have the
presumed competency in making images that PE may depend on; at the very least, if the image
is not produced by someone with technical skills, it seems unlikely that the image itself can be
used meaningfully as a form of data. This in turn calls into question whether PE is really a visual
method.

Photovoice (PV)
Although some researchers use PE to mean the practice of using photos to elicit talk and
respondents/​participants own photos as ‘photovoice’ (Shaw 2021), in general the latter is used
to mean an emancipatory practice of image-​making that gives people the skills to visually
represent their worlds. Born into Brothels, a film documenting a PV study in India, may be the
most well-​known PV study at the intersection of childhood and (economic) development. While
PE has mostly been used by social scientists and emphasises the verbal dialogue made pos-
sible by looking at images, PV centres the image, although the tools of analysis for the image
remain under theorised and the importance of the anchoring text is repeatedly emphasised by PV
practitioners. In contrast to PE projects, participants in PV research are usually given cameras
to keep because part of the ethos of PV is to enable a critical viewing of the social world and
their place in it that will continue after the research ends; projects also emphasise the teaching
of photography skills (Johnson 2011) and, for adults, the possibility of earning a living as a
photographer. This perspective or indeed epistemology means that the photo itself becomes the
object of analysis. However, this distinction between PE and PV may be blurred, for example,
Johnson cites Schwartz’s observation that it ‘is not the photographs themselves which inform, but
rather, the analysis of them...the analysis of the images is informed by insights gained through
ethnographic fieldwork and informant’s responses to the photo-​sets’ (Schwartz 1989: 152) as
justification for her decision to use the images made by the children in PE interviews. Although
she reproduces the images in her paper, there is no attempt to analyse them qua images, or even
to analyse the anchoring texts which deploy distinctive and repetitive tropes (I love her/​him/​
this because she/​he/​this is good). Similarly, a study of adolescent’s work in Malawi situated
the research design within PV methodology and even used the PV methodology of SHOWeD
(Wang, Yi, Tao, & Carovano, 1998) in which participants answer the questions ‘what do you See
here? 2) What is really Happening here? 3) How does this relate to Our lives 4) Why does this
problem or situation exist 4) What can we Do about it?’ (Zietz et al: 248). The intention behind
this mnemonic is that participants critically reflect on the situation they are living in. It is in this
sense that PV practitioners see their research as aligned with the Freire’s conscientisation and
with Participatory Rural Appraisal, and Participatory Action Research (see Abebe, this volume).
In Zietz et al’s study (2018) these discussions were held in focus groups, which is also a key part
of PV methodology because it facilitates collective consciousness. A study in Chile similarly
deployed a truncated version of PV with students being given cameras to take pictures of their
school which were then used in a group discussion of subjective well-​being at school. Here the
photos were reported on in the paper, although much more space was given to the focus group

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interviews, and the images were used in an entirely indexical way (Oyarzún-​Gómez and Loaiza
de la Pava 2020). The use of a reduced version of PV with children appears in several different
research studies on children’s diet and obesity (Findholt et al 2010), probably reflecting PV’s
origins in Participatory Action Research (PAR) and health research (Wang 1999). These studies,
conducted in schools with school students, have a questionable relationship to the emancipatory,
Freirean intent of PV. They also make little or no attempt to analyse the photographs. The Centre
for the Study of Visual Methods and Social Change in KZN designed a study to use PV to tackle
school student’s understanding of HIV/​AIDS and to counter stigmatisation of people living
with HIV. In this case students took staged pictures of scenes of stigmatisation which were then
captioned by participants and used as the basis for discussion (Moletsane et al 2007). Another
study by the same group used PV to engage students in the causes and solutions for school absen-
teeism on Fridays (market day in the school community). Here the children’s photographs are
reproduced but again the discussion of them is purely indexical. A project on Lesotho children’s
journey to schools identified gendered differences in children’s experience (Muthukrishna and
Morojele 2013). What many of these PV projects have in common is their problem–​solution-​
orientated focus, as in the KZN projects and health projects.
PV as a participatory research method that usually involves movement through space has lent
itself well to studies on children’s place attachment and place perception (Benninger and Savahl
2017, Ho et al, 2011, Leung et al 2017, Malone 2016, Zuch et al 2013). The multi-​country study
on children’s subjective well-​being, Children’s Understandings of Well-​Being (CUWB): Global
and Local Contexts used PV together with community mapping to understand children’s
representations and perceptions of natural space in the Western Cape, South Africa, and found
that children’s sense of safety was, perhaps unsurprisingly, connected to socio-​economic status.
Here again, photographs are reported on in an indexical manner. A Malawi project with young
teens used PV to engage participants in a community action research project to identify and miti-
gate risks of unsafe sex. The youth identified several spaces in which youth are likely to engage
in sex and suggested that parents could encourage children not to go to these spaces, and to raise
the age of initiation (which is also the age that youth first have sex) to 18 years. It is interesting
that a study using PV as a PRA research tool essentially concludes that safe sex means saying
no to sex and avoiding settings where consensual sex might occur (Lofton et al 2020). Given
that decades of sexual health research have shown that abstinence messages do not decrease and
may increase risky sex, this study may point to the limitations of PV in this truncated or instru-
mental form.

The analysis of visual communication: Looking at suffering

Humanitarian action, as a subset of international development, frequently deploys images to
raise awareness of disaster and to encourage spectators to donate to alleviate suffering. There is
a growing literature on how to respond to images of suffering (Boltanski 1999; Moeller 1999;
Sontag 2003; Chouliaraki 2006, 2012). The central problem that most of these works attend to
is: what action is an appropriate response to being a spectator of suffering? Luc Boltanski’s Distant
Suffering (1999) is an exploration of how the spectator should respond to images of suffering cir­
culating in the media. His central argument is that a spectator feels a moral obligation to act in the
face of distant suffering. Our spectatorship of the suffering of distant others generates what he calls
a ‘politics of pity’. The idea of a politics of pity is developed from Hannah Arendt, who articulates
it in On Revolution. The politics of pity involves the spectacle of suffering: ‘[the] observation of
the unfortunate by those who do not share their suffering, who do not experience it directly and

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who, as such may be regarded as fortunate or lucky people’ (Boltanski 1999: 3). Boltanski makes
the point that pity must be singular and generalised: singular in that we see an individual’s suffering
and it is this that arouses our pity and generalised in that we know that this individual is replace-
able by any number of other individuals who are experiencing the same suffering (1999: 12). It is
the generalised quality of the response that moves it from ‘pity’ to a ‘politics of pity’, in which a
response is demanded. We feel, he claims, compelled to act in response to this suffering and this
action is of two kinds: ‘paying and speaking’. No one, he points out, ‘ever suggests, for example,
that the spectator should drop everything and take himself to the unfortunate’s side’ (1999: 15).
What interests Boltanski is how the spectator’s imagination is mobilised in ways that enable him
or her to contemplate what the suffering of another might feel like. He says:

By describing the different ways of transmitting the spectacle of suffering to another person,
of sharing the emotional experiences it has aroused, and of making perceptible how one is
both affected and concerned, we would like to suggest that the persistence of these ways
trace relatively stable facilitating paths. They pick out common sensibilities on which
prereflexive agreements…can be sustained between persons who recognise if not the same
ethical values then at least a community of reactions.
(1999: 54)

What Boltanski means by this is that there are only a few ways in which suffering can be depicted
that will result in a response from the spectator. These ways of depicting suffering depend on the use
of shared symbols that we know how to respond to. This is particularly pertinent to understanding
how and why images of children are routinely used in fund-​raising campaigns by charities.
Susan Sontag’s meditation on Regarding the Pain of Others points to the literalist quality of
the photographic image –​its being-​there referent which is often regarded as the special force
of the still image (Barthes 1978. Sontag maintains that the depiction of suffering is likely to be
more vivid, less veiled, the further we are from the protagonist. For her images of suffering are
provocations to ask:

Who caused what the picture shows? Who is responsible? Is it excusable? Was it inevitable?
Is there some state of affairs which we have accepted up to now that ought to be challenged?
All this, with the understanding that moral indignation, like compassion, cannot dictate a
course of action.
(Sontag 2003: 105)

The course of action compelled by different ways of presenting suffering in the news is the topic of
Chouliaraki’s study of The Spectatorship of Suffering. Chouliaraki’s study returns us to Boltanski
inasmuch as she takes up his use of Arendt’s concept of a politics of pity to argue that certain ways
of presenting the suffering of distant others can be responded to within a concept of a cosmopol-
itan politics.
If most of the writers discussed here (Boltanski 1999; Sontag 2003; Chouliaraki 2006) are
concerned with how images of suffering move the spectator to action, Moeller, in her study of
Compassion Fatigue, approaches the problem from the opposite point of view: why do images of
suffering fail to move the spectator to action? However, like Boltanski she suggests that there are
relatively few ways in which suffering is depicted and that each image is intended to call forth an
appropriate response. ‘Images of crisis’, she says,

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rely on a repertoire of stereotypes: the heroic doctor; the brutal tyrant … the innocent
orphans… If the images that document a crisis are of starving orphans, the remedy is
humanitarian assistance. If the images are of the brutal tyrant, the remedy is military force.
(Moeller 1999: 43)

Moeller’s argument about the iconic force of images and the common symbolic meanings they
share is strikingly similar to Boltanski’s and yet Moeller maintains that iconic images dull the
spectator’s response, whereas Boltanski suggests they mobilise the spectator’s concern.

Looking at images of suffering children

The research on images of suffering can be distilled into one question: what is the moral response
to this knowledge of the suffering of distant others (Wells 2013)? Images of children are in them-
selves cultural symbols whose impact slides across thought provoking an emotive response which
forecloses political or financial calculation. Patricia Holland’s What is a Child? (1992) and her
Picturing Childhood (2004) have both made seminal contributions to our understanding of how
images of children that circulate in different media produce and reflect a society’s concepts of
childhood. Holland is also concerned to point to how images of suffering children pull at the
sympathies of adult spectators by foreclosing questions of blame, culpability and responsibility
that might arise with images of adults. Boltanski claims that the images of suffering within a pol-
itics of pity demand that we do something, and specifically that we attempt to remedy suffering
through either speech or payment. He claims that suffering at a distance demands action at a dis-
tance: that no one ‘ever suggests, for example, that the spectator should drop everything and take
himself to the unfortunate’s side’ (Boltanski 1999: 15). In the case of the suffering of children,
this claim that distance is maintained has not been upheld. The figure of what Lisa Cartwright
calls the ‘global social orphan’ has in fact been responded to by the spectator taking ‘himself to
the unfortunate’s side’. Cartwright asks: ‘If in a politics of pity distance is traversed by words
and money, what happens when that distance collapses and the exchange is no longer mediated
by distance?’ (Cartwright 2008: 189). Her argument is that the circulation of images of suffering
children in institutional care mobilises not only action at a distance but the collapsing of distance
as the spectator refashions himself or herself as parent or prospective parent to the suffering child.
However, this image of the ragged, abandoned child as a figure that demands more of the spectator
than words and payment has a longer lineage than Cartwright acknowledges. In her analysis trans-
national adoption of ‘social orphans’ is facilitated by the possibilities of the global circulation of
images and the shrinking of physical distance that she takes to be characteristics of globalisation.
However, the use of images of abandoned children and the transnational (dis)placement of these
children can be traced to nineteenth-​century philanthropic child-​saving movements (Koven 1997).

The depiction of children in fund-​raising campaigns

The suffering child has been at the centre of NGO fundraising campaigns, typically the picture
used in child-​saving campaigns is of the child alone. The closely framed shot of a young child’s
face stares out at us from countless NGO appeals. With certain exceptions, the child alone is a for-
lorn image. Cutting out of the frame the adults and other children who surround the child places
the viewer of the image in the role of these missing carers. The child alone is abstracted from pol-
itics, culture and society. This stripping away of the wider context means that difficult questions
about the destructive impact of structural inequalities on the child’s life can be evaded. His or her

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suffering becomes a consequence of the human condition, rather than an effect of specific political
and military interventions. The abandoned child, the child alone, cannot lose in being ‘rescued’ the
security and comfort of existing networks and affective ties because, the image suggests, these are
already absent from the child’s life. Rather, if the child is not rescued, then he or she will be left
to their fate. The distance between the spectator and the photographic subject is collapsed, and the
spectator is encouraged to feel like a parent to the abandoned child.
Often in fund-​raising campaigns, particularly those that are intended to support the ongoing
work of a charity rather than a specific campaign, this hailing of the spectator as a parent will
be quite explicit, asking ‘you’ to ‘adopt a child’. In some cases it will be made very explicit, the
sponsored child being spoken of as ‘your child’. These representations form part of a familiar
narrative: abandoned (or neglected, or inadequately cared for) child needs to be rescued from
misery and ajection by a substitute parent. This misery is not depicted as simple poverty; the rela-
tionship between the child and his or her would-​be rescuer is cast in emotional terms: you give
something to the child as a token of love and in return the child gives you the possibility of loving
a child.

From abject to empowered

In contrast to the well-​established academic research on the representation of suffering is a small
body of research on the representation of the empowered girl. To some extent this shift, from the
abject child to the empowered girl in humanitarian and development discourse, maps onto the
broader shift from child-​saving to child-​rights. However, like the shift from governing through
sovereignty and governing through bio-​politics, the one has not decisively replaced the other but
rather both continue to circulate, mobilised to leverage different forces. For example, the suffering
child is aligned with the humanitarian gaze and the elevation of the sentimental spectator to the
status of political subject. The empowered girl, on the other hand, is a representation aligned with
the developmental gaze and the technical fixes of neo-​liberal governance (in this case, educa-
tion as the solution to under/​non-​development). However, despite the apparent binary between
abjection and empowerment, both forms can be accommodated within the melodramatic genre
that dominates NGO representation. While the suffering child can be saved in the nick of time by
the spectator’s generosity, the empowered girl is the next chapter in the story: Oliver Twist after
he meets Mr Brownlow, Pip in Great Expectations after he receives Magwitch’s bequest, Becky
Sharp in Vanity Fair. The empowered girl in development discourse, who through the medium of
education achieves great things, is the rags-​to-​riches story of melodrama or what Gymnich calls
‘the foundling plot’ (Gymnich, 2018: 17). Since its emergence, the visual representation of this
figure has been robustly critiqued. Desai (2016) refers to the film Girl Rising, and its paratexts as
‘a precarious curriculum of empathy’. In a critique familiar from the ‘lone child’ representations
discussed above, Desai argues that representations of the girl as an empowered/​powerful subject
generate precarious empathy because they ignore the structural constraints on even and equal
development and gender justice. She also refers to her ‘seduction’ by the representation in Girl
Rising of powerful girls, pointing to the affective power of the image to provoke a response which,
as Boltanski says, ‘traces familiar paths’. In other words, spectators are less critical of the image and
its message than readers are of the word. Sydney Calkin (2015), in her analysis of Nike’s Girl Effect
campaign, describes how it visualises what she calls, drawing on Chouliaraki’s concept of ‘ironic
spectatorship’ and Angela McRobbie’s critique of post-​feminism, ‘post-​feminist spectatorship’, a
representation which appeals to spectators as if they are economists or entrepreneurs, insisting that
investing in girls is the smart thing to do because it is the economically efficient and productive

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thing to do. This is accompanied by a recognition that appeals to suffering are no longer effective
and a repudiation of solidarity in place of an awareness of others’ lives and the distance between
‘your’ (Western, feminist spectator) freedoms and ‘their’ (African, girl protagonist) constraints.
In a similar vein, emphasising its’ post-​feminist narrative, Switzer (2013) analyses the same three
films from the Girl Effect campaign adapting Andrea Cornwall’s ‘feminist fables’ or what could
also be called fairy stories about women and development to the analysis of these images. Of
course, the analysis is unsurprising, both for the analysts but also for Nike themselves who are,
after all, a global business in the business of stimulating consumer demand for their products and
protecting their brand.

Ethnography
All ethnography is, in a sense, visual –​it relies heavily on the ethnographer’s attention to everyday
life, their observation of events, interactions and practices. The ethnographers’ distrust of elicited
speech, and especially of interviews, is well-​documented. While PV and PE are sometimes
described as ‘visual ethnography’ (see Oh 2012), the emphasis on the identification and resolution
of problems that often frame PV and PE are not congruent with the representation of everyday life
and the revelation of the patterns and beliefs that organise it that ethnographers aim to capture.
Indeed, the representation of children’s lives in visual ethnography is scant. Abhijit Varde’s (2005)
visual ethnography of tribal children and their families who are employed as bricklayers provides
a careful and detailed description of children’s daily lives together with still images but it is a rare
contribution.
While PV as it has been used in the social sciences emphasises photography as a tool for action
research and generally is completed within a short period of time, visual anthropology emphasises
the quality of the image, and the use of the camera as a tool for the (child) photographer to appre-
hend and interpret the world. David MacDougall’s documentary projects on children’s lives in
India are exemplary of this approach. His study of the elite boys’ school, the Doon School Quintet
(2004), is a ‘richly textured portrait of their lives at the school’ (Potts 2015: 190). Subsequently
he has produced Schoolscapes (2007) and Awareness (2010) both studies of a progressive,
coeducational school in South India. A 2008 study, Ghandi’s Children, ‘depicted the lives of
street children, orphans and juvenile detainees living at the Prayas Children’s Home for Boys
in New Delhi’ (Potts 2015: 190, see also Ashar 2015). During each of these projects he trained
groups of children in filmmaking. Since 2013 he has been training children in the use of photog-
raphy as part the project ‘Childhood and Modernity: Indian Children’s Perspectives’ which led
to the production of four films directed by children and collectively known as Delhi at Eleven
(https://​raif​ilm.org.uk/​films/​delhi-​at-​ele​ven/​). In these films, the emphasis is on children as cul­
tural producers and as members of a distinct cultural milieu, childhood. This contrasts, to some
extent, with the main mode of using film in visual anthropology as a recording method; one of
the earliest examples of which is Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead’s photographic study of
Balinese childhoods.
Along similar lines to MacDougall’s ethnography, Weaving Knowledge (Afonu 2023) is a docu­
mentary film that focuses on children as members of a culture and their practices. Its focus is on the
‘funds of knowledge’ that children in rural West Africa develop through their involvement in their
parents’ farming and craft practices and through making toys and playing games (see also Tetteh,
this volume). The making of the film drew on nine months of visual ethnography in nine villages
in West Africa (Ghana, Senegal and Togo) over two years funded by the British Academy as part
of a research project Development Education in the Vernacular for Infants and children in West

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Africa, DEVI, and led by Karen Wells (PI) in collaboration with Peace Tetteh at the University of
Ghana and Erdmute Alber at the University of Bayreuth.
Weaving Knowledge, although ethnographic in the sense that it captures children’s typical activ-
ities in the village, is not a fly-​on-​the-​wall style documentary (for a discussion of the genealogy of
the documentary genre in relation to children, see Wells 2020: 5–​8, 39–​41). Firstly, we limited the
research observation of typical activities to those that could plausibly be said to involve some form
of experiential learning of physics, chemistry, biology, ecology, design, engineering or mathem-
atics. The visual record of these activities formed the basis for the shot-​list of events that were to be
created for the purpose of the film. Here, for example, is the shot-​list for Togo: Village 1: bicycle
repair; children playing; cassava preparation; motorbike repair; broom-​making. Village 2: tending
the fields; broom-​making; gari [cassava] making; video game play; toy car making; guitar making;
large group play demonstration; oil making; football; singing; individual play. Village 3: Cultural
centre children’s recitals; soya making; individual play; basket weaving; football; oil making;
blacksmithing. While several of the shots include children playing, we focused on games related
to counting and patterns (and therefore involving mathematical concepts). The shot-​list therefore
represents a first stage of analysis, when the raw data –​the visual archive and the field notes –​were
condensed into a set of codes which the shot-​list represents.
The shot-​list was closely followed in setting up the scenes that were then filmed. However,
not every scene that was filmed was included in the editing of Weaving Knowledge. The process
of choosing which footage to include in the film and how to structure the visual narrative of the
film involved watching all the footage several times to identify the meta-​codes that could organise
the film and then using those codes to select the footage to include. This second stage of analysis
focused on the sites that visually demonstrated the ways in which scientific and mathematical
concepts are embedded in children’s daily activities and provided the structure for the film. The
core codes we identified were weaving and textiles, transforming matter, making toys and playing
games. The final film is available to watch on Birkbeck’s Jarman Lab vimeo page (https://​vimeo.
com/​user1​8592​354/​por​tfol​ios).
The final stage of the visual ethnography as a research tool was the screening of the film in the
villages where the film was made, to an audience of villagers that included, but was not limited
to, the children and families who participated in the research. The screening was followed by a
brief discussion and Q&A in local languages, without translation. Each screening was attended by
about 200 people, and about half of each audience were children. The screenings of the film were
very successful in terms of attracting large audiences, who found the film highly entertaining and
interesting, and who engaged with the question of what the film’s depiction of learning through
doing might mean for the teaching and learning of science and mathematics.

Conclusion
The most striking fact about visual research and childhood studies is that the image itself is rarely
subject to analysis when it is produced through research. Most commonly (although see Kosterina
2018) the image is used to generate talk, whether in focus groups in PV or individual interviews
in PE. When images are analysed, the analysis is a simple content analysis or what I have referred
to here as indexical –​the image indexes the thing in the real world. We can speculate that the
reason for the lack of attention to the image itself is twofold: on the one hand the researcher,
usually a social scientist, does not have the training to conduct visual analysis, and on the other
hand it cannot be plausibly claimed that the young participant has the skills to produce the pic-
ture that they intended to make. This is especially the case if the PE or PV project is very short so

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that participants do not have sufficient time to learn even the most basic photographic skills. The
exceptions to this are, at the intersection of childhood and international development, the ana-
lysis of professionally produced photography or film; NGO news and fundraising content, photo-
graphic journalism, documentary and ethnographic film, and occasionally feature film. The main
analytical strategies deployed to analyse these images are grounded in cultural studies, semiotic
analysis and genre theory and usually form part of that a long tradition, since the invention of the
camera, of depicting the child as a suffering figure in a melodramatic mode, which continues into
contemporary NGO representations; even the disruption of the representation of suffering and its
substitution by more recent representations of empowered girls also depend on this same melo-
dramatic imagination. In visual ethnography, the image itself is not usually subject to analysis but
the research that it captures is presented in a visual narrative, which itself may be subsequently
analysed using the tools of film studies, genre theory, or social semiotics. While the use of visual
images as elicitation tools is now a well-​established method in the social sciences, and NGO
humanitarian and development projects can be analysed as forms of visual communication that
mobilise the spectator’s familiarity with genre, especially with melodrama, this chapter implicitly
argues for the incorporation of a different genre into visual communication in development, one
that perhaps releases some of the promise of Photovoice, in conveying child subjects as agential,
both in the sense of active and of pursuing their own projects.

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 7
USING A MIXED METHODS
APPROACH TO IDENTIFY
PATHWAYS TO ADOLESCENT
GIRL EMPOWERMENT 1
Mallika Tharakan, R. Maithreyi, and Manideep Govindu

Introduction
With the emergence of the new sociology of childhood, critical multi-​disciplinary scholarship has
served to denaturalize childhood and give voice to children as social actors in their own right (e.g.,
Burman, 2016; James & Prout, 1997; Smith & Green, 2014, among others). The main objectives
of sociological research on children have changed, requiring a rethink of research strategies and
methodologies (Lange & Mierendorff, 2009). Key aspects taken into consideration for analysis
now include the socio-​cultural and political contexts that structure the ‘generational orderings’
and power structures between children and adults; child–​adult relationships and interactions in
a multitude of contexts, ranging from private, to informal, and even institutional; the reproduc-
tion of children’s cultures within the structural and cultural contexts of society; and children’s
understanding of the social world that they are a part of (Lange & Mierendorff, 2009). Further,
research agendas that de-​centre normative assumptions about children’s development produced in
the Global North are growing (see Abebe, Dar & Lysa, 2022; Maithreyi & Kannan, 2022). These
novel questions and research agendas pose methodological challenges, requiring us to rethink
methods and identify the ones that can accurately allow us to gather empirical data about childhoods
located within structural, institutional and cultural contexts (Lange & Mierendorff, 2009).
A key outcome of this shift has been the strong critique of quantitative methods that allow less
scope to foreground children’s voices and see how they contribute to shaping their worlds, pas-
sively engage with children, fail to capture expressions of children’s agency in ordinary contexts
and are concerned with generalizations (Hammersley, 2017). Implicit assumptions embedded
within these approaches, regarding children’s immaturity and cognitive capacities to undertake
reasoned action, have also been put forth, raising ethical and political questions about children’s
rights and participation within everyday and research contexts (Hammersley, 2017). Challenging
the positivistic approaches of disciplines such as developmental psychology, childhood studies’
scholars have preferred post-​positivistic, primary and qualitative approaches to understand chil-
dren (Bushin, 2008; Hammersley, 2017; Holt, 2006).

88 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-9
 Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Identify Pathways

However, several scholars also argue that these changed research agendas do not automatic-
ally foreclose the use of traditional knowledges or ‘old’ methods. Rather, they argue that greater
attention must be paid to questions of methodological access, choice of methods and interpretation
of data to understand how different methods can allow us to challenge universalizations, reduc-
tionism, homogenization and adult-​centric approaches in relation to multiple childhoods (James,
Jenks & Prout, 1998; Lange & Mierendorff, 2009). For as Yoshikawa et al. (2008) have explained,
social data is neither inherently qualitative or quantitative and has to be interpreted through human
acts that quantify and qualify them, thus making these separations artificial.
Beyond arguments of triangulation, a combination of methods can spur further enquiry and
refinement of theory by providing convergent and divergent data (Yoshikawa et al., 2008). It can
allow us to more defensibly understand social and behavioural phenomena, by opening up mul-
tiple perspectives, values and stances which require reconciliation via further analysis (Green,
Kreider & Mayer, 2004). Quantitative techniques present possibilities for classification, general­
ization and estimations of spatio-​temporal strength and direction of causal influences on develop-
ment (Qvortrup, Corsaro & Honig, 2009; Yoshikawa et al., 2008). This remains one of the most
important agendas of research, without which we may largely be left with only impressionistic
data, leaving major factors that affect childhood at present, unaddressed (Qvortrup, Corsaro &
Honig, 2009).
Qualitative data, on the other hand, offers opportunities to gather first-​person accounts, revealing
children’s subjective worlds and cultures. It also allows a holistic understanding of the phenomena,
covering the full range of explanatory processes that hold the cause–​effect relationship in place
(Yoshikawa et al., 2008). However, qualitative studies are also implicated in homogenization and
exclusion of children’s voices, as children have remained concealed within groups, or research that
has focused on families (Hammersley, 2017; Lange & Mierendorff, 2009; Llyod-​Evans, 2017).
Further, questions around qualitative methodology, involving children as collaborators of the
research, have also been raised. Despite the pedagogic and political value of children’s participa-
tion within research (a specialized activity requiring training), broader questions remain about the
knowledge and skills of children as researchers (Hammersly, 2017).
Similarly, within quantitative research, while in the past the ‘statistical point of reference’ in
large datasets remained adult-​centred, in more recent times there have been efforts to ‘free’ chil-
dren from the household (Lage & Mierendorff, 2009). In summary, irrespective of the method of
data collection (e.g., ethnographic, survey, large-​scale datasets, qualitative interviews, focus group
discussions, observations), it is the epistemological commitments and political values that under-
line the research that influence knowledge and theory on childhood and render the outcome dis/​
empowering for children. For example, social-​constructivist frameworks for analysis, irrespective
of methods, can uncover the constructed nature of childhoods and their discursive ordering (Lange
& Mierendorff, 2009). Adoption of ‘child friendly’ methods, critical epistemology and emancipa­
tory methodologies to foster negotiated understanding (Fraser et al., 2005; as cited in McNamee
& Seymour, 2012) offer greater insights into children’s lives and cultures. Alternatively, existing
methods that privilege the subject, whether explicitly child friendly or not, may also generate valu-
able insights on children’s everyday lives, institutional settings and social relations (Punch, 2002;
as cited in McNamee & Seymour, 2012).
Acknowledging the limitations that characterized research on childhood until the latter half of
the 20th century as a result of the methodologies applied, in this chapter, we show how combining
quantitative and experimental approaches with qualitative or phenomenological approaches can be
productive for childhood studies as a discipline. We show how mixed methods studies that include
quantitative approaches can (i) increase our understanding of children’s subjective world and

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experiences; (ii) enable possibilities for testing theories against real-​world contexts; (iii) improve
the predictive power of the research; and (iv) contribute to the development of an empathetic
response to children’s contexts and conditions (Grover, 2004), particularly in the Global South.
We present a mixed-​methods evaluation study of an adolescent girls’ programme from India, to
show how the methods (i.e., techniques of data collection), once de-​coupled from methodolo-
gies (i.e., epistemological and ontological understandings), helped analyse the specificities of the
empowerment process, paying attention to ‘generational orderings’ and social locations. Using
quantitative and qualitative findings of the study, we discuss the links between empowerment
and well-​being outcomes (namely, health, schooling and protection from violence) for rural and
marginalized girls. Qualitative data helped explain social relations, expressions of agency and the
empowerment process, while quantitative data helped understand the magnitude of effects, as well
as causal relationships that are not simply visible, linear, additive or intuitive. The quantitative
analysis also supported us in uncovering directionality within the empowerment process providing
an understanding of empowerment as a process that encodes more than individual capacities (adult
or child). Before discussing these insights more in detail, in the next section, we first set the
context by examining empowerment-​related theorizations with adolescents and point to how this
mixed-​methods approach is useful to strengthening this engagement.

Conceptualizing and Measuring Empowerment

‘Empowerment’ remains a highly contested concept in the social sciences. Naila Kabeer (1999)
defines empowerment as the ‘capacity to make purposeful choices’, through the enablement of
resources or removal of barriers that limit these choices. Another influential account of empower-
ment is Rowlands’ (1995) discussion of ‘power to’. Rowlands argues that ‘empowerment’
involves more than access to decision-​making and also involves processes that lead people to
believe that they are able to and entitled to occupy positions of decision-​making. The latter obser-
vation is significant, particularly when socio-​historical (e.g., race, caste, ethnicity) and gener-
ational orderings of society have contributed to psychological internalizations of inferiority (see
Suresh Babu, 2020; Zacharias, 2013). Empowerment has further also been seen as the process of
gaining greater autonomy, expanding aspirations, in order to achieve one’s goals (Zimmerman
et al., 2019). Associated with the concept of empowerment are such concepts as social inclu­
sion, autonomy, visibility, mobility, agency and self-​efficacy (i.e., confidence in one’s individual
competencies).
Drawing upon these various theorizations of empowerment, several scholars have attempted
to develop conceptual frameworks for the measurement of empowerment. However, measures
of empowerment embed fundamental differences and conceptual clarity on how to aggregate
indicators into the multiple dimensions that contribute to empowerment is lacking. Few studies
have also focused on empowerment beyond the individual level (Pratley, 2016; Gram et al., 2019;
Yount, 2017). Confusion remains around how to align individual and collective empowerment;
‘positive’ versus ‘negative’ freedoms; internal and imposed values that may yield contradictory
results (Gram et al., 2019; Yount, 2017). This is important when working with marginalized com­­
munities, especially children from the Global South, whose developmental agendas have pre-
dominantly been determined by external agendas (see Abebe, Dar & Lysa, 2022) and may not
contribute to a reduction in real oppression itself (Gram et al., 2019). Further, associations of
empowerment with agency have also contributed to the difficulties in measurement as the relation
between agentic action, consequences of such choices and best interests of the individual may
remain unaligned (Maithreyi et al., 2022; Raj, 2020).

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Additionally, a significant gap in empowerment theories is regarding ‘generational orderings’

and how this may contribute to the expressions of agency, as current research mostly focuses
on women and older adolescents (Zimmerman et al., 2019). However, the relevance of these
constructs for early adolescence, where young people have limited autonomy to make informed
choices, is undertheorized. Among adolescent girls, empowered action, across school, home, com-
munity, may present as convictions, ideals, aspirations and commitments.
Finally, the literature on measuring and defining empowerment has focused largely on women,
with less attention to the relationship between male and female empowerment (Kato-​Wallace et al.,
2016, as cited in Zimmerman et al., 2019). Against this background, and the explosion of devel­
opmental work focused on the empowerment of adolescent girls, particularly in the Global South,
equally celebrated as ‘rescuing’ them from their disempowered positions, and critiqued as neo-
liberal strategies of ‘responsibilization’ (Maithreyi et al., 2022), we offer analytical and research-​
based insights into how empowerment functions in the context of a set of rural, marginalized
adolescent girls’ lives. Drawing upon the strengths of mixed methods research, we critically
examine whether processes of empowerment lead to well-​being for young people in the Global
South. In the following section, we describe the empowerment intervention, and the implications
of this on girls’ well-​being. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis, we show which forms
of empowerment significantly contributed to the different well-​being outcomes (i.e., health, edu-
cation and protection).

The ‘Sphoorthi’ Girls’ Empowerment Programme and Study

The ‘Sphoorthi’ life skills-​based empowerment programme was conducted by KHPT, a not-​
for-​profit public health organization,2 for girls from the most marginalized communities such as
Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST),3 between 2016 and 2018, in Koppal district
of Karnataka, India. The district performs poorly on the Child Development Index and Gender
Inequality Indices (Azim Premji Foundation, n.d.), with a high out-​of-​school (36%), child marriage
(27%) and teenage pregnancy rates (9%) (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and International
Institute for Population Studies, 2019–​20). Historically, Koppal was also one site of practice of the
Devadasi tradition –​wherein young girls from SC communities were ritually dedicated to temples,
marking their entry into a life of sex work.4
The Sphoorthi project was implemented to address these challenges faced by girls, covering
51 villages, using a peer-​to-​peer learning approach. First, a cadre of role model adolescent girls
(RMAGs), between the ages of 13 and 17 years, and their parents were trained through a set of
activities. Drawing upon Rowlands (1995) framework of empowerment, the aim was to develop
their personal, interpersonal and collective capacities and resources. RMAGs were exposed to
life skills education, exposure visits, leadership, communication and sports camps, to develop an
alternative perspective on gender, signalling the dimension of ‘power within’; parent–​daughter
relationship activities, couple’s counselling, ‘Samvada’ (or dialogues) with parents, and parents’
exposure visits were conducted to build the dimension of ‘power with’. Girls’ group meetings and
collective formation, celebration of International Girl Child Day, Samvadas with boys and com-
munity leaders, Children’s Gram Sabhas were further conducted to build the dimension of ‘power
over’. Following a year of intervention, the RMAGs worked with peers in the community, also
training them through the various programme activities.
A mixed methods baseline–​endline study was conducted to understand the impact of the
programme in achieving project objectives, as well as to understand the process of ‘power to’
in the context of rural adolescent girls. A quantitative survey was conducted with 1037 girls at

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 Mallika Tharakan, R. Maithreyi, and Manideep Govindu

baseline and 1045 at endline. Data was gathered using a close-​ended, pre-​coded questionnaire
covering individual and social characteristics, parent–​daughter relationships, decision-​making and
empowerment and was analysed using STATA 12. The qualitative data was gathered through a
longitudinal case study approach. Using a semi-​structured questionnaire, a total of 44 participants
were interviewed, including RMAGs and their parents, peer girls, boys and community leaders.
Key topics such gender norms, girl’s education, marriage, violence, parent–​daughter relations and
peer support were discussed with them. The interviews were transcribed (from Kannada) and
coded using the NVIVO software. Written, informed consent was sought from all respondents
of the quantitative and qualitative research. Ethical approval for the research was taken from
St. John’s Research Institute, Bangalore.

Developing a Culturally Relevant Empowerment Index

As researchers-​cum-​practitioners, we saw in Sphoorthi the potential to develop an evidence-​based,
culturally relevant and age-​specific empowerment framework that could guide programmes and
interventions. We deconstructed the power domains of Rowlands’ theory that could be applied
in practice with adolescent girls in a culturally congruent manner. While attending to critical
dimensions of resources (i.e., human, social and political-​economic, such as schooling, skill devel-
opment, self-​efficacy, access to peer networks and role models outside the family; and material
assets), ‘agency’ (i.e., decision-​making, mobility), and achievements (i.e., better health and nutri-
tion outcomes) (Kabeer, 1999; Yount, 2017), we additionally factored in the need for supportive
contexts (see Kabeer, 1999; Rowlands, 1995; Yount, 2017). This approach allowed us to overcome
the tensions in linking individual empowerment to empowerment at the community level. Further,
our theory of change allowed us to view empowerment not as a passive experience, but both as the
driver and result of action).
We developed a close-​ended survey questionnaire drawing on existing literature (see PAHO/​
WHO, 2010; Blanchard et al., 2013), and in line with the programme’s theory of change.
Following data collection, the items were reduced using the Principal Components Analysis
(PCA) method (Deutman, 1989), to arrive at a concise Empowerment Index. We applied PCA
as a method to identify the key components or items required to sufficiently explain the different
domains of power. Variables were grouped into a given component if the variable’s compo-
nent loading was more than 0.5 for that component and less than 0.5 for the other components
(Jolliffe, 2005). The variables that were retained in each empowerment domain (see Table 7.1)
were weighted by multiplying their component loading by each individual’s original value for
that variable. These products were summed and normalized to give each adolescent girl who
participated in the survey a composite value to reflect the girl’s individual levels of power
within, power with and power over.
In relation to our programme, the PCA showed the ‘power within’ domain to include
awareness and respect for the self, recognition of one’s rights, the ability to make choices in
relation to the body, understanding of bodily changes and need for self-​care practices like rest,
nutrition, hygiene and physical activity. ‘Power with’ included the adolescent girl’s ability to
negotiate with peers and parents and make decisions with parents and family members on signifi-
cant matters that affected her; and ‘power over’ included adolescents’ participation within com-
munity life, by challenging gender norms and child marriage in order to help other girls continue
their education.

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Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Identify Pathways
Figure 7.1 The Sphoorthi model’s theory of change.
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Table 7.1 Empowerment domains derived from principal components analyses from the quantitative survey

Power within Questions Component Power with Questions Component Power Over Component
Loadings Loadings Loadings
If I work hard, I feel capable of achieving 0.5435 Taking decisions jointly with 0.672 In the past 12 months, did you ever 0.678
my goals parents about continuation of persuade or negotiate on the issues
your schooling? of child marriage with a community
leader or elders?

Mallika Tharakan, R. Maithreyi, and Manideep Govindu

If I work hard, I feel capable of achieving 0.6665 Taking decisions jointly with 0.762 In the past 12 months, did you ever 0.585
my goals parents about type of school involve in successfully stopping a
(Govt. or private) child marriage of a girl?
I feel as intelligent as most other people 0.6136 Taking decisions jointly 0.739 In the past 12 months, did you ever 0.702
in my age. with parents about level of persuade or negotiate on the issues
education of girls’ school continuation with a
community leader or elders?
I am optimistic that I will have a better life 0.5351 Taking decisions jointly with 0.794 In the past 12 months, did you ever 0.551
than my parents. parents about when to marry assist any girl in re -​joining or
94

continuing the school?

On the whole, I am satisfied with myself 0.528 Taking decisions jointly with 0.766
parents about whom to marry
I feel able to talk to my parents about my 0.6615 Taking decisions jointly with 0.804
hopes and aspirations parents about your visits
within the village
I can stand up for my right to be treated 0.7435 Taking decisions jointly with 0.785
with the same respect as my brother. parents about your visits
outside the village
I can express my views on marriage even 0.7386 Taking decisions jointly with 0.728
if they differ from those of my parents parents about your work/​job
I can ask my parents to support my 0.7895 Taking decisions jointly with 0.715
completion of secondary education parents about whom to talk in
the community
I feel willing and able to speak out in 0.8199
support of girls
 Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Identify Pathways

Exploring Association between Empowerment and Well-​Being

The concept of empowerment and its links to health and well-​being among young girls have gained
visibility in recent years (Zimmerman et al., 2019). Higher levels of well-​being are associated with
decreased risk of disease, illness and injury; speedier recovery; and increased longevity (Deiner &
Tov, 2009). Yarcheski et al. conceptualize adolescent well-​being as ‘a multidimensional construct
incorporating mental/​psychological, physical, and social dimensions’ (p. 288).
We sought to measure the adolescent girls’ empowerment in terms of well-​being outcomes.
There is a lacuna of indicators available to measure adolescent girls’ well-​being, and existing
indicators are mostly individual-​focused, problem-​or risk-​oriented, limiting our ability to under-
stand the inter-​relations between age, structures and individual qualities. We selected four well-​
being measures from UNICEF’s National Adolescent Assessment Cards (NAACs) well-​being
matrix (Banati & Diers, 2016).5 These included Health and Well-​being, Education and Learning,
and Protection. Using Sphoorthi data we examined two aspects: first, the association of the indi-
vidual power domains with the four well-​being components; second, the interactive effects of the
power domains on the different well-​being components. This is further discussed below.

The Relationship between Individual Power Domains and Well-​Being

Outcomes for Adolescent Girls
Table 7.2 presents the association between the individual domains of empowerment and well-​being
outcomes. An odds-​ratio (i.e., a statistical technique used to measure the association between an
exposure and an outcome) was computed to understand the impact of the intervention on Health
and Well-​being, Education and Learning, and Protection. Each of the outcomes further consists of
sub-​indicators (as can be seen from Table 7.2). We discuss the outcomes that were significant at
the 95% confidence level (or higher) only.

Health and Well-​being

An examination of the Health and Well-​being Outcome shows that for the sub-​outcomes on mental
or emotional health and well-​being (i.e., ‘Not enjoying things like you used to’ and ‘Feeling
worried or anxious’), two individual domains are significant –​ ‘power within’ and ‘power over’.
Adolescent girls with high power within and high power over were 1.89 and 1.93 times more
likely not to enjoy things like they used to, than adolescent girls with low power within and low
power over. Similarly, high power over adolescent girls were more likely to feel worried and
anxious than low power over. This could be due to a greater understanding of gender disparities
and outcomes, but the lack of adequate support within the environment to exert their agencies or
ensure changes in outcomes. Such an empowered status may also come with personal costs. For
example, 16-​year-​old Surekha,6 from Halvarti village, in Koppal, described the odds against which
she not only continued her own education but also sought to influence other families to send their
girls to school.

My father used to beat me so much that I could not get up for 2-​3 days. He wanted me to
drop out of school. I became a part of Sphoorthi and realised that no matter what I have to
continue education and not only me, my fellow classmates who are very irregular or have
left studies, have to come to school. Out of the 10 houses that I visited four girls have re-​
joined school.

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 Mallika Tharakan, R. Maithreyi, and Manideep Govindu

Table 7.2 Associations between individual power domains and well-​being among adolescent girls

Well-​Being Indicators Empowerment Indicators

Power Within Power With Power Over

N Low(.ref)–​High Low(.ref)–​High Low(.ref)–​High

463–​334 385–​412 418–​379

Health and Well-​being

Feeling down, Depressed or hopeless
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 0.89 (0.55–​1.45) 1.24 (0.77–​2.00) 1.18 (0.74–​1.90)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 0.97 (0.57–​1.65) 1.31 (0.80–​2.16) 1.42 (0.85–​2.40)
Not enjoying things like you used to
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 1.61* (1.00–​2.59) 0.69 (0.43–​1.12) 1.68* (1.04–​2.72)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.89* (1.12–​3.19) 0.72 (0.44–​1.17) 1.93* (1.14–​3.26)
Feeling worried or anxious
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 1.23 (0.84–​1.79) 1.07 (0.73–​1.56) 1.70** (1.16–​2.49)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.27 (0.84–​1.91) 1.12 (0.76–​1.65) 1.80** (1.19–​2.72)
Not being able to control or stop your
worried thoughts
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 0.95 (0.59–​1.54) 0.73 (0.46–​1.18) 1.41 (0.88–​2.26)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.13 (0.67–​1.92) 0.78 (0.48–​1.28) 1.62+​ (0.96–​2.74)
Access Health Services
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 2.05** (1.52–​2.75) 1.60** (1.20–​2.13) 3.60** (2.66–​4.88)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.63** (1.18–​2.25) 1.55** (1.14–​2.11) 2.93** (2.12–​4.05)
Received sanitary napkin#
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 2.68** (1.81–​3.96) 1.40* (1.02–​1.93) 2.89** (2.06–​4.06)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.67* (1.08–​2.59) 1.29 (0.92–​1.83) 2.17** (1.50–​3.13)

Education and Learning*

Dropped from school
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 0.09** (0.05–​0.17) 0.35** (0.23–​0.52) 0.09** (0.05–​0.17)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 0.10** (0.05–​0.19) 0.39** (0.25–​0.61) 0.09** (0.05–​0.17)
Aspire to complete graduation & above
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 5.00** (3.66–​6.84) 1.89** (1.42–​2.50) 2.43** (1.83–​3.24)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 4.33** (3.11–​6.02) 1.66** (1.22–​2.24) 2.38** (1.75–​3.25)

Protection
Experienced parental violence in the last six months
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 0.87 (0.55–​1.38) 0.68+​ (0.44–​1.05) 1.94** (1.25–​2.99)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 0.91 (0.58–​1.43) 0.62* (0.40–​0.97) 1.99** (1.25–​3.16)
Experienced teacher violence in the last
class attended/​last academic year
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 0.77 (0.55–​1.06) 0.53** (0.39–​0.74) 0.9 (0.65–​1.24)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 0.83 (0.59–​1.16) 0.55** (0.39–​0.76) 0.86 (0.62–​1.19)
Participation and engagement
Participation Social Network Groups
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 2.35** (1.76–​3.14) 1.63** (1.23–​2.16) 4.57** (3.38–​6.17)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 2.01** (1.47–​2.74) 1.60** (1.19–​2.15) 4.00** (2.91–​5.48)
Notes: ** p<0.01, * p<0.05, +​p<0.1 and adjusted for the variables age, caste, education and wealth.

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 Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Identify Pathways

Surekha’s narrative demonstrates the possible consequences of having high power within and
power over, while lacking a supportive context or environment within which to act. In her
‘disempowered’ state (i.e., with low power within, with or over), Surekha may have well dropped
out of school and avoided the consequences of exerting her right to education; thus, also accepting
her fate or feeling less dissatisfied with her life. However, in her empowered state, despite a greater
understanding of the injustices meted out to herself and her peers, and the confidence to act,
Surekha appears to be shouldering a greater emotional burden, lacking a supportive environment
to act in gender transformative ways. Surekha’s account is also revealing of ‘generational ordering’
of the social structure against which she continues to remain helpless.
The role of a supportive context for girls’ empowerment is more evident in the context of
health, for which all three domains of power appear to be individually significant. Girls with high
power within, with and over, were 1.63 times, 1.55 times and 2.93 times more likely to access
health services respectively, compared to their peers with low power across the three domains.
Similarly, girls with high power within and high power over were 1.67 and 2.17 times more
likely to receive sanitary pads respectively, compared to their peers with low power within and
over. These findings are significant as access to health services for adolescent girls are dependent
not just on themselves but are tied to significant others, such as parents, who control girls’ access
these services; teachers or frontline workers who deliver the welfare schemes that make healthcare
accessible for marginalized communities. From the data presented above, the dimension of ‘power
over’ appears to have a stronger effect on predicting improved access to health services for
girls. This can also be corroborated against adolescent health research in India, which show, for
example, that access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, including contraceptives
and abortion, remain inaccessible to adolescent girls due to socio-​cultural taboos. Further, due to
conflicting laws such as the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act 2012, under which
even minors can be criminally punished, frontline workers hesitate to record or report cases related
to adolescent pregnancy or SRH needs, thus making these services further inaccessible to them
(Barua et al., 2020; Jejeebhoy & Santhya, 2011). In this context, adolescent girls’ abilities to advo­­
cate and demand for health services become critical in achieving these outcomes.
Similarly, in the case of menstrual hygiene, adoption of healthy menstrual hygiene practices for
girls is dependent on cultural norms, availability of resources such as toilets and water, and menstrual
hygiene products such as sanitary pads. Though sanitary pads are to be supplied through government
schools as part of the government’s menstrual hygiene programme, reports show that distribution and
usage of sanitary pads may be interrupted, particularly where female teachers are unavailable, and
there are poor WASH facilities to manage menstrual hygiene at school (Garg, Goyal & Gupta, 2012;
Sivakami et al., 2019). Respondents of our study further corroborate these findings. For example, a
discussion with 14-​year-​old Chandini, from Halegondbala village, revealed the following:

Interviewer: Have you heard about hygienic pads?

Respondent: Yes.
I: Where they are being distributed?
R: They are being distributed in school. But, teachers should be available at that time.
…
I: Are there any problems in your school?
R: There are no proper facilities of toilets and water supply to girls in our school.

Thus, as Chandini’s account shows, even when knowledge of hygienic practices may be available
amongst girls, a lack of resources remains a greater barrier for improving health outcomes amongst girls.

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 Mallika Tharakan, R. Maithreyi, and Manideep Govindu

Education and Learning

With respect to educational outcomes, adolescent girls with high power within, with and over
are 0.9 times, 0.61 times and 0.91 times less likely to have dropped out of school respectively, as
compared to their counterparts with low power across the three domains. The odds of aspiring to
complete graduation were found to be 4 times higher among girls with high power within, 1.66
times in girls with high power with and 2 times in girls with high power over, compared to girls
with low power across these domains. Qualitative interviews were useful in understanding the
influence of the three domains of power on educational outcomes. For example, the following
account by Mastan, a 38-​year-​old mechanic and father to four daughters, best captures how each
of the domains of power influences the final outcomes. Mastan explained:

only one person earning and if we have to send them to study further we need money isn’t it?
They have to be married also. I told my eldest daughter don’t continue … (Her interest) has
increased. (She said) you don’t think that you don’t have sons, we will look after you,
we will get education…she aspires for a bank job…but who has seen the future? She was
sitting and crying that she will study…We borrowed money…she gave me confidence. Last
time he (Sphoorthi programme staff) had come. He also told, but I said let it be, we are poor.
She (daughter) said government will do this for us, so I borrowed money for this.

Mastan’s account reveals how the critical decision to continue his daughter’s education rested not
just upon her confidence and interest in education (power within), but also his receptivity to her
suggestions and her ability to convince him (power with), as well as her confidence in securing
loans and harnessing other welfare (government) schemes (power over), thus highlighting the
importance of all three domains of power.

Protection
With regard to protection, girls with high power with are less likely to have witnessed parental violence
and teacher violence in the last six months (i.e., 0.38 times and 0.45 times less likely compared to girls
with low power with, respectively). Notably, girls with high power over are 1.99 times more likely
to have witnessed parental violence in the last six months compared to girls with lower power over.
The following account by Chitra, a 15-​year-​old girl from Karkihalli village, clearly demonstrates this.

I: for what other reason they miss school? Your friends or your neighbors. Has it happened like
that here?
R: she was our classmate. She used to come to school everyday. One day a boy said something,
he scolded her and she answered back. Her sister heard about this and she went and told her
mother. Then her mother beat her and said there is no need for you to go to school. How
much ever you study it is of no use.

Chitra’s account (like Surekha’s before) clearly demonstrates not just the consequence of lack of
parental support (power with) on girls’ education. It also shows how girls, who challenge commu-
nity norms (i.e., for girls to remain silent or withdraw), may in fact be more at risk of incurring
further violence, as a result of their relatively disempowered positions within the gendered and
generational ordering of society. Thus, ‘power with’ parents plays an important role in ensuring
protection, especially, by gaining ‘power over’ patriarchal contexts that affect girl’s participation
in several activities, including education.

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Interaction between Power Domains and Well-​Being Outcomes

in the Context of Adolescent Girls
In this section we analyse the combined effects of the domains of power, to identify which of the
domains take on the greatest significance for each of the well-​being outcomes. In order to do this,
we undertook a multivariate analysis, to measure the magnitude or effect of each domain, relative
to other domains of power on the specific well-​being outcomes.
Table 7.3 presents the two-​way interactive effect of power domains on well-​being outcomes,
when other domains of power and other variables (such as age, caste, education and wealth) have
been controlled.7

Table 7.3 Logistic regression analysis to identify the interactive effects of the power domains and well-being
among adolescent girls

Well-Being Indicators Power Within and Power With

Low and Low (ref.) Low and High High and Low High and High

256 207 129 205

Health and Well-being
Feeling down, Depressed or hopeless
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 0.58 (0.25–1.34) 1.01 (0.55–1.88) 1.04 (0.55–1.95)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 0.53 (0.22–1.28) 0.93 (0.49–1.76) 1.15 (0.58–2.28)
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 1.18 (0.60–2.29) 0.41* (0.19–0.88) 0.93 (0.50–1.73)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.25 (0.61–2.53) 0.41* (0.19–0.89) 1.11 (0.57–2.17)

Feeling worried or anxious

Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 0.86 (0.48–1.57) 0.81 (0.48–1.37) 1.05 (0.63–1.74)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 0.88 (0.48–1.64) 0.85 (0.50–1.44) 1.17 (0.68–1.99)
Not being able to control or stop your
worried thoughts
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 1.12 (0.57–2.21) 0.84 (0.45–1.57) 0.6 (0.30–1.19)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.24 (0.60–2.54) 0.84 (0.44–1.61) 0.74 (0.36–1.54)

Access Health Services

Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 1.85** (1.16–2.94) 1.46+ (0.99–2.15) 1.88** (1.24–2.84)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.68* (1.03–2.74) 1.59* (1.06–2.39) 1.68* (1.08–2.62)
Received sanitary napkin#
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 2.48** (1.33–4.63) 1.4 (0.90–2.20) 2.03** (1.19–3.46)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.64 (0.84–3.19) 1.36 (0.84–2.21) 1.41 (0.78–2.53)

Education and Learning*

Dropped from school
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 0.19** (0.09–0.41) 0.56* (0.35–0.89) 0.03** (0.01–0.14)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 0.16** (0.07–0.38) 0.46** (0.27–0.78) 0.04** (0.01–0.18)
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 3.98** (2.51–6.33) 1.41+ (0.96–2.07) 6.34** (4.09–9.81)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 3.83** (2.35–6.25) 1.38 (0.92–2.07) 4.99** (3.14–7.92)

(Continued)

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 Mallika Tharakan, R. Maithreyi, and Manideep Govindu

Table 7.3 (Cont.)

Empowerment Indicators

Well-Being Indicators Power Within Power With Power Over

Low(.ref) – High Low(.ref) – High Low(.ref) - High N

463–334 385–412 418–379

Health and Wellbeing
Feeling down, Depressed or hopeless
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 0.89 (0.55–1.45) 1.24 (0.77–2.00) 1.18 (0.74–1.90)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 0.97 (0.57–1.65) 1.31 (0.80–2.16) 1.42 (0.85–2.40)
Not enjoying things like you used to
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 1.61* (1.00–2.59) 0.69 (0.43–1.12) 1.68* (1.04–2.72)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.89* (1.12–3.19) 0.72 (0.44–1.17) 1.93* (1.14–3.26)
Feeling worried or anxious
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 1.23 (0.84–1.79) 1.07 (0.73–1.56) 1.70** (1.16–2.49)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.27 (0.84–1.91) 1.12 (0.76–1.65) 1.80** (1.19–2.72)
Not being able to control or stop your worried thoughts
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 0.95 (0.59–1.54) 0.73 (0.46–1.18) 1.41 (0.88–2.26)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.13 (0.67–1.92) 0.78 (0.48–1.28) 1.62+ (0.96–2.74)

Access Health Services

Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 2.05** (1.52–2.75) 1.60** (1.20–2.13) 3.60** (2.66–4.88)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.63** (1.18–2.25) 1.55** (1.14–2.11) 2.93** (2.12–4.05)
Received sanitary napkin#
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 2.68** (1.81–3.96) 1.40* (1.02–1.93) 2.89** (2.06–4.06)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 1.67* (1.08–2.59) 1.29 (0.92–1.83) 2.17** (1.50–3.13)
Education and Learning*
Dropped from school
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 0.09** (0.05–0.17) 0.35** (0.23–0.52) 0.09** (0.05–0.17)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 0.10** (0.05–0.19) 0.39** (0.25–0.61) 0.09** (0.05–0.17)

Aspire to complete graduation & above

Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 5.00** (3.66–6.84) 1.89** (1.42–2.50) 2.43** (1.83–3.24)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 4.33** (3.11–6.02) 1.66** (1.22–2.24) 2.38** (1.75–3.25)

Protection
Experienced parental violence in the last 6 months
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 0.87 (0.55–1.38) 0.68+ (0.44–1.05) 1.94** (1.25–2.99)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 0.91 (0.58–1.43) 0.62* (0.40–0.97) 1.99** (1.25–3.16)
Experienced teacher violence in the last class attended/ last academic year
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 0.77 (0.55–1.06) 0.53** (0.39–0.74) 0.9 (0.65–1.24)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 0.83 (0.59–1.16) 0.55** (0.39–0.76) 0.86 (0.62–1.19)

Participation and engagement

Participation Social Network Groups
Unadjusted OR (95% CI) 2.35** (1.76–3.14) 1.63** (1.23–2.16) 4.57** (3.38–6.17)
Adjusted OR (95% CI) 2.01** (1.47–2.74) 1.60** (1.19–2.15) 4.00** (2.91–5.48)
Notes: ** p<0.01, * p<0.05, + p<0.1 and adjusted for the variables age, caste, education and wealth.

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 Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Identify Pathways

Health and Well-​being

Looking at the results for access to health services, it can be seen that girls with lower power within
and high power with (scenario 1), and girls with high power, within and with (scenario 3), have a
similar likelihood of accessing health services compared to girls with low power within and low
power with (i.e., 1.68 times higher likelihood). Interestingly however, the likelihood of accessing
health services in girls with high power within and low power with (scenario 2) is 1.59 times
more than girls with low power within and with. This likelihood is slightly lower when compared
to girls who have high power with (i.e., in scenario 1 and 3). While Table 7.2 demonstrated the
importance of having power with (i.e., parental support) and presented stronger effects for ‘power
over’ when the three domains were compared individually, from Table 7.3 it appears that power
with could more significantly mediate the outcomes related to health access compared to the other
two domains of power.
For empowerment-​ related developmental work, this presents an important insight as it
demonstrates how individual empowerment programmes are less likely to succeed in helping girls
achieve health-​related outcomes. Access to health requires multiple forms of parental support,
including economic and social, especially in rural and marginalized contexts of the Global South
(see Fikree & Pasha, 2004; Ninsiima et al., 2020). This was evident from narratives shared by girls
regarding decision-​making within the family on health. For example, Bhagamma, a 14-​year-​old
girl from the OBC community in Budgumpa village, shared her experience of being discriminated
in relation to medical treatment:

My father is the eldest person in the house, for everything we have to ask him …
I had fever and there was vomiting…they had to give me glucose and then my father said
she is a small girl. So for my brother they gave glucose but they did not give me... Till
morning fever did not become less, next day morning my mother applied cold water cloth
on me and then it became less. I slept for a week.

As the accounts show, discriminatory attitudes towards girls, in contexts of scarcity where
resources and investments may be prioritized for boys, or other family members, can be
disempowering, and thus require attention to how the dimension of ‘power with’ parents can
be enabled.

Education and Learning

When examining education outcomes, girls with high power within and with are only 0.96
times less likely to dropout compared to girls with low power within and with, and 4.99 times
more likely to aspire to complete graduation or above. The results indicate that girls with low
power within and high power with are 0.84 times less likely to dropout compared to girls with
low power with and within; while girls with high power within and low power with are 0.46
times less likely to dropout compared to girls with lower power within and with. These results
reinforce the idea that promoting self-​esteem and self-​efficacy among girls can have a positive
impact, but when complemented with parental support, there is a 10% proportional increase
in impact. The likelihood of aspiring for higher education is also significantly higher among
girls with low power within but high power with (3.83 times higher compared to girls with low
power within and with).

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 Mallika Tharakan, R. Maithreyi, and Manideep Govindu

Thus, with respect to educational outcomes, parental support but also individual esteem and
confidence appear to play a significant role. Educational continuation and aspirations for higher
education are also dependent on resources, such as financial support, mobility factors, family con-
siderations of the pay-​offs of girls’ education. However, girls’ own abilities to navigate educational
transitions and manage themselves within a context of gendered violence that critically affects
school continuation appear equally significant. For example, Chitra, from Karkihalli village,
studying in class 11, explained her decision to discontinue education after 10th on account of her
father.

I: why your father did not want you to go to college?

R: because we have to travel in bus and there will be many boys there. So boys will not be
good, they tease girls so he said don’t want. But if we keep quiet then they will not say any-
thing, just because they will say something why should we stop going to college? We all told
him and then he sent me to college.

Further Chitra also explained how the critical support and intervention by a male cousin helped her
convince her father and continue.

R: my father said you don’t have go to college and then my brother said you go to college it will
be good. You can get education, you may get job. He said she has done well in tenth and so
he told my father to send me to college and they took me to college and got me admission.
My father said don’t go to college so I said fine I will not go. I got admission then.

As Chitra’s account shows, both individual confidence in managing difficult circumstances and
continuing education are equally important as supportive family environments, without which the
risk of dropout remains high for girls. These insights from the quantitative and qualitative study
reiterate the multi-​dimensionality of empowerment that must also receive significant attention
within developmental work and programmes.

Protection
With respect to protection outcomes, the interaction between the domains of power with and power
over appeared to have significant effects on well-​being outcomes. From Table 7.3 it can be seen
that girls with low power with and high power over were 2 times more likely to have experienced
parental violence compared to girls with low power with and over. On the other hand, girls with
high power with and low power over had a 0.54 times lesser likelihood of having experienced
parental violence compared to girls with low power with and over. Here it appears that while par-
ental support is critical to reducing violence for girls, girls’ collective action can in fact increase
the likelihood of violence significantly, particularly when there is an absence of parental support.
With respect to teacher violence, girls with high power with and low power over and high
power with and over were similarly likely to have experienced violence compared to girls with
lower power with and over (i.e., 0.43 and 0.46 times). Once again, the importance of parental
support is evident, without which girls with high power over (i.e., ability to collectively bargain
for their rights) are likely to continue to face violence. Thus, it is clear that girls’ location within
the family structure, in the Global South, and changes in these forms of relationality are most sig-
nificant to their empowerment. Empowering girls to make joint rather than individual decisions,
building skills to communicate and negotiate within the family, assure their well-​being. The results

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reiterate the importance of changing norms and the environment within the family rather than
targeting girls and their collectivization to change norms at the community level directly.
Overall, the results help understand the magnitude of effect of individual empowerment
domains on well-​being outcomes. The results show how individual empowerment (e.g., building
awareness, knowledge, skills and confidence) of young girls is important but can be frustrating,
leading to poorer mental and emotional well-​being outcomes, as a consequence of ‘responsibilizing’
girls without addressing the structural contexts of their ‘disempowerment’. Further, the data also
demonstrates the invaluable role that parents play in supporting their daughter’s development
and empowerment. While parents’ role is critical in helping girls access the necessary resources
(e.g., material or financial resources, safety) required to achieve specific well-​being outcomes
(e.g., access to health services), the data also presents how, within the generational and structural
ordering of the family and society, parents also become the mediating factor determining outcomes
such as exposure to violence as a consequence of empowerment.
Another interesting insight that can be gleaned is also in relation to power domains and to
which well-​being outcomes they become significant. For example, in the context of education,
both powers, ‘within’ and ‘with’, are significant as educational outcomes require girls’ own
investments, interests and aspirations, as much as parental support and material resources,
when compared with health outcomes (which largely require material support from parents and
other stakeholders such as the government and its welfare schemes). Power over (i.e., girls’
abilities to negotiate) is also critical to improve health access. These differences are important
to note while planning programmes, as they clearly demonstrate how different fields and oppor-
tunities encode different barriers. For example, as several other studies have also shown, the
internalization of inferiority may be a stronger influencer of educational outcomes particu-
larly for marginalized communities, who have historically been excluded from education, thus
requiring specific kinds of intervention that address power within. On the other hand, with
respect to health, girls’ knowledge and awareness of health services leading to better demand
for these services, and parental support, are critical influencers to improved outcomes, which
require different approaches.
While qualitative approaches have been helpful to understand the complex phenomenon of
empowerment, our mixed methods approach allowed us to apply certain quantitative methods
using suitable analytical and statistical tools to arrive at these interesting and complex insights in
a more structured manner.

Conclusion
In this chapter, we proposed to show how mixed methods research could increase our understanding
of children’s subjective worlds and experiences. Drawing on the strengths of quantitative and
qualitative methods, we presented data that helped us better understand empowerment in the con-
text of rural and marginalized adolescent girls. The quantitative techniques helped us isolate and
identify the different domains of power and their specific effects on well-​being outcomes. The
qualitative methods helped us draw upon first-​person accounts of children and their significant
others, to interpret the effects of the different domains. Further, the mixed methods approach
helped us demonstrate how the different domains of empowerment (individual, interpersonal,
collective) can be integrated together to form a single index. Importantly, the mixed methods
approach helped us test our theories more reliably against the real-​world context, improve the
predictive power of research and provide directions for ethical programming. As the quantitative
and qualitative results clearly demonstrate: for girls located within the patriarchal institutions of

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 Mallika Tharakan, R. Maithreyi, and Manideep Govindu

family and society, empowerment may in fact lead to further violence and mental and emotional
dissatisfaction. Understanding these divergent outcomes of empowerment, made possible through
the eclectic use of methods, is important to empathetically respond to children (Grover, 2004)
and bring strategic changes in their lives, which can affect all or any group of children (Qvortrup,
Corsaro & Honig, 2009).

Notes
1 Acknowledgement: We acknowledge the contributions of several people, especially Arin Kar, who
provided important inputs for the quantitative analysis, and others from KHPT who have supported the
conceptualization and implementation of the Sphoorthi programme and the research. Special thanks to
Ashwini Pujar and Anshu Kumari for their research support towards compiling some of the data for this
chapter. We are grateful to the editors who provided valuable feedback to strengthen the chapter.
2 All the authors are affiliated with KHPT. The first author was involved in the implementation of the
Sphoorthi programme between 2016 and 2018.
3 SCs and STs are socio-​economically marginalized and identified for affirmative action by the state.
4 See Tarachand (1991). The Devadasi practice was banned by the Government of India (GOI) in 1988.
5 The fours outcomes also included the Outcome of participation, which we have not discussed in this
chapter due to a paucity of data.
6 All names used in the chapter are pseudonyms, to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the respondent.
7 The table presents the two interactive effects for only the combination of domains that significantly
influenced outcomes.

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 SECTION 2

Political Activism and Development

 8
SECTION INTRODUCTION
Karen Wells

Children have long been a central target of development policy (Wells 2021). They have been and
remain a legitimate point of intervention for the state in the lives of its citizens, including, perhaps
even especially, in liberal democratic states. In this sense children could be said to be at the heart
of Development. But social policy is also a site of struggle over who gets what and why, and what
the principles and values are that underlie that struggle. Here, the place of children is less clear. It is
not too much of an exaggeration to say that if Development1 is an anti-​politics machine (Ferguson
1990), children are anti-​political subjects.
Why then have a section on political activism in a handbook on childhood and (socioeconomic)
development? Because to connect Childhood Studies to Development Studies is to bring into the
sphere of development the distinctive concerns of Childhood Studies with children’s agency and
how that agency is structured by and at the same time intervenes in the structures of development.
Central among these structures is the state and, as we see in this section, children and youth pol-
itical activism addresses the state precisely from the site where the state addresses children: the
school.
The school is a key site of nation-​building and of Development. Education is one of the
main planks of government social policy (alongside housing and health) and school is the site
from which most of the population will, during their childhood, be directly (and quite literally)
under the state’s tutelage. Housing and healthcare are also significant points of contact between
the state and society, but whereas both housing and healthcare are provided by the state only
to a part of the population (if at all), school is now offered to all primary school-​age children
and, increasingly, to all secondary school-​age children. Furthermore, the school is the site that
has been consistently heralded as the place from which development will come. In this sense
the school can be considered simultaneously as a technique of development and a technique
of nation-​building. The school has the function amongst children that print capitalism had for
adults, building a consciousness of an imagined community (Anderson 1991) through a shared
language, territory and activity across national time and space. The project of schooling has
incorporated communities in the name of nation-​building while simultaneously taking children
out of community-​forming economies, especially in global south contexts. Although the school
is discursively constructed in Development as a technical space for developing the skills that will

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-11 109

 Karen Wells

enable graduates to contribute to the economic development of the nation, it is also the space that
the state, especially through the teaching of humanities subjects, seeks to inculcate in students the
ruling political ideology. Similarly, although outside of the scope of this section, it is the space
that NGOs seek to enter to inculcate novel understandings of childhood capacities and vulnerabil-
ities and indeed of the world; the space to usher in ‘modernity’ (Wells 2016). Yet, what may seem
to the state as a perfect opportunity to instil in its young subjects a fissure between the home and
the school and to break with the past in fact becomes a space of political consciousness-​raising
in the context of state-​society conflict. In this section, Janette Habashi, writing on the historical
Palestinian child, Khalid Wassim, writing on Indian-​occupied Kashmir, and Jessica Taft, writing
about school students opposing the privatisation of education in Chile, show how the school is
a space that foments political consciousness in precisely the opposite direction from that which
their rulers anticipate.
Relatedly, a second theme in this section is how the question of politics (who gets what and
why) continues to be organised around nationalist identities. In this section contributors show how
nationalist struggles in Palestine (Habashi, this volume) and Kashmir (Wassim, this volume) dem-
onstrate the continuing salience of the nation as a real and imagined space of belonging and one
that children and youth develop a passionate attachment to. Where the question of who counts as a
citizen of the nation is contested and there is on-​going state-​society conflict spanning generations,
this expands the space for younger generations to be involved. Although in most settings political
activism is a minority pursuit for children as it is for adults, nationalist struggles and other long-​
term conflicts between civil society, especially violent ones, are more totalising in their effect on
society, drawing more children into the orbit of political struggle.
The third theme that we see in this section is the response of children to climate change and
their efforts to organise to compel governments to slow down climate change. As Tanu Biswas and
Thomas Eriksen comment, the climate change emergency is an outcome of the development and
globalisation of capitalism. The demand for Sustainable Development is impossible to accom-
plish so long as d/​Development (Lewis 2019) means the deepening and broadening of capitalism,
specifically the exploitation of all forms of life for the accumulation of wealth and private prop-
erty. In her chapter on children and youth and political activism in Latin America, Jessica Taft
also describes the articulation by indigenous youth of an anti-​growth agenda, in response to the
violence done to indigenous people by the appropriation of their land for capitalist profit. These
forms of activism resonate strongly with Mannheim’s (2007 [1928]) concept of ‘generation’ (and,
less strongly, the Childhood Studies concept of generationing). Generational consciousness arises
when there is a clear contrast between the experiences of the older generation and those of the
younger generation, in other words in periods of wider disruption and change. Within generations,
Mannheim contends, groups of young people coalesce around shared experiences, values and
attitudes into ‘generational units’ who have the capacity (and will) for political action. In Africa
the generations of youth who came of age during the relative prosperity of the 1960 and 1970s
can be distinguished as a generational unit or cohort from those who came of age in the 1980s
and 1990s and who had less access to formal sector employment (Burgess 2005: 20). Jean and
John Comaroff have written of South Africa that ‘the dominant line of cleavage here has become
generation’ (Comaroff and Comaroff 1999: 284) and Durham has argued that youth in Africa (and
elsewhere) ‘enter political space as saboteurs…[who] open up discourses on the nature of society
in its broadest and most specific terms’ (Durham 2000: 118, see also Durham 2004). The trope of
children as ‘the future’, a trope that Childhood Studies has sought to erase, is returned here again
in Climate Change activism which charges the older generation with its failure to maintain the
planet’s viability for future generations and places on children and youth as ‘the next generation’

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 Section Introduction

the imperative to correct this. While more empirical work is needed on this, we can see that climate
change activism may create a consciousness among Gen Z of themselves as a shared age cohort
with common experiences.
Diana Garcia Gomez’s chapter in this section, on the place of child soldiers in the on-​going
civil war in Colombia (finally, perhaps, ended in 2016 although on-​going violence continues),
illustrates the lability of children’s political engagement or perhaps using Durham’s concept of
youth as ‘social shifters’ the always shifting meaning of ‘youth’ and their shifting relation to power
and knowledge. Children and youth were recruited into the armed struggle, a struggle that began
with a pro-​peasant ideology and the formation of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC, in their Spanish acronym). The children who fought in that war were left out of the peace
process under an ideology of generationing that sought to return children to their child status. Yet
the question of what kind of development Colombia wants remains unresolved.
There are gaps in this section that, if included, would have offered a less positive view of
child and youth political activism. Most notably, we had wanted to include a chapter on the
mobilisation of teenagers by ISIS. This extraordinary phenomenon saw thousands of European
Muslim teenagers go to Syria to fight with ISIS and many of thousands of young Muslims
already in the region declare their allegiance to the anti-​development politics of ISIS (Horgan
et al, 2017;, Speckhard and Yayla 2016). One lesson here, of course, is not to mistake agency
for progressive politics. Children and youth who have been caught up or enrolled in political
activism have as often been on the side of reaction as on the side of revolution. But another
is to see that d/​Development generates reactions from the populations it changes (whether
that change is a consequence of development or of Development); some of these reactions are
realised in political movements, some of which will be not only violent but reactionary. Whilst
this is true of all political responses to d/​Development, frequently and perhaps rather surpris-
ingly, children and youth often couch their visions for the future in idioms of moral purity that
draw on a narrative about a pristine past that has been despoiled by their elders and which they
seek to return to (Wells 2021.

Note
1 The distinction made here between Development (capitalised) and development is between processes that
happen as a result of socioeconomic change (development) and processes that are implemented as part of
a policy agenda and are intended to produce a planned form of Development.

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112
 9
POLITICAL SOCIALISATION
IN MILITARISED STATE
Youth in Armed Conflict of Indian-​Administered
Kashmir

Khalid Wasim Hassan

Introduction
More than a billion youth under 18 live in conflict-​ridden territories (Huynh, D’Costa and Lee-​
Koo, 2015). Either they are directly or indirectly affected by violence or have turned into the
perpetrators of violent acts. Recent scholarship on children and armed conflict (Muldoon and
Trew, 2000; Ferrari and Fernando, 2013; Vargas and Restrepo-​Jaramillo, 2016; Denov and Shevell,
2018) has explored the socio-​economic and political causes for the participation of children and
youth in various armed conflicts. This research has tended to focus more on the impact of violent
conflicts on children and youth, rather than on their role as active participants.
The theoretical framework of political socialisation can explain the causes and effects of youth’s
political behaviour, including their participation in violent protests and the trajectory of political
socialisation in militarised states. Though conceptualised in multiple ways, political socialisation
is largely agreed to be associated with learning political content at an early age, and it is affected by
the context in which children live (Greenberg, 2009). Violence caused by armed conflicts affects
youth, either directly through being injured or injury and death of close relatives and friends or
through participation in violent protest (Cairns, 1996). Political socialisation occurs in various
institutions including schools, family, religious places and through exposure to mass media and
representations in popular culture. The messages disseminated in these various contexts and media
shape youth’s stance towards politics and their actions in the context of political–​military con-
flict. Moreover, children and youth repeatedly hear conversations and stories about the violence
inflicted upon their parents in the recent past (Cairns and Roe, 2003). Youth keenly observe the
vocabulary and language used by adults to describe the nature of conflict and opponent groups.
This sort of transference and memories related to conflict creates an intergenerational identity.
This top-​down notion of political socialisation assumes that young people are politically naive and
unaware of their rights prior to their socialisation by these institutions and media. This socialisa-
tion is viewed more as a disciplining of youth rather than them having their own political opinion.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-12 113

 Khalid Wasim Hassan

Those who are critical of this top-​down approach of political socialisation (Amna, 2012; Habashi,
2017) argue that this approach denies youth any agency and does not consider the different polit­
ical contexts in which children and youth engage with everyday politics.
For an intractable conflict, such as Kashmir, which significantly impacts the everyday lives
of youth, it is appropriate to examine their political socialisation from below and describe how
they express their agency. Even though the conflict inflicts atrocities on youth, such as killing,
rapes and forced disappearances, youth form out of these atrocities a collective memory of loss
and a collective self-​perception as victims, which in turn makes them support the political groups
who commit to violent action to fulfil their political aspirations (Nasie, Diamond and Bar-​Tal,
2016). Through political socialisation of everyday life in the context of oppressive military rule,
youth acquire a deep understanding of various facets and narratives of conflict at an early age,
which in turn is manifested in their active participation in protests. Multiple sites and processes
play a role in youth’s socialisation and it varies depending on their psychological characteristics,
social contexts and the intersectionality of gender, religion and space (rural or urban) (Barret and
Oppenheimer, 2011). Some scholars (Myer-​Browman, Walker and Myers-​Walls, 2005; Feldman
and Vengrober, 2011) have distinguished the socialisation process of youth living in conflict
zones from peaceful regions. In conflict zones, the events related to violence become insepar-
able from youths’ everyday lives, which moulds them to support and even participate in violent
acts. Muldoon and Trew (2000) argue that even in times of relative calmness, the discourse about
oppression and resistance continues in the conflict zones, affecting young adolescents’ beliefs and
behaviour. Moreover, the reflection of conflict comes in the form of symbols and images, such
as the presence of military forces in public spaces, check-​points, army camps, detention centres
in the everyday life of children. Apart from these indirect means, youth are directly socialised
through the personal experience of conflicts, such as loss of family members or friends, attending
the funerals or commemorative events, hearing stories from friends in schools, and humiliation
suffered in the detention centres.
In this chapter I look at the political socialisation of youth in the violent conflict of Indian-​
Administered Kashmir by exploring the three sites of socialisation –​schools (both rural and
urban), police stations, where youth are detained and face violence and funeral sites where they
witness last rites of the personnel killed by the Indian armed forces. This chapter is based on
fieldwork in the three districts of Kashmir valley –​ Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla –​ from
summer of 2018 to early 2019. The research participants were youth in the age group of 13–​
17 years who have experienced state violence and have also been part of protests. Reviewing the
daily newspapers (English Language and Urdu), I was able to identify the volatile localities in
the three districts and in these areas I established contact with social and human rights activists.
It was with the help of these activists that I was then able to make initial contact with some of the
research participants who were known personally to these activists. Another route for contacting
participants was through a doctor at a local hospital. This doctor had maintained his ‘personal’
record of addresses and phone numbers of families of children injured with pellets during protests
because instead of sending them to hospitals, he provided first-​aid and treatment to injured chil-
dren at home, which saved them from possible arrests. Though he had gained the trust of fam-
ilies, he took prior permission from them before sharing their contacts with me. After the initial
contact, snowball sampling was followed, where the research participants provided me with the
information and sometimes even helped me to establish contact with the other participants. In total
20 participants (17 young men and 3 young women) were identified with whom the first round
of interaction happened. These research participants come from both rural and urban areas with
varied socio-​economic backgrounds, mostly from middle and lower middle-​class families. Their

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 Political Socialisation in Militarised State

parents are either in government services or run their business in shops or work as agricultural
farmers. Sixty per cent of these research participants are attending private schools, while of the
rest, 40 per cent are studying in public schools. It was out of these 20 that 12 participants (11 boys
and 1 girl) were identified who have been participating in the protests regularly, endured torture at
the police stations and were also injured during the protests. Out of these 12 research participants,
3 boys (14 years, 16 years and 17 years) and a girl (17 years) are from Srinagar, 4 boys (13 years,
14 years, 16 years and 17 years) are from Baramulla, and 4 boys (12 years, 14 years, 15 years and
17 years) belong to Anantnag district of Kashmir valley.
Being born in Kashmir in a Muslim family, speaking Kashmiri and witnessing the military
occupation and resistances against it for the last three decades qualifies me as an ‘insider’. I there-
fore anticipated that research participants would interact with me without any inhibition. But it
took a long time to build up rapport with them; my identity as a researcher, affiliation to the univer-
sity and objectives of the present research, was made transparent to them before they were ready
to participate in the research. The in-​depth interviews in multiple meetings and focused group
discussions were conducted with the research participants. Living in constant fear of surveillance
from the state institutions, the research participants were initially ready only to talk briefly, more
about the violence that they faced and not so much about their participation in the protests. I assured
the participants that their anonymity will be maintained and no sensitive information will be
shared with the State institutions that might jeopardise their security. Therefore, I use pseudonyms
for the research participants to present their narratives on various themes. After this assurance and
regular meetings, I was able to gain their trust and the research participants opened up and shared
their narratives in detail in the interviews and group discussions. The choice to decide the venue
of these meetings was given to the research participants and they chose places where they felt
comfortable and safe. Some of these interviews were conducted at the houses of participants, but
most of them were reluctant to talk about their detention, violence they met at detention centres
and participation in protests at their homes in presence of family members. Most of the interviews
and discussions happened in the local mosques, school premises and restaurants. Some of the
parents of these participants, who were part of the young generation in the 1990s period, also
shared their experiences while comparing it to contemporary times. The opinion pieces, articles
and news items in the local English and Urdu newspapers were also used to understand the events
that unfolded before the protests in a particular locality and the response of the state authorities.
I also had a chance to visit and observe some of the sites –​police stations, Juvenile Rehabilitation
Centre, schools and a funeral procession of rebels killed by the Indian military.

The Context –​A ‘State of Exception’

Since the partition of British India into the newly independent states of India and Pakistan, Jammu
and Kashmir continues to be a disputed territory, claimed by both (Lamb, 1991). The territorial
dispute over the Muslim majority region among the states representing secular nationalism and
Islamic nationalism respectively turned into an ideological contestation (Varshney, 1991). The
then ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was unwilling to join either of the two
dominions, which resulted in a fully fledged war between India and Pakistan that continued until
January 1948 (Khan, 1975). It was followed by an intervention by the United Nations Security
Council (UNSC) which in August 1948 adopted a resolution unanimously calling a ceasefire
and ending this conflict through plebiscite (UNSC Resolution 47, 21 April 1948, Doc No S/​
726). Instead of following the UN resolution, the military stalemate divided Kashmir into two
parts –​Indian-​Administered Kashmir and Pakistan-​Administered Kashmir. The inclusion of part

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of Kashmir into the Indian Union without popular consent is described by Goldie Osuri (2017)
as a transfer of Kashmir from the despotic sovereignty of a princely state to the undemocratic
sovereignty of a postcolonial nation-​state. Unlike other federal units, the inclusion of Kashmir
into the Indian Union was not a smooth process, so the special status and autonomy was granted
to it under the Article 370 of the Indian Constitution (Noorani, 2015). The post-​1950 events in
Kashmir reveal that the Indian state followed the integrationist policy vis-​a-​vis Kashmir and the
special status was diluted by implementation of laws of the Indian parliament in Jammu Kashmir
(Widmalm, 2006). On the other side Kashmir continued to be the subject of a dispute between
India and Pakistan as two more wars in the late 1960s and early 1970s happened between the two,
which had repercussions on the internal politics of Kashmir (Ganguly, 1996; Schofield, 1996).
The dominance of the narrative of ‘Kashmir as a bilateral issue’ denied the agency to the Kashmiri
population who remain important stakeholders of this conflict. In fact, though not recognised for
many decades by academic research, Kashmiri nationalism articulated through the movement of
self-​determination by the Kashmiri Muslim population forms the important part of the ‘Kashmir
Question’ (Cockell, 2000). Many political groups, including the young students who resisted the
integrationist policy of India and raised the question of self-​determination in late 1970s, faced
suppression (Hassan, 2010; Pandit, 2019). The dissent of these groups was dealt with by coer­
cion as the Indian state prioritised their ‘national interest’ to control Kashmir over the principle of
democracy.
The movement of self-​determination took different shapes. It was in post-​1989 that many polit-
ical and militant groups started the armed struggle challenging the sovereignty of the Indian state
over Kashmir (Hassan, 2018). This period, identified as the ‘first Kashmiri intifada’, was marked
by massive demonstrations calling for freedom from India and youth confronting heavily armed
Indian military by stone-​pelting. Mass rallies chanting anti-​Indian slogans, denouncing symbols
of Indian nationalism, became an everyday phenomenon. A majority of Kashmiri Brahmins who
had been comfortable with Kashmir’s accession to the Indian Union could not identify with the
resistance movement. It was in the atmosphere of the threat perception from the ‘other’ and the
failure of the state to provide a sense of security; there was an exodus of this minority com-
munity to nearby cities in mainland India (Hassan, 2010). To suppress the escalation of this
movement the Indian state turned into what Agamben (2005) typifies as a ‘state of exception’
in which sovereign power organises itself through the creation of a political order based on the
debarment of bare human life. Heavy militarisation and coercive methods were employed to
suppress the Kashmiri self-​determination movement, resulting in human rights violations on a
large scale (Bose, 2003). Apart from this the Indian state enacted the Armed Forces (Jammu
and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, which gives the Indian military free liberty to make pre-
ventive arrests, search houses without any legal warrant, and shoot any potential threat, including
civilians (Kazi, 2010). The impunity enjoyed by Indian armed forces under this law encouraged
them to use force and coercion even against children. For instance, children and youth suffered
in this violent phase of conflict through various forms of violence including detention, torture
and sexual abuse. The physical occupation of space by establishing army camps, bunkers, and
occupying schools, cinema theatres and hotels was a vital strategy adopted by the Indian mili-
tary. Over a period of time, these spaces turned into detention centres where youth were detained,
tortured and sexually abused.
There were some years of calmness, although not peace, in the post 2000 period and the
electoral processes for local governance could be held. This dual approach of carrot and iron-​
stick –​electoral process and continuation of coercion and militarisation is termed by scholars as
‘constitutional occupation’ (Dushinski and Ghosh, 2017). To present the return of ‘normalcy’ and

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‘peace’ at international forums, the electoral competition among pro-​India political parties was
encouraged by the Indian state, whereas local politics was carefully controlled and manipulated
(Staniland, 2013). As the political question of self-​determination was not addressed, the post-​2014
again witnessed the rise in violence. On the one hand, the right wing –​Bharatiya Janta Party came
to power in India, which used coercion as a state policy in Kashmir to show-​case its muscular
Hindutva nationalism (Kaul, 2018), while on the other hand there was revival of armed struggle
with young educated youth joining the militant groups in large numbers (Banakar, 2018). The
‘martyrdom’ of militant leader Burhan Wani in the summer of 2016 was the catalyst for protests
and demonstrations in which children and youth participated in large numbers (Mohanty, 2018).
Jammu and Kashmir witnessed the protests in 2019 after the unilateral decision of the Government
of India to abrogate Article 370 of the constitution and reorganisation of states into two union ter-
ritories. For months, people from Kashmir were cut off from the world as all means of communi-
cation (landlines and cell phones, internet and cable television) were stopped, and a curfew under
section 144 was imposed across the state (BBC News, Asia, 10 August 2019). Thousands of youth
were arrested and lodged in jails outside the state (Mathur, 2019). These constitutional and polit­
ical changes in post-​2019 impacted people’s everyday social, economic and political life, but it is
beyond the scope of this chapter to discuss these impacts.

Schools: Unlearning and Learning

In the last three decades, the education sector has been affected heavily by the conflict. The curfew
and restrictions imposed by the state authorities as well as strikes called by the pro-​Freedom
groups have led to the closure of schools for longer duration, sometimes resulting in the loss of
the whole session. In the midst of violent conflict, schools turned into important sites of political
socialisation of children and youth. Not only does this site socialise youth in the conventional
way of learning from the designated syllabus and teachers, but also their peer groups sharing the
narratives of experienced violence became the source of political socialisation. The school educa-
tion in Jammu Kashmir is imparted to students through public and private schools that come under
the Directorate of School Education (Report, Government of J&K, 1973). Public schools (also
referred to as Government Schools) are directly controlled by the Directorate and are funded by the
state government, whereas private schools have some degree of autonomy. Both public and private
schools are divided into the category of primary schools (for Class I–​V), middle schools (Class V–​
VIII), High schools (Class VIII–​X) and Higher Secondary (Class XI–​XII). The participants for
this research who are in the age group of 13–​16 years were enrolled in High school and Higher
Secondary in different parts of Kashmir valley. The syllabus which is designed by the Department
of School Education is devoid of recent political history; it is mostly the Statist narrative that is
imparted to youth. However, the experiences and the narratives that young adolescents have heard
and witnessed are different from that of the state taught narratives.
For these youths, attending school on a regular basis is a difficult task. Either the schools are
closed for long durations due to curfews and bandhs or on a daily basis children are caught up in
frisking by the Indian armed forces, protests and closure of roads due to sudden strikes. Coming
from different socio-​economic backgrounds and locations, these young adolescents attend the
school in context of everyday experience of conflict and violence. The classroom space serves as
a space where these children discuss the problems and violence which they face in their respective
localities. The classroom space becomes a site of unlearning and learning for them. Sixteen-​year-​
old Umar, who attends school in Srinagar, acknowledges that his classmates helped him to under-
stand Kashmir history in a better way:

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 Khalid Wasim Hassan

We should be clear about the Kashmir history before we protest. I, along with other friends,
did not know the actual cause of this conflict. Then it was from our classmates that we learnt
to trace the history of conflict from the Dogra period when leaders like Sheikh Abdullah
fought against the ruler. He also apprised us that there was war between India and Pakistan
and it was divided into two parts. That is why we have two Kashmirs, one with India where
we live and the other part is under Pakistan. Then Indian-​side Kashmir was given special
status for some time, that is why leaders like Sheikh Abdullah agreed to be part of India. But
as we know this status was slowly taken away.
(Participant Interview, 2018)

The schools have also become the sites of protest against any kind of human rights violations.
Mostly it is the students of higher secondary schools who participate in the protests (Mohanty,
2018). Either the protest is organised from within the school premises or the students join
the protest marches carried out in a nearby locality. Posters and banners with pro-​freedom
slogans, used in the protest marches, are prepared in the school premises. As seventeen-​year-​
old Suhaib from Baramulla, who participated in protests continuously from the summer of
2016, says,

From 2016 onwards, I participated in many protests in my locality and I also participated in
protests in my school. Whenever we heard the martyrdom of some Mujahid in an encounter,
we will come out of the school and protest.
(Participant Interview, 2018)

At times, the protest march of the students is confronted by the police and military forces, by
resorting to tear-​gas shelling, where many of these children get injured. The children also resort
to stone-​pelting. Seventeen-​year-​old Tanveer, while sharing his experience from a school in
Srinagar, says,

As our school is located in the heart of the city, we witness lots of protests. We cannot sit
inside the classroom when our elder brothers are facing tear-​gas and pellets on the street. So,
we also come out and participate in the protests.
(Participant Interview, 2018)

Umar, who attends the same school, says,

It takes only a few moments when simple protest turns into stone-​pelting. We gather at the
main crossing outside our school and start collecting stones. When police try to chase us or
stop our protest we start pelting stones. I keep some stones in my pocket and some in my
school bag. I target the police vehicles. It is because of stones that they do not come so close,
otherwise they will arrest us all.
(Participant Interview, 2018)

It is not only boys but girls too who participate in various forms of protest in the school. Kashmiri
Muslim women played an important role in the post-​1990s resistance movement as supporters,
participants and activists. There is extensive literature (Manchanda, 2001; Bhutalia, 2002; Kazi,
2009; Zia, 2019) on the intersection of gender and conflict on Kashmir covering the impact of

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conflict on women and the nature of their participation in the political movement. These scholars
agree that the violent conflict led to the blurring of the line between public and private space
and women had to face the violence even in private space. The new generation of young girls is
articulate about political rights and participate in the protest demonstrations and stone-​pelting
against the Indian armed forces (Inayat, 2018). Shazia who attended senior secondary school in
Srinagar

I participated in the protests in 2018 when police beat the students at a college in Pulwama.
First, we protested inside the premises of the school. But on the second day, we came
out on the streets. We raised slogans against police brutality in Pulwama degree college.
Some of us picked up the small stones and started pelting the police. They used force
and dispersed us. The next day we came again. Our Principal told us to go back home.
We waited for everyone to arrive. When we were about 30 in number, we went out of
school. Slogans started. And this time, we kept stones also in hand. Within no time, police
appeared on the scene. This time there were some policewomen also. We started pelting
stones. My friend came in front of the police vehicle and threw a stone at the front glass. I
also tried to hit the policeman with a stone. They started tear-​gas and pepper gas shelling,
and I was injured. After this injury, I did not go to school, but other girls continued to pro-
test for several days.
(Participant Interview, 2019)

The girls in school uniforms confronting the police officers on the streets of different towns
turned into a spectacle, and many scholars (Zia and Kaul 2018) revisited debates on the agency of
Kashmiri Muslim women. Some of these children are detained, put in police stations or detention
centres where they face the violence at the hands of policemen. These youth return to their schools
with the new experience of protests, violence and detention and share with their peer groups.
Suhaib (14 years old) from Anantnag learned about the torture at police stations from his classmate
detained in the police station for 15 days. He says,

My classmate did not attend school for a month. We first thought he was sick but later
learned that police detained him and other boys from the locality. When he joined back, he
was limping and did not talk much. But after a while, he shared with some of us how the
police beat him inside the police station. By listening to his ordeal of torture, I was terrified.
Since that day, I have hated the police force more than before.
(Participant Interview, 2018)

Police Stations/​Detention Centres: A Site of Collective Violence

In the last three decades, Kashmir has witnessed heavy militarisation, not only in the border areas
but also in main towns and cities. Apart from police stations in different localities, the military
personnel occupied the school buildings, cinemas and hotels, and new camps were established
near the residential areas. All these buildings and camps also turned into detention and interro-
gation centres (Rashid, 2012). Under the garb of impunity under The Armed Forces (Jammu and
Kashmir) Special Powers Act (AFSPA) 1990, the police and military forces arrest and detain
people regardless of their age and gender. The youth are arrested for allegedly participating in
anti-​state protests or weeks before the commemoration of Indian Independence Day, Republic Day

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 Khalid Wasim Hassan

or before the visit of any state dignitary to Kashmir. These arrests also happen when the elections
for the Jammu Kashmir Legislative Assembly or the Indian Parliament are close, as 14-​year-​old
Basim from Srinagar shares his experience,

I did not participate in the stone-​pelting. I was not also part of the protest. But I was detained
by the police as many of the boys of our locality were arrested before the elections.
(Personnel Interview, 2019)

These arrests are justified by the state authorities as precautionary measures to stop the potential
protestors from creating any kind of law and order breakdown. There are no legal procedures
followed before or after the arrest. There is no legal warrant used for the arrest nor is Habeas-​
Corpus followed to produce the arrested children before the judicial magistrate. Instead of treating
the youth as juveniles and sending them to rehabilitation centres, as the law requires, they are
mostly detained at police stations and detention centres. At times, the information of detention and
the whereabouts of these youth are also not shared with their parents.
These police stations and detention centres have become key sites of violence. The detained
children are kept in small rooms, sometimes eight to ten children share the same room without
any toilet facilities. Arrested youth are subjected to physical violence at the hands of police and
military personnel. They are beaten up with sticks, belts and gun-​buts. Sometimes they are kept
without clothes in these small rooms. Either food is not given to them on time or they are not
allowed to come out of the rooms to use the toilet. Basim further shared his experience when he
was detained in the local police station,

When I was caught the first time and put in a local police station, I was tortured there.
They beat me. They used to take turns to slap me and kick me. They did not allow me
to go to the washroom. I had to do it in that small room only where I was kept. It started
smelling bad.
(Participant Interview, 2018)

Abusive language is used against them. It has also been reported that sexual violence also happens
at these sites of detention against the children. Sometimes they are made to witness the violence
that is being inflicted on other inmates. This was also shared by 15-​year-​old Ruheel from Anantnag,
who was detained at the age of 13 in the summer of 2016 for his involvement in protests,

When I reached the police station, SHO shouted, ‘keep this dog along with other dogs’. I
was kept in a room where two other boys were there. I do not know two of them. It looked
like they were there for many days. In the evening they took me to another room. All my
clothes were taken off. It was so shameful. Then with a stick they started beating me. On
seeing the pelt marks on my back, angered them more. These marks confirmed to them that
I have participated in the protests. As a result, I was constantly hit on my arm and I was kept
there without clothes and without any food.
(Participant Interview, 2018)

Few of the participants of this research shared the similar experiences at a special juvenile rehabili-
tation centre. At present, there is only one such centre in Kashmir valley. The special Juvenile
Justice Act was passed in the State Legislative Assembly in 2013 and then amended twice for the
rehabilitation of the children who are involved in the crimes and disturbance of law and order.

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Similar to the Central Juvenile Justice Act (2000) of India, this act empowers the police personnel
to handle the process from arrest to release. There is constant surveillance of them and they are
also punished if they do not follow the strict rules of the centre. There are no games or other means
of entertainment for them. Instead of rehabilitation, this centre has turned into a site of psycho-
logical violence, where children are kept away from family, friends and their own local culture.
Sixteen-​year-​old Junaid from Sopore town of Baramulla was detained first at the police station
and then at the Juvenile Rehabilitation Centre. He narrated the ordeal of his arrest when he was
14 years of age as

I was detained for the first time at the police station in Sopore. I was kept there for a couple
of days. They kept me in the police station before I was produced at the court. After that I
was taken to the Central Jail of Baramulla. I spent two weeks there. I met a lot of people
from Baramulla there. They have kept a lot of Hurriyat leaders and militants there. I was
finally taken to the Children’s Jail [Juvenile Centre] at Nishat. There were many children,
even younger than me. I stayed there for six months. It was very strict there. They will not
beat us there but there used to be timing for everything. Once in a week, one police officer
will come and ask the in-​charge if any of us have done any indiscipline. My parents were
allowed to see me only once. There was no facility for phone calls. I could not talk to my
parents, nor with my friends.
(Participant Interview, 2018)

The youth under detention come from different localities and share the experiences of violence
inflicted on them with each other. This space also provides them an opportunity to know each
other and exchange their life stories. They discuss who they are, how they were arrested, how they
were beaten up, how their parents were beaten and what is happening in their respective localities
during protests. They also worry about how many youth have been killed by the Indian armed
forces, and how many young people have joined the militant ranks. At these police and detention
centres, these youth witness the reality of what they have heard from their elders about torture.
It is only after weeks or months that these children are released. Their parents are made to sign a
bond saying that their children will not participate in any protest henceforth. Sometimes, a bribe
is demanded from the parents for the release of their children. Arresting children has become
an incentive for the police as their superiors applaud them for curbing the protests by arresting
‘trouble-​makers’ and earning large amounts of money from parents in exchange for the release of
their children.

Funerals: A Site of Collective Mourning

In the armed conflict of Kashmir, where the Indian state has choked the spaces of dissent and
protest, the funerals emerged as new spaces of mourning, protest and social gathering (Hassan,
2018; Junaid, 2019). The funerals in Kashmir used to represent predominantly gendered sites as
only adult men participate, and the women mourn in the private spaces inside the homes. In recent
years there has been a change in the composition of the funeral processions, particularly funerals
of persons killed by Indian military forces, who are referred to as Shaheed (martyrs). Apart from
the adult men, women and children who participate in the funeral processions visit the graveyards
to pay final respects to their Shahadat (martyrdom) (Hassan, 2018). When the news of the killing
of a militant or non-​combatant by the Indian armed forces reaches their locality, young people and
children from nearby localities also arrive at this locality (village or mohalla).

121
 Khalid Wasim Hassan

To avoid a large gathering of people at one place, many times, the state imposes restrictions.
There have been cases when the youth and children have been arrested for participating in the
funeral procession of a rebel in Shopian and Baramullah districts of Kashmir valley (Masood,
2018; KL News Network, 2018). Along with the adults, these adolescents escape these restrictions
and participate in the last rituals of collective prayers (nimaz-​i-​jinaza), performed in a big ground,
stadium or an open agricultural field. Seventeen-​year-​old Bilal from the rural area of Anantnag
who participated in the funeral of his school friend says,

I had never participated in the protests till one of my school friends was martyred by the
CRPF. He was hit by a tear gas shell on his head and could not survive. I took part in his
funeral when he was buried. All his family members, neighbours, school friends and many
more participated in the funeral procession. We were stopped by the police on our way to
the graveyard. They started teargas shelling on us. Even the dead body of my friend was not
spared. We have to take small alleys to reach to the graveyard.
(Participant Interview, 2018)

Ruheel who attended the funeral of a militant leader in his village at Anantnag says,

When even the dead bodies of our martyrs are not respected and we are not allowed to par-
ticipate in the last rituals, what else should we do other than pelting stones. I have also made
a sling-​shot which I use to pelt stones on the policemen.
(Participant Interview, 2019)

At the funeral site, the religious and political leaders make speeches about the sacrifices that
the people from their locality have given over the years for the ‘nation’. If the deceased are
members of a militant group, the members of his militant group make an appearance and they
too make speeches about the freedom movement, the brutality of the Indian state. They describe
the sacrifices their group has so far given for the cause and seek support from the people of
Kashmir. Bilal and his 12-​year-​old brother Yasir discussed the details of a funeral procession
and how much they learnt about the sacrifices made by fellow Kashmiris in the last few years
at the funeral sites. Both of them even shared the slogans which they memorised at the funeral
site, such as

Shaheed Ki Jo Maut Hai, Woh Qaoum Ki Hayaat Hai (The Death of a Martyr gives Life
to the Nation), Shohda Ke Waris Zinda Hai (Inheritors of the Martyrs are alive) and Jis
Kashmir Ko Khoon Se Seencha, Who Kashmir Hamara Hai (The Kashmir that has been
made bled, is Ours).
(Focus Group Discussion, 2018)

Youth from the nearby locality capture the different aspects of the funeral on their cell phones,
which they later share with their friends at the school. It is at the end of the day that the body of the
martyr is laid to rest in the graveyard, which is designated as the martyr’s graveyard.
This collective mourning turns into a public spectacle and serves as a site of political socialisa-
tion. The youth at these sites, who come from different areas, bring their own experience of vio-
lence to the discussion. Moreover, friends and relatives of the martyr indulge in discussions with
young people and talk about the martyr’s childhood, school-​life, years in college and his engage-
ment with pro-​freedom politics from an early age. The elders of the community, who witnessed

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the politics in the early 1990s, also talk about their experiences of participation in the funeral
processions, militants of that era, and major episodes of human rights violations. Some of my
research participants revealed to me how they learned about the violence committed by the Indian
forces in different localities at these funeral processions.

Conclusion
Over time, heavy militarisation carried out by the Indian state led to the curbing of spaces, but
youth are exposed to alternative spaces, which turn into sites of political socialisation. The inter-
action and negotiations of youth at the various sites, such as schools, police stations and funerals,
have led to their political socialisation, which in turn guides their political stand and action in
the context of contemporary Kashmir. Three important aspects emerge from the examination of
these sites of political socialisation. Firstly, the political socialisation at these sites does not reflect
the top-​down approach, rather these youth are aware of the politics and the struggle which they
support. Their understanding of the social and political reality of Kashmir does not come from the
opinions and initiatives from the earlier generations (Chowdhary, 2010). In contrast to this, these
youth have their agency and it is in their interactions and sharing of experiences with the peer
groups, which socialises them in a particular direction.
Secondly, this bottom-​ up socialisation at these sites allows these youth to exhibit the
intergenerational differences by not only being passive spectators or merely sympathisers of the
movement, but as active participants in the protests against the state. On the one hand, the politics
of these youth represent the continuity of the political aspirations of earlier generations, and on the
other, there are critical differences in their interaction with the state. The actual violence and the
threat of violence have led to the political socialisation of youth, and they participate in subversive
activities against the state. For instance, the youth born in the post-​2005 period amidst resistance
against the Indian state are not only the passive ‘victims’ of the violence; the everyday experi-
ence of the militarised state turned them into active ‘participants’ in various forms of anti-​state
protests. Their stand on the political question of Kashmir has further hardened in comparison to
the earlier generation when the pro-​India leadership in Kashmir as well as in mainland India puts
them in permanent confusion on the status of Kashmir and future options. Even after the choking
of public spheres and spaces of protest by the state, the youth are using alternative spaces, such as
classrooms, funerals or social media, which are becoming spaces of resistance. Additionally, unlike
earlier generations, the youth are closely following and critically evaluating the programmes and
statements of the pro-​resistance leadership. Moreover, they keep close accounts of international
politics and show their solidarity with the self-​determination movements in other parts of the
world. Children and youth in the conflict zone of Kashmir not only need nurture and care but
appreciation for their resilient qualities. There is a need to recognise the agency of youth who have
taken a stand on contested political questions.
Thirdly, these youth are caught in a cycle of violence. The coercive-​apparatus of the Indian state
in the form of heavy militarisation, killings, arrests and torture to suppress the popular movement
of self-​determination is witnessed and experienced by these youth who are born in the midst of
violent conflict. As they protest against the human rights violations by the state, they are seen as
potential threat to the state security, which in turn leads to their detention under extra-​judicial
laws. The humiliation and torture faced by them at the detention centres and police stations pushe
not only them but their close friends and relatives towards violent forms of protests. In the case of
Kashmir, there is a requirement that the international community and human rights organisations
demand that the Indian state follows the international standard of juvenile justice, which includes

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prohibition of corporal punishment, the right to a fair trial and suitable detention conditions in
rehabilitation centres.

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 10
NEW READINGS
FOR PALESTINIAN CHILDREN
AND YOUTH’S EXPERIENCES
DURING THE BRITISH
MANDATE
The birth of children’s political agency

Janette Habashi

Introduction
Contemporary understandings of children and youth’s agency reflect and respond to transform-
ations in the epistemological approach to researching childhood. The traditional lens of studying
children dismissed their perspectives and considered them as empty vessels. The application of
such a framework conceptualized children’s social behavior merely from adults’ perspectives,
ignoring children’s voices and framing social policy goals in relation to adults’ conceptions of
children’s “best interests” (Bakhtiar et al 2023, Lundy 2007). This limited framework changed in
the late 20th century when contemporary children’s studies and children’s rights research centered
on investigating their agency and perspectives through participatory and rights-​based research
(Lundy 2007). This approach is founded on the premise that children have a voice while con­
textualizing their views and behaviors. These aspects render several images of children’s agency
and its articulation of their social-​political circumstances. This shift in understanding children’s
voices and socialization patterns as wrapped in social and cultural conditions allowed scholars to
view children’s agency as specific to cultural and geopolitical discourses. Engaging children in
making meaning of their experiences reframes adult misconceptions (Burman 2023) while pro­
viding insight into many realities related to children’s needs and development that were not pre-
viously considered (Habashi 2017). Indeed, the sheer ubiquity of this contemporary approach is
challenging some adults’ perceptions of children’s views and behaviors. Specifically, the concept
that children are merely mimics who copy adults’ actions and have little understanding of their
surroundings. On the contrary, contemporary childhood studies argues that children can make
meaning of their realities, which has transformed the field and expanded the inclusion of their
voices in social policies. This allows us to challenge previous and dominant children’s studies that
did not consider their voices.

126 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-13

 The Birth of Children’s Political Agency

This begs the question, is there a way to gain insight into the lived realities of children and youth
from the past and recover the missed opportunities that were ignored by the traditional approach?
Can the re-​evaluation of children’s behavior presented in history and in historical documents bring
us closer to understanding children’s agency at that time? Does the new reading of children’s
actions during historical events give us an insight into their views?
This chapter addresses these questions and offers a new reading of Arab Palestinian children and
youth’s agency during the British Mandate (1917–​19481) that was disregarded in historical docu­
mentation. However, there are several challenges posed by this endeavor not only in the decon-
struction of the traditional approach that governed scholars’ understanding of children’s autonomy
but also in how these views were framed within the Orientalist perspective about non-​Western
cultures. From the traditional approach, Arab Palestinian children were less than adults, but from
an Orientalist perspective they were subhuman compared to their colonial Western counterparts
(Habashi 2023). These two perspectives come together to perpetuate the idea that children are not
only empty vessels to be filled but they are expendable especially if they are not part of Western
culture. Therefore, the foremost tool to provide a new, alternative reading of Arab Palestinian
children and youth’s political agency from a century ago is to contextualize the British Mandate’s
Orientalist ideologies, colonization, and the Zionist project in Palestine. The concept of children
and youth’s agency is demonstrated in how they responded to being subjects and subjugated to the
geopolitical circumstances of that time and how they forged moments of freedom. This definition
of agency is relevant because there is no direct research on children’s voices during the Mandate
period. Children and youth were fulfilling adult duties and were tasked with adult responsibil-
ities (Maksudyan 2016) at an early age. This was due to the lack of health care, the high rate of
children’s mortality (Davidovitch and Greenberg 2007), and adults’ life spans being short (Abu-​
Rabia 2005). Therefore, families were eager to have healthy children who were ready to perform
adult duties and take on family responsibilities at a relatively young age. This may be one reason
for the lack of children’s narratives in the historical record. Another is that the British Orientalist
views aimed to manipulate and silence children and youth through indoctrination to achieve their
colonial objectives. This was evident within school curricula and structures, as well as policies
pertaining to community engagement (Tibawi 1955; Sabella 1983). The lack of narrative should
not hinder the identification of children and youth’s agency during this time as there were sev-
eral accounts of their interactions with colonization and their representation. Therefore, the Arab
Palestinian children and youth interactions with the British colonial agenda should deconstruct
both the traditional and Orientalist views thus framing the new reading of their agency. Most
children and youth expressed their agency in two main realms: educational institutions and com-
munity activities. The difference between these two spaces was embedded in children and youth’s
proximity to the British Mandate’s academic indoctrination and colonial policies and its impact
on their expressions of agency. The Colonial agenda determined Palestinian realities that shaped
the subjects (children and youth) and subjugated their agency while dismissing the impact of
Orientalist policies on the community. Therefore, to conceptualize children’s and youth’s agency
is through identifying their moments of freedom that were manifested in actions against the British
Mandate’s implementation of the Zionist project in Palestine.

The wider context

This new reading of Palestinian children’s political activities during the British Mandate is a
small segment of a bigger research project that I have been working on since 2019. Initially,
I wanted to examine the different forms and patterns of Palestinian children’s political

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socialization over time utilizing political trigger periods as a baseline for transition. Starting
with the British Mandate (1917–​1948) and the transfer of power to the Israeli military (1948)
and on to the Six-​Day War (1967) in which Arab forces were defeated and the Israeli military
occupied more of the Palestinian territories. Moving forward to the First Intifada (1988–​1991)
in which the people revolted against the Israeli occupation, which was followed by the Second
Intifada (2000–​2002). All of which culminated in the establishment of the Palestinian Authority
in 2000 and the current status of apartheid in the occupied territories. In the process of analyzing
these different data points, I realized there was a scarcity of Palestinian children’s voices and
lived realities specifically during the British Mandate. After this realization, the research project
direction shifted, and the primary focus became Palestinian children during the British Mandate.
This period-​focused project (1917–​1948) aimed to bridge the gap between what is missing about
children’s social and political reality and what is available in terms of research, narratives, and
archives. With the help and diligent work of Erica Michelle Woods, we have started building a
database of publications regarding this specific period that detail the living conditions and pol-
itical circumstances of children during the mandate. This includes but is not limited to British
policies regarding education, health, land distribution, police forces, newspapers, community
organizations, and resistance that impacted children’s well-​being. Other resources outside of
academic publications that have been more difficult to navigate are the various archives that
house the official records and reports of the British Mandate. To date, we have found 18 inde-
pendent archives (The British National Archive, The British Library, the LLMC digital data-
base, and St. Anthony’s College at The University of Oxford’s Middle East Centre Archive,
United Nations Archive, Qatar Library, Tel Aviv Municipal Archives, Bristol Archive, Yale
Archive, The National Library of Israel, The Knesset, Israeli State Archive, The Wilson Center,
Al Manhal, NYU Global EX, Berkeley University, Labor Party Archive, and Hagana Historical
Archive) that have records from this time period. Thus far, most of the documentation in these
archives is not allocated in one system and none are owned by the Palestinians. Furthermore,
there are contradictory urban legends circulating among academics indicating that the archives
pertaining to the Arab Palestinian were either stolen from the British during the mandate or the
British authority burned these documents before transitioning power to the Zionist Military.
One of the compelling findings thus far has been the revelation that the Jewish militia group
the Haganah has an archive with intelligence about Arab Palestinian youth of that time. This is
fascinating because the Haganah attacked Arab Palestinians, their Jewish allies, and the British
during the mandate. However, to have a cohesive picture of Palestinian children and youth’s
lived reality during the mandate, it is necessary to locate the records of those who were arrested
and prosecuted for demonstrating and resisting both British colonization and the Zionist pro-
ject in Palestine. According to Amos Nadan (2017), three percent of Palestinian revolutionaries
arrested by the British Police were children below the age of 16. Indeed, this data is of the utmost
importance, and it deserves to be more thoroughly examined, in terms of the number of children
arrested, the legal justification of the arrests, and the procedures utilized in court and outside. In
addition, it is vital to examine the judiciary biases that may have impacted children and youth
verdicts and sentencing. This will help in understanding the colonial discourse employed to
suppress resistance. We can also gain more insight into the data provided from the archives or
research through life narratives. There are a few published Palestinian autobiographies from this
period. Unfortunately, due to the low rates of literacy prevalent during the British Mandate, they
only reflect the lives of a small segment of society. To have a fuller representation of Palestinian
children’s lived realities of this period, I am in the process of collecting interviews with elders
who experienced childhood during the mandate. To date, I have interviewed eleven individuals,

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primarily located in the West Bank. My goal is to expand the participant pool to interview elders
who are in other parts of Palestine and the larger Palestinian diaspora. These narratives will
not only shed a light on children’s everyday lives but also will help us better understand the
embedded biases of the archives and available research.

British Mandate colonial project in Palestine

Prior to the First World War, Palestine was part of Great Syria which included Lebanon, Jordan,
and Syria and was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. In the late 19th century, the Palestinian
community strived to establish a sovereign nation-​ state (Abu-​Ghazaleh 1972, Atran 1989).
The aspiration for an independent nation-​state was the foundation for the national movements
throughout the Arab region (Knight 2011). Britain endorsed these movements as an incentive for
Arabs to fight against the Ottoman power and guarantee fealty to the British crown (Penslar 2000).
However, support for Arab independence was deflected once the Ottoman Empire collapsed in
the wake of the First World War. The authority over Arab territories was replaced with British and
French colonization. In 1922 Palestine, Iraq and Jordan, and modern-​day Saudi Arabia were under
British Mandate while Lebanon and Syria were under France’s authority (Davis 2010, Mathew
2013, Norris 2017, Shlaim 2005). The British Mandate controlled the political and economic
structures (Gavish and Kark 1993) and enacted policies to implement the Zionist project. Hence,
the promise of a Jewish homeland in Palestine was made without the consent of the indigenous
majority and their aspiration for statehood (Khalidi 2006, Mathew 2013, Renton 2016, Shlaim
2005). Though the agreement with the Arab movements prior to the Mandate supported inde­
pendent nation-​states in the region, the British political leadership was forging an alliance with the
Zionist movement to advance its colonization in Palestine (Knight 2011). This was furthered by
the Orientalist view of the European Jewish population and their ability to modernize Palestine,
protect the Suez Canal, and forge long-​term strategic alliances with Western governments (Atran
1989). Orientalism was the dominant ideology which viewed Arabs as incapable of self-​governing
and modernization. On November 2, 1917, Arthur James Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary,
sent a letter to Lord Rothchild, a prominent Zionist in England endorsing the creation of a “Jewish
homeland in Palestine”. This declaration formalized the colonial agenda and ignited the Palestinian
national movement and resistance (Sicker 1999). The colonial partnerships were not only between
Zionism and the British government; other Western countries such as France, Italy, and the United
States supported this colonial project. Though these countries played a significant role in legitim-
izing Zionism, the British Mandate was the only Western entity on the ground to implement col-
onization thereby shaping Palestinian Arab children’s and youth political agency in both education
and community spaces.

Children and youth’s political agency: Reinventing colonial education

Arab Palestinian children’s and youth agency was inherent in educational settings during the
British mandate. Children and youth embraced their political agency within the school systems,
yet education was not available to all and did not have a comprehensive vision (Sabella 1983). The
educational provisions were a tool to indoctrinate Arab Palestinian children and youth with British
colonial ideologies. Education policies aimed to limit children and youths’ knowledge by teaching
a narrow view of Palestinian history and geography that intended to generate submission and loy-
alty to the Zionist colonial project (Furas 2020, Othman 2016). The purpose of the curricula was
to control the Palestinian national discourse in school settings.

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By 1925 there were 45 private Muslim schools and 183 missionary schools centered in urban
areas (Hagopian and Zahlan 1974). An additional 587 public schools were centered in rural
areas as two-​thirds of the population resided there (Carmi and Rosenfeld 1971, Fischbach 2000,
Khalaf 1997, Smith 1993). This public education system provided insufficient academic learning
experiences in content and continuity. Most rural public schools taught ten basic courses (Sabella
1983) and offered classes until the fourth grade. Classes were often taught by unqualified teachers
and students were not encouraged to pursue secondary grades (Tibawi 1955, Totah 1932). This
mandated public education system embedded “rural bias” that aimed to hinder students from
leaving their villages for opportunities in urban areas. The British authority claimed this edu-
cation would benefit rural communities by keeping the younger generation in their villages.
Another justification for not pushing to have a quality educational system in rural areas was
that there were not enough jobs for more Arab Palestinians available in the cities (Moed 2022).
The reality was that rural bias curricula did not achieve such goals as many rural students pre-
ferred to seek positions in urban settings (El-​Eini 1999). The schools in cities had different
educational structures as most of them were private schools. This included missionary schools
that were exclusive to Christians and Muslim private schools for Muslim children. The private/​
missionary schools experienced some autonomy in teaching content and school administration
(Sabella 1983, Othman 2016). However, missionary schools had a complex relationship with
the community and British administration. These schools had to balance between the Palestinian
community’s national aspirations, students’ futures, and adherence to the mandate policies. Most
graduates found jobs in the mandate administration; in addition, these schools received some
funding from the British authority. Othman (2016) suggested that missionary schools, specif­
ically Quaker schools, attempted to balance the nationalist sentiments of the Arab Palestinian
communities and the British Authority’s expectations to control such views. Tibawi rejected the
notion that missionary schools did not endorse the national aspirations of the larger commu-
nity (Othman 2016). However, the reality is more complex as the relationship between school
administration and authority did not necessarily reflect the national beliefs of the student body.
Students in missionary schools embraced the national goals and expressed their political agency
by participating in strikes against the British Mandate without the endorsement of the school
administration. In the 1920s Quaker missionary schools “… would routinely suspend students
for participating in protests or strikes against the colonizing tactics of the British and Zionist”
(Othman 2016, 164). Students’ political agency within such educational settings engaged with the
communities’ discourse regardless of the school’s position or the colonial discourse. Suppression
of students did not hinder their agency; on the contrary, it evolved to be a fixture in missionary,
private, and public schools (Furas 2020, Othman 2016).
Students embraced their political agency in the school systems, and it was expressed in multiple
mediums. Furas (2020) shared an example of a student from the Acre Secondary School protesting
during a Balfour Declaration commemoration and he “… recalls how instead of shouting ‘yasqut ̣
wa‘d balfūr’ (down with the Balfour Declaration) they would shout ‘yasqut ̣ wāḥid min fawq’ (down
with someone from above) while marching under the city’s balconies” (p. 236). The fact that the
chant was not repeated verbatim raises the question if students understood the scope of coloniza-
tion (Furas 2020). Nevertheless, a small number of schools encouraged students to discuss political
issues in student organizations and classrooms. Students expressed their political agency through
protesting, rallying, and adhering to strikes which agitated the British mandate and emboldened
government forces to utilize the British army, and police. The British police employed spying
in school systems to prevent the expression of agency. The Criminal Investigation Department,
a branch of the British colonial police in Palestine, arrested and interrogated students on a daily

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basis (Gerber 2008). For example, British troops arrested Ihsan Abbas, a student from the Arab
College in Jerusalem while visiting Ain Ghazal village and he was beaten in the village square
(Furas 2020). The implied reason was that Ihsan Abbas commemorated his friend and fellow stu­
dent from the Arab College who died in combat after joining the Palestinian resistance against
colonization (Furas 2020). This public shaming technique was not an exception; on the contrary,
it was a common strategy utilized to humiliate students and suppress their political agency. In late
1929, about 100 students in Nablus, under the age of 16, were whipped with 80 lashes in public
under the order of the British Assistant Education Director (Matthews 2006). This act motivated
more youth to strike and protest in different schools around the country. The British mandate also
practiced public shaming and collective punishment at the community level (Ozacky-​Lazar and
Kabha 2002). In a way, this tactic shaped youth and children’s agency and political knowledge as
it was based on the lived reality of British policies and the promotion of the Zionist project.
Youth and children experienced the colonial reality and the Zionist agenda regarding their
homeland but with little learning about Palestine. Students were eager to learn about Palestine
formally in school. Most of their learning was from the larger community that was engaging in
resisting both the British Mandate policies and the Zionist colonization (Greenberg 2008, Totah
1932). Despite the British Mandate’s educational agenda and restricted curriculum, Palestinian
national sentiment was loud and strong in schools, and administrators needed to respond. In the
1920s and 1930s schools, especially private ones (missionary and Muslim private schools) com-
bated the curriculum restrictions of the British Mandate by teaching more courses in Arabic.
However, schools needed to overcome the shortage of teachers who were able to use the Arabic
language as a medium of instruction (Greenberg 2008). English proficiency was viewed as a tool
to obtain a government job or as one of the qualifiers to enroll in the American University in Beirut
or Cairo. The aim was to create a cohesive vision for students in the preparatory levels (from the
fifth until the ninth grade) to learn civil services, history, and geography in Arabic. These topics
were taught in English thus creating a disconnect with the national discourse. Therefore, it was
necessary for these materials to be taught in Arabic in order to engage children and youth in the
community. The inclusion of Arabic material in the classroom was seen as a tool to de-​westernize
the curricula (Greenberg 2008) and be able to speak about the community’s aspiration for inde­
pendence (Othman 2016).
Students’ political agency is visible in their embracing of the Arabic language, which they
utilized in school journals and papers. For example, Amin Abu-​Rahma, a student at the Bishop
Gobat School, the first French Catholic secondary school in the old city of Jerusalem, described
Palestine as a “drowning young woman overcome by the waves, desperately calling for help while
people remain indifferent. We need to act quickly, Amin wrote, or we shall lose her…” (Furas
2020, 256). The notion that Palestine will die was not supported by other students’ writings, as one
student stated after a visit to Haifa, where most inhabitants at that time were Arab Palestinians, “…
‘the Arabs are a nation that will never die’…” (Greenberg 2008, 90). Youth and children expressed
their national sentiments and made them relatable and personable with different metaphors that
lead to freedom. Some students’ writings recognized that to achieve freedom there is a need for
sacrifice, as a third-​grade student revealed in a poem “ ‘My life for my country, my blood for my
country’…” and another student stated, “… ‘a glorified death is better than a life of weakness and
humiliation’…” (Furas 2020, 256–​257). Students’ writing became an act of youth and children’s
political agency, and it was a substitute medium for learning about Palestine.
Some school journals and students’ writing reached the public and were circulated in the
community. Students and teachers worked together to support this expression of youth agency
not only for other students in the school but also for the community. There were a few prominent

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school journals that circulated within the community regularly; Majallat Rawdat al-​Ma’arif
Journal was a significant one that was published by Kulliyat Rawdat al-​Ma’arif, a private
Muslim school in Jerusalem (Greenberg 2008). This journal publication was clear about not
appreciating the Western interference in Palestine. The journal also reprinted some articles from
other newspapers in the region and welcomed students outside the school to contribute. Students
often wrote about their field trips throughout Palestine and the nationalist songs cited during
these trips. One writing depicted a school field trip to Bayt Jibrin village to visit Sayyidna’ Ali’s
tomb and how students burst into singing national songs “… even though an English soldier tried
to stop them from singing publicly because they lacked ‘permission to sing nationalist songs
inside the city’ ” (Greenberg 2008, p. 90–​91). The writing of this incident in the school journal
showcased students’ agency within multiple spaces, by standing against the British soldier
through singing and then writing about the experience. Students’ writings about Palestine were
also embraced in missionary schools. Terra Santa Christian College, a prominent missionary
school, also published a school journal titled the Review of Terra Santa which was circulated
in the community. Students with the support of the teachers described their trips in Palestine
in relation to the Holy Bible. It also described the agricultural situations in Palestinian villages
and compared them to the Jewish settlements that employed modern technologies (Greenberg
2008). The notion of including Jewish modernity was not always welcomed as other students
glorified the Arab renaissance and its scientific contributions (Furas 2020). One student did not
see the positive implication of Jewish immigrants in Tel Aviv as he described it as “… greenlees,
chaotic and incohesive immigrants and he noted, Jews are always afraid of ‘them’ since they
have a tendency to fear, and if there is no cause for such fear, they will invent one” (Furas 2020,
257). Palestinian students recognized the contradiction of the colonizers being afraid of the indi-
genous communities when their livelihoods were perpetually threatened by the Zionist project.
These written expressions of agency showed the diverse articulation of Arab Palestinian chil-
dren and youth within schools.
Arab Palestinian students’ agency appropriated the education system as it was in constant
interaction with the national discourse. The British administration wanted to control the col-
lective narrative in schools, but students reclaimed the space to challenge the Orientalist ideology
and resisted the Zionist project in Palestine. Furthermore, Arab Palestinian students’ national
sentiment was under surveillance as indicated in a British intelligence report dated June 1933,
which described the political agitations in private and public schools (Gerber 2008). According to
Elboim-​Dror (2000), student agency did not adhere to the British Mandate’s educational premise
of submission to the colonial agenda; on the contrary, they became active in the national pol-
itical discourse. Regardless of school structure or location students engaged in strikes, resist-
ance, and boycotts, for example during the 1936 revolt schools shut down for six months (Sorek
2015). There was an annual strike commemorating the Balfour Declaration that was usually not
sanctioned by school administrators, nevertheless students went ahead with the strike. Youth and
children at that time knew the harsh consequences of expressing their agency yet it was not a
hindrance. A major deficiency in the British approach to education is assuming the ideology of
colonial indoctrination in schools would deter children and youth political agency. At variance
with this concept, children and youth confirmed time and time again that their political agency
comprehended the scope of colonization and Orientalism. These oppressive practices against
the Arab Palestinian people were the force for such failure because it ignored the interconnect-
edness between national discourse, schools, and youth’s agency. Colonization is not an isolated
experience confined to adults; children and youth’s agency was also forged partly in response to
its oppressive reality.

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Children and youth’s political agency: The soul of the community

The sheer ubiquity of colonization is embedded in the assumption that the presence of children and
youth in schools limits their agency. On the contrary, children and youth’s political agency was also
manifested in the community, and it was exclusively due to its proximity to the British Mandate
authority. Through schools, the British implemented measures to restrict students’ engagement
with the collective aspiration of independence and national freedom. Children and youth expressed
their agency by contesting the curriculum, participating in strikes, boycotts, and commemorations.
The British authorities entered schools and arrested students, who were connected to the public
discourse of resistance. The Palestinian community’s political circumstances closely exposed chil-
dren and youth to the British Mandate colonial agenda, enabling the forging of their political
agency. Children and youth engaged daily with the community narrative and the impact of colon-
ization (Maksudyan 2016).
The Palestinian community including children and youth experienced colonization practices
at economic and demographic levels regardless of their location. Around 70 percent of the Arab
Palestinian population resided in rural areas and relied heavily on agriculture for revenue and
survival (Carmi and Rosenfeld 1971, Fischbach 2000, Khalaf 1997, Smith 1993). The British
mandate administered economic schemes in rural areas that impacted the community through
restructuring policies associated with state land distribution, land purchase, yield taxation, and
others which led to peasants/​fellaheen communities losing their land and livelihood (Ayers 2013,
Fischbach 2000, Kamel 2014, Stein 2017, Wolfe 2012). British mandatory bureaus determined
which parcel of land belonged to the state or not, and in cases of uncertainty, the administration
wielded its power to confiscate the land from the fellaheen. In 1926, the British mandate changed
land classifications to Mahlul land (vacant land) and determined it to be part of the state land.
The alteration of Ottoman land policies facilitated the selling of the land to Jewish organizations
through several laws: the State Lands Laws of 1928, and the Disposal of State Lands Law of
1929. Furthermore, in 1928 British Mandate enacted the Land Registry Fees Amendment Law
that required the Palestinian fellaheen to individually register their land for taxation. Many did not
register the land due to a lack of funds and some registered a small piece of their land for the same
reason, leaving many communities destitute. Poverty became a reality for many fellaheen commu-
nities, and some became urban dwellers and daily laborers (Bernstein 1996).
The British Mandate’s alteration of Arab Palestinian land rights was fundamental for executing
the Zionist colonial project in Palestine. This was done to support new Jewish settlements that
caused drastic demographic changes to indigenous communities. The British Mandate enacted
laws to aid Jewish immigration without consulting the majority, i.e. Arab Palestinians. However,
this did not deter the influx of Jewish illegal immigrants which the British administration did little
to prevent (Khalidi 2006). Such arrival of Jewish immigrants legal or illegal increased Jewish
militias and the establishment of several paramilitary groups such as Haganah, Irgun, and Stern
Gang that were responsible for attacking and killing British personnel and Arab Palestinian com-
munities. The British and Zionist colonial agenda was clear and aimed to dismiss the rights of the
Arab Palestinian community and therefore of the children and youth.
The Arab Palestinian community organized various revolts and boycotts against the British
imperialist and Zionist colonizers that youth and children witnessed and participated in through
different associations. Boy scout clubs were vital in expressing children’s and youth agency and
more importantly formed the structure to engage politically with the community. These youth
organizations were initially established during the Ottoman regime prior to the First World War
and were mainly active in Nablus (Degani 2014). However, the British mandate established boy

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 Janette Habashi

scout troops based on the English model that included teaching hygiene and installing loyalty
to the throne. The administration sanctioned the creation of several troops but kept a close eye
on their activities (Harte 2008). The first troop was organized in St. George Missionary School
in Jerusalem (Degani 2014) but later other private Muslim schools formed their own boy scout
clubs that were based on national values such as Rawdat Al-​Ma’arif in Jerusalem and Al-​Najah in
Nablus (Harte 2008). The children and youth in boy scout organizations were not only confined to
the schools; on the contrary, they became part of the community structure and national movement.
Different local community organizations established their own boy scout troops as their role was
fundamental in resisting colonization. Boy scout troops were responsible for organizing com-
munity events and overseeing strikes and boycotts in the community. In 1929, boy scout troops
organized crowds who came from all over Palestine to celebrate Nebi Musa, a Muslim holiday,
but later it transcended to national events where political leaders galvanized the public against
colonization and the Zionist project. Boy scouts were a significant part of community gatherings
as such troops were “in charge of order and sang national songs” (Furas 2020, 234–​235). Children
and youth’s political agency expressed in the boy scout structure spread the national discourse and
goals for liberation. It also facilitated the national strikes which the public supported. Children and
youth agencies were strike monitors much to the chagrin of some merchants (Anderson 2013).
Some of the elite and political leaders objected to the youth role of supervising strikes. Conversely,
in Haifa, children as young as seven years old were overseeing the strikes. Boy scout troops were
popular, and many independent groups were established in the community that were comprised
older youth between 20 and 30 years old as well as younger members. Independent boy scouts
were more popular in the community which gave weight to their agency, and they were able to
call for rallies or other political activities. In 1934, boy scout groups aimed to monitor the coast-
line for illegal Jewish immigration but were attacked by members of the Haganah before arrival.
A fight ensued between the groups and resulted in a Palestinian teenager being attacked and
injured (Degani 2014). Arab Palestinian delegates visited the injured boy and the Arab newspaper
Al-​Jam‘iyya al-​‘Arabiyya reported on the attack praising the actions of the boy scouts and calling
for resistance against the Zionist colonizers, which led to the publications closure (Degani 2014).
Though the British increased their monitoring of illegal Jewish immigration, it did not last since
their allegiance was with the Zionist project. The political agency displayed by the boy scouts in
the national movement agitated the British Mandate and they explicitly admitted that they lost
control of this structure. By 1936 boy scout groups increased to reach more than 3000 school-​age
members (Harte 2008). The youth’s political agency was conveyed in spreading the national dis­
course, obstructing police, and monitoring boycotts. To control the influence of boy scout groups,
the British denied the troop members the right to wear their uniforms in public so that the com-
munity would not recognize their affiliation; “the ban was a recognition that the British authorities
had lost control of scouting as a whole in Palestine” (Harte 2008). The boy scout troops are an
example of how children and youth appropriated and reinvited such colonial structures to pro-
mote the national movement. However, it was not the only organization that youth and children
expressed their political agency.
The role of youth activism in the national discourse within the Arab Palestinian community
was also evident in their sports clubs. The intersection of sports clubs and youth agency was
unlike the boy scout clubs, especially in terms of being associated with a specific location,
village, town, or city. Sports clubs evoked national sentiments and built connections between
urban and rural areas. It was not specific to age or location which helped in enhancing the public
narrative. Due to this, the sports clubs included a civil training program for all its members.

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Furthermore, these clubs engaged in national campaigns to fight illiteracy and health issues
among young people. Sports clubs were another venue for youth to express political agency in
the community and address national concerns (Khalidi 2006). British authorities targeted sports
clubs because they organized youth and engaged them with the community against coloniza-
tion. The role of youth agency is well summarized by Khalidi who notes that “During the 1936
general strike, these clubs organized food distribution and protest activities. Club members
saw themselves as augmenting the role of the authorities where it was failing them” (2006,
55). Youth clubs provided a venue to render their political agency but did not eliminate other
possibilities. Other youth acted without such associations by monitoring strikes and attacking
British soldiers. For example, on February 5, 1936, during the general strike, a group of youth
threw stones at the British forces (Gerber 2008). Children and youth’s agency recognized the
colonial agenda and its impact on the Arab Palestinian community and their role in the national
movement. Equally, the community realized that colonization aimed to suppress not only the
revolt but also the younger generation. Hence, the British mandate failed to understand the
functionality and connectedness within the Arab Palestinian community. The notion of pro-
moting a disconnect between the young and the old was embedded in the Zionist project against
Palestinians as they proclaimed “the old will die and the young will forget” (ben Eleazar and
Haber 2001). This statement denied the younger generation their history and collective memory
and therefore connection to the community. From the colonial and Orientalist perspective, Arab
Palestinian children and youth should not be part of a community or a national movement. This
assumption did not serve colonization as there was a bond between the young and the old; the
individual and the collective. Arab Palestinian children and youth’s agency only proved that the
connection between the young and the old as well as the youth and community is a continual
story that is built to show how agency transforms over time.

Conclusion
The new reading on Palestinian children and youth’s expression of their political agency during the
British Mandate is centered on their interaction with the Zionist project supported by the colonial
agenda. In essence, this demonstrated their views against imperialism. The new reading requires
a contextualizing of Arab Palestinian children and youth’s political reality to deconstruct the myth
of the traditional and Orientalist approaches that aimed to dismiss their voices, agency, and the
impact of colonialism. It is significant to comprehend the colonization tactics implemented in
Palestine and the experience of being a young human with agency in the mid of the Zionist project.
The lack of understanding of the geopolitical discourse and its impact on the majority population
during the British Mandate serves to support the Orientalist and colonial view of denying the rights
and existence of Arab Palestinian people including children and youth. The Orientalist narrative
was embedded in endorsing the power of colonization that values Western modernity embedded in
Zionist colonization and culture while erasing the rights of the Arab Palestinian majority. Indeed,
these Orientalist views of Palestinians worked together with colonialism to omit children and
youth’s agency, existence, and their call to support the collective narrative of liberation and self-​
determination. In reality, the colonial practices implemented during the mandate and research
analyses of that time viewed children and youth as pawns thus leading to the omission of their
perspective when conceptualizing moments of political agency. This new reading is essential to
correct these omissions and contextualize children and youth’s political agency in both the colo-
nial ideology and the collective Arab Palestinian discourse. Showing that the traditional approach

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of controlling agency in educational and community structures did not produce children and youth
loyal to colonization and the Zionist project. Children and youth’s political agency cannot be
dismissed within the academic discourse even if the orientalist interpretation is prevalent. Agency
is not only an act of resistance and resilience, but it is also an act of being and witnessing that was
denied within the Oriental and the traditional perspectives. The significance of this reading is to
recognize that past discourse about children is still prevalent in Palestine. Therefore, it is urgent to
embrace children and youth’s political agency not as a rare occurrence of the past but as a reflec-
tion of their geopolitical realities.

Note
1 Although the commonly reported dates for the British Mandate in Palestine are 1918–​1948. We utilize
the dates 1917–​1948 due to the repercussions of the Balfour Declaration stripping away the rights of the
Palestinian people.

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 11
“CAPITALISM DOESN’T
EMPOWER ME”
Latin American Children’s Activism and
Critiques of Neoliberal Development

Jessica K. Taft

Introduction
A young girl in a school uniform with a purple bow in her hair stands in the center of a circle of
her peers, rapping that “we aren’t angry for just one reason but because they are polluting our
nation.” She adds, “don’t believe everything they say on television since they distort all the infor-
mation,” and “no more theft by the state –​it has been many years and we are tired … the people are
uniting and this is just starting.” When she finishes, her classmates all begin chanting “Igualdad!
Igualdad!” (Equality! Equality!).1 This video, which went viral in November of 2019, as a result of
a boost from Chilean hip-​hop star Ana Tijoux, is just one example of children speaking out and par-
ticipating in the massive wave of protests known as the Estallido Social in Chile. Indeed, according
to a survey from Chile’s Defensoría de la Niñez (2019), over 50% of children participated in these
mobilizations in some way. While the causes and political visions animating the Estallido Social
are complex and multifaceted, the uprising is widely regarded as a response to Chile’s profound
economic inequalities and represented a critical rejection of the nation’s longstanding enactment
of neoliberal policies of privatization, deregulation, and social disinvestment (Somma et al., 2021;
Urzúa & Calderón, 2020).
Another widely circulated video from these events highlights interviews with children between
the ages of 10–​14.2 Standing in the Plaza de Dignidad three months into the protest, wearing
goggles and bandanas to protect themselves from teargas, the children (ages 10–​14) in this video
share their hopes and dreams for their country as well as some key messages for the government.
They say they are there so that “the grandparents can have a better pension”; “for my rights and
because I want a more just Chile”; and “because the kids here, we have free education, but it is
bad and the kids in richer neighborhoods have a better education just because they can pay for
it.” They want “dignity for everyone”; “better wages”; “for the rich to not have all the money”;
“better health care for everyone”; “economic equality”; and “for education to be free and better
for everyone, not just for the people with money.” They call on the government to stop throwing
teargas at the protestors, to listen and take concrete action in response to people’s needs, and for
President Sebastian Piñera to resign immediately. These young activists are just a few of the many

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-14 139

 Jessica K. Taft

Latin American children and young people who, as part of both child-​led and intergenerational
communities of struggle, have articulated a shared critique of the deep inequalities and injustices
generated by contemporary global capitalism.
In contrast to popular images of children from the Global South as either helpless victims of
poverty (Hoffman, 2012; Jones, 2005; Wells, 2013) or key resources for national economic growth
(Khoja-​Moolji, 2018; Mahon, 2010), some young activists in Latin America explicitly reject the
idea that they benefit from neoliberal policy interventions or are “empowered” by global capitalist
development models. For these young people, the idea of development does not signal progress
or opportunity, but extraction, exploitation, and ecological devastation. In this chapter, I center
activist children as producers of knowledge about the dynamics of contemporary capitalism and
its effects in their lives and communities. Drawing on over 15 years of field research with young
activists in Latin America as well as organizational documents, news media coverage, social
media posts, and children’s collective proclamations, declarations, and manifestos, I argue that
activist children are a valuable source of critical insight into the dominant capitalist development
paradigm in Latin America. To be clear, this chapter does not empirically assess current develop-
ment strategies in Latin America nor their impacts on children, as such a project is well beyond its
scope. I am not seeking to “prove” that capitalist economic development harms children. Rather,
my purpose is to simply draw attention to some of the critiques of capitalist development that
are articulated by collectives of politically engaged and activist children. In doing so, I highlight
children’s potential contributions to creating a more just and sustainable political economy.

Children, Neoliberal Capitalism, and the Politics of Development

Children have long been objects of significant biopolitical and economic investment. As both sym-
bolic and material representatives of a nation’s future, they have been central to projects of nation-​
building, imperialist intervention, and colonial expansion (Albarran, 2014; Lesko, 2001; Castro,
2020). Further, they also play an active role in systems of capital accumulation as consumers, paid
and unpaid workers, and developing “human capital” (Cook, 2004; Levison, 2000; Zelizer, 1994).
Girls in particular have become especially important to international development institutions,
with major investments coming from the Nike Foundation, the World Bank, and UNICEF, among
others (Bent and Switzer, 2016; Moeller, 2018). The discourses deployed by these institutions not
only mark girls as especially worthy and valuable for development interventions and programs,
but also present them as benefitting substantially from neoliberal global capitalism (Bent, 2013;
Switzer et al., 2016; Tambe, 2019). As Koffman and Gill (2013) write, “neoliberalism is portrayed
as the liberating force through which patriarchy can be defeated. Once they are unleashed, girls’
entrepreneurial spirits can instantly overturn hundreds of years of patriarchy and transform the
economic fortunes of the whole world” (p. 90). Further, dominant development discourses are
often hinged upon neocolonialist narratives where young people are presented as victims of either
an essentialized understanding of local culture or a naturalized vision of poverty (Khoja-​Moolji,
2018; Castro, 2020). Many scholars have criticized such frameworks for erasing the central role
of global capitalism itself in causing such poverty and in producing very real harms to the current
and future well-​being of young people (Bowles & Veltmeyer, 2020; Hart, 2008; Ruddick, 2003).
In their introduction to Reimagining Childhood Studies, Spyros Spyrou, Rachel Rosen, and
Daniel Thomas Cook (2019) invite increased attention to the relationship between children and
what they identify as financialized capitalism as doing so “offers insights into child subjectivities
and the changing institution of childhood, as well as offering richer conceptualizations of
processes of accumulation” (p. 13). This chapter responds to their call, adding that bringing

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 “Capitalism Doesn’t Empower Me”

political economy back into Childhood Studies can and should also include significant attention
to children’s resistance to the current political-​economic system and their visions for alternative
ways of organizing their lives and communities. Of course, in looking to children as sources of
critical political-​economic knowledge, there is always also a danger of romanticizing the activist
child or reinforcing a false ideal of the autonomous and agentic child (Oswell, 2012). Cautious of
such tendencies, I suggest that children’s critical political visions should be understood as situated
within their larger historical and social contexts of struggle. The activist children I describe below
do not represent an (always impossible) pure “child voice” on global capitalism. Their words and
ideas are developed in intergenerational communities and through a range of interactive educa-
tional processes, but that does not make them any less “children’s views” than those expressed by
children who do not participate in these spaces and whose knowledge on these topics is mediated
instead primarily through schools, families, or media institutions. Further, as I’ll demonstrate
below, their critical perspectives on capitalism are not merely ideological positions or passive
mimicry of adults’ ideas but are developed out of their particular and distinctive lived experiences
as children.
In the analysis that follows, I draw on three central examples of Latin American young people’s
resistance to the dominant models of capitalist economic development in the region.3 Each
example was selected because it highlights a different face of contemporary capitalism in Latin
America and a different aspect of young people’s identities and social positions. The first example,
the Peruvian movement of working children, foregrounds these children’s analysis of the struc-
tural and systemic causes of poverty based on their experiences as workers and as targets of global
anti-​poverty discourses and interventions. The second case, Chilean student activism, centers on
neoliberal dynamics of privatization, market-​based logics, and the identity of children as learners.
Finally, the third example, organizing for indigenous rights and climate justice, draws attention
to the continued effects of intensive natural resource extraction in Latin America and to young
people’s generational identities and futurity. In contrast to the erasure of neoliberal global capit-
alism as a major cause of economic inequality, poverty, or environmental destruction, these three
examples focus on organized groups of young people who have collectively developed explicit
critiques of the global political economy.

Movements of Working Children: Confronting Poverty

Founded in 1976, the Peruvian movement of working children is an intergenerational child-​led
social movement that supports working children (Niños Niñas y Adolescentes Trabajadores, or
NATs) in the pursuit of rights, dignity, and justice in all aspects of their lives. Emerging origin-
ally at the intersection of popular working-​class organizing in the poor neighborhoods of Lima,
Catholic youth labor activism, and liberation theology, the movement today organizes campaigns
around issues including children’s right to work without exploitation, violence against chil-
dren, gender equity, and ecological sustainability (for more on the history and structure of this
movement, see Taft, 2019). While the movement takes up whatever issues children bring forward
in their local, regional, and national gatherings, the core of their political engagement since the late
1990s has centered around child labor policy. A key part of this agenda has been arguing against
the abolitionist approach to child labor promoted by the International Labor Organization, which
seeks to prevent all work conducted below a minimum age (Bourdillon et al., 2009; van Daalen &
Mabillard, 2018; Liebel & Invernizzi, 2019).
In contrast to the abolitionist approach, the NATs argue that work, when done in dignified
conditions, can be a source of empowerment, agency, and learning. They describe the satisfaction

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they get from working and the pleasure of being able to contribute to their families and their com-
munities through their work. Critics of the movement sometimes assert that these children only
have positive feelings about work because their families are poor and argue that the policy goal
should be to eliminate the need for their work entirely through better social services, higher wages,
or conditional cash transfers (Bourdillon et al., 2010). Of course, the NATs movement also wants
work to be a choice for children and not something that they have to do because of family poverty.
But, they argue, children should still have this choice and, most significant for this chapter, they do
not see child labor as a cause of poverty and “underdevelopment” in Latin America. Instead, they
articulate a much more critical perspective that identifies the central role of colonialism, global
capitalism, and neoliberal structural adjustment in creating conditions of poverty for themselves
and their families. In their analysis, if the goal is to end poverty, these systems should be the targets
for elimination, not children’s work.
As just one example of this line of argument, the Latin American movement of working chil-
dren (MOLACNATs), which brings together organized working children from 11 countries across
the region, released a public proclamation in advance of the 2010 ILO Global Conference on
Child Labor. The proclamation noted that “international organizations … continue to deny our
dignity with statement such as ‘child labor is a development obstacle’.” They went on to empha-
size how such statements “conceal the real reasons for the economic, social, and political crises
that our people have historically suffered as a consequence of the neoliberal economic model that
is condemning millions of girls, boys, and adolescents to poverty, marginalization, and exclusion”
(MOLACNATs, 2013b, p. 24). In 2013, in advance of the Third Global Conference on Child
Labor, another MOLACNATs proclamation reiterated that

the ILO and those who are part of its international advocacy do not assume nor assign any
responsibility for the crisis in the global economic system, nor the consequences that the
crisis has generated for the majority of the global population, whether they be adult, youth,
and child workers.
(MOLACNATs, 2013a, p. 30)

These statements are collectively written and agreed upon by elected child and adolescent leaders
of the movements of working children from across Latin America at their regional gatherings.
They represent a shared critique of the current model of global development and emerge from
the discussions held at these meetings where young people analyze international conventions and
documents like the preparatory materials for these global conferences from their perspective as
working children.
In the daily practices of the movement in Peru, there are fewer opportunities for children to
articulate a direct critique of global capitalism as the cause of poverty, but working children in
the movement’s base groups regularly talk about the very visible problem of a huge wealth gap
between the rich neighborhoods of Lima and their own marginalized neighborhoods, about a lack
of investment in their families and communities, and about the fact that they, working children,
should not be seen as a social or economic problem, but as part of the solution in any attempt to
create a more just and inclusive economy. As with their peers in the international meetings, they
are aware of the various local and global campaigns to “end child labor” and describe feelings of
anger and shame in response to some of the narratives about working children that are deployed
by these campaigns.
Against narratives that position their work or labor as harming the national economy by
under-​ developing their “human capital,” the NATs collective practices show how they are,

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instead, creating stronger local economies of care. For example, they have built several mutual
aid initiatives as well as programs that support “solidarity economics,” which they define as an
“economy of sharing that is at the service of people” (MANTHOC, 2017). And, in 2020 and 2021,
amid the economic challenges of the COVID-​19 pandemic, they expanded many of these projects
and continued to argue for their right to inclusion in both economic activity and economic policy-​
making. A 2020 statement by elected child leaders of MNNATSOP pointed out that “alongside our
families and adult supporters, we confront poverty and exclusion with dignity and resilience on
a daily basis,” and “many families in Peru have faced the pandemic with creative and innovative
work.” They go on to argue that, because they too have been part of the economic struggle, NATs
and their families should be included in the policy-​making around economic re-​activation, “not
just businessmen and powerful groups” (MNNATSOP, 2020, p. 211).
At multiple levels, the young people involved in the Latin American movements of
working children are articulating themselves as a “social movement that seeks to transform the
unjust economic and political relations that create conditions of exploitation and exclusion”
(MOLACNATs, 2011, p. 167). They speak to each other and the world about the “centuries
of dispossession and deaths generated by the models of unjust economic, social, and political
development that have been imposed in our countries” (MOLACNATs, 2019) and imagine a
future with “an economic system of solidarity where our social relationships and production
take place without undermining human dignity” (MOLACNATs, 2013b, p. 24). On the one hand,
these are fairly abstract ideological statements, but they are also expressions of a political vision
that is rooted in their daily practices of contributing to the well-​being of their families and com-
munities and wanting to be recognized for their positive role in these relations of mutual care.
Their own lived experiences show them how they are, in fact, “part of the solution” to poverty
and not it’s underlying cause.

Chilean Student Movements: Challenging Privatization

Although Chile is frequently regarded as a beacon of both effective governmentality and successful
economic development, multiple waves of Chilean secondary school students have been vocal
critics of the country’s intensely neoliberal approach to education. Starting with the Mochilazo
protests in 2001 and continuing through to the children involved in the 2019 Estallido Social who
opened this chapter, Chilean young people have frequently taken to the streets to demand major
changes to the country’s educational system. Further, in many of these instances, the protests of
young people were a spark for more widespread social mobilization as their complaints about
neoliberalism, privatization, and inequality in education have resonated with the positions of
environmentalists, labor unions, poor people’s organizations, and neighborhood activists.
The Chilean educational system has been largely defined by the Ley Orgánica Constitucional
de Enseñanza (LOCE), introduced just as dictator Augusto Pinochet was surrendering power in
1990. The law created three categories of schools: private, subsidized private (utilizing a combin-
ation of state money and student fees), and municipal public schools. The public schools were con-
trolled by local municipalities and national funding was reduced significantly, leading those who
could afford to enter into the private or semi-​private systems. By 2005, over half of children were
in either private or semi-​private schools of widely varying quality (Matear, 2007, p. 102). The
system has deepened inequalities as “children from upper-​middle and high income families benefit
disproportionally from the best educational services,” while lower-​income families may pay for
private subsidized schools in hopes that these will be better than their municipal options but still
receive a substandard education (Matear, 2007, p. 111). At the tertiary level, private universities

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and technical schools also grew with government support, allowing a huge increase in the number
of Chilean’s accessing higher education. However, as Nicholas Somma (2012) notes,

because state supervision was negligible, the training provided by many of the newer
secondary and tertiary institutions was deficient. As employers realized so, they became
increasingly reluctant to hire graduates from these institutions (who rarely came from the
upper classes), frustrating their expectations of upward mobility.
(p. 298)

Further, he writes that fees for both private and private subsidized schools were very high, “making
Chilean education one of the most expensive in the world” (p. 298). Students and families ended
up with sizable debt for a low-​quality education, while the owners of many private and semi-​
private institutions made profits from these schools. Privatization –​a hallmark of neoliberal edu-
cational policy –​was absolutely central to the LOCE, to the Chilean educational system, and to the
grievances of Chilean children and youth.
While the 2001 Mochilazo protests primarily focused on a demand for a reduction in the cost
of transportation for secondary school students, the young people also began to develop criticisms
of the LOCE. Sofia Donoso (2013) quotes one of the student leaders who remembers that, at the
time, they criticized the LOCE “for its authoritarian origin; not because we knew which aspects
were contributing to inequality” (p. 7). Further, the 2001 Mochilazo also led to the founding of
ACES (the Assamblea Coordinadora de Estudiantes), an autonomous secondary student organiza-
tion that has continued to play a major role in Chile’s social movement landscape. By 2006, sec-
ondary school students had developed many more targeted critiques of the LOCE and expressed
them via a nation-​wide mobilization that became known as La Revolucion de los Pingüinos or the
“Penguin Revolution” because of the students’ black and white uniforms. Donoso (2013) traces
the emergence of this movement from a few scattered protests over major infrastructure problems
in municipal schools including a collapsed roof to a national wave of demonstrations with nearly
1 million students and sympathizers participating in a day of action on May 30, 2006. They simul-
taneously expanded their framework of political demands from concrete material goals to a much
wider critique of the LOCE and the neoliberal model. She writes,

the students were critical of the neoliberal logic of the voucher system.... More gener-
ally, as illustrated by one of the movement’s most popular slogans –​“we are students, not
clients” –​the Pingüinos rejected the privatization of the education promoted by the LOCE.
The common diagnosis was that the neoliberal principles that guided the education system
contributed to the segregation of students according to their capacity to pay for private
education.
(pp. 17–​18).

The Pingüinos captured significant media attention and pushed the Chilean government, with
President Michelle Bachelet at its helm, to include them in discussions of a new educational law,
eventually passed to replace the LOCE in 2009 (Borri, 2016). However, as the next wave of stu­
dent mobilization makes clear, the new law did little to address the fundamental problems of the
educational model that the students had identified.
While the 2001 and 2006 movements were very much led by secondary students, young people
between the ages of 14–​18 years, the 2011 student movement involved many more university
students, situating most of its participants outside symbolic and material categories of childhood.

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However, there were still some adolescents and younger children active in this struggle and the
organizers made efforts to create spaces that included whole families in protest activity (Somma,
2012). Perhaps more significant for this chapter, however, is that the 2011 movement’s political
claims were a continuation of the analysis built by the high school students in 2006. Students fully
rejected a market approach to education, arguing that it was a right rather than a consumer good
(Bellei et al., 2014). As one of the major organizations stated in their articulation of demands in
2011, their goal was for education to be

constitutionally guaranteed as a universal social right at all levels, based in an educational

system that is public, democratic, pluralist, free, and of high quality, oriented toward the
production of knowledge for egalitarian and holistic development and for the satisfaction of
the needs of Chile and its peoples.

The students continued to directly challenge those who sought to profit from selling education
and, even more than the Pingüinos, the 2011 movement generated strong connections between
their youth-​driven analysis of the negative consequences of neoliberalism and the grievances of
environmental movements, indigenous movements, and labor movements. Using the example of
education, they argued that market logic would always prioritize profit over social good and so
they must be rejected completely.
Finally, it is worth noting that the 2019 Estallido Social was yet again a wave of protest sparked
by the actions of young people. It was the secondary student organization ACES that initiated
this protest cycle with yet another set of protests related to transportation costs. ACES mobilized
students to a turnstile jumping and fare evasion action to protest an increase in metro fares and
encountered significant police violence and repression in response. And, as with before, their
actions resonated with a wider sector of the population who were experiencing ongoing inequality
and economic segregation as well as “the increasing precariousness of middle class status” and
who “perceive[d]‌the elites who control Chile’s major economic and political institutions to be
self-​serving, abusive, greedy, and out of touch” (Palacios-​Valladares, 2020, p. 216). Palacios-​
Valladares further highlights how the dynamics of the Estallido Social were such that young
people saw themselves less as “students” in this wave of protest and more as “part of the people”
in a broader class-​based struggle (p. 223).
From 2001 until the present day, successive waves of Chilean teenagers, as well as some even
younger children, have articulated powerful critiques of privatization and market-​based approaches
to social goods, including education and transportation. Children and youth have pointed to the
harmful effects of neoliberalism in their lives and futures, arguing that inequality is the inevitable
result of an economic system that prioritizes profit and free-​market logic over people’s needs. This
example indicates not only children’s desires for a much more egalitarian system that recognizes
education as a right rather than a commodity, but also their potential leadership in intergenerational
social movements for economic justice. Further, it shows how young people’s direct experiences
with a highly privatized educational system and the inequalities that such a system generates
can, through collective analysis over time, build to a much larger and expansive critique of neo-
liberalism, privatization, and market-​based approaches to community needs.

Climate Justice and Indigenous Rights: Questioning Growth

The extraction of primary resources has been central to the political economy of Latin America
since colonialism and has been resisted by indigenous communities in the region for just as long.

145
 Jessica K. Taft

Indigenous children have consistently been part of community struggles to protect their lands from
the ravages of mining, intensive agriculture, and other extractive economies (Rico Montoya et al.,
2018; Torres Velázquez, 2014). They have increasingly also been in active coalition with other
young people seeking climate justice. Helena Gualinga, a 19-​year-​old Kichwa environmental
and indigenous rights defender who was a visible presence in activist circles at both COP25 and
COP26 but has been involved in activism since childhood, and Xiye Bastida, an Otomi-​Toltec
teenager who is a lead organizer for Fridays for Future in the United States, are just two examples
of the many young people actively building links between indigenous rights activism and youth-​
driven climate mobilizations.
Gualinga, speaking on the stage at the youth march at COP26 in Glasgow, emphasized how
“behind every murder that happens in the Amazon, every killing that happens to a land defender,
there is a company behind that, a government behind that, there is a name behind that.” She
continued, “U.S. and European banks are everyday financing and investing in the Amazon destruc-
tion, they are investing in the killing of the Amazon” (“ ‘We Are Not Responsible’: Youth Climate
Activists Rally in Glasgow to Demand World Leaders Act Now” 2021). Other young activists
standing beside her at these events held signs calling for the return of indigenous lands (using the
#landback hashtag) and for divestment from banks that support deforestation. Gualinga, through
the “Polluters Out” campaign, frequently names banks and the fossil fuel industry as a source
of injustice and harm and highlights the need to remove the fossil fuel industry from climate
negotiations.
Other young Latin American activists also directly identify the enduring violent legacies of
colonialism and capitalism, sometimes making these points in unexpected interventions. Indeed,
in 2011, at an event that was organized by the UN Special Representative on Violence against
Children as a follow-​up to the UN Study on Violence against Children and Adolescents, the out-
come document written by children declared:

Structural violence is the effect of an unjust global capitalist system that is responsible
for the impoverishment of most of the peoples of our countries. For us, structural vio-
lence means the contamination of the environment and of people by major agribusiness
proprietors. This contamination affects the health and lives of children and adolescents and
their families (peasants and indigenous people) who are forced to leave their communities
and migrate to the cities. There is little likelihood of this form of expression of violence
being denounced, since instead of helping, the protocols in place obstruct such procedures;
and in themselves they display many social differences. This situation creates exclusion and
inequality in access to basic rights; poverty; and greater likelihood of exploitation of chil-
dren, adolescents and their families.
(Manifesto of Children and Adolescents, 2011)

This is a remarkable statement for several reasons. First, it was issued in a context –​a UN-​sponsored
gathering on violence –​where we might not anticipate young people to be discussing the economic
system. The fact that the “structural violence” of capitalism was foregrounded in their statement
should indicate how relevant these dynamics are to young people’s sense of what causes harm in
their lives. Second, the statement also indicates that young people do not really expect institutions
like the United Nations to actually engage with these structural and systemic injustices. They note
that there is “little likelihood” of this issue being taken up from their manifesto, but still feel a need
to emphasize this point, despite their lack of faith in these global institutions. This sense that the
political institutions are failing to adequately address the real crises facing young people and the

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planet is widespread among young climate justice activists in Latin America and beyond (O’Brien
et al., 2018).
The 2019 declaration from a Latin American regional consultation on the environmental rights
of children, adolescents, and youth, extends many of these same arguments. Conducted under the
auspices of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, this consultation
produced both a formal report and a statement written by the youth themselves. The declaration,
written by young people from five countries in the region, highlights “the need to generate a
change in the systemic model” (Mandato de Las Jovenes, 2019). They note that “Latin America,
since the colonizing invasion, has been subjected to a destructive, exclusive, and homogeneous
system.” They go on to state that “developed nations and their anthropocentric vision have brought
this disaster to us and it is now us who must struggle and resist for the land, even though our people
and ‘underdeveloped’ countries did not generate this disaster.” In addition to drawing attention to
the negative effects of resource extraction, these young activists are also questioning the logics of
development itself (as evidenced by the scare quotes around the term in multiple places in their
declarations). Their visions align with what Arturo Escobar (2010) refers to as post-​development
or “visualizing an era where development ceased to be the central organizing principle of social
life” (p. 12). Further, these young activists frequently invoke the need for “alternative models and
the recuperation of ancestral knowledge” that also “defend the rights of nature” (Mandato de Las
Jovenes, 2019). As Xije Bastida said in one interview, “we don’t call water a resource; we call
it a sacred element.” She continued: “the relationship we have with everything the Earth offers,
it’s about reciprocity. That’s the only way we are going to learn how to shift our culture from an
extraction culture to a balanced and harmonious culture with the land” (Burton, 2019). These
young activists talk about the interconnectedness of people and the Earth and deploy relational
ontologies, or worldviews that “eschew the divisions between nature and culture, individual and
community, us and them that are central to the modern ontology” (Escobar, 2010, p. 39).
The anti-​ capitalist and decolonial vision of these young indigenous and environmental
activists is also rooted in their lived experiences as people growing up in a time of ecological
crisis. Gualinga and other young people from Latin America regularly talk about seeing first-​
hand the devastation caused by an extractive economy, whether it be mining or intensive agri-
culture (Children’s Environmental Rights Initiative, 2020). Youth from communities ravaged by
toxic waste and pollution due to industrial production and refining also discuss the health effects
of environmental racism and capitalist growth and other children describe the already very real
impacts of climate change on their homes and communities (Ritchie, 2021). While young climate
justice activists may sometimes emphasize their futurity, highlighting their status as the generation
who will be living with the effects of climate change, they are also very clear that this economic
system is already causing significant harm. As with the other two cases, young people’s direct
knowledge of injustice is a foundation upon which they then build their larger structural critiques.

Conclusion: Children in Anti-​Capitalist Movements

The three cases presented here are only a few of the many groups of children and youth who are
part of collective struggles that radically reimagine Latin American development through a critical
and anti-​capitalist lens. Other examples might include the Zapatista children who have contributed
their own visions of autonomy, vision, and community to Zapatismo (Rico Montoya et al., 2018)
or the young feminists in Buenos Aires who linked abortion rights to issues of class, access, and
economic justice (Cavallero et al., 2018). If we look at the historical and contemporary activism
taking place in Latin America, we see a rich tradition of not only adult and youth resistance to

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colonialism, neoliberalism, and modernist development logics, but also the significant participa-
tion of children. And, as I’ve suggested throughout this chapter, these young people draw from
their particular experiences as students, as child workers, and as a generation threatened by eco-
logical crisis, to articulate their own child-​centered contributions to this larger intergenerational
social movement terrain. Through collective discussions at multiple scales, these young people are
developing a shared understanding of the ravages of global capitalism and proposing alternative
political-​economic visions rooted in mutual aid, concern for others, and relations of care. As such,
they offer a unique and important understanding of the fraught and highly politicized relationship
between children and global development.

Notes
1 Author’s translation. The full video can be found here: www.yout​ube.com/​watch?v=​tz4th​iOG-​IY
2 Full video: www.yout​ube.com/​watch?v=​NfJF​5izN​Vu0
3 There is no space in this chapter for a discussion of the history and current dynamics of Latin American
development regimes, including the rich debates about post-​neoliberalism, alternative development
models, and the diversity of anti-​capitalist approaches in the region. For such context, see for example
Munck and Wise (2019).

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 12
CHILDREN AS
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTORS
A generational perspective on climate activism in
an overheated world

Tanu Biswas and Thomas Hylland Eriksen

Introduction
This chapter explores early 21st-​century children’s struggle for intergenerational climate justice
from a childist perspective. Following appeals from childhood studies and pedagogy to take young
activists seriously as future makers (Spyrou 2020) and educators (Biswas & Mattheis 2021), this
chapter makes a case for understanding the global crisis as entailing a ‘triple bind’ of our era.
A double bind, first described by Bateson in the context of psychiatry (Bateson et al. 1956, see
also Bateson 1972), is a fundamental and irresolvable dilemma where neither option is feasible –​a
‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ situation. The most basic double bind in contemporary
modernity is that between the growth imperative and ecological limits, calling for a sustainable
world economy, which is nevertheless impossible to reconcile with the techno-​economic structures
of capitalism, tied to governments and competition between states, that frame life-​worlds every-
where (Eriksen 2016).
A second contradiction concerns temporality, as seen in the generational dimension, where the
rights of children and future generations to live on an ecologically healthy planet are being violated
through the extractive and ultimately destructive growth economy. Children, who are emerging
as environmental actors, are not only articulating demands requiring active responses (respons-​
ability) from the powerful in the global community, but they are signalling humanity’s overall
deep global interdependence (Josefsson & Wall 2020). We thus argue that there is a trilemma, or
triple bind, facing humanity in this century, created by an unsustainable growth economy and a
lack of concern for the rights of young people and their descendants: The ecological transform-
ations engendered by the growth economy contradict the requirements of sustainable ecologies,
and the short temporal horizon of the growth economy violates the rights of young people and
future generations.
‘Listening to children’ in this context, especially for wealthy societies, implies treading for-
ward with voluntary simplicity in ways that are sensibly sensitive to long-​term requirements
of intergenerational justice. As shown in the anthropology of overheating, which focuses on
accelerated global change out of control (Eriksen 2016, 2018; Eriksen & Schober 2016), ‘climate’

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-15 151

 Tanu Biswas and Thomas Hylland Eriksen

is only one part of a more complex problem and is deeply entangled with economic and cul-
tural politics and, most fundamentally, the commitment to growth and expansion which is a basic
premise for capitalism and industrial modernity. Consequently, the term ‘environmental actors’
is understood in the context of destabilising, dangerous global processes falsely premised on the
belief that continued growth is possible and resources inexhaustible, but it is not restricted to
the climate crisis since many serious environmental transformations, from species extinction to
pollution, are only indirectly connected to climate change.
Bath University has recently published a qualitative study (Marks et al. 2021) showing a glo­
bally shared sense of moral betrayal in children and youth, directly related to their perception
of inadequate responsive action by adults and governments. The last four years have seen an
escalation of children’s appeals for climate justice across the globe through school strikes for cli-
mate justice (Holmberg & Alvinus 2019, Meade 2020; Bergmann & Ossewaarde 2020; Haunss
& Sommer 2020; Wahlström et al. 2019; de Moor et al. 2020), demands for climate emergency
education (conf. English Climate Emergency Education Bill), as well as climate litigation against
governments and corporations for failing to secure the best interests of children and future
generations (Walker-​Crawford 2021).
The consistent rise in appeals through various socio-​political channels, e.g. climate protests,
advocacy and litigation, not only speaks to the universal obligation to take children’s voices into
account in matters that directly affect them; it also reveals how children have claimed their place
as environmental actors in an overheated world. It stands to reason that children and adolescents
should be engaged in these matters: Being young, they have invested much less in the existing
world order than their parents and are therefore more open to alternative ways of organising
society. By the same token, they have a comparatively long future ahead. In other words, there
is a case to be made for children, by virtue of being young, having a longer temporal horizon
than adults. There is a paradox, identified by Mary Catherine Bateson (Gregory Bateson’s and
Margaret Mead’s daughter), in that ‘even as we are living longer, we are thinking shorter’ (Bateson
2010: 20). The temporal paradox is at the heart of intergenerational injustice and adds a third
dimension to the dilemma of achieving a balance between economic growth and environmental
sustainability –​making it a trilemma facing humanity.
Given the global inequities, not only will the world’s children inherit the burden of dealing with
consequences of the planetary crisis in inequitable ways, but the very right to life of their gener-
ation and future generations itself is already at stake. Alongside non-​violent acts of civil disobedi-
ence and activism through the #FridaysforFuture movement, climate litigation cases (e.g. Juliana
vs United States 2015, Ridhima Pandey vs India 2017, Sacchi et al. vs Argentina et al. 2019,
Youth for Climate Justice vs Austria et al. 2020 and so on) bring dimensions of intergenerational
responsibility of the overheating crisis to the fore. For instance, the unprecedented international
child rights case ‘Sacchi et al. vs Argentina et al. 2019’ offers adults rich narratives to learn about
global ‘deep interdependence’ (Josefsson & Wall 2020) through the lens of how the overheating
crisis is affecting the lives of the transnational group of 16 petitioners from across the globe.
The petitioners, most of whom are also #FridaysforFuture participants, such as Greta Thunberg,
demand that the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (Committee) acknowledges
that the respondents have violated their rights under the convention, notably the right to life,
health, prioritising the best interest principle and cultural rights of petitioners from indigenous
communities. The complaint asserts that the climate crisis is a children’s rights crisis. Furthermore,
it asserts that the gap between global children’s rights ideals and implementation is so wide that
the very rights of future generations will also be compromised.1 Following a childist approach, we
take the premises of this complaint as a point of departure for our engagement with the subject. In

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other words, we do not ask whether the climate crisis is a children’s rights crisis. Instead, we val-
idate the messages of the plaintiffs and reflect on its implications for adults and adult-​led govern-
ance processes. In doing so, we address the intergenerational significance of developing policies
that include children’s participation in matters that affect their lives.
These collective voices (Sacchi et al. 2019) beckon adults to slow down, scale down and cool
down, to ask: How can we live and govern in ways that will ensure a decent and meaningful liveli-
hood for our grandchildren and their grandchildren? The declining populations in many countries,
by some demographers projected as a global trend leading to a reduction in world population in the
second half of this century, have complex causes. It is nevertheless worth noting that many young
climate activists consider not having children owing to the dismal likely future of the planet.
While this doesn’t tell us about what their futures will indeed look like, it gives us insights into a
valuable variety of philosophical (ethical) reasoning. In other words, the early 21st-​century global
children’s struggle for climate justice renders intergenerational responsibility into a key compass
to navigate sustainability and a good life in an overheated world. The philosopher Roman Krznaric
(2020) asks how we should behave in order to be seen as good ancestors by posterity, proposing
that we think ahead in millennia rather than centuries. While this perspective is consistent with the
temporality posited by Fridays for Future, where sustainability is tied to the long term, it should be
noted that Krznaric’s future stretches further into the future.

The climate crisis is a children’s rights crisis

Protecting children from the threats of climate change was an integral part of the first United
Nations Framework on Climate Change signed in 1992 by most of the world’s states –​including
Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey who are now sued by the 16 petitioners for inter-
national children’s rights violations. The plaintiffs argue that the five states were already aware
that every metric tonne of CO2 that they emit threatens the rights of children globally (Sacchi
et al. 2019). The 1992 Convention was followed by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and the 2016 Paris
Agreement. These steps confirmed that the climate crisis was a persistent concern of commitments,
but none of the signatories took enough efforts to address and reduce their carbon emission. In fact,
since the start of the 1990s, emissions have accelerated considerably (from 22 to 36 billion tonnes
from 1990 to 2019, Ritchie & Roser 2020). The five countries that are sued are particularly held
responsible because apart from being signatories to the child rights convention, they are major
historical emitters and influential members of the world’s top 20 economies (G20). The plaintiffs
demand that the respondents must lead by example and use all the tools available to them to ensure
that other major emitters such as the USA, the EU and India must also decarbonise at a rate and
scale needed to reach the collective aims. However, each respondent has failed to do so and there-
fore failed to prevent foreseeable human rights harms that affect children and future generations
across the globe.
According to the plaintiffs, intergenerational injustice here occurs because the gap between
global children’s rights ideals and implementation is so wide that the rights of future generations,
as guaranteed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), will also be
compromised. Some political philosophers have argued that high carbon-​emitting lifestyles will
not just ‘impact’ the lives of future generations, but they will ‘heavily determine’ them, indeed to
the extent that most future professions will focus on ways to enable human survival on the planet
(Karnein 2016).
The specific child rights violations within the scope of the UNCRC highlighted by the petitioners
are as follows: Article 6 (the right to life), Article 24 (the right to health) and Article 30 (the right

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to culture); this is particularly the case with the indigenous petitioners. In addition, the respondent
states are also accused of having violated the petitioners’ rights under Article 3, since children’s
best interests have not been made a primary consideration in omitting their commitments to
curbing climate change. We present an overview of the subjective struggles evident in the life-​
trajectories that each petitioner has communicated to the Committee (conf. Appendix A, Sacchi
et al. vs Argentina et al. 2019). Most of the petitioners, except for Ellen-​Ann (8 years old)2 from
the indigenous Sami community of Sweden, have turned to activism and advocacy because of the
psychological and material impacts of the climate crisis on their lives. Their full-​time engagement
in activism must be balanced with their primary role as school pupils.

Testimonies of child3 activism

We begin this overview from two island nations in the Pacific Ocean, with the testimonies of
petitioners David Ackley (16), Ranton Anjain (16) and Litokne Kabua (16) from The Marshall
Islands, and Carlos Manuel (17) from Palau (Sacchi et al. 2019, Appendix A.6, A.7, A.8, A.10).
The ocean is the centre of the way of life for their indigenous community members who use the
ocean for navigation, fishing, transporting people and supplies to the various islands. Some of the
central symptoms of the climate crisis experienced in David’s, Ranton’s, Litokne’s and Carlos’s
communities are rising sea levels, rising air and water temperatures, regular and intense droughts,
while typhoons and similar severe storms are expected to become more frequent. Rising sea levels
are particularly concerning for the petitioners because it is predicted that their islands will dis-
appear underwater. This predicted risk forces David’s family to plan migration, but David does not
want to separate from his community and move to a place where he might face racism and preju-
dice. Litokne’s family worries about their livelihoods because rising sea levels are damaging agri-
cultural land. Agriculture-​dependent livelihoods are additionally strained by droughts, affecting
the production of food and traditional medicinal plants like bananas, ground cherries and scented
fern. Fishing, another source of indigenous livelihoods, has become increasingly difficult because
fish stocks are on the decline. Corals surrounding the main island Majuro are also dying, and the
reefs are bleached due to high temperatures, a change that has occurred within one generation.
El Niño events have increased, affecting the temperature and tide patterns of the sea. There is an
increase in storms and high tides which are often accompanied by floods. New mosquito-​borne
illnesses such as zika and chikungunya have also reached the island. The worsening storms have
had a profound effect on Ranton as an activist, and he recalls

In 2015, we were inside my house, my dad was off island for meetings, and a really strong
wind came and opened the roof of my house. It flooded my house. I was with family, but
then we evacuated to our neighbour’s house. (…) After experiencing the open-​roof house
storm, I wanted to learn how to speak in public so I could ask for help from other places.

Ridhima Pandey (12) lives in South Asia the northern Indian city of Haridwar (Sacchi et al. 2019,
Appendix A.5). The way of life for her community centres around the holy river Ganges, which is
not only an important water-​source but also has a spiritual significance for pilgrims and devotees.
Rising heat levels in her region have contributed to reduced and inconsistent rainfall, leading
to reduced groundwater flow to the river, which in turn lowers river levels and creates water
shortages. The river’s source in a Himalayan glacier is shrinking by 22 metres per annum and is a
major environmental concern. Industrially polluted environment, increased flooding and stagnant
water rainstorms contribute to an influx of mosquitoes increasingly exposing her community to

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higher risk of contracting air-​borne diseases. Ridhima began advocating against the climate crisis
in 2013 after a terrible rainstorm and has been educating herself for better advocacy work. In 2017,
at the age of 9, Ridhima sued the Indian government because she wants to save her future, the
future of all children and people of future generations. She does not trust that the Indian govern-
ment is doing what is needed to protect the interests of future generations and has expressed that

When I think about the future with global warming, I feel very disappointed because I can’t
imagine a healthy and long life. Every person deserves to live in a healthy environment. We,
children, want a better future. I personally don’t want to suffer –​I want a healthy future,
I want to live a healthy life. And future generations also have the right to live a healthy
future.

Nevertheless, Ridhima understands that the problem cannot be solved by the Indian government
alone and is a global issue which requires all countries to cooperate.
The Eastern Cape province of South Africa, where Ayakha Melithafa’s (17) mother Nokulunga
lives, works and farms for income, is badly impacted by drought (Sacchi et al. 2019, Appendix
A.11). It is difficult for her to support her children including Ayakha, who lives in Cape Town
which saw a period of unprecedented water shortages between 2017 and 2018, declining dam
levels and very limited rainfall. In early 2018, Ayakha, along with fellow residents, prepared for
‘Day Zero’ when municipal water supply was switched off in Cape Town and residents had to
queue up for their daily ration of water. Droughts have forced farmers from rural areas to migrate
to the city and place additional demands on the infrastructure. High temperatures have also caused
devastating floods and fires which increased changing food prices and are worsening the already
high poverty levels. Floods made it harder for Ayakha to reach school and return home on the bus
and affected the water quality causing many people to fall sick. Apart from the added expenses,
taking the bus in the evenings also risked her personal safety. Like her fellow petitioners Ayakha
has also become a dedicated climate activist in her community. The changes have also affected
her will to have children in the future due to the environment they would grow up in and the high
living and food costs,

I wouldn’t enjoy my future very much knowing that there is this climate change future.

On the West African coast in the Nigerian capital of Lagos, Debby Adegbile (12) suffers the
impacts of industrialisation and urban expansion on air and water pollution (Sacchi et al. 2019,
Appendix A.9). Frequent flooding in her region makes it difficult for Debby and her peers to walk
or commute to school. Debby’s asthma has intensified with hotter temperatures and she is regu-
larly hospitalised due to mosquito-​borne illnesses like malaria. Frequent hospitalisation comes
with additional costs and Debby has to catch up with her curriculum when she returns to school.
These hardships have not demotivated Debby from turning to advocacy and activism because she
believes that the climate crisis

is an issue that children are more affected by because they are helpless and forced to change
things like school, home, and lifestyle due to flooding and other impacts which affects their
health, family, and wellbeing.

Raslen Jbeili (17) lives in the northern African coastal town of Tabarka in Tunisia (Sacchi et al.
2019, Appendix A.14). Due to the heat, going out in summer is increasingly difficult and the area

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also receives more rainfall than usual. In the past years, the frequency of heavier rainstorms,
floods and wildfires has drastically increased. Rasleen has been researching climate change
in his town through a school programme called ‘Access Program’. Between 2016 and 2017,
Rasleen documented an almost fourfold increase in wildfires and witnessed one of the wildfires
approaching his home. Although his home was spared, many of his neighbours’ homes were burnt
down. Rainstorms and heavy floods hinder access to school, which is located in a low-​lying area
surrounded by wetlands. The climate has oddly gotten drier and increased droughts have disrupted
water supply often. When water supply shuts off, Rasleen’s family must buy water –​making
it harder to cook, shower and clean. Rasleen often suffers from nightmares of climate change
destroying our world and finds it unjust that his generation must experience this. He is uncertain
whether he will be able to stay in Tabarka in the future and doubts whether he can have children or
what would happen with them in the future.
In Argentina, Chiara Sacchi (17) and her friends, in the city of Haedo, feel similar fears and
doubts about having children (Sacchi et al. 2019, Appendix A.1).

Yes, I’m scared to death. Why would I bring another human being here when we do not
know what we will do with the ones that are already here. It’s very hard to control that, and
I have spoken to a lot of young people that feel this way.

Weeks of intense heat in summer or unusual weeks of heat in winter are some changes Chiara has
been experiencing in Haedo. Staying out in summer with friends is not easy as it gets blistering
hot and asphalt streets add to intensifying the heat. There has been a significant increase in use
of air-​conditioners which is heavy on the electricity grid causing frequent power outages. As
school systems use web-​based platforms, power outages interrupt Chiara’s daily activities like
homework hours or her mother’s occupation as a farm-​to-​table chef. Since the entire province is
densely urbanised –​buildings and infrastructure are damaged by increasing storms, heavy rains
and floods.
Extreme hot summer and extreme cold winters characterise changes in the north-​eastern
Brazilian port city of Salvador, where petitioner Catarina Lorenzo (12) lives (Sacchi et al. 2019,
Appendix A.2). As an aspiring professional surfer, Catarina has a very intimate relationship with
oceans and beaches. She senses the rising heat in the sand and sea and has had to avoid swimming
in areas where pieces of dead coral reefs float. Heat waves in Brazil between 2014 and 2017
resulted in coral bleaching across Brazilian reefs and damaged a unique mushroom-​shaped coral
species in the Abrolhos Bank reef. Catarina has also seen many animals dying because of the dead
reefs. On land, lack of rain creates drier conditions, water shortages and extended periods where
water supply is cut off without warning from the local government. Lack of rainfall intensifies drier
conditions as the soil does not get muddy. This is a prime concern for Brazil’s forests, including the
Amazon, which is increasingly vulnerable to forest fires. In August 2019 alone there were 27,400
fires detected in the Amazon. The damages caused by the carbon released through forest fires
extend way beyond the borders of Brazil. The Bolsonaro government’s agricultural development
policy has also contributed heavily to the destruction of the Amazonian forests. Like some of her
fellow plaintiffs, Catarina is also unsure whether she will decide to have children because of the
many dangers and uncertainties of the future. Catarina wants to tell the world leaders that they

need to respect the limits of planet earth. They need to understand they cannot detract all the
natural resources and pollute the atmosphere because other people and living things need to
continue living in the future.

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In the USA, Alexandria Villasenor (14) commutes between California and New York because
toxic clouds resulting from increased wildfires in her first home in California worsen her asthma
(Sacchi et al. 2019, Appendix A.16). In November 2018, Alexandria was traumatised by one of the
deadliest wildfires in California and fled to her mother’s home in New York. New York, however,
ranks as one of worst cities for air quality in her country and is often blanketed by a thick layer of
smog due to ozone pollution. Breathing in ozone pollution can cause shortness of breath, intense
coughing, asthma attacks, sunburns on the lungs and premature death. Children and teens are par-
ticularly vulnerable to risks from breathing ozone. Frequent wildfires in California and worsening
air quality in New York have relegated Alexandria to a life indoors and prevented her from playing
with friends outdoors. She calls this life the ‘new normal’ because it is very different from the
world her parents and grandparents grew up in. She has decided not to have children because she
thinks that it is unjust to subject a new generation to the climate emergency. Alexandria has been
leading school strikes for climate in USA and has started her own youth-​led non-​governmental
organisation, Earth Uprising, which is established in over 150 cities across the globe.
Climate change has also imperilled the indigenous Yupiaq way of life in Alaska, where peti-
tioner Carl Smith (17) lives (Sacchi et al. 2019, Appendix A.15). The Kuskokwim River is eroding
due to excess rain and the neighbouring mountain is affected by forest fires.

Climate change might change everything –​how we feel, how we hunt. It is scary because if
I have kids, I want them to live like I did –​to hunt, fish, gather. I want to teach them but I’m
scared because there might not be any more subsistence. There will be less fish and there
won’t be any more ice in the winter, and it will be warm, and it might not be the same. I feel
scared, like we’ll have to adapt to climate change, and teach them a different way.

Carl is in despair that the Yupiaq will be unable to maintain their culture and tradition if they are
forced off their land in Akiak. He worries that he might be forced to move to a city to find work.
Iris Duquesne (16) is based in California and does not want to have children when she imagines
the future (Sacchi et al. 2019, Appendix A.3). Already when she was born, she risked dying
because of the heat wave. She was born in Bordeaux, France, during one of the worst heat waves in
European history and grew up experiencing regular heat waves, intense storms, cyclones, deadly
floods and impacts of the rising sea levels of Bordeaux’s Atlantic coast. She developed a fear
of rain and water and suffered due to recurring nightmares of tsunamis and storms. While Iris
has overcome her fear of water, she cannot shake off her fears of extreme weather events. The
changing weather patterns have impacted Bordeaux’s local economy which relies on its world-​
renowned viticulture. It has also brought with it an influx of tiger mosquitoes spreading diseases
like chikungunya and zika. Apart from the rising heat, the presence of tiger mosquitos also makes
it difficult to stay outside in summer. Iris moved to California for high school in 2019 and does not
know whether she wants to return to Bordeaux where it will be hotter and harder to live.
In the northern European city of Hamburg in Germany, Raina Ivanova (15) finds that the
experience of going to school has changed. Heat waves, blazing spring and summer temperatures
force Raina and her classmates to take breaks and change classrooms because of clammy air,
making it harder to concentrate on studies (Sacchi et al. 2019, Appendix A.4). The cities canals
have extremely low water levels that make it difficult for boat services to run. Especially in
2017, Hamburg experienced intense rainfall, severe storms and flooding –​ destroying proper-
ties of Raina’s friends and neighbours. Raina and her friends waded to knee-​high water in their
school’s football field. The city decided to cut trees to avoid accidents in cases of heavy storms.
Conventionally, the canals would freeze in winter and locals would ice-​skate on the frozen surface

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which is no longer possible. Raina cannot ignore a looming fear that the world as she knows it will
change. The sadness and fear have led her to join the Fridays for Future movement with her friends
with the hope of sparking and interest among adults to act. She also encourages her family to make
active changes in their lifestyles. Her own dream of having a family someday becomes bleak
because she is unsure whether she would want her own children to face such an environment.
Greta Thunberg (16 in 2019), a resident of Stockholm, Sweden, fell into deep depression and
stopped eating when she began to understand the implications of the climate crisis (Sacchi et al.
2019, Appendix A.13). Her region in Scandinavia has shifted from a cold to warm temperature
climate and her country’s freshwater reserve, Lake Mälaren, is at risk of becoming contaminated
by saltwater from the Baltic Sea due to sea level rise. The profound impact of understanding the
existential dimensions of the climate crisis on Greta personally led her to grasp the global scale
of the problem and connect with children in other countries, especially in the global south. She
finds it profoundly unfair that children in the global south are facing more extreme weather, food
shortages, and are experiencing water shortages. Climate justice in her understanding implies that
everyone should be protected from the impacts of the crisis regardless of the geographical or eco-
nomic position. Since 2018, Greta has become an influential global ambassador of climate justice
and the global school strikes for climate. She has expressed that she would have liked to ‘just be a
kid’ but continues to join hands with activists across the world because
This is the best medication and the best cure against anxiety about this and feeling helpless.

The triple bind of overheating

The plaintiffs’ testimonies illuminate a pertinent blind spot in political, social and economic
decision-​making that have contributed to catalysing the global environmental crisis. Children
and youth, as well as their interests, have been systematically excluded in order to pursue the
commitment to growth and expansion. In principle, international climate agreements that fall
under the scope of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change are highly compatible with
the directives outlined by the UNCRC. As the primary premise presented by the plaintiffs reveals –​
economic growth at the expense of ecological imbalance is at odds with basic children’s rights
such as the right to life and health. The collective testimonies suggest that the commitment to
accelerated economic growth is ‘adultist’ in so far as it cannot secure the best interests of children,
youth and future generations. While the term ‘best interest’ remains open to debate, it is hard to
defend the term even minimally considering a failure to guarantee the basic right to life and health
for present and future generations. For children and youth from small and vulnerable societies,
such as the plaintiffs from the Marshall Islands and Palau, the rights of the future generations to
their culture cannot be guaranteed.
Throughout the collective testimonies we observe an unusually sophisticated, ethical reasoning
underlying the socio-​political reasons for choosing climate activism, advocacy and litigation.
Accompanying the longer temporal horizons of their own lives that plaintiffs argue for, the pro-
found concern for temporal horizons of lives beyond their own is noteworthy. A remarkable
aspect here is that international children’s rights laws do not explicitly refer to rights of future
generations. It is the creative way in which the plaintiffs have extended the use of a legal instru-
ment beyond the group it is primarily intended for, which reflects a sophisticated interpretive
ethical agency.
Many of the plaintiffs have also expressed a conscious choice of distancing themselves from
potential desires of having their own children because they anticipate that their descendants will be
subjected to ghoulish injustice. A sophisticated ethical and temporal reasoning is evident here too.

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 Children as Environmental Actors

The choice is not quite comparable to for example women’s liberation movements that argued for
the right not to have children as a way of re-​claiming their own bodies and individual freedoms.
The plaintiffs’ choice is not about re-​claiming their own freedom but comes from a sense of
injustice that they do not want to subject future generations to. Instead, they seem to have made
a long-​term commitment to climate activism as a way of life. There is no doubt a strong sense of
interdependence and connection with children and youth across national borders, which we will
shortly describe. We find that this sense of deep interdependence and connection is present beyond
the temporal horizons of their own lifespans.
A sense of deep interdependence and connection is also evident from a spatial point of view
in so far as plaintiffs understand their local experiences in a global/​planetary context. Riddhima
for example has overtly mentioned a need for transnational cooperation and she recognises that
her government alone cannot solve the crisis. Greta talks about how her grasp of the existential
dimensions of the crisis has aroused a strong empathy and connection with children in the global
south. She defines climate justice as protection for all regardless of geographic and economic
positions. The case itself argues from a novel position insofar as the plaintiffs act as one col-
lective transnational party that appeals for global justice. Moreover, the respondents are not held
accountable for carbon emissions exclusively within the limits of their own national borders alone.
Plaintiffs have held them responsible for not using all the tools available to them to ensure other
major emitters decarbonise to reach collective aims.
Another noteworthy sense of connection that appears is the connection with ‘the inner self’.
Across testimonies, we find that young plaintiffs reflect a strong emotional and psychological
self-​awareness. Plaintiffs talk about a broad range of emotional and psychological challenges
from fear, sadness, disappointment, anger, uncertainty to depression and trauma as a regular
feature of their childhoods. We account for the possibility that plaintiffs have support from adult
family members and in some cases professional medical help. Nevertheless, they show high
degrees of resilient agency in the way they managed to transform the psychological challenges
into a motivational force that seems to drive and sustain their climate advocacy, activism and
litigation. Debby and Alexandra for example are not even demotivated by some serious phys-
ical health conditions like worsened asthma and regular hospitalisation, while balancing their
responsibilities as school pupils. At a very young age they have managed to find a sense of exist-
ential meaning and purpose as a way of confronting the oppressiveness that comes along with
the scientifically grounded awareness of what the climate crisis implies for their generation on
this planet. Here too, the existential sense of meaning is not limited to their own well-​being. The
sense of meaning has turned into an ‘inner pathway’ to experiencing profound relationships with
other human and non-​human species. Moreover, it is a driving force in their socio-​political self-​
cultivation which is way beyond the scope of any known adult-​led school curricula and pedagogy
worldwide. Very recently, Greta was documented by the Swedish national television consulting
the Norwegian climate psychologist Per Espen Stoknes for developing her mass communication
strategies to resonate with human psychology (Barragan 2021). The video report showed Stoknes
offering constructive criticism towards Greta’s ‘doomsday discourse’ which he advised could
change towards a more transformative approach. Greta seemed to accept the feedback and dili-
gently sought further guidance.
With this UNCRC litigation and related climate activism, plaintiffs have managed to simul-
taneously inform and influence interconnected discourses on economic development and climate
change in a very novel manner. Their testimonies and the case introduce a game-​changing premise
for climate debates and policy: Climate crisis is a children’s rights crisis. A pertinent insight that
we extrapolate from this premise is that the defining challenge of overheating (Eriksen 2016,

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 Tanu Biswas and Thomas Hylland Eriksen

2018; Eriksen & Schober 2016) is more than a double bind of finding a balance between economic
growth and environmental sustainability. We posit that integrating the plaintiffs’ premise unveils
a triple bind of overheating, which has been a blind spot so far. The triple bind of overheating –​
growth vs. sustainability, short term vs. long term –​ entails finding a balance between economic
growth and environmental sustainability, in a way that ensures that basic human rights of children,
such as the right to life, health, culture and the best interests, are guaranteed. At a macro-​level, we
interpret the scope of this ‘guarantee’ to make direct demands on adult-​led governance and policy
making globally in so far as intergenerational responsibility should be a key compass in navigating
sustainability and the good life in the broadest sense.

Conclusion
The UNCRC-​based climate litigation case that we have presented is telling in terms of how chil-
dren can employ resources made available to them to inform and shape development. Adults may
no doubt look for ways of engaging children in development research, policies and practices.
We recommend, however, that this ‘search’ does not automatically imply looking away from the
ways in which children already engage in these areas. The latter is indispensable for navigating
intergenerational climate sustainability in so far it validates that children can position them-
selves as environmental actors in powerful socio-​political ways, despite their formal exclusion
from democracy globally. The testimonies of the plaintiffs show that children can claim their
space in the heart of debates linked to development. The challenge is how do adults who occupy
positions of power allow children to sustain and expand the spaces that they are successfully
claiming. The same applies to adults involved in micro-​level grassroots initiatives for climate
justice. Nevertheless, the collective micro-​level perspectives offered by the child activists con-
tribute to a fuller understanding of the climate crisis’ impacts on intergenerational communities in
different parts of the world. Furthermore, the globally shared sense of moral betrayal that children
and youth experience due to the failure of adults to act (Marks et al. 2021) brings the questions of
intergenerational climate justice and intergenerational sustainability together. In other words, as
environmental actors child activists beckon us to imagine how our present (in)action could sabo-
tage the possibility of sustainable intergenerational relationships in the future.
We therefore especially recommend that the ‘triple bind of our era’ is recognised in policy making
and implementation work to safeguard the human rights of future generations. Intergenerational
responsibility should be a key compass in navigating the way forward. In this spirit, we offer the
following question that may be systematically integrated as a central question to guide develop-
ment policy and implementation work globally:
How can we live and govern in ways that will ensure a decent and meaningful livelihood for our
grandchildren and their grandchildren? How can we become good ancestors?
Finally, we emphasise that adopting this question can serve as a ‘key compass’ only if children
are actively involved in co-​exploring appropriate answers.

Notes
1 The case Sacchi et al vs Argentina et al. was ruled as inadmissible by the judges. Followed by this ruling,
on 10 November 2021, the transnational group filed a new petition to the UN to declare a level 3 Climate
Emergency globally, i.e., to treat the climate crisis at par with the way UN declared the Covid-​19 emer-
gency and Iraq war emergency (Sacchi et al. 2021).

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2 Chronological ages of all petitioners are from 2019, as mentioned in the complaint-​file Sacchi et al. vs
Argentina et al. 2019. Ellen-​Anne’s biographical information has been withheld in the Appendix and so
not presented here.
3 Child is used here in the legal sense of the term as defined by the UNCRC, i.e. below 18 years old.

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 13
COLOMBIAN CHILD-​
SOLDIERS AND THEIR STATUS
AS POLITICAL ACTORS
Diana Carolina García Gómez

Introduction
On March 2, 2021, Colombian news outlets reported that during the “successful” military oper-
ation against dissident FARC–​EP1 leader “Gentil Duarte” in the department of Guaviare, at least
12 children were assassinated. In an interview with W. Radio, minister of defense Diego Molano
blamed FARC–​EP dissidents by stating that the guerrillas were turning “those children” into
“machines of war” (wradio.com.co, 2021). He explained that the children were not innocent, but
that they had been brainwashed and indoctrinated by the illegal armed groups. It could be argued
that for Molano, the Colombian army had killed indoctrinated, irrational, war-​machines, rather
than children. No longer seen as children, their “unchilding” (Shalhoub-​Kevorkia, 2019) was pos-
sible by ignoring the circumstances in which they had joined the illegal group, and their deaths
were reduced to a casualty of the dynamics of war. To make matters worse, Molano’s previous role
had been as the Director of Colombia’s Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF, in its Spanish acronym)
charged with the responsibility of reintegrating former child-​soldiers. Molano arrived in the min-
istry as the replacement of Guillermo Botero, whose resignation was the consequence of social
pressure due to the excessive use of force by anti-​riot police during the paro nacional and the
bombing of an FARC camp where 18 children were killed in Caquetá. Illegal groups like FARC–​
EP dissidents and paramilitary forces continue to fight over the control of these coca growing
communities and the people who depend on these economies for their survival.
What is striking about Molano’s response is how easily he ignored the child prefix of the child-​
soldiers killed during the military operation; instead of seeing these children as child-​soldiers
recruited under complex circumstances, he saw them as “the dangerous child-​soldier, [whom] is
depicted as a monster and (re)produced as being lost forever in an endless cycle of unrelenting
violence and irrationality” (Tabak, 2020, p. 123). By invoking these children as brain-​washed
war-​machines, any possibility to acknowledge their agency, responsibility, and intentionality was
precluded and yet, at the same time, they were not treated as simply children whose immaturity
implies a lack of capacity or culpability and who are therefore entitled to protection.
It is because of the image of the ideal/​natural child that child-​soldiers can be categorized as
hapless victims, commonly of forced recruitment, committing and/​or falling victims of human
rights violations, or witnesses of extreme violence, who “lost their childhood”. As Tabak (2020)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-16 163

 Diana Carolina García Gómez

explains, “terms like ‘used as/​for,’ ‘forced to,’ ‘brainwashed,’ and ‘manipulated’ appear frequently
in these narratives, keeping children in the role of irrational and dependent minors’ incapable of
taking responsibility for their action” (p. 124). Furthermore, when one considers images of child-​
soldiers, these tend to depict African boys, holding weapons that barely fit their hands, and wearing
what look like adult’s clothes. These images of child-​soldiers have historically attracted media
attention becoming part of a particular subgenre of war films, while at the same time becoming a
priority for the international humanitarian field (Tabak, 2020). By centering on Colombian child-​
soldiers, this chapter seeks to disturb both the semantics and the semiotics of what the figure of
the child-​soldier represents within discourses of childhood. At the same time, this chapter explores
how the diverse experiences of child-​soldiers are far more complex and varied than the reductive
representations that mass media and the international development field tend to depict (Cook &
Wall, 2011).
The status of former child-​soldiers as political actors has been affected by key characteristics
of the Colombian armed conflict –​ the duration of the conflict for over 50 years, the changing
nature of the associated cruelty and violence, and the social proximity between the armed
actors and the victims in terms of their socio-​economic and geographic origins (Rettberg,
2013). Supported by normative, classist, and racialized views of Colombian rural childhood,
children in conflict areas are deemed “forced” into the conflict due to their age, naivete, precar-
ious schooling, and reduced opportunities for upward mobility. These views tend to represent
their participation in the armed conflict as devoid of any form of political agency as either
victims or perpetrators. Moreover, the recruitment of children and youth in the conflict has
been a historical praxis perpetrated by both legal and illegal armed actors, which has varied
through both time and space (rural, semi-​rural, and urban areas), as well as the internal organ-
ization of the armed groups2 (Histórica, 2017). Hence, the characteristics of the war are cen­­
tral to understanding the shifting ways in which children who joined the war effort have been
prosecuted, allowed into DDR programs, invited to partake in transitional justice initiatives,
and welcomed back into civil society. Furthermore, by analyzing the roles of child-​soldiers
during the Colombian armed conflict and post-​accord period, this chapter examines the first
peace treaty after the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC). As Martuscelli and
Duarte Villa (2018) explain, the use and recruitment of children under 15 years old is regarded
as a war crime under article 8 of the Rome Statute. Subsequently, those who committed crimes
present in the Rome Statute of the ICC must be punished by the Colombian government. If
they fail to do so, the ICC has the authority to prosecute them since Colombia has accepted the
ICC’s jurisdiction (p. 388).
It becomes increasingly urgent to ask what political status is allocated to children affected and
actively involved in the Colombian conflict. Children facing protracted violence are ambivalently
positioned as both victims and perpetrators. And although victims are increasingly recognized as
agentic rather than passive and defenseless (Karstedt, 2010), children and youth continue to be
denied recognition of their political capabilities. The politicization of victimhood has not allowed
for a politicization of childhood. And one might suggest that in the Colombian context, when chil-
dren are identified as perpetrators, their status as children becomes secondary to their character-
ization as former combatants, a direct contradiction to international law. Bernstein (2013) explains
“it is through performance that children and childhood coemerge and co-​constitute each other”
(p. 211). Hence, if children are to become victims, they must perform victimhood, but for child-​
soldiers to be recognized as victims, they must perform a childhood whose status gets questioned
due to their participation in the conflict.

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 Colombian Child-Soldiers and Their Status as Political Actors

In this chapter I examine the legal and scholarly framings around child-​soldiering and the pos-
sibility of recognizing them as political actors in the Colombian context. First, I situate and con-
textualize child-​soldiering by briefly historicizing the participation of children in the Colombian
armed conflict and analyze three of the key legal frameworks involved in the demobilization of
child-​soldiers. Second, to understand if Colombian child-​soldiers have been recognized as polit-
ical actors, I analyze previous research with and about child-​soldiers by focusing on the discussion
of their agency in their decision-​making regarding joining the armed groups, and their demobil-
ization. In focusing on agency, questions of responsibility and intent arise. Ultimately, I intend
to elucidate the conflicting understandings of child-​soldiers as political actors by academics,
practitioners, and the government, in the context of the most recent demobilization process in
Colombia.
Contextualization of Colombian child-​soldiers
When discussing protracted conflicts, it is easy to only focus on the longevity and the quality of
the violence. But in Colombia, this longevity also involved several peace processes, some that
failed, and some that were partially successful. Since the 1990 peace process negotiated between
President Virgilio Barco (1986–​1990) and the Movimiento 19 de Abril –​M19 guerrillas, Colombia
has over 30 years of experience in trying to end the armed conflict. However, the lack of institu-
tional continuation and commitment to the peace process between successive regimes, the com-
petition for the control of resources among illegal groups after each demobilization process, and
the lack of attention to the systemic inequality that pushes people into illegal economies are some
plausible explanations for why we have yet to fully succeed (Pizarro, 2017). These institutional
weaknesses, paired with the unique political status of child-​soldiers, are also reflected in feeble
policies for their demobilization and reincorporation.
Some have argued that the involvement of children in the armed conflict is a “new” phenom-
enon that began in the 1990s (Martuscelli & Duarte Villa, 2018). However, there are historical
records that evidence the participation of children in the Colombian conflict as far back as the start
of the twentieth century in La Guerra de los Mil Días. What changed in 1990 was Colombia’s
ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which led
the Colombian government to increase their attention to children’s marginalization. Furthermore,
the recruitment of children by illegal armed groups has been classified as a crime since 1997
(Mojica & Quintero, 2020). But neither the ratification of the UNCRC nor the typification of
children’s recruitment as a crime deterred the illegal armed groups from recruiting children nor
did it increase the government’s attention to this problem that seemed to affect particularly indi-
genous children and girls (Springer, 2012). Although we know that children have been involved in
the conflict throughout, it is impossible to state the number of children involved during the 1980s
and the 1990s.
In Colombia, despite a strong, almost uncontestable, belief that FARC–​EP was the group who
historically forcibly recruited children, all of the guerrilla forces and the paramilitaries recruited
children. According to the CNMH (2017), from 1997 to 2005 (until the demobilization of the
paramilitary group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia –​AUC [United Self-​Defense Forces of
Colombia]), 45% of the children recruited were in FARC–​EP, 43% in the AUC, 11% in the Ejército
de Liberación Nacional –​ELN guerrilla [National Liberation Army], and 1% in the Ejército
Popular de Liberación –​EPL [Popular Liberation Army] (p. 124). Research has also shown that
children joined the illegal groups due to a combination of contextual and individual factors, some
which are further explored later in this chapter.

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 Diana Carolina García Gómez

Ley de Justicia y Paz

Despite the extensive history of the peace processes that has characterized the Colombian armed
conflict, discussions around the country’s model of transitional justice and how victims would
be included only began in 2003. After the failed peace negotiations between former President
Andrés Pastrana (1998–​2002) and FARC–​EP, in November of 2002 the AUC announced to
then President (and now senator) Álvaro Uribe Vélez (2002–​2006; 2006–​2010) a unilateral
ceasefire to begin their demobilization. For this purpose, the Proyecto de Ley de Alternatividad
Penal [Law project for Alternative Criminal Procedures] was presented to Congress. However,
the law did not pass due to objections regarding its content and procedures. The government
then presented its new attempt, the 975 law, known as the Ley de Justicia y Paz [Justice and
Peace law].
The general objective of the 975 law was to “facilitate peace processes and the reincorpor-
ation –​individual or collective–​into civil life of members of illegal armed groups, therefore
guaranteeing the rights of the victims to truth, justice and reparation” (Congreso de Colombia,
2005, article 1 [Translation author’s own]). The law circumscribed both peace and victims’
rights solely to the demobilization process of former members of the AUC. To do so, the
Justice and Peace law created the Unidad de Justicia y Paz [Justice and Peace Unit] as part
of the Attorney General’s office so that demobilized combatants could tell their versions of
their involvement and responsibility in crimes during what was known as Versions libres (free
versions). Their demobilization and participation in the process allowed for a reduced sentence
of up to eight years.
The Justice and Peace law included children when referring to the protection of the “most
vulnerable” and specifically characterized them as either victims or witnesses (Congreso de
Colombia, 2005; articles 38, 39, and 41). In these articles’ children were named as a segment of
the most vulnerable alongside women and the elderly. The articles also explained that if during a
judicial procedure the prosecuted was to mention crimes against those who were most vulnerable,
the victim’s identity was to remain anonymous and the prosecutors were to gain special training,
so they knew how to manage these cases.
The only article in the entire law that was specifically about children was article 64 themed
“child return”3 and explained that “the return of minors by members of illegal armed groups shall
not cause the loss of benefits under this law” (Congreso de Colombia, 2005. Translation author’s
own). Hence, the only article dedicated solely to children was about child-​soldiers in a very super-
ficial manner. The lack of a differential approach in the Justice and Peace law did not consider
the multiple ways in which children were involved in the conflict, why they joined in the first
place, and the different degrees of violence children were subjected to: torture and dehuman-
ization during training; children who were direct victims of the armed conflict and decided to
join the paramilitaries; children asked to store weapons and materials used for the production of
illicit drugs; children working in the production of illicit drugs; children, particularly girls, forced
into gendered labor within the ranks of illegal armed groups; or children forced to construct and
handle landmines (Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica, 2017; Springer, 2012). These erasures
of children’s complex and diverse involvements in the armed conflict complicated their access
to the benefits given by the state. Furthermore, this narrow approach to the complex issue of
child-​soldiering did not explain the reasons why children joined the AUCs, furthering their de-​
politicization as well as the denial of the multiple and complex ways in which they have been part
of and victimized by the conflict.

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 Colombian Child-Soldiers and Their Status as Political Actors

Martuscelli and Duarte Villa have argued that since

after the demobilization of the AUC, the ICBF received just 963 children between 2003
and 2006. Considering that Human Rights Watch estimated that 20 percent of its members
were children and that 31,617 adults demobilized, a large number of the AUC’s children
were sent home without any support or killed to avoid commanders’ accountability for their
recruitment.
(Martuscelli & Duarte Villa, 2018 referencing Human Rights Watch, 2003)

By downplaying the circumstances and experiences that children faced before and during their
recruitment, child-​soldiers continue to be seen as manipulated, apolitical subjects, and their stories
are told from a perspective of either extreme victimization or deranged perpetration of violence.
These psychological explanations divert attention from the structural circumstances that are yet to
be taken seriously by the state and that enable the continuous recruitment of children that has, in
fact, increased since the demobilization of FARC–​EP in 2016, particularly in the areas where the
AUG4 have a strong presence. Therefore, when the possibility of a demobilization process with
FARC–​EP became certain, the new government faced multiple challenges to recognize victims.

Ley de Víctimas
After being elected, former President Juan Manuel Santos (2010–​2014; 2014–​2018) created a
commission to study the lessons of the 16 previous peace negotiations with guerrillas and para-
military groups between 1984 and 2016 (Pizarro, 2017). One of the key lessons was the historical
exclusion and discrimination of victims’ organizations. The 1448 law, commonly known as the
Victims’ Law, was proposed by senator Juan Fernando Cristo, himself a victim of the ELN, and
was supported by former President Santos. According to Cristo, the 975 law had been created for
the needs of the perpetrators, while the 1448 law was designed to protect the needs of victims
(Rettberg, 2013, p. 7).
Characterized as “the most ambitious” Colombian transitional framework (de Waardt & Weber,
2019, Summers, 2012), the Victims Law defines victims as those

people who individually or collectively suffered harm caused by acts occurred after January
1st, 19855, as a consequence of the violation to the International Humanitarian Law or ser­
ious and manifested violations of Human Rights norms, within the contexts of the internal
armed conflict.
(Congreso de Colombia, 2011, Article 3. Translation author’s own)

The law established that victims were entitled to the re-​establishment of their rights to truth (art-
icle 23), justice (article 24), and integral reparation (article 25). These rights were to be restored
through Colombia’s Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Non-​Repetition
(hereafter SIVJRNR for its acronym in Spanish) composed by three governmental agencies: the
Missing Persons Search Unit, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (which is the judicial branch
of the SIVJRN), and the Commission for the Clarification of the Truth, Coexistence, and Non-​
Recurrence (hereafter the Truth Commission). Article 13 clarified that the Victims’ Law would
have a differential approach by acknowledging that there are some populations with particular
characteristics due to their age, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. This characterization

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 Diana Carolina García Gómez

expanded the understanding of who could be considered most vulnerable by also including people
with disabilities, campesinos, social leaders, union leaders, human rights defenders, and displaced
victims, in addition to girls, boys, youth, women and the elderly included in the 975 law.
And unlike the superficial inclusion of children in the 975, the 1448 law dedicated title VII
to the integral protection of victims who were boys, girls, and adolescents. It specified that chil-
dren considered victims were not only those who had been harmed, but those who had been
born as a consequence of sexual abuse within the framework of the armed conflict. To procure
adequate attention, the SIVJRNR was to be supported by the ICBF (which Molano at the time
was directing) and following the Colombian Childhood and Adolescence Legal Code. Articles
184 and 185 explained children’s and youth’s right to get economic reparation; however, it was
to be demanded by a legal guardian and the financial compensation would only be given to the
minor when she or he became of age. This section also included what was deemed as harms
caused mainly to children within the armed conflict: becoming an orphan (article 188), being a
victim of landmines (article 189), and forced recruitment (article 190). The latter specified that if
a child who had joined an illegal armed group demobilized as an adult, all reparation rights would
be revoked (article 184) and this person was to be part of the SIVJRNR system as a perpetrator.

2016 Peace agreement

After two years as president, at the end of 2012, Juan Manuel Santos publicly declared that his
government was to begin peace negotiations with FARC–​EP to put an end to the armed conflict.
The peace process lasted for four years, and in the last year of the process, FARC–​EP declared
that their ranks were made up by a total of 5,765 combatants.6 As a show of good will, and
although FARC–​EP has historically underplayed child recruitment, on February 2015, FARC–​EP
declared that they would not accept children under 15 into their ranks, and in November, they
raised the age to 18 (Martuscelli & Duarte Villa, 2018). Point 3.2.2.5 of the Final Agreement
was dedicated to the reincorporation of minors enlisted by FARC–​EP and explained that these
minors would be granted all the rights, benefits, and governmental allowances established for the
victims of the conflict, as well as those derived from their reincorporation process in the terms
contemplated by the Final Agreement. In terms of their reintegration, the agreement established
that their family reunification was to be prioritized, when possible, as well as their final reloca-
tion in their communities of origin or in others with similar characteristics, always taking into
account the best interests of the child and prioritizing their access to healthcare and education
(ARN, 2016. Translation my own).
While the Victims’ Law considers economic compensation for victims and in the case of
minors, a legal guardian was to receive the financial resources until they became of age, child-​
soldiers were to be considered victims only if they demobilized while being underage, otherwise
they would be considered perpetrators. The latter was confirmed with the sentence C-​069/​16 in
February of 2016 when the Constitutional Court ruled that any child-​soldier who demobilized
from any illegal group before reaching the age of majority (18 years old, in Colombia) would
be considered a victim under the law and must receive the compensation and benefits covered
in the Victims Law. This individualizes and places the responsibility on the child for escaping
the recruitment when it is known that with FARC–​EP the conscription was “for life” (Histórica,
2017) and escaping any illegal group was a dangerous decision that could lead to death (Springer,
2012). In the case of members of FARC–​EP who demobilized, the Agreement stated that former
combatants were to receive a monthly allowance for 24 months, and although this also applies to

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young people, it is not clear which mechanisms they are to follow. These confusing dictums might
make joining another illegal armed group “the only alternative for former child soldiers from
FARC-​EP, who tend to face discrimination from their families and lack opportunities to economic-
ally maintain themselves” (Martuscelli & Duarte Villa, 2018, p. 398). Furthermore, these dictums
made age the most important demarcation for children’s DDR processes.
Jointly, these legal frameworks present child-​soldiers as victims (if they are underage) who are
targets of DDR programs that have historically failed in Colombia. It also denies any possibility
to acknowledge children’s historical participation in the armed conflict as peacebuilders and local
organizational forces like their participation in the creation of comunidaddes de paz [peace com-
munities] which contradicts the idea that the child is pulled into the conflict due to being easily
manipulated and having scarce opportunities. Children involved in peace communities go as far
back as the early 1990s and have actively resisted recruitment and organized against the armed
groups while denouncing the abandonment of their communities by the state (Calle, 2000). And
while the peace agreement is the first document to consider the demobilization and reintegration
of child-​soldiers, it is not an actual guarantee for children’s participation in the post-​conflict settle-
ment. This is possibly linked to the perspective that the involvement of children in the conflict can
never be agentic and that children would not be part of a conflict if there was not a conflict in the
first place since as Springer (2012) suggests,

even in the cases in which it is facilitated by the social and economic vulnerability of those
affected, it would in no way take place without the existence of an armed conflict, whose
violence produces dynamics that alienate all the rights and freedoms of the subjugated com-
munities and drag with it, especially the most vulnerable.
(p. 10. Translation author’s own)

However, this is not exclusive to children, but to everyone living under these conditions, and
this would imply that no one, child or adult, combatant or not, are agentic, political, subjects in
contexts of armed conflict.

Child-​soldiers and the question of their agency and responsibility

Many refuse to acknowledge that child-​soldiers have any say when one tries to pose questions
around the agency of child-​soldiers. An entry point to examine the ways in which child-​soldiers
exercise their agency is analyzing the circumstances that led to their recruitment and demobiliza-
tion. Legally, the application of international law requires the distinction between the concepts of
conscription, enlistment, and use and if an individual perpetuated human rights violations, if she/​
he had mens rea, or the mental capacity to carry out that act (Rikho, 2011). Therefore, agency must
not only be understood individually, as in the individual’s choice to join or leave the armed group,
since as we have seen, children’s autonomy tends to be always questioned, and even more so when
they live in contexts of warfare; agency should also be interpreted as relational and considering
what agency means for the children themselves vis-​à-​vis their contexts. The latter becomes even
more important when one considers that most child-​soldiers declare their conscription was volun-
tary and not under coercion (Aguirre Dávila, Gaitán Díaz, Robayo Bejarano, & Huertas Montoya
2014; ARN, 2016; Carmona Parra, Moreno Martín, & Tobón Hoyos, 2012; Springer, 2012).
Additionally, one might question the awareness, intent, and systematicity in which the recruitment
of children was employed by the armed groups involved in the armed conflict.

169
 Diana Carolina García Gómez

Recruitment
There seem to be two opposing views regarding the level of agency child-​soldiers exercise when
deciding to join an illegal armed group. Most of the studies that included interviews with former
child-​soldiers found individual as well as structural factors that influenced the decision. On one
hand, poverty, domestic violence, and fascination with weapons and warfare aesthetics were
recurrent when considering the individual’s decisions; on the contextual factors, the presence
and familiarity with the illegal armed groups via an already enlisted family member, a romantic
partner, or the daily presence of the group in their hometown were the most common answers
(Carmona Parra, Moreno Martín, & Tobón Hoyos, 2012; Downing, 2014; Histórica, 2017;
Springer, 2012). And although most of the studies reviewed seemed to echo these responses,
there were some authors who due to their views of a natural childhood interpreted child-​
soldiers’ responses as questionable, biased, and coerced (Springer, 2012). Others did see these
children’s decisions to flee their homes as agentic, though in a limited way (Carmona Parra,
Moreno Martín, & Tobón Hoyos, 2012). And the limitation could stem from the children’s
experiences after the recruitment during training and once they had been “accepted” in the
illegal armed group.
But not only did illegal armed groups recruit children. The CNMH (2017) also has evidence
of recruitment of minors by the Colombian armed forces during the 1990s. Particularly in areas
where the army has been present, said forces have implemented recovery and consolidation pol-
icies and strategies that have led to the recruitment and utilization of children. Tied with the afore-
mentioned rank and power associated with the warfare aesthetic, former child-​soldiers explained
how as minors they tried multiple times to join the army. Once they finally were able to “fool” the
officers, they joined the Colombian military forces to fight the “guerrillos”. Others if discovered,
and in pursuit of a military life, would be expelled from the army and then decided to join the
paramilitaries instead (p. 305).

“Choosing” to demobilize
Some reports recount the cruel and gruesome training that children had to endure once they
had been recruited: physical punishments in front of the group, witnesses of torture, the use
of severed body parts as their first weapon so they can “get used to the smell of death”, girls
“partnered” with the leaders of the farmed group they had joined and forced into sexual servi-
tude, or girls’ erasure of their sense of femininity so they can be “one of the guys” and treated
with equal respect are some examples (Denov & Ricard-​Guay, 2013; Histórica, 2017; Springer,
2012). Some children reported being unaware of what it really was like to be part of the illegal
armed groups, but how fear of being killed for trying to escape pushed them to get used to their
new lives.
Nonetheless, according to data from the Ministry of Defense, from August 2002 to April
2020, 4,695 adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17 left the armed groups, 817 who were
between 11 and 14 years old, and 12 children who were between 7 and 10 years old at the time
of demobilization (Defensa, 2020). Although none of the former child-​soldiers in the research
reviewed, declared joining the illegal armed groups due to ideological motivations, when one
listens to former child-​soldiers experiences with the armed conflict is clear that agency cannot be
understood as an innate characteristic, or an element of one’s character that is either present or
not. Instead, agency becomes a fluctuating force, one that children can deploy depending on the
circumstances.

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 Colombian Child-Soldiers and Their Status as Political Actors

Conclusion
Tabak (2020) explains that when considering child-​soldiers we must suspend the three traditional
narratives that have framed them either as a monster, a victim, or a redeemed hero because within
this formulation children have “no chance of agency; he/​she is either the object of exploitation
or the object of salvation, and any capacity he/​she may have to participate in identifying her/​his
own concerns, demands, and solutions is quashed” (p. 128). This is supported by the report on
Colombian child-​soldiers by the CNMH (2017), which concluded that most studies about child-​
soldiers have seen children either as malleable subjects at the time of recruitment and with high
levels of naturalization in the face of violence or with the use of adjectives linked to defenseless-
ness and vulnerability to emphasize the conditions to which they are subjected (p. 182). To listen
and trust children who have endured and surpassed inexplicable circumstances, one cannot begin
the analysis from a viewpoint in which their agency is invisible. Rather, by acknowledging their
experiences one opens the door for their participation in the reconstruction of the past, and the
construction of the long-​standing peace, ensured in the peace agreements. Furthermore, this rec-
ognition of children as political actors allows civil society to comprehend the ramifications of the
different and complex experiences that children lived while in the illegal armed groups, particu-
larly in terms of their responsibility and their awareness of their actions.
And despite the numerous accounts collected after the demobilization of the AUCs in 2005,
and the testimonies collected by the TRC and the JEP from former child-​soldiers in FARC–​EP
since 2016, there have been no trials nor convictions of any of the leaders charged with the crime
of child recruitment. These testimonies, in which former child-​soldiers have tried to make visible
what has been termed “the invisible crime” by many Colombian and International development
agencies (Jiménez, Arévalo, & Bonilla, 2009), demand both the involved agencies and the former
child-​soldiers to adapt to civilian life. But there seems to be less demands asked from the armed
groups that fomented and accepted children’s recruitment. And although former child-​soldiers
are organizing, there is little trust that the former leaders who allowed the participation of minors
in the armed conflict will ever be convicted (Bocanegra, 2020). Most of the attention and efforts
are instead directed to reintegration, resocialization, and restoration of former child-​soldiers civic
rights.
As Schnabel and Tabyshalieva (2013) state,

in the aftermath of violent conflict, no society can afford to rebuild its future without the
active participation of its young generation and consideration of their interests and needs.
Yet, often trapped in a state of protracted victimhood, children and youth –​and their needs
and abilities –​are at risk of being overlooked in the planning and implementation of post-​
conflict peacebuilding.
(p. 4)

The three legal frameworks reviewed in this chapter support Schnabel and Tabyshalieva’s point
as the views on child-​soldiers in Colombia continue to deny their political subjectivity blocking
their participation in the current transitional period Colombia is experiencing. Colombian child-​
soldiers political participation seems to be suspended in a double victimization: they joined the
armed conflict as naïve, manipulable children whose development got not only halted but ruined
due to their involvement in the war. Moreover, when they share with state and international devel-
opment agencies their experiences, these tend to interpret them from a position in which they are
to be doubted and mistrusted as “brainwashed and indoctrinated war machines”. What is more

171
 Diana Carolina García Gómez

dangerous to the possibility of a long-​lasting peace is how this view on child-​soldiers as apolit-
ical, non-​agentic recruits obscures the structural inequalities and contextual circumstances that led
them to join the war in the first place. The recognition of child-​soldiers as political agents then
is crucial for the consolidation of the long-​lasting peace supported by current President Gustavo
Petro Urrego (2022–​2026), who joined the M-​19 guerrilla at the age of 17.

Notes
1 Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia –​Ejército del Pueblo [Colombian Revolutionary Armed
Forces –​People’s Army, from now on FARC–​EP] was the oldest guerrilla group in the world until
their demobilization in 2016. However, there were some fronts that chose not to comply with the peace
agreements signed in La Habana. These are commonly referred as las dicidencias (the dissidents) by
Colombian media. After the ratification of the peace agreements, the demobilized FARC–​EP leadership
founded the political party Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común –​FARC (Common Alternative
Revolutionary Force). However, due to the continuous attacks by dissidence, the party was renamed
Comunes in 2017 to avoid associations with the extinct guerrilla force and dissidences.
2 According to the CNMH (2017), the recruitment of children in areas where the conflict has been histor­
ically present was influenced by the social base of each illegal armed group. This refers to the group’s
organizational structure and its ability to control a territory and extract material and human resources
(p. 31). Therefore, each illegal group had different vertical bonds (meaning, the internal relations between
the leadership of the group and the recruits) and horizontal bonds (meaning, the everyday interactions
between the armed groups and civilians that affected the control of the area either by fear or “collab-
oration” and trust-​building). In the case of FARC, the organization was able to foster strong horizontal
bonds due to their presence in rural areas and the idealization of a shared campesino identity. Hence,
FARC recruits would often join because of historical/​familiar allegiances with the group, would not be
remunerated, and would “agree” to be part of FARC for life. On the opposite spectrum, the paramilitary
group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (from now on the AUCs) had weak vertical and horizontal
bonds which explains the lack of identification between the combatants and its leadership but resulted
in a clasped control of the territories where they were present. Unlike FARC, members of the AUC did
receive monetary incentives and could “work” in other illegal economies such as drug-​trafficking, human-​
trafficking, smuggling, or private security (Histórica 2017).
3 In the original text, the lawmakers used Entrega de menores, or “delivery of minors” if one were to dir­
ectly translate. The original text reads:

Entrega de menores. La entrega de menores por parte de miembros de Grupos armados al margen
de la ley no serán causal de la pérdida de los beneficios a que se refieren la presente ley y la Ley
782 de 2002.
(Congreso de Colombia 2005)

I preferred to use the word return and not delivery, to keep the intention of the article.
4 After the demobilization of the AUC, a new paramilitary group Autodefenseas Unidas Gaitanistas was
formed from many of the “demobilized” combatants, among them minors (Springer, 2012).
5 This date was chosen after multiple debates and changes in the Senate. According to Juan Fernando
Cristo, January 1, 1985 was chosen as the date that determines the eligibility to victim status, because it
allowed the inclusion of particular emblematic cases like the Unión Patriótica genocide, the magnicides
of presidential candidates Jaime Pardo Leal (1941–​1987), Luis Carlos Galán (1943–​1989), Carlos Pizarro
Leongómez (1951–​1990), and Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa (1956–​1990), and all the massacres and crimes
committed by the paramilitaries and FARC in the second half of the 1980s.
6 The final agreement was signed between the Colombian government and FARC–​EP on August 24, 2016.
The government sought to legitimize the process via popular referendum which took place in October
of that same year. Over thirteen million Colombians voted and of those 50.21% opposed and 49.79%
voted in support of the agreement. It is worth noting that only 37% of the people who could vote, opted
to participate in the referendum. Furthermore, most of the departments where the conflict has been histor-
ically present (Caribbean, Pacific, and Amazonian regions, where most of the illicit drugs are produced)

172
 Colombian Child-Soldiers and Their Status as Political Actors

voted in support of the agreement. After the rejection, the agreement was changed to include some of
the objections presented by the opposition, and the “Final Agreement for the Ending of the Conflict and
the Construction of a Stable and Lasting Peace” was signed between the Colombian government and
FARC–​EP in a closed meeting on November 24, 2016 in Bogotá, Colombia. The document was then sent
to Congress for ratification and implementation, obtaining a fast-​track procedure.

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 SECTION 3

Migration, Children and Development

 14
SECTION INTRODUCTION
Anandini Dar

This section was planned at a time when migration patterns –​both internal and international –​
experienced rapid reconfiguration as the world witnessed a halt in mobility due to the COVID-​
19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. Physical mobility came to a standstill, while digital
mobility and communication increased for some segments of society more than others. But for
migrant children and families, this had a deleterious effect on their safety, livelihoods, and edu-
cation. In the case of India, for instance, a paradox concerning mobility and immobility emerged
during the pandemic (Bandyopadhyay, Banerjee, Samaddar, 2021). With the unplanned and
sudden announcement of a nationwide lockdown in March 2020, migrant workers and their fam-
ilies instantly lost their livelihoods, otherwise supported through daily wages. With no security
provided by the state, they instead rushed back to their hometowns in large numbers. This
meant a mass exodus of thousands of migrants –​men, women, and children –​from cities to
villages, by foot, as railway and bus services had been halted. This visual of thousands of migrant
workers leaving the city (particularly Delhi) not only damaged the image of modernity but also
demonstrated the problematics of national and global development agendas and urbanisation. It
made evident that the neoliberal city is unable to safely accommodate and settle those who help
build and run the city (Prakash, 2018; Samaddar, 2018). The policies suggesting a sealing of
national and state borders as an immediate and fairly lengthy solution to stop the spread of cor-
onavirus highlighted the exacerbation of marginalisation of some groups of people versus others
in our societies. Migrants and their families bore the brunt of this as a consequence as many did
not have a choice to stay behind in cities or in host countries. Hence, migrant families and chil-
dren had to commute lengthy distances via difficult modes, often risking their lives, to return to
their hometowns as the promise of migration had failed as a result of these new policies to curtail
the pandemic (see also Dar & Kannan, 2023).
Contrastingly, but similarly problematically, in the case of migration trends between the US and
the Central American countries, the pandemic resulted in restricting entry of all refugees seeking
asylum at the US–​Mexico border as per a special public health order, while tourists and other visa
category groups were allowed entry as late as May 2022 (Swanson, this volume). In both instances
of migratory patterns –​internal migrants within India or refugees in America –​national policies
largely disadvantage migrants and, in many ways, dehumanise and ignore the needs and concerns

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-18 177

 Anandini Dar

of this group of people. While not all the chapters in this section address the consequences of
COVID-​19 and its aftermath on migrant children and their families, they do highlight on-​going
ways in which development policies and programmes impact child migrants, their mobility, and
the economic consequences faced by migrant families who leave behind their children. Whereas
the pandemic and its aftermath were also marred by policies that disadvantaged migrant labour
and migrant children, most of the chapters in this section discuss the consequences of migration on
families and how development policies and global development agendas have impacted migrant
children and families detrimentally.
What ties the chapters in this section together is the failure of the modern city, a symbol of
nationalist development and international development policies, when read through the perspec-
tive of the most marginalised population in urban cities –​migrant children. Ranging from spe-
cific examinations of migrant children’s educational experiences through the support of varied
developmental agencies in the city of Bangalore, India (see Vijitha Rajan, this volume), to more
broader reviews of literature on impacts on children’s wellbeing in the context of East Asian labour
migration (Yao Fu et al., this volume), and transnational migration trends between Ghana and
the UK in context of the global economic crisis of 2008 (Michael Boampong, this volume), and
finally, a historical explanation of the current crisis of the unaccompanied child migrants at the
US/​Mexico border (Kate Swanson, this volume); each chapter in this section advances how devel-
opment agendas –​both national and international –​have resulted in creating a disadvantaged
population in the Global South contexts who are forced to migrate to urban centres for better
livelihoods and educational and economic opportunities either with their children or by leaving
them behind. Hence, this section argues that development policies are constantly at odds with
migrant children’s rights. Migration is a consequence of not recent development trends, but rather
colonial, neo-​colonial, and neoliberalisation interventions that have created conditions of mar-
ginality, economic depravity, and risk, for the most disadvantaged communities in the nations of
the South. These migrants end up either being pushed out from their own countries or are drawn
towards various economic opportunities that other population groups are not willing to take up.
When child migrants or their parents do arrive in new locations, they experience challenging
circumstances vis-​à-​vis their education, family renewal, and overall wellbeing. All the chapters
in this section advance the idea that these challenging experiences of child migrants and their
families are a result of the detrimental and exclusionary development policies at the national or
international level.
In her chapter in this section, Vijitha Rajan highlights some of these exclusionary locales of
development policies, particularly in relation to migrant children’s education, who are living in
the city of Bangalore, India. She argues how the neoliberalisation policies of the Indian state
in the 1990s resulted in diminishing their own role in the universalisation of elementary educa-
tion and legitimised the role of non-​state actors in creating provisions for marginalised children’s
schooling, resulting in a heterogeneous –​and often exclusionary –​terrains for migrant children’s
learning and futures. Drawing on her ethnography with three non-​governmental organisations pro-
viding education for migrant children in Bangalore, she finds that these spaces are often the only
educational sites for marginalised children; however, they are very varied in terms of the quality of
education they offer to children. Migrant children remain at the periphery of formal schooling due
to the erratic patterns of migration, and their enrolment, attendance, and retention remains low as
a result (Chandrasekhar & Bhattacharya, 2018). Given this context, the support for NGO schools
catering to migrant children requires urgent attention and support from the state, as they are tasked
with this significant development project. Rajan’s chapter, hence, offers a careful analysis of the
ways in which NGO schools have varied levels of quality, often leading to further exclusion of

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 Section Introduction

migrant children, although intended to create pathways for inclusion for their education. It is ironic
that development agendas of city planning bring migrant families to cities with the lure of better
education for their children, yet these moves disadvantage migrant children further as they remain
outside of the formal school system and NGO schools and bridge programmes tend to vary in
quality drastically (Rajan, 2018).
In cases of migration when parents decide to leave their children behind, children’s educa-
tion and overall wellbeing gets affected drastically. In their chapter in this section, Yao Fu, Lucy
Jordan, Thida Kim, and Elspeth Graham provide a comprehensive review of the literature on
how parental migration impacts children, particularly in low-​and middle-​income countries of
South-​East Asia. This region, they report, has been identified by the United Nations Department
of Economic and Social Affairs as accounting for about 23.6 million international migrants.
These migrant flows are created as a result of labour shortages in high-​income economies, which
are fulfilled by workers from low-​ and middle-​income economies, such as Vietnam, Myanmar,
Timor-​Leste, Cambodia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Through the money migrants send home
from their earnings abroad in the form of remittances, they also contribute to the overall Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) of their respective countries. However, these economic measures do
not reveal socio-​ecological development, nor account for changes to social protection, cultural
norms, and household structures (Vanore et al., 2021), which affects children and their wellbeing.
Furthermore, the authors argue that for the value of economic growth through remittances should
be assessed alongside the costs of parent–​child separation. Through their review, they find that the
benefits to the economy of the country and the individual households, made through remittances,
do not necessarily provide health benefits and access to better health services for their children left
behind. The quality of caregiving in the absence of parents and support to children’s mental health
also remains limited, and hence the economic benefits do not weigh out against the cost of parental
absence for transnational families, particularly for “left-​behind” children. Furthermore, Fu et al
argue that policies for migrants in this region do not account for adequate support to migrating
individuals or families. Migrants often reach their destination countries through unlicenced
brokers and without relevant information for their safety (Harkins et al., 2017), and therefore, spe­
cific policies for migrants, they argue, need to account for the individual and sociological factors
that are a part of the process of migration. The authors also propose better policy coordination
between migrant sending and receiving areas, and planning of adequate social welfare provisions
that impact children’s wellbeing. Hence, this chapter also advances the problematics of global
development agendas and policies that detrimentally impact migrant families and their children
and proposes a call for re-​thinking global development agendas in light of impacts on children and
young people.
Michael Boampong’s chapter also unpacks the relationship between global economy and
migration, but through a review of literature on the impact of the 2008 economic crisis of the UK
and its impact on migrant children and their families, particularly those constituting the field of
transnational Ghanaian-​British families. He argues for the need to revisit the impact of the global
economic crisis of 2008–​2009, along with other economic crises of the North, under which trans-
national migrant families –​particularly migrants of the global South –​enact, maintain, and trans-
form their social relations. Some analysis of the emerging literature helps Boampong argue that
such economic crises result in creating ripple effects on the everyday life experiences and decisions
relating to remittances by migrants. He finds that while there is little literature available on the
connection between global economic crisis and social-​economic conditions of child migrants,
literature on transnational child migrants, both unaccompanied and those who migrate with fam-
ilies, indicates how economic policies of the Global North have implications on everyday lives

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 Anandini Dar

of the migrants from the Global South –​including on their social relations, language exchange,
education, cultural identities, and development of social and cultural values. At the same time, he
argues that while much of this literature is adult-​centric, children’s own agencies within decisions
about migration and their role in cultural and social reproduction after migrating are significant
in understanding transnational families and their relations with the global economy. Hence, for
Boampong, like the other contributors in this section, migrant children are central actors in migra-
tion processes and need to be studied in relation to the political economy and changes in the global
economic world.
The final chapter in this section by Kate Swanson helps historicise the complexities and
challenges faced by migrants today in context of the unaccompanied minors at the US/​Mexico
border. She argues that the US policies have drastically contributed to the creation of aspiration,
need, and movement of child migrants from Central America to the US. And yet, the policies for
these child migrants –​seeking asylum, particularly from the regions of Guatemala, Honduras,
Mexico, and El Salvador –​are hostile towards them and restrict the possibilities for family
reunification, and quality education. Drawing on over a decade long experience of working
with unaccompanied migrant children in US and Mexican immigration detention centres, and
through a review of literature, Swanson argues that capitalism and lasting impacts of US mili-
tary intervention contributed to creating poverty, inequality, and violence in these aforemen-
tioned regions, which has resulted in driving contemporary child migration between Central
America and the US. Furthermore, Swanson unpacks and details the hostile immigration pol-
icies of the US towards migrants, particularly asylum seeking children, and reveals how ironic
and problematic these policies are given the role the state has played in creating precarious
conditions of living in Central America, which has led to the need to seek asylum by children –​
particularly to avoid joining gangs, in hope for a better future, and aspirations to live a safe and
healthy life –​in the first place.
All the chapters in this section advance the need to place children at the centre of debates and
policies on migration. This is required because children are sometimes the most affected and most
ignored population groups in policy planning and because children are migrating at unprecedented
rates in and across various regions of the globe. This section, hence, finally, proposes for a need to
re-​think migration policies in alignment with development policies –​at national and international
levels –​and to situate migrant children’s needs and wellbeing as central to this process. Sufficient
evidence from research in the field in childhood studies suggests that children are capable of being
involved in decision-​making processes and all of the chapters in this section suggest a need to
look at bottom-​up approaches to development policies and highlight the urgency of listening to
children’s experiences and perspectives related to migration.

References
Bandyopadhyay, R., Banerjee, P., and Samaddar, R. (2021) India’s Migrant Workers and the Pandemic.
London: Routledge.
Chandrasekhar, S., & Bhattacharya, L. (2018). Education of children from migrant rural households in
India: Moving towards a coherent policy framework (Background Paper Prepared for the 2019 Global
Education Monitoring Report). UNESCO. https://​unes​doc.une​sco.org/​ark:/​48223/​pf000​0266​057
Dar, A., & Kannan, D. (2023). Introduction: Children, Youth, and Modernity in the ‘Everyday Urban.’ In
A., Dar & Kannan, D. (eds.), Childhood and Youth in India: Engagements with Modernity. Studies in
Childhood and Youth (pp. 1–​30). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Harkins, B., Lindgren, D., & Suravoranon, T. (2017). Risks and Rewards: Outcomes of Labour Migration in
South-​East Asia. Geneva: IOM & ILO.

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Prakash, A. (2018). The Capital City: Discursive Dissonance of Law and Policy. In R. Samaddar (ed.),
Migrants and the Neoliberal City (pp. 225–​257). Delhi: Orient Blackswan.
Rajan, V. (2018). Stolen Childhoods: Observations on Education of Migrant Children. Economic and Political
Weekly, LIII:1.
Samaddar, R. (2018). Introduction. In R. Samaddar (ed.), Migrants and the Neoliberal City (pp. 1–​20).
Delhi: Orient Blackswan.
Vanore, M., Wickramage, K. P., Devakumar, D., & Jordan, L. P. (2021). Psychosocial and Mental Health
Impacts of Migration on ‘left-​behind’ Children of International Migrant Workers. In D. Bhugra (ed.),
Oxford Textbook of Migrant Psychiatry (pp. 159–​170). Oxford University Press.

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 15
EXCLUSIONARY LOCALES
OF MIGRATION AND
EDUCATION IN INDIA
Situating Heterogeneous Manifestations
of NGO Schooling

Vijitha Rajan

Introduction
The right to elementary education is still a distant prospect for children of temporary (i.e., short-​
term/​seasonal/​circular) internal migrant families belonging to the lowest socio-​economic strata in
India. Various global and national policy call for ensuring equitable quality education to migrant
children (GEMR, 2018; GoI, 2021). Despite this, temporary migrant children remain one of the
most marginalized groups in education (Chandrasekhar & Bhattacharya, 2018) and many of them
are either never enrolled in school or have dropped out of school.
The actual modalities of migrant children’s enrolment, attendance and retention in schools
remain ambiguous and challenging (Chandrasekhar & Bhattacharya, 2018). Various issues have
been highlighted in this regard: lack of adequate schools near work sites or residential hostels
around origin areas of migration; the involvement of children in work; younger children being
cared for by older siblings; the inability of parents to monitor their children’s education; the poor
quality of government schools; the lack of guidance for children’s learning by both teachers and
parents; poor infrastructure and resources of informal learning centres; and more importantly –​
for reasons of children’s mobility –​lack of coordination between schools in origin and destin-
ation sites (Smita, 2008). Furthermore, as I have argued elsewhere, migrant children’s educational
inclusion is complexly mediated through the interaction between spatio-​temporal modalities of
the formal schooling system and erratic patterns of migration (Rajan, 2018, 2020, 2021a, 2021b).
These aspects are argued to have a cumulative effect on the learning and development of children
who migrate temporarily.
Drawing upon ethnographic field work from the city of Bangalore (situated in the Indian state
of Karnataka), this chapter focuses on NGO engagement with migrant childhoods and their edu-
cational provisioning. NGO schools are the only resort for many migrant children in the city;
and given the global and national thrust towards NGO involvement in projects of development,
particularly those in connection to marginal childhoods, it is imperative to examine the nature of

182 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-19

 Exclusionary Locales of Migration and Education in India

education that NGO schools envision and the implications they have for inclusion of migrant chil-
dren. At one level, this has conceptual implications in terms of engaging with the dominant binary
narratives around NGO workings as either exclusionary or inclusionary for the marginalized. At
another level there are implications for policy and practice in understanding how NGO schools
can be optimally engaged with and fostered by the state in ways that can ensure migrant children’s
right to equitable quality education.
It is in this light that this chapter explores varying educational philosophies through which the
three NGOs under study engage with educational inclusion of migrant children.

Temporary Migration, Children and Education

Many global estimates indicate that the number of internal migrants is significantly more than
the number of international migrants (IOM, 2019) and yet, for decades it is international migra­
tion that has been in the limelight of migration studies (Deshingkar & Grimm, 2005). While one
out of 30 people across the globe are international migrants, one out of eight people are internal
migrants; and internal migration has increased significantly in developing countries like India
(GEMR, 2018). The number of internal migrants in India has increased from around 309 million
in 2001 Census to around 454 million in 2011 Census (Rajan & Sumeetha, 2020).
Participants of my study belong to the rural-​urban internal migration stream (both interstate
and intrastate) but most of their migration is temporary (circular/​short term/​seasonal) in nature.
Such temporary internal migration consists of diverse kinds of labour movements. The patterns are
often complex and contingent upon numerous factors such as the length of migration cycle; annual
frequency of migration; type of destination; nature of work; and whether migration is undertaken
by single individuals or families (Srivastava, 2012). Data regarding the nature and pattern of tem­
porary migration is not sufficiently captured by either of the two prominent migration data sources
in the country –​Census and NSSO –​as their methods are suitable to capture trends in permanent
and semi-​permanent migration alone (Srivastava, 2012). Despite the observed increase in such
forms of migration in countries like India, availability of accurate data remains scarce (GEMR,
2018). NSSO (2007–​08) estimates the rate of ‘short-​term migration’ –​staying away from the
village/​town for employment or in search of employment for a period of 30 days to 6 months
during last 365 days –​to be around 1.7% in rural areas and less than 1% in urban areas (NSSO,
2010). However, various other estimates claim that the number of short-​term migrants is likely to
be much higher (see, for example, Deshingkar & Akter, 2009) and is on the rise.
Furthermore, it is observed that temporary forms of migration are undertaken by socio-​
economically marginalized sections of society in rural India and are employed in vulnerable
informal labour sectors such as construction, agriculture and manufacturing (GoI, 2017). With
increased casualization and informalization of labour post-​1990s, the living and working conditions
of temporary migrants have become more exploitative and vulnerable (Breman, 1996). They
increasingly come to depend upon agents, brokers and contractors, as the state and the law fail to
protect their rights (Mosse et al., 2005), resulting in new forms of labour bondage (Mander et al.,
2019). Urban spaces that migrants come to for livelihood opportunities have become ‘extraction
sites’ that exploit labour of poor migrants while completely disregarding them as rights-​bearing
citizens of the country (Samaddar, 2015). Mander et al. (2019) use the phrase ‘stolen citizenship’
to indicate how temporary circular migrants are deprived of their basic citizenship rights in terms
of housing, healthcare, employment, education, childcare and social protection.
Children of temporarily migrating families often migrate with their parents (Chandrasekhar
& Bhattacharya, 2018) though many of them are also left behind in source sites. No official data

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 Vijitha Rajan

is available that comprehensively enumerates the scale and nature of migrant children’s involve-
ment in migration. Some reports estimate that there are 6 million children accompanying seasonal
migrant families in India and 10.7 million children left behind in rural households with at least one
short-​term migrant (Chandrasekhar & Bhattacharya, 2018; Smita, 2008) within elementary school
age group. Limited studies that are available clearly indicate that children face various forms of
exclusion in source and destination sites in terms of access to resources, engagement in child
labour and access to equitable quality education (see for instance Aide et Action, 2012; Coffey,
2013; RoyChowdhury, 2014).
Despite various provisions in the RTE act to support migrant education, migrant children are
systematically denied access to education. For example, Section 4 of the RTE Act enables migrant
children to be admitted to an age-​appropriate class, receive special training and complete elemen-
tary education even after 14 years. Section 9 of RTE assigns duties to the local authority to ensure
the provision of free and compulsory elementary education to all children in a neighbourhood
school. Section 14 mandates that children should not be denied admission for the lack of age
proof. According to Section 15, schools are barred from rejecting admission to a child, regardless
of time of the year. My research in NGO sites show that all of these provisions get challenged
in the field in several ways. Migrant children have restricted access to education in the city for
multiple reasons such as their secluded socio-​spatial location in the city, engagement in domestic
work and sibling care, lack of access to resources and identity documents, and school-​related
challenges such as language, social discrimination and rigid curricular approaches. Ramachandran
(2015, p.383) argues that one of the significant issues related to urban schooling is about defining
‘a community around the school –​who are the stakeholders? Are they the parents, neighbourhood
leaders, local voluntary groups, or social action groups?.’ Questions around RTE concepts such as
‘a neighbourhood school, ‘an age-​appropriate class,’ ‘community involvement’ and ‘local govern-
ment’ get further contested in the context of migrant children’s educational inclusion.

Education for All (EFA) and NGOs as Legitimate Developmental Partners

This section explores the link between global and national agendas around EFA and the associated
evolution of NGOs as legitimate partners in the developmental project of educational inclusion
of children from marginalized communities. Furthermore, it highlights the changing landscape of
state schooling in India and thereby educational provisioning for children on the margins.
In post-​1990s, international policy frameworks such as the EFA increasingly called for ‘syn-
ergistic partnerships’ between various stakeholders to ensure educational access and inclusion
(Kumar, 2006). Nair (2004) notes that educational interventions in the decades, where EFA
programmes such as Lok Jumbish, District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) and Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) were adopted, more concrete platforms for NGOs emerged. This, she
argues, resulted in the subsequent five-​year plan1 reiterating the significance of partnership with
NGOs and civil society organizations towards making education affordable and accessible for
the ‘hard-​to-​reach.’ The ‘mission-​mode’ of development onset by global liberalization and struc-
tural reform agenda in the 1980s and 1990s (along with its ‘techno moral’ politics) increased
the number and scope of NGO participation in development programmes tremendously and built
partnerships with the state through ideals of ‘good governance’ (Bornstein & Sharma, 2016;
Nair, 2004). Changes in local political contexts such as decentralization of governance further
augmented the participation of NGOs leading to greater collaboration between the state and NGOs.
NGOs thus emerged as ‘funded, salaried and professionalized bodies’ that are less politicized and
more service delivery oriented and are quite different from voluntary organizations that existed in

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colonial and early independent India (Nair, 2011, p.259). Thus, increased professionalization and
bureaucratized service delivery mode of NGOs, along with their legitimacy as major actors in the
national and global development space, fundamentally changed their nature of engagement with
children on the margins.
In the context of the changing nature of NGOs in contemporary times, two arguments are
increasingly made. The first criticizes NGOs for not serving the purpose for which they entered
the development scene. For example, Kamat (2004) argues that through pluralization of the
public sphere and depoliticization of local development, global policy actors incorporate NGOs
in ways that promote their economic agenda and speculates whether NGOs in this context can
work as ‘honest brokers of people’s interests’ (p.171). She problematizes the global context of
donor patronage and accountability in which NGOs are situated and calls them the ‘false saviours
of international development.’ In similar light, Ismail and Kamat (2018) point out that, in the
increased incorporation of NGOs into the neoliberal fold, ‘they occupy a structural position –​
through ideological and material means –​of neutralizing dissent’ (p.570).
The second argument points to how the shift in the nature of the constitution of NGOs is accom-
panied by the failure of the state in ensuring development and education in inclusionary ways.
National Policy of Education (1986, p.15) mentions that the state will assume overall respon-
sibility of Non-​Formal Education (NFE) programmes, and voluntary agencies will have larger
responsibility in their implementation. This in turn has altered the modalities of state–​NGO col-
laboration (Nair, 2011). National policies not only reiterate the significance and legitimacy of the
partnership between the Government and the Voluntary Sector in the development process and the
need for an enabling environment but also attribute larger significance to the latter’s commitment
and ability to engage with disadvantaged communities (see GoI, 2007, 2013). State advocacy for
NFE and ‘alternative’ schools towards ensuring EFA reflects the withdrawal from its constitutional
obligation of providing education for all, particularly for children on the margins (Velaskar, 2010).
For these ‘hard to reach’ children educational interventions remain as ‘an open-​ended site of con-
tinuous experimentation’ unanchored from the requirements of equitable and quality education
mandated by RTE (Balagopalan, 2018, p.6). In case of educational interventions by NGOs, though
global and national policies often reify a ‘universal positive image,’ these have been critiqued for
their diverse nature (Rose, 2009).
In this backdrop, this chapter problematizes the taken-​for-​granted imaginations around NGO
engagement with migrant children and highlights empirical heterogeneity of NGOs in the city.

Migration and Education in the City

The larger objective of my research has been to understand the everyday lives of migrant chil-
dren in the city of Bangalore and the nature of their educational experiences in three NGO sites
as mediated through aforesaid exclusionary locales of education and development. Field work
for the study was spread over 13 months and data was collected using ethnographic methods,
via interactions with migrant children, their families and various educational functionaries in the
city of Bangalore. The child participants were found across three different NGOs that provide
bridging programmes for migrant children and the majority of them belonged to the age group of
7–​12 years. The majority of families came from North Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal
and Uttar Pradesh. Kannada, Telugu, Bengali and Hindi are the top four languages spoken by
children.
It is observed that living and working conditions of poor migrant families in the city of Bangalore
are increasingly becoming vulnerable and exploitative. Albeit the significance of their labour to

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 Vijitha Rajan

the development of the city, ‘they are pushed into the margins’ (Gidwani et al., 2017). Moreover,
there is no adequate investment in the city’s infrastructure or services (Sridhar et al., 2013) in
ways that address the huge influx of migrants. Bangalore is the third highest urban agglomeration,
according to Census (2001), after Delhi and Mumbai, in terms of proportion of in-​migrants to total
population (13.4%). A survey of 300 skilled and unskilled migrants each in Bangalore along with
hundred skilled and hundred unskilled non-​migrants (Sridhar et al., 2013) finds that when educa­
tion levels of migrants are lower, ‘push’ factors become more important in their migration and vice
versa. The findings of the survey also point out that migrants in the general category (unlike SC
or ST) are more likely to be ‘pulled’ towards Bangalore, than ‘pushed out of rural areas.’ Migrant
workers in Bangalore city are also largely employed in informal sectors such as construction.
It is estimated that the construction industry in Bangalore is being sustained by around 15 lakh
migrant workers from other Indian states (Premchander et al., 2014). Furthermore, the ‘trickle’
of circular migration to Bangalore city observed in late 1990s has become a ‘stream’ in the early
2000s (Pattenden, 2012), raising more questions in connection to how exclusionary processes of
development engage with the migrant subject in the city.
Roy Chowdhury (2021) points out that the larger political economy of national and international
development around agendas of growth and services-​led IT economy in Bangalore shapes the lives
and livelihoods of marginalized groups in the city. This is reflected in the fact that consistent
increase in gross state domestic product (GSDP) of Karnataka is accompanied by a reduction of
expenditure in social sector and human development. RoyChowdhury argues that ‘Bangalore’s
growth as an IT hub has brought it an iconic status as India’s Silicon Valley, attracting a tech-
nical/​professional class of globally connected citizens, there is a clearly discernible wasteland
outside’ (p.13, 14) consisting of urban poor, migrant labourers, and rural dwellers. She traces the
existence of such an exclusivist trajectory of city to historical changes such as decline in public
sector and of small-​scale industries and the shift towards ‘globally competitive, high technology
domains, in electronics and telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food processing
and automobiles’ (p.14). In this backdrop, public policy abjures questions around inclusion, social
justice and quality life and work for marginalized groups in the city.
Vulnerable locations of migrants’ living and labouring in the city also have critical implications
for children’s schooling, despite the otherwise impressive educational statistics of Bangalore city.
GoK (2013) reports gross enrolment ratio in Bangalore Urban district for the year 2012–​13 as
134.92 at primary level and 122.89 at upper primary level (as against the state average of 106.81
and 105.66, respectively). For the same year, the overall retention rates are 104.68 at the pri-
mary level and 100.06 at the upper primary level as compared to state averages of 92.31 and
92.87, respectively. The annual average dropout rate is reported as 0 and 0.68 at primary and
upper primary levels, respectively (as against the state average of 2.56 and 5.40, respectively).
Notwithstanding such notable figures, the city is inhabited by large numbers of out-​of-​school
children (OoSC) though, government figures regarding OoSC are significantly underreported in
the Indian context and offer only a cursory indication of larger questions of educational exclu-
sion (Rajan, 2019). For instance, though the total number of elementary school-​going children in
the state of Karnataka is more than 8 million, only about half lakh children are being reported as
the total number of OoSC in the year 2013–​14. Within Bangalore Urban district the total number
of OoSC is reported as 6482 as compared to more than 1 million elementary school-​going chil-
dren in the district. Civil society organizations and activists contested these figures in Karnataka
High Court and argued that the number of OoSC must be at around 6 lakhs in Karnataka (see
Chamaraj, 2015). Taking note of such huge variation, the high court asked the state govern­
ment for a fresh survey to estimate the actual number of OoSC. The new survey conducted by

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 Exclusionary Locales of Migration and Education in India

the state estimated around 1.7 lakh OoSC in Karnataka and the education district that has the
highest number of OoSC is Bengaluru South (18,393). While official figures heavily underplay
the number of OoSC, migration is recognized as one of the critical factors that keeps children out
of school in the city.
Three NGOs (referred to hereafter as NGO-​1, NGO-​2 and NGO-​3) where my study was
conducted were located in East Bangalore and in areas that have witnessed rapid expansion of the
information technology sector and large-​scale construction projects; the reason for a significant
presence of migrants. Along with other initiatives (for various groups of marginalized commu-
nities and children in the city), these NGOs offered bridging programmes for children living in
migrant settlements (within around 10 km from the schools) and through that attempted to enrol
children in formal schools. It is the bridging schools (one from each NGO) for migrant children
that were field sites for the current study. Though some children were successfully enrolled, many
children remained out of school, dropped out or moved to another location with their families
during or after the bridging programme. While such limited reach of NGOs is a critical question
in the context of educational inclusion of migrant children, this study aimed at understanding the
nature and characteristics of their educational interventions for migrant children.
The initial formation of NGO-​1 was initiated by a group of eight people in 1976 with a goal of
improving the exploitative working conditions of labourers who worked in the train station in a
city that is located in the Indian state of Telangana. NGO-​1 got formally registered in 1981, grew
its scale of operation gradually and is currently managing multiple projects in Hyderabad and
Bangalore. The public profile of NGO-​1 claims it to be a rights-​based, child-​cantered and commu-
nity development organization that is engaged in grassroot level integrated development initiatives
for urban poor and children in distress. Based on the principles of collective action, social justice,
equity and child rights protection, the organization runs a number of initiatives for urban poor and
children in distress. Initiatives for migrant families include creating community awareness about
government schemes and labour rights; and lobbying and advocating at the policy level. Other
educational initiatives include residential shelters for street and working children; toll-​free tele-
phone number for children in distress; skill training centre for youth from urban slums; residential
hostel for girls from disadvantaged communities; implementation and monitoring of RTE in the
working areas of the organization. The overall framework that informs most of the organization’s
initiatives is based on ideas of rescue and rehabilitation of children in difficult circumstances.
The field work site in NGO-​1 is a school (established in 2005) situated near HAL region in East
Bangalore.
The second NGO (NGO-​2) is a relatively new and small-​scale organization established in
2015 by a group of six people in Bangalore, who all are part of the same alma mater. A bridge
Learning Centre was started inside the premises of an Upper Primary Government School located
off Sarjapur Road in East Bangalore. The overarching guiding principle of the organization is
inclusive education. The target group for the educational intervention is migrant OoSC and their
younger siblings from the construction sites around the location of the learning centre. In 2017 the
NGO-​2 established another learning centre which is around 3 km from the first bridge school and
is situated in the premises of another Lower Primary Government School. The major target group
for their educational intervention is children of migrant families who live in settlements near the
bridge centres. NGO-​2 claims to recognize multiple barriers to migrant children’s education and
how the ‘out of school’ status of these children excludes them from opportunities, social mobility
and development and perpetuates an intergenerational cycle of poverty. Its mission is to address
the problem of lack of access to schooling for migrant children and the systemic barriers that
hinder the access by creating ‘meaningful learning experiences’ for migrant children and facilitate

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their access to the formal schooling system. As part of the field work, I spent time in both the
bridge centres run by the NGO-​2.
Formally founded in 2010, the third NGO (NGO-​3) was initiated through the voluntary effort
of one of the founder members in identifying many OoSC and motivating them to join the formal
system of schooling. NGO-​3 currently works with OoSC in three Indian cities including Bangalore.
It proposes ‘a tailormade school’ model to address the multiple languages, geographical and age
backgrounds of migrant children. The NGO attempts to address challenges such as sibling care
and lack of transport in accessing formal education. It aims to provide migrant children with access
to basic education, to enable them to get admitted in an age-​appropriate class in English medium
private schools and provide after-​school support. In addition to these, the NGO-​3 also provides
nutrition and conducts enrolment campaigns in the community. The parents are counselled to pay
half of the private school fee; the other half is provided by the NGO through individual sponsors.
Transforming an ‘Illiterate child into an English-​speaking child’ and through that develop the
individual and the family is proposed to be the major focus area of the organization. Field work in
NGO-​3 was conducted in one of its bridging schools, situated near Nallurhalli in East Bangalore.
The next section explores the diversity in the educational approaches of three NGOs under
study and highlights that NGOs in the local context of Bangalore have diverse trajectories
for migrant children and cannot be understood through a homogeneous labelling of NGO
interventions.

NGO Heterogeneity and Educational Inclusion of Migrant Children

This section explores how the idea of education, as it is lived out in the everyday spaces of the
three NGO schools, varies considerably irrespective of their common rootedness in the macro
claims of child rights, social justice, inclusion and empowerment.
In the case of NGO-​1, irrespective of being claimed as an organization holistically focused on
migrant rights, education in NGO-​1 is practised on the ground as a ‘give’ and ‘take’ transactional
arrangement. Conditional incentivization appears to regulate children’s access to the school. For
example, migrant families are distributed electric lamps which children can get charged in the
school, provided they attend the school regularly. Food is another incentive provided to encourage
children to attend school. Incentivization in itself does not appear to be a problem. Yet, the manner
in which it unfolds in everyday space of the NGO is rigid as a result of which several children are
sent back to settlements if they come to school during the middle of the day instead of morning
‘only for food.’ Many children could come only late to school due to domestic responsibilities at
home or because they experienced extended periods of absence from school and had lost interest
in schooling. In rhetoric, NGO-​1 claims itself to be ‘flexible’ enough to accommodate the lived
realities of migrant children. Yet, in reality, the idea of flexibility becomes adverse, as it is not
implemented meaningfully. For example, children have the flexibility of going back to the settle-
ment during the school day to do their household chores such as collecting water. The idea is to
enable children to balance both school and work. In effect, children randomly walk in and out of
school during the day, and no systematic learning experiences are provided during their time at
school, instead only very rudimentary literacy and numeracy lessons are taught to children of all
age groups. Another example of this ‘flexibility’ principle is how the school admits older children,
along with their younger siblings, with the aim to relieve older children of sibling care and thereby
facilitate their access to schooling. Ironically, both older and younger children were made to sit in
the same classroom and the older children typically ended up taking care of their younger siblings
even within the school. This is not only because of their emotional and physical attachment with

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their siblings, but also because teachers constantly request them to take care of the younger ones
when in need.
Therefore, the NGO centre acts as a safe ‘day-​care’ centre, where children spend time and
have access to some health and nutrition facilities. Children were not seen to be provided mean-
ingful learning opportunities, except for some rudimentary literacy and numeracy skills. The NGO
focuses on mainstreaming children to ‘age-​appropriate’ grades in government schools, without
any systematic attempts to identify or bridge their learning gaps. Neither do mainstream govern-
ment schools follow any systematic processes to assess learning levels of children. Instead, chil-
dren are enrolled nominally in a particular grade based on their age and are also promoted to higher
grades without ensuring adequate learning.
In contrast to NGO-​1, the gap between rhetoric and practice appears less in the everyday
functioning of NGO-​2. Conditional incentivization through free food, clothes and school bags is
also carried out by NGO-​2. This is not perceived as a Favour, rather, as a practice that is an essen-
tial requirement for children. In one of the teacher-​orientation programmes, it was emphasized
that the organization was not engaged in any ‘noble’ act of charity, but that it was doing ‘what
is needed to be done.’ NGO-​2 also admits older children along with their younger siblings in
order to address the issue of sibling care. However, unlike NGO-​1, it provides a stimulating early
childhood education space for younger children such that older children’s learning is not disturbed.
Although it seems difficult to separate younger children from their siblings initially, they are grad-
ually encouraged and supported to sit in different classrooms. ‘Flexibility’ therefore is practised,
in a constructive manner, in NGO-​2.
Education is viewed as a basic entitlement of all children. Children’s learning gaps are system-
atically identified through a variety of internal assessment tools prepared by the teachers and the
teaching-​learning processes are accordingly tailored and monitored. The management seems to be
acutely aware of the limitations of their educational interventions, striving constantly to improve
them in ways that would benefit all children. NGO-​2 also maintains a sustained engagement with
the government schools after the process of mainstreaming, notwithstanding the initial resistance
from government school functionaries. In contrast, mainstreaming, for NGO-​1, is the end goal of
education. Instead of taking an activist stand that would directly challenge the formal schooling
system and its teachers, NGO-​2 functionaries demonstrate progressive pedagogic practices by
volunteering to teach in the government school and collaborate with teachers in the mainstream
system. Through this the NGO attempts to improve the quality of education in government schools
so that migrant children continue to access and participate in meaningful learning experiences
even after being mainstreamed. Furthermore, after-​school programme in NGO-​2 ensures that chil-
dren who fall behind after mainstreaming with age-​appropriate learning outcomes continue to get
learning support from the NGO school.
NGO-​3, like NGO-​2 and unlike NGO-​1, conducts its everyday educational activities with high
moral commitment and discipline within the framework of its educational philosophy. This in turn
is, however, guided by the principles of ‘middle-​class’ education, English learning and the educa-
tional aims of social mobility. The managing trustees think that education should enable migrant
children to ‘become like them,’ the middle class. In their view, English medium education would
provide opportunities for skilled employment, social mobility and continuation of schooling
even when families shift back to their villages. Accordingly, the organization offers ‘rigorous’
training and preparation for children towards enrolling in mainstream English medium private
schools. NGO-​3 believes that if parents pay for their children’s education, it would be valued
more. Therefore, parents are counselled to pay one half of the private school fee and the other half
is paid by the NGO through individual sponsors. In the everyday vocabulary of the organization,

189
 Vijitha Rajan

mainstreaming means getting enrolled in an English medium private school, even though there are
several children who get enrolled into government schools as they cannot afford the private school
fees. Children’s learning gaps are identified through external assessment (pre-​test) conducted by
its funding partners and children are accordingly placed in different learning groups. As opposed
to an evolving curriculum and pedagogy and NGO-​2 school, a more standardized process of
teaching, learning and assessment was followed in NGO-​3 school. Towards the end of the bridging
programme, children are classified into two groups, those who are going to ‘mainstream private’
schools and those who are going to ‘government’ schools. These two groups of children are made
to sit separately and the private school-​going children are given more coaching in English. The
government school-​going children are openly and retrogradely labelled ‘sarkari school jane wala/​
wali’ (‘government school-​going children’) by some teachers. In this hierarchical categorization
of children’s educational pathways, government schools are presented to families and children as
the last option that they should be choosing in the city.
Like the first two NGOs, younger siblings are enrolled along with the older children to address
the issue of sibling care. They are given separate care and education like in NGO-​2 and unlike
in NGO-​1 where sibling care only meant letting younger children sit with their siblings in the
classroom with no learning support for either of the group. At the same time, unlike the eased
separation and meaningful learning that was happening for both younger and older groups of
children in NGO-​2, NGO-​3 straightaway segregates children based on their age and provides
traditional memory-​based learning for both groups. Conditional incentivization such as presenting
‘attendance gifts’ to children who come to the NGO school regularly is also used as a mech-
anism to encourage children to attend school. Yet, like in NGO-​1, through the rigid provision of
incentivization, several children in NGO-​3 are often put in the spotlight and made answerable for
their irregular attendance. NGO-​3 (like NGO-​2) also provides after-​school support to children,
albeit in an ‘exam-​oriented’ training mode.
The differences in how ideas of education, school and mainstreaming are perceived in the three
NGO schools can be summarized as follows.

Table 15.1 Idea of school, education and mainstreaming in the NGO schools

NGO-​1 NGO-​2 NGO-​3

School Day-​care facility Space for knowledge Space for developing skills and
construction and preparation for mainstream
children’s overall school
development
Education Training in rudimentary Meaningful learning Studying to become middle-​class
literacy and numeracy
skills
Mainstreaming Government school, Government school, private school, English medium
Kannada medium Kannada medium
End goal of bridging A major goal of A major goal of bridging
programme bridging programme, programme, continued after-​
continued after-​school school support given equal
support given equal importance
importance
Source: Field Data.

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Elsewhere I have highlighted that NGO interventions for migrant children in the city are bound
by sedentary spatio-​temporal logics of modern schooling and therefore reinforce its exclusionary
logics (see Rajan, 2021b). While this macro landscape of schooling in which NGOs are situated
has exclusionary tendencies, as we see above, manifestations of ideas about school, education
and mainstreaming vary in different NGO schools. This makes it difficult to strictly classify NGO
schools as either inclusive or exclusive.
Both NGO-​1 and NGO-​3 accommodate dominant ideals of formal schooling such as rote
learning, denigration and punishment. There is commonality also in how relationships among
children, teachers and management are perceived and practised in these schools. The authori-
tarian and undemocratic nature of relationships in these two NGOs is seen to shape cultures of
learning in these spaces. It is also seen that in resonance with how state functionaries construct
the poor migrant child subject (Rajan, 2021b), NGO-​1 and 3 construct children through ‘cultures
of poverty’ and deficit thinking frameworks. Migrant children and their families are considered
cognitively and behaviourally lacking, whose bodies and minds need sanitization. These NGOs
in many ways function as ‘agents of good governance,’ situated in the ‘reformist moral telos’
(Balagopalan, 2014). NGO-​3’s philosophy to transform children’s ‘lacking’ life worlds into one
that is middle class reflects this disposition. NGO spaces here are unproblematically constructed as
‘proper places’ that are safe, secure and resourceful for migrant childhoods (who otherwise inhabit
‘wrong places’ of childhood) and offer children some of the ‘privileges of modern childhood’
(Nieuwenhuys, 2013). Despite these similarities, NGO-​3 provides rigorous training for migrant
children, though shaped by its instrumental philosophy, while NGO-​1 school seems to be provided
only nominal ‘material’ facilities. NGO-​3 also provides better opportunities for social mobility
especially for those families who manage to sedentarize in the city and admit their children to
English medium private schools.
NGO-​2 provides a counter narrative in the migrant education landscape of the city. It is observed
to be an organization that not only offers a constructive learning space for migrant children but also
engages with the complexity of their lived realities. Despite the challenges that are present across
NGOs such as physical access, irregular attendance, drop out, medium of instruction and infor-
mality and precarity of mobile children’s lives, NGO-​2 strives towards constructing meaningful
learning opportunities. Like in NGO-​3, there are multiple instances of successful mainstreaming
of many children (both intrastate and interstate) into the Kannada medium government schools.
Though the long-​term implications in terms of learning and retention cannot be known from this
study, both NGO-​2 and NGO-​3, guided by their different philosophies, provide rigorous bridging
programmes in their attempt to enrol migrant children in mainstream formal schools whether gov-
ernment or private.
In case of NGO-​2 and NGO-​3, the differences in their everyday functioning seem to emerge
from their varying educational philosophies. Being part of the same alma matter, NGO-​2 founder
members not only shared common philosophy but also had rigorous training and disciplinary
knowledge in educational theory, policy and practice. This has shaped school culture, pedagogical
practices and teacher education in NGO-​2 school in progressive ways. At a macro level NGO-​1
acts as a rights-​based organization advocating and fighting for migrant rights, yet in the everyday
classroom space, only basic literacy and numeracy are focused upon. One reason for this could
be the large-​scale operation of the NGO-​1 in multiple arenas (not limited to education) and that
unlike in NGO-​2 founder members are not directly involved in shaping the culture of the school.
As a result, what guides everyday functioning of the school is attainment of targets and enrol-
ment figures and performance of material interventions such as free medical camps that are to be
showcased to the funders. The scale of operation is large for NGO-​3 too, but the founder members

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have developed a rigorous system of micromanaging school culture and standardizing teaching
practices in ways that would train children for English medium private schools which in turn is in
line with dominant school practices and parental aspirations in the Indian context.
The differences could also arise from the nature of migrant families that these NGOs cater to.
For instance, NGO-​3 largely engages with interstate migrants who are more inclined to settle in the
city for longer periods (and thereby look for sustainable schooling opportunities for their children)
as compared to NGO-​1 and NGO-​2 that cater to intrastate migrants whose frequency of migration
is much higher. Therefore NGO-​2 despite its progressive approach has more mobile group of chil-
dren (from short-​term migrant families), whereas NGO-​3 despite its retrogressive approach has
relatively fixed set of children (from relatively long-​term migrant families) throughout the year.
NGO-​1 too has more mobile influx of children and its approach of rudimentary learning makes
the retention of children in schools even more challenging. Other factors that might contribute to
NGO heterogeneity such as nature of engagement with funding agencies and relationship with
state, though was outside the scope of this study, are worth exploring further.
Findings from this study about diverse nature of NGO engagement in the field present new
directions for enquiry and action in the realms of research, policy and practice. For instance,
constructive educational engagement visible through the work of NGO-​2 opens up new avenues
of organizational agency and social action, which are otherwise imagined as subverted in neo-
liberal times. Even what is identified in NGO-​3 school as an instrumental approach towards inclu-
sion of migrant children reflects the complex ways in which structural inequalities interact with
aspirational futures of schooling. Social mobility imagined and facilitated by NGO-​3 through
becoming ‘middle class’ and ‘good at English’ throws open the ‘aspirational logics and aesthetic
self-​fashioning necessary for social belonging’ in neoliberal India (Mathew & Lukose, 2020,
p.703). And in NGO-​1, we witness the logics of everyday indifference inflicted upon migrant
children that is more damaging than the traditional memory-​based schooling. Such cosmetic and
day-​care models of educational provisioning are seen to be circulated at a large scale by corporate
builders as their generous and inclusive contribution towards the development futures they are
creating in and through the city. This can further exacerbate the crisis of educational inclusion for
migrant children.

Conclusion
This chapter discusses how heterogeneous NGO frameworks around education shape the land-
scape of schooling for temporarily migrating children in India. As indicated, neoliberalization
and the resulting processes of casualization and informalization of labour post-​ 1990s have
exacerbated the social exclusion of migrant families in India. In the field of education, policies
of neoliberalization have resulted in the diminished role of state in universalization of elemen-
tary education and legitimization of non-​state provisioning of schooling for children belonging to
marginalized communities. Such exclusionary locales of education form the background of dif-
ferential educational imaginaries for migrant childhoods in the Indian context. At a macro level,
two dominant narratives coexist –​one, NGO engagement with marginalized communities is fully
coopted by the neoliberal project and thereby worsens their educational exclusion; and two, NGOs
are legitimate partners of state in developing and empowering marginalized sections of society.
While critical academic discussions often point out the former, literature around policy and prac-
tice claim the latter.
Based on observations from the ethnographic study in the city of Bangalore, the chapter argues
that NGO workings with migrant childhoods are neither straightforward nor homogeneous in

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their everyday projects of educational inclusion. There exists a gap between NGOs’ rhetoric of
educational inclusion and the varying ways in which it is manifested in their everyday practice.
The three NGOs under study grapple with the discourses and imageries of rights and inclusion
around migrant childhoods in distinct ways. In actual practice, work of NGOs in education falls
within a complex spectrum of varying propensities and is thus marked by diversity and com-
plexity (Brehm & Silova, 2019) rather than standardized frameworks of inclusion and exclusion.
In the backdrop of discriminatory and exclusionary educational provisioning for migrant children
who exist in the country at a macro level, these NGO schools offer narratives of both hope and
despair, often intertwined in complex ways. It is therefore necessary to pay close attention to the
possibilities and limitations of how global and national agendas of educational inclusion shape
migrant children’s schooling in the Indian context and the ways in which NGO interventions can
be optimally utilized to ensure their right to equitable quality education. This examination must
be grounded in everyday workings of educational interventions rather than the global and national
grandeurs around development and education.

Note
1 National planning process that sets targets, programmes and policies for the country for a time span for
five years.

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 16
CHILDREN’S HEALTH AND
WELL-​B EING IN THE CONTEXT
OF PARENTAL MIGRATION
The case of Southeast Asia

Yao Fu, Lucy P. Jordan, Thida Kim, and Elspeth Graham

Migration in the context of Southeast Asia

The population of Southeast Asia is around 678 million, which is equivalent to about 8 percent
of the world’s total population (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
[UN DESA], 2020). There are 11 diverse countries in the region, namely, Brunei Darussalam,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-​Leste, and Vietnam. Despite experiencing rapid urbaniza-
tion in recent decades, Southeast Asia’s population is still mainly rural, with a relatively low level
of urbanization in the region as a whole (49%) (UN DESA, 2018).
As shown in Table 16.1, the process of economic development has been quite uneven, with
some countries classified as high-​income economies and others defined as lower middle-​income
economies (World Bank, 2020). Migration flows within (and from) the region reflect this con­
siderable economic disparity as migrant-​sending countries tend to be less wealthy compared to
migrant-​receiving countries. Some countries in the middle-​income range, such as Thailand, both
send and receive migrants. Furthermore, the economic growth and development of countries in
the region, either sending or receiving countries, depend largely on labor migration (Hujo & Piper,
2010). Migrants fill labor shortages in the high-​income economies, while also contributing to
low-​and middle-​income economies by sending money home in the form of remittances. Total
remittances sent by migrant workers can amount to a significant share of foreign exchange and are
seen as a poverty-​reducing policy in several lower income countries in the region. For instance,
the Philippines, whose international remittance inflows amounted to USD 34 billion in 2018, was
the fourth-​largest remittance recipient globally, with the share of remittances in its gross domestic
product (GDP) reaching 8% (World Bank, 2019).
Migration is not simply a response to economic differentials, however, for it is also embedded
in particular socioecological contexts. The decisions, and therefore flows, of migrants are addition-
ally shaped by several characteristics such as household structure, social protection systems,
and cultural norms (Vanore et al., 2021). These factors strongly influence how left-​behind children
navigate stress following parental migration. An increase in migration flows is one of the reasons

196 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-20

 Children’s Health and Well-Being

Table 16.1 Country profiles of economic indicators, child population, and household structure in Southeastern
countries

Country GDP per capita in USD Remittances % of child Average % of

(country classification by as a share of population household households
income) GDP (%) (age 0–​14) size with children
(%) (age 0–​14) (%)

Brunei Darussalam 27,466 (high income) 22.3

Cambodia 1,513 (lower middle income) 5.9 30.9 4.6 76
Indonesia 2,870 (lower middle income) 0.9 25.9 4.0 67
Lao People’s 2,630 (lower middle income) 1.5 32 5.3
Democratic
Republic
Malaysia 10,402 (upper middle income) 0.4 23.5 4.6 63
Myanmar 1,400 (lower middle income) 2.8 25.5 4.2 64
Philippines 4,299 (lower middle income) 8.8 30 4.7 70
Singapore 59,798 (high income) 12.3 3.3
Thailand 7,189 (upper middle income) 1.2 16.65 3.7 28
Timor-​Leste 1,381 (lower middle income) 4.8 36.8 5.8 67
Vietnam 1,786 (lower middle income) 5.8 23.2 3.8 27
Data sources: World Bank. (2020). Migration and development brief 34. www.kno​mad.org/​publ​icat​ion/​migrat​
ion-​and-​deve​lopm​ent-​brief-​33; World Bank. (2021). Country classification. https://​datah​elpd​esk.worldb​ank.
org/​knowle​dgeb​ase/​artic​les/​906​519; UN DESA. (2019). World population prospects 2019. https://​pop​ulat​ion.
un.org/​wpp/​; UN DESA. (2017). Household size and composition around the world 2017. www.un.org/​deve​
lopm​ent/​desa/​pd/​cont​ent/​househ​old-​size-​and-​comp​osit​ion-​aro​und-​world-​2017-​data-​book​let

behind the recent decline in household size in Southeast Asia (Yeung et al., 2018), although house­
hold size remains above the regional average in migrants-​sending countries like the Philippines
and Indonesia (UN DESA, 2017). These countries have notably young populations with much
larger percentages of children under 15 years compared to their wealthier neighbors such as
Singapore (see Table 16.1). The out-​migration of working-​age adults, especially females, has also
changed the care arrangements for children, with grandparents often expected to be the primary or
joint caregivers when mothers migrate (Chung et al, 2021). In this respect, the common practice
of intergenerational exchanges in the region facilitates migration as a family livelihood strategy to
support the extended family (Hoang et al, 2015).

Key features of international migration from and within Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia is a major source of, as well as a destination for, many migrants who spend years
working away from home to provide financial support for the essential and more aspirational needs
of their children and other family members who remain in their origin communities. Globally,
in 2020 an estimated 23.6 million Southeast Asians –​around 8 percent of the total number of
international migrants worldwide (281.6 million) –​were international migrants living in another
country (UN DESA, 2020).
Figure 16.1 illustrates the steady increase in this number from around 12.1 million in 2000
(UN DESA, 2020), although the number of international migrants may have declined recently
due to repatriations during the Covid-​19 pandemic. The top four migrant-​sending countries are
the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam (Harkins et al., 2017). With over 6 million

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Figure 16.1 A snapshot of migration from and within Southeast Asia.

 Children’s Health and Well-Being

international migrants worldwide, the Philippines has the highest overseas migrant stock of all
countries in the region and ranks among the top ten migrant-​sending countries globally. Indonesia
has around 4.6 million international migrants worldwide, representing 20% of the total inter-
national migrant population from the region (UN DESA, 2020). For labor migrants from Southeast
Asia, the main destinations outside the region are in the Middle East, while within the region, the
top three countries of destination are Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore (International Labour
Organization, 2015; United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
[UN ESCAP], 2020).
Three key features of Southeast Asian migration internationally are the dominance of labor
migration, the extent of intraregional migration, and the feminization of migration over the last
two decades. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO, 2015), there were over
10 million labor migrants in countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)1 in
2014. This number is likely to be an underestimate given that flows of undocumented and irregular
migrants within the region are difficult to measure (International Organization for Migration
[IOM], 2021a). Intraregional migration is predominantly short-​term labor migration, with a much
smaller proportion being permanent (skilled and family) migration, student migration, and forced
migration (Hugo, 2015). Labor migrants from the ASEAN region are typically employed in low-​
skilled work, such as jobs in agriculture, fisheries, domestic work, manufacturing, construction,
and food services (Harkins et al., 2017). The majority of documented labor migrants are on tem­
porary work permits, undertaking labor-​intensive jobs with long working hours and receiving low
wages; this means that they are rarely able to migrate with their families (Harkins et al., 2017;
Fong & Shibuya, 2020). Consequently, many family members of labor migrants remain in their
places of origin, raising concerns about a trade-​off between economic gain following migration
and the costs of family separation, especially parent–​child separation.
The majority of international migrants from Southeast Asian countries remain in the region –​an
estimated 6.8 million migrants or about 68% of all labor migrants from the region (IOM, 2019).
Intraregional wage differentials are a key driver of these migration flows as people seek better
working opportunities in more advanced economies close to their home countries (Fong et al.,
2020). Furthermore, political instability in some countries of origin and labor shortages in destin­
ation countries are major factors influencing the geographies of migration (Fong et al., 2020; UN
ESCAP, 2020). The top destination for labor migrants from each country in Southeast Asia is shown
in Figure 16.2. Of the 11 Southeast Asian countries, 7 send the highest number of documented
international migrants to other Southeast Asian countries; however, much interregional migration
is through illegal or undocumented channels (Wickramasekera, 2002). It is estimated, for example,
that over one-​third of international migration within the region involves cross-​border movement
to Thailand, mainly from Myanmar, Lao PDR, and Cambodia (ILO, 2015), although much of this
is undocumented. According to a study of return migrant workers in four Southeast Asian coun-
tries with high levels of cross-​border movement, about 74% of these workers went abroad through
irregular channels such as unlicensed brokers or relatives, without enough reliable information
prior to their migration to protect their safety (Harkins et al., 2017). The percentage using irregular
channels was highest among Lao migrants at 96%. The lack of legal documentation puts many
migrants at risk, without access to proper social protection, and potentially subject to exploitation
(IOM, 2019). This type of irregular migration without adequate information is detrimental to psy­
chosocial health among both migrants themselves and their family members who stay behind
(Vanore et al., 2021).
Another prominent feature of international migration from Southeast Asia is the feminiza-
tion of migration, referring to the large number of women migrating alone as low-​skill labor

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Figure 16.2 International migration stock and top destinations by countries of origin.

 Children’s Health and Well-Being

migrants (Cortes, 2015). Almost half of international migrants from the region are women, with
an estimated 11.7 million female migrants living in other countries in 2020 (UN DESA, 2020).
Several countries in the region have an above-​average percentage of female migrants working in
other countries: Thailand has the highest percentage (61%), followed by Malaysia (57%) (IOM,
2021b). The share of Filipino female migrants is relatively lower (54%), but the absolute number –​
over 3 million –​is the highest in the region. Female migrants are especially at risk of discrimin-
ation, violence, abuse, and exploitation (UN ESCAP, 2020). While male migrants tend to work in
sectors such as construction, agriculture, and manufacturing, most female migrants are employed
as domestic workers and health workers (IOM, 2021b). There is a major wage gap between female
and male migrants, with women’s wages being around 14% lower than the wages of their male
counterparts (Harkins, et al., 2017). Although female migrants tend to earn less, they are generally
found to remit a higher proportion of their earnings home, often to fulfill their ‘daughter duty’ in
the local cultural context (Asis, 2002; Kusakabe & Pearson, 2015). The feminization of Southeast
Asian migration challenges traditional gender ideology, which assumes that fathers take the role
of breadwinners while mothers act as caregivers (Hoang & Yeoh, 2011).

Internal migration in Southeast Asia

Internal or domestic migration –​the movement of people within a country –​is even greater in
scale than international migration from Southeast Asian countries (UN DESA, 2016). Despite
difficulties in determining the precise number of internal migrants in the region due to variations
in definitions across countries, the population of internal migrants is believed to be very large
(UNESCO, 2018a). UNESCO (2018b) provides a summary of available country-​level figures.
This shows that in Malaysia, internal migration accounts for about 89% of all forms of migration,
over one-​quarter of Cambodian citizens have been involved in internal migration, almost 20% of
Myanmar’s population are internal migrants, and around 17% of the total national population are
internal migrants in Timor-​Leste and Lao PDR. The rapid growth of internal migration in recent
decades has involved both rural–​rural and rural–​urban movements of population. As the dominant
type of internal movement, rural-​to-​urban migration has resulted in rapid urbanization in the region
(Kumar et al, 2018). Although the high demand for labor in urban areas and rural poverty are the
main drivers, the reasons behind internal migration differ from country to country in the region
(UNESCO, 2018a). In addition to labor migration, internal migration also arises from conflict-​
induced escape in Myanmar, disaster-​induced relocation in the Philippines, and family reunions in
Malaysia and Myanmar (UNESCO, 2018b; IOM, 2021a). Similar to the high proportion of female
migrants in the population of international migrants, female migrants constitute more than half
of all internal migrants in Myanmar, Lao PDR, Vietnam, and Timor-​Leste (UNESCO, 2018b).
Moreover, gender-​based trends are apparent, with males tending to make rural–​rural and short-​
term moves while females are more likely to move from rural to urban areas and become long-​
term migrants (UNESCO, 2018a).
It is important to note that discussions of migration and its influences on left-​behind children in
Southeast Asia have primarily focused on international migration. Internal migration is distinctive
from international migration in many respects and may be experienced differently by migrants and
their families (Hugo, 2015). Evidence from China, where there are very large numbers of internal
migrants, suggests that internal migration can result in repeated family transitions, which is disrup-
tive to children’s psychological well-​being (Lu et al, 2021). However, internal migration in China
is subject to regulation (the hukou system) not found in Southeast Asian countries. As Lu et al.
(2021: 18) remark, “Because the circumstances underlying migration in China are unique, we may

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not observe similar patterns or effects of parental migration elsewhere”. Both international and
internal parental migration are included in the following review, but care is taken to distinguish
between them in the discussion.

Labor migration of parents and children left behind in Southeast Asia

A number of studies in different parts of the world have investigated the impacts of parental
migration on children who stay behind in migrant-​sending countries (Graham & Jordan, 2011;
Wen & Lin, 2012; Mazzucato et al., 2015; Lu, 2015; Davis & Brazil, 2016; Nguyen, 2016; Vanore
et al., 2021). The findings have been mixed, with a few suggesting that left-​behind children benefit
from parental migration through investments in their education and better health care, others con-
cluding that there are no differences between left-​behind children and their peers in non-​migrant
families, and yet others reporting that parental migration has a detrimental effect on the psycho-
logical well-​being of children left behind (see Fellmeth et al., 2018 for a review). These studies
often focus on different outcomes and use different analytical methods and are not, therefore,
directly comparable. Nevertheless, together they suggest that the overall effect may depend on
the balance between the potential benefits of increased family wealth due to remittances sent by
migrant parents and the possible costs of parent–​child separation. For Southeast Asia, however, the
evidence for such benefits and costs is also mixed.

Child growth and human capital: Can left-​behind children

benefit from remittances?
A common rationale among international labor migrants for seeking work in another country is to
improve their children’s future prospects by, for example, investing in their education. Evidence
on whether or not children do benefit from the remittances sent by migrant parents is therefore
crucial for ensuring that prospective migrants are able to make informed decisions. In the context
of Southeast Asia, studies have examined the impacts of parental migration on two main child
outcomes associated with increased wealth: first, child growth as a consequence of improved nutri-
tion and, second, human capital investment through better and/​or extended education.

Child growth
The migration literature has examined the impact of remittances on the quality of life of migrants
and their families. Studies have documented the significant role of remittances in reducing house-
hold poverty in Southeast Asian countries (see Richard & Adams, 2011 for a review). Remittances
potentially generate positive impacts on families in migrant-​ sending areas in several ways,
including improving the food purchasing power of households, and protecting youngsters against
child labor (Testaverde et al., 2017). However, some studies conducted in the region argue that eco­
nomic benefits on the household level do not necessarily promote better nutrition for left-​behind
children or improve their access to health care (Nguyen, 2016; Treleaven, 2019). The absence of a
parent may even result in a decline over time in the preparation of nutritionally adequate food for
children (Wickramage et al., 2015).
Nguyen (2016) found that parental migration could stimulate household consumption among
remittance-​receiving families in Vietnam but did not benefit the physical growth of left-​behind
children aged 5–​8 years old. This study found negative impacts on Vietnamese children’s health
when their mother was a migrant, suggesting that they experienced insufficient nutritional intake

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without their mother’s care. Similarly, the migration of mothers was found to be related to adverse
effects on the physical growth of children in Indonesia (Ng, 2019), while in Thailand mothers’
absence due to migration –​but not fathers’ migration –​increased the risk of delayed early develop-
ment among Thai left-​behind children (Jampaklay et al., 2018). In contrast, Graham and Jordan’s
(2013) study of 9–​11-​year-​olds in the Philippines and Vietnam found some evidence of nutri­
tional advantage for left-​behind children in the Philippines (but not in Vietnam). Filipino chil-
dren of migrant fathers had a significantly lower risk of stunting (low height-​for-​age) compared
to children of the same age living with both parents –​as long as their mother was present as the
caregiver. Although the same was not the case when mothers migrated and children were looked
after by their fathers, nor were any adverse effects found for the physical growth of children
in this situation. These diverse findings suggest that the benefits to child growth resulting from
migrants’ remittances found in other contexts (e.g., Carletto et al., 2011) are not universally applic­
able within Southeast Asia. Rather, two main factors appear to influence the impact of parental
migration on left-​behind children’s physical health. First, health benefits are seen only in particular
contexts where migrant remittances increase family wealth beyond the subsistence level, as in the
Philippines. Second, the gender of the migrant parent matters. Where strong gender norms assign
childrearing roles to mothers and where limited childcare services are available, the relative care
deficit experienced by left-​behind children of migrant mothers may offset any increased invest-
ment in improved nutrition.
The amount and regularity of receipt of remittances may also have important implications for
children’s health. A study in Cambodia, for example, found that children under age 5 showed favor-
able growth outcomes when their household received remittances sent by international migrants
but not when the remittances were from internal migrants (Chea & Wongboonsin, 2019). This
suggests that the larger amounts of money remitted by international migrants compared with their
internal counterparts may have a positive impact on child nutrition in countries, such as Cambodia,
Lao PDR, and Myanmar, with a higher prevalence of malnutrition. In another study, however,
Indonesian children left behind by internal migrants showed better physical growth compared with
children left behind by international migrants or children who lived with non-​migrant parents (Lu,
2015). Clearly, the relationship between parental migration and the physical health of children left
behind is complex and mediated by a variety of contextual factors leading to differences between
countries and, indeed, between families in the same country.
Existing evidence is largely limited to younger children and far less is known about the impacts
of parental migration on individuals’ nutrition and physical health during later childhood and ado-
lescence. A national survey in Cambodia found that parental migration, although it reduced the
risk of being underweight for left-​behind children under age 3, increased the risk of being over-
weight for youngsters aged 12–​17 years (IOM et al., 2019). This is a reminder that increased food
intake is not always a health benefit and that contextual factors matter. Migrant parents of older
children could have been away for longer and accumulated sufficient family wealth to enable
unhealthy eating practices. The majority of the existing studies use cross-​sectional data and there-
fore fail to capture such cumulative effects over children’s different developmental stages. Even
when parents return home before a child becomes an adolescent, parental migration in a child’s
early years can have long-​term implications for their health later in life.

Human capital investment

The education of children is a key consideration among families of migrants as human capital
investments during childhood can improve children’s future life chances. It is the possibility that

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remittances received by families result in a rise in educational expenditure on left-​behind chil-

dren, keeping them in school for longer, and a consequent decrease in child labor (Yang, 2011).
However, scholars have argued that the potential beneficial impact of remittances is largely
overshadowed by the cost of parental absence associated with less supervision and a less condu-
cive learning environment at home (Lu, 2014). Studies conducted in Southeast Asia have gener­
ally highlighted the gendered patterns of the impact of parental absence on children’s education.
Maternal migration, compared to paternal migration, was found to have more negative effects on
children’s schooling among Thai and Filipino left-​behind children (Cortes, 2015; Jampaklay, 2006;
Korinek, & Punpuing, 2012). The advantages of schooling were only observed among children
whose fathers worked abroad and whose mothers stayed behind to provide continuity of care (Asis
& Ruiz-​Marave, 2013). One possible explanation is that mother-​headed households tend to spend
more on children’s education and child welfare than mother-​absent households (Pasqua, 2005).
Families’ decisions about human capital investment for their children’s futures are embedded
in local contexts which have different levels of resources for supporting children’s education.
The potential role of remittances in supporting the educational attainment of children in migrant-​
sending areas largely depends on the opportunities available for households to use the money
productively. A survey conducted in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar, three less developed
countries in the region, found that a large proportion of the remittances received were spent on
household necessities (Jampaklay & Kittisuksathi, 2009). Remittances can hardly be allocated
to increase investment in human capital development if households are still struggling to meet
basic needs. Chea and Wongboonsin’s (2020) study in Cambodia even reported that international
remittances were negatively associated with spending on child education, especially among the
poorest households. These results suggest that the potential for remittances to play a positive
role in building human capital is very limited in less well-​resourced countries. The influence of
remittances on children’s education also varies depending on local educational provision and the
extent to which families are required to contribute to educational expenses for their children.
Age-​differentiated patterns were found in one study conducted in Indonesia, for example, with a
negative impact of parental migration among younger children who had access to free basic edu-
cation but a positive impact on older children who needed additional financial support to advance
their education (Arlini et al., 2019). Similarly, when migrant parents remit more frequently and in
higher amounts, the likelihood of college matriculation increases among Filipino youth, especially
for sons (Arguillas & Williams, 2010).

Parental migration and child psychological well-​being

Parent–​child separation has been found to have negative consequences for children in a variety
of different circumstances, including divorce and migration. Before reviewing research evidence
from Southeast Asia, it is important to consider theoretical developments that shed light on the
possible linkages between the migration of parents and the mental health of their children.

Theoretical linkages between parental migration and children’s

psychological well-​being
Parental migration may affect children’s psychological well-​being in several ways. Attachment
theory (Bowlby, 1988) posits disruptions in secure relationships between parents and children
when parents are away. Several qualitative studies have reported that left-​behind children face
challenges in building or maintaining a secure attachment with their migrant parent/​s (Dreby,

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2007; Fu & Law, 2018; Suárez-​Orozco et al., 2010). Children’s attachment to their biological
parents may, over time, be substituted by attachment to other caregivers during any prolonged
parent–​child separation (Dreby, 2007). Even after reunion, children and their parents do not neces­
sarily restore the parent–​child attachment disrupted during the separation; on the contrary, they
sometimes experience new challenges readjusting to co-​residence with return-​migrant parents
(Suárez-​Orozco et al., 2002). Less secure attachment during infancy and childhood can increase
an individual’s vulnerability to mental disorders (Sroufe, 2005). Also, poor-​quality parent–​child
attachment can decrease adolescents’ ability to negotiate current and future development tasks
(Woodward et al., 2000).
From the perspective of family functioning theory (Olson, 1993; Steinhauer et al., 1984),
migration can transform traditional norms of parenting and caregiving practices, which con-
sequently creates new challenges to family functioning. Migration is not a static status, but
a dynamic process comprising family separation and reunification, perhaps multiple times.
Left-​behind children are therefore at risk of experiencing repeated transitions in family struc-
ture, which disrupts family functioning and undermines positive child development (Lu et al,
2021). The migration of a family member may produce stress on the ongoing and interrelated
development of individuals and the family overall. To sustain family functioning, migrants
and family members left behind need to adapt how they perform various roles in the family
system. Despite the efforts of migrants to parent from afar, left-​behind children inevitably
experience reduced parental supervision and, sometimes, insufficient parental support (Dreby,
2010; Hoang & Yeoh, 2012). Leaving children behind without adequate parental care and
supervision heightens children’s vulnerability to injury, abuse, and general victimization (Chen
et al., 2020). Furthermore, adult caregivers who stay behind are also vulnerable to poor mental
health, in part because they face additional caregiving burdens but decreased family support
(Graham et al., 2015; Kumar, 2021; Lu, 2012). Poor mental health among caregivers is likely
to reduce caregiving quality and can have detrimental effects on child well-​being (Hammen
et al, 2012).
Family resilience theory provides an additional framework for understanding how children
adapt to parent–​child separation due to migration (Patterson, 1988; Walsh, 2006). Adopting a
resilience perspective, the individual and the family are seen as having the capacity to adapt well
despite adversity if they acquire protective resources that prevent the poor expected outcomes
(McCubbin et al., 2002; Masten, 2011). Family resilience refers to an active process families
engage in to balance family demands with family capabilities; resources (what the family has) and
coping (what the family does) determine whether families are resilient (Patterson, 2002). In the
context of migration, most studies have paid attention to the risk factors associated with parental
absence, and only a few studies have explored protective factors that promote resilience at the
individual or family level (Graham & Yeoh, 2013).
Figure 16.3 summarizes and extends theoretical work on attachment, family functioning, and
resilience to provide a conceptual framework for understanding the linkages between parental
migration and child well-​being. It illustrates the complexities of unpacking the numerous factors
potentially influencing the well-​being of left-​behind children, which are challenging for empirical
studies to capture.

Research evidence from Southeast Asia

We draw on the three theoretical frameworks mentioned above to review studies on the psy-
chosocial well-​being of left-​behind children in Southeast Asia. According to attachment theory,

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Figure 16.3 A conceptual framework linking parental migration and child well-​being.
 Children’s Health and Well-Being

insecurely attached individuals are more likely to feel a lack of intimacy and emotional closeness,
resulting in feelings of loneliness (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2013). Smeekens et al. (2012) found
that left-​behind children in the Philippines experienced more emotional loneliness compared with
children living with both parents, while repeated parental migration and greater access to enter-
tainment gadgets were identified as risk factors associated with a higher level of loneliness among
Indonesian left-​behind children (Faisal & Turnip, 2019). Cambodian children whose mothers were
international migrant workers were also found to display weaker attachment to their caregivers
than their counterparts with non-​migrant parents (IOM et al., 2019). Studies based on qualitative
interviews revealed that children in Filipino families often faced more challenges in maintaining
attachment with migrant fathers than they did with migrant mothers (Parreñas, 2005a,b, 2008).
Scholars have argued that, because of the persistence of traditional gender roles in parenting when
parents were away, migrant fathers were frequently less active in reconfiguring their parental roles
across distance than migrant mothers (Locke et al., 2012; Parreñas, 2008). In contrast, findings
from a survey conducted in the Philippines showed that Filipino migrant fathers were more likely
than migrant mothers to practice engaged parenting by having frequent communication with
family members who stayed behind and remitting money more frequently (Jordan et al., 2018). It
may be that Filipino migrant mothers face greater constraints than migrant fathers because they
are more likely to be employed in domestic settings where long working hours limit opportunities
for contacting home and lower wages reduce their ability to provide material resources for their
children. More research is needed to resolve these apparently conflicting findings, especially in
relation to the relative constraints experienced by migrant mothers and fathers according to the
particular contexts in which they work, both the country of destination and the type of work they
are engaged in.
Existing studies on the link between family functioning in households with migrant parent/​s and
its impacts on child well-​being have paid attention to caregiving arrangements when parents are
away. The migration of fathers, which typically left mothers as primary caregivers in transnational
households, was found to heighten left-​behind children’s risk of having poor psychological well-​
being in Thailand and Indonesia, but this pattern was not replicated for children in Vietnam and the
Philippines (Graham & Jordan, 2011; Penboon et al., 2019). The migration of mothers, however,
appears to be less of a disadvantage to mental health than it is to physical health, although this
may vary by context and which aspect of psychological well-​being is examined. One study found
that Filipino children in mother-​migrant/​father-​caregiver households were less likely to have con-
duct disorders compared to children living with two parents (Graham & Jordan, 2011), although
left-​behind children in transnational households in Indonesia, whether one or both parents were
migrant and whatever their care arrangements, were also less likely to say that they were happy
than their peers in non-​migrant households. When comparing left-​behind children’s psychological
well-​being across the region, no general pattern was found, highlighting the importance of con-
text in both the destinations and origins of labor migrants. For instance, at the time of the study,
Filipino children in transnational families had greater access to communication technologies than
comparable children in Indonesia, and such advantages may facilitate children’s adaptation to par-
ental migration (Graham et al., 2012). Furthermore, the Filipino government has taken a proactive
role in designing support systems for left-​behind families (Lam et al., 2013). Despite inconsistent
findings, the crucial role of certain caregiving characteristics was evident. The mental health of
caregivers who stay behind, along with family functioning, has been identified as an important
determinant of left-​behind children’s psychological well-​being in a number of countries (Adhikari
et al., 2014; Jordan & Graham, 2012).

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Resilience theory provides an illuminating perspective for understanding how left-​behind chil-
dren, despite the challenges they encounter, can have positive adaptation to the absence of one or
both parents. Children with migrant fathers in Thailand and Cambodia, for example, were found to
be resilient in that they had advantages in subjective well-​being and prosocial behaviors compared
to their peers in non-​migrant households (IOM et al., 2019; Jampaklay & Vapattanawong, 2013).
Jordan and Graham (2012) found that, although children of migrant parents were less likely to be
happy than children living with both parents, a longer duration of maternal absence was associated
with greater resilience in the subjective well-​being of children aged 9–​11 in Indonesia, the
Philippines, and Vietnam. As children grow up, they gradually move out of passivity to actively
develop strategies for coping with parental absence (Asis, 2006; Lam & Yeoh, 2019). Garabiles
et al.’s (2017) study further revealed how Filipino transnational families ensured resilience by
allocating family responsibilities flexibly and by committing to a shared goal of permanent family
reunification. While a growing number of qualitative studies provide insights into protective
factors that promote resilience in the context of migration, there remains a lack of empirical studies
examining how family and community characteristics could strengthen child resilience.

Left-​behind children’s perspectives and coping

The importance of including children’s views and voices has been increasingly recognized and a
‘children-​inclusive approach’ is now encouraged in migration research (Tyrrel & Kallis, 2015).
Emerging studies have shifted from adult-​centric perspectives to the experiences of the children
who are affected by migration. Despite children often lacking power in the migration decision-​
making process, they can be active agents in responding to parental migration (Dobson, 2009).
Drawing from qualitative studies that yield insights into left-​behind children’s experiences in the
region, we discuss how children feel about, and cope with, parental absence. Additionally, special
attention is given to Cambodian children’s experiences living in residential care settings when
parents have migrated.

Left-​behind children’s feelings about parental absence

The emergent themes describing children’s feelings about their parents’ departure are sadness and
yearning for parents (Beazley et al., 2018; Lam & Yeoh, 2019). Children’s emotional responses to
parental absence also include resentment, distress, and feelings of abandonment (Graham et al.,
2012; Madianou & Miller, 2011). Children often feel powerless in the decision-​making process,
even though children’s well-​being is typically described as the major driver of their parents’ migra-
tion (Hoang & Yeoh, 2015; Lam & Yeoh, 2019). This lack of agency among children of migrant
parents can result in greater emotional challenges for children who find it difficult to accept their
parent’s departure. Hoang and Yeoh’s (2015) study in Vietnam found that parents often told their
children about migration decisions at the last minute or told a lie as one way of protecting chil-
dren against sad feelings about parent–​child separation. From the child’s perspective, keeping
information from them is only likely to exacerbate their heartache and distress. Having a stable
and capable caregiver is crucial to left-​behind children’s experiences, and changes in caregiving
arrangements are highly disruptive for them. Parreñas (2002) found that children in the Philippines
experienced feelings of abandonment when they were left behind without appropriate caregiving
arrangements, especially when their mother had migrated, although migrant parents tend to nego-
tiate care arrangements with non-​migrant family members before they leave and migrant mothers
often co-​manage care work with non-​migrant caregivers (Bonizzoni & Boccagni, 2013).

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One consequence of the prevalent pattern of unskilled or low-​skilled labor migration in

Southeast Asia, where migrants repeatedly renew short-​term contracts, is that many children must
navigate prolonged child–​parent separation from early childhood to adolescence. As described by
Asis (2006), ‘living with migration’ is part of their life. Beazley et al.’s (2018) study found that
Indonesian children who experienced prolonged separation from a migrant parent had feelings
of ‘continual waiting’ and had no choice but to accommodate themselves to parental absence.
With prolonged separation, children appear to distance themselves emotionally from their migrant
parent/​s and face difficulties rebuilding parent–​child intimacy even after reuniting with parents
(Christ, 2017; Hoang & Yeoh, 2012).
Children’s reactions to, and understanding of, parental migration vary by their age. Younger
children often express more intense feelings of yearning and also lack access to the means of
engaging in direct communication with a migrant parent (Hoang & Yeoh, 2015). As children grow
older, they increasingly become active agents in understanding parental migration and communi-
cating with their absent parent/​s. As children mature and their awareness of the reasons for par-
ental migration increases, they appear to develop more ambivalent feelings. Older children show
appreciation for material benefits gained from parental migration, for example, and many become
sympathetic to the suffering their parents may experience as labor migrants (Hoang & Yeoh, 2015;
Parreñas, 2005a,b). As well as the economic gains, they also recognize the emotional costs of par­
ental migration. As they move into adolescence, they exert greater agency, attempting to persuade
their parents to return home or visit home more frequently (Lam & Yeoh, 2019). Compared to
younger children, teenagers are more capable of ‘doing family’ by maintaining daily contact with
migrant parents via various social networking sites, although some become more shy and uncom-
fortable in communicating by phone (Hoang & Yeoh, 2012; Madianou, 2016). The experience of
growing up with an absent parent also influences young people’s aspirations to stay or migrate
themselves during their transition to adulthood. Somaiah et al. (2020) found that Indonesian young
women who chose to stay at home expressed the feelings of cukup (‘enough’) about migration, as
a resistance to the emotional cost of family separation.
Children’s experiences and perceptions of left-​behind life differ depending on the interplay
between the gender of the migrant parent and the children themselves. The migration of mothers is
considered a greater challenge to children than the migration of fathers as it is more likely to have
complex consequences related to family disruption and unstable care arrangements (Bonizzoni, &
Boccagni, 2013; Lam & Yeoh, 2019). Various studies (e.g., Fresnoza-​Flot, 2014; Graham et al.,
2012; Hoang et al., 2015; Parreñas, 2005a,b; Lam & Yeoh, 2018) have made efforts to under­­­­
stand how left-​behind families are sustained in the context of the feminization of labor migration
in Southeast Asia. Findings from these studies have highlighted the greater adjustments faced
by children when their mother migrates. Adjustments to a new caregiver, for example, are often
accompanied by emotional difficulties such as the sense of loss and loneliness, especially in the
initial stage of a mother’s migration. The resilience of children coping with the absence of their
mother largely depends on the level of their father’s involvement in care work, combined with the
availability of care support from other female relatives. Both girls and boys are likely to experience
increased familial responsibilities when parents migrate, but they appear to have different ways
of adapting to parental absence and they contribute to family functioning differently. Following
traditional gender norms, girls are typically expected to carry out household chores and care-
giving tasks while boys are required to learn breadwinning skills (Lam & Yeoh, 2019). Gender
differences in aspirations for future migration have also been found in a study of Indonesian youth
who had experienced parental migration. Somaiah et al. (2021) revealed that young women tended
to halt the migration cycle as they recognized the emotional costs of being separated from a parent.

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Conversely, many young men were enthusiastic about following in their parents’ footsteps and
becoming migrants themselves.
The way children perceive, and experience, parental migration varies contextually and cultur-
ally. In Southeast Asian countries with a ‘culture of migration’, there are narratives that emphasize
economic benefits or education for the next generation (Falicov, 2007). From this perspective,
migration can be seen as a choice that contributes to the collective welfare of the family. For
example, in the Philippines where overseas Filipino workers are honored as ‘new heroes’ given
their contribution to the country’s economic development, the absence of migrant parents is not
commonly perceived as a traumatic experience for children (Parreñas, 2005a,b; Rosewarne, 2012).
Indeed, resilience is usually articulated by drawing on the narrative that migration, as a family live-
lihood strategy, could facilitate children’s success in the future (Lam, & Yeoh, 2019). Chris (2017)
used the concept of utang na loob (debt of gratitude) to demonstrate how Filipino values shape
children’s responses to parental migration. Influenced by the notion of utang na loob, left-​behind
children were expected to recognize their parents’ sacrifices and reciprocate by showing respect
and obedience. Beazley et al. (2018) found that Indonesian children were also encouraged to show
deference and conform, and that left-​behind children often suppressed their negative emotions as a
result. Children were expected to support the migration decision of their parents in the interests of
the family as a whole. One Indonesian girl summed up her situation as ‘Like it, don’t like it, you
have to like it’. In these circumstances, the danger is that the family and society may neglect the
feelings of left-​behind children and fail to provide the support children need. In Vietnam, Hoang
& Yeoh (2015) argued, migrant parents tended to emphasize the sacrifices they had made and the
hardship of their lives in order to reinforce children’s gratitude. Consequently, children perceived
migration as an undesirable livelihood strategy. These studies have revealed the heterogeneity of
left-​behind children’s experiences, which are related in complex ways to sociocultural contexts.

Children’s experiences in residential care when parents migrate

The potential vulnerability of children left behind with a new caregiver is heightened when chil-
dren are placed in institutional care. The practice of leaving children in residential care therefore
deserves special attention. Despite limited empirical evidence for the link between parental migra-
tion and the institutionalization of children, the migration of both parents may be one trigger for
their placement in residential care institutions (RCIs) (Roche, 2020; UNICEF, 2017). Drawing on
a recent study in Cambodia (IOM et al., 2019), where residential care is one common care strategy
for vulnerable children, this section discusses how children left behind by migrant parents experi-
ence institutional care and the cumulative risks they may face.
In low-​and middle-​income countries of the global South, most children in RCIs will have
had prior adverse experiences, such as the death of one or both parents, experience of abuse or
neglect, and/​or extreme poverty (Roche, 2019). The study in Cambodia offered evidence on how
parental migration might enhance the risks for left-​behind children living outside family care.
Cambodia has witnessed an increasing trend of internal migration in the past decade. According
to the Cambodian National Institute of Statistics (2013), the percentage of internal migrants in the
total population rose from 12.2% in 2008 to 25% in 2013. The IOM et al. (2019) report showed
how migration, in combination with familial factors, has contributed to Cambodian children’s
placement in residential care. Leaving children without a capable and stable caregiver was found
to be a significant risk factor leading to residential care. In Cambodia, as in other Southeast Asian
countries, extended family members often provide support to fill the care deficit left by migrating
parents (Hoang et al., 2015). However, interviews conducted with Cambodian families exposed

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the vulnerabilities of stay-​behind caregivers, especially elderly grandparents, as they lacked both
economic stability and protective social networks. Consequently, children became at risk of
unstable care arrangements and entry into residential care when kinship networks were unable
to fulfill caregiving functions. Family disruption following parental migration also contributed
to children’s moving into RCIs. Given that many Cambodian left-​behind children experienced
extreme poverty before they entered residential care, they described life in RCIs as ‘comfortable’
and ‘easy’, somewhere that provided regular food, health care, and educational opportunities.
In Cambodia, many deprived families perceive RCIs as a better environment with more
resources to fulfill children’s health and educational needs than the family setting did (Jordanwood
& Lim, 2011). Although IOM et al.’s (2019) report confirmed that residential care appeared to pro­­
tect children from child trafficking, and from unaccompanied migration in the circumstance of par-
ental migration, the study also highlighted the emotional difficulties children experienced during
the institutionalization process. Indeed, children’s voices and emotional needs were neglected
during frequent placements in different care settings, and most children in RCIs could only see
their migrant parents or visit their families in the villages once or twice per year. Unlike left-​behind
children in family care who could sustain familial bonds through frequent communication with
absent parent/​s, children in RCIs lacked the access to connect with their migrant parents when
living in these low-​tech facilities in rural Cambodia.
Inadequate caregiver–​child interaction, the lack of secure attachment, child abuse, and neglect
have all been identified as risks faced by children in RCIs (Rus et al., 2017; van IJzendoorn et al.,
2011). In response, UN agencies have called for the use of residential care only as a last resort
in the child welfare system (UN General Assembly, 2010). Despite this advocacy of prioritizing
family-​based care, low-​and middle-​income countries in Southeast Asia, such as Cambodia and the
Philippines, face challenges in ensuring nutritional and educational resources to support care for
vulnerable children in family settings (Roche, 2020).

Implications for international and local policy frameworks

The United Nations Convention has advocated for the protection of the rights of migrants and
their families since the 1990s (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1990). The
Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM) is the first policy framework
adopted in Southeast Asia for mitigating the impact of adverse structural factors in order to main-
tain the sustainable livelihoods of migrants (United Nations, 2019). As of 2020, governments
in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Thailand have participated in the United Nations Networks’
GCM (UN ESCAP, 2020). The GCM highlights the promotion of legal obligations to provide for
children in the context of international migration, with a focus on unaccompanied and separated
children. The ASEAN and the ILO have made efforts to protect the rights of migrant workers in
the region by promoting region-​wide policies on migration (Testaverde et al., 2017). Despite the
increasing policy awareness of the vulnerabilities of migrants and their families, the scope of the
policy is often limited to migrants themselves rather than taking a family perspective. Our dis-
cussion shows how various aspects of left-​behind children’s well-​being are affected by parental
migration in Southeast Asia. However, existing policy does not fairly reflect the specific needs
of this population. Left-​behind children in home communities should be recognized as critical
actors across different phases of parental migration and as a distinctive group requiring specific
policy responses (Asis & Feranil, 2020). Policy decisions related to migration in both destination
and origin countries can impact children’s well-​being either directly or indirectly. For example,
governments of destination could do more to protect the right to family life by encouraging family

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migration and allowing family visits; social protection systems in migrant-​sending areas should
also ensure that children are provided with adequate services and assistance (UNICEF, 2019).
Past studies have provided nuanced evidence on the impacts of parental migration on child
well-​being in Southeast Asia resulting from different types of migration and different contexts.
Despite variations, findings highlight some critical characteristics as key determinants of
children’s adaption to parental migration across countries: (1) children’s age and gender; (2) the
maintenance of family caregiving and support; and (3) the influence of (local) migration-​related
policy. On the individual level, left-​ behind children’s gender and age are associated with
variations in their outcomes and responses to parental migration. Different challenges for boys
and girls following parental migration should be understood within dominant gender norms in
Southeast Asia. The implications of parental migration for children’s nutrition, education, and
psychosocial outcomes vary by age, as well as gender. Older boys may be given preferential
treatment over girls in relation to food intake, for example, but they may also be expected to per-
form more physical tasks outside the home. Children’s adaption to parental migration interacts
with their developmental needs at different times in their life cycle. Age-​specific policies and
interventions are therefore required.
On the family level, stay-​behind caregivers play a vital role in sustaining family functioning
and avoiding potential care deficits following parental migration. Caregivers also play essential
roles in sustaining long-​distance parent–​child communication. The characteristics of caregivers,
such as their education, health status, and support networks, influence the availability and stability
of the care they are able to provide. The case of Cambodian children living in residential care in
the context of parental migration highlights the cumulative risks children face when no capable
caregiver is available and they lack a supportive family network. Even in a family setting, the
quality of caregiving is shaped by the ‘care triangle’, which encapsulates the complex dynamics of
communication and trust among migrant parents, stay-​behind caregivers, and left-​behind children
(Graham et al., 2012). The feminization of labor migration in Southeast Asia results in many eld­
erly grandparents being primary or joint caregivers for their grandchildren. Most less developed
counties in the region have no national-​level policy or systematic family support programs for
child-​rearing. As a result, stay-​behind caregivers take responsibility for caregiving with little insti-
tutional assistance (Daly et al., 2015). Emerging studies have begun to pay attention to health risks
among stay-​behind caregivers, especially grandparent-​caregivers (Graham et al., 2015; IOM et al.,
2019; Teerawichitchainan & Low, 2021). Stronger family-​approach interventions are required to
foster family resilience that supports both left-​behind children and their caregivers. Interventions
prior to migration should focus on developing childcare plans to ensure appropriate caregiving
arrangements for children when their parents are away. Monitoring systems, like the Family
Background Report in Sri Lanka, should be established to ensure childrearing capacity in the
family setting (Asis & Feranil, 2020). Sustaining the well-​being of stay-​behind caregivers is crit­
ical for promoting left-​behind children’s well-​being, and, in countries with inadequate healthcare,
one feasible strategy is to mobilize existing community resources. The Neighborhood Parenting
Effectives Assembly, which includes community workers and volunteer parents living nearby, is a
good example (UNICEF, 2019).
Beyond individual and family characteristics, we find that macro-​level factors such as policies
related to migration, as well as social welfare provision, also matter for left-​behind children’s
well-​being. Existing studies indicate that Filipino children left behind in origin communities gen-
erally show resilience and seem to derive greater benefits from parental migration than children in
other countries in the region. The Philippines has included migration-​related provisions in national
development plans and established agencies such as the Overseas Worker Welfare Administration

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(OWWA) and the Philippines Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to promote sus-
tainable development among migrants and their families (Testaverde et al., 2017). Contrastingly,
Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar have less comprehensive legislative frameworks governing
migration and a lack of specific policies targeting families remaining in origin communities
(Testaverde et al., 2017; Nirathron et al., 2018). Evidence from these less-​developed countries
shows the positive role that remittances can play in promoting children’s nutrition and maintaining
their daily lives if they are sent regularly and used strategically. Migration as a household strategy
is typically initiated to promote the welfare of family members, but such a strategy has not received
adequate support from governments (Jordan et al., 2014). Better health for left-​behind family
members is tied to remittance receipt, and family sustainability could be improved by promoting
policies that facilitate remittance transfers and enhance financial literacy among remittance-​
receiving families. Additionally, the case study in Cambodia suggests the importance of collab-
oration and coordination between migrant-​sending and migrant-​receiving areas. Preventions are
needed to protect left-​behind children against risks of exploitation or moving out of family care
when parents migrate.

Conclusion
Migration within and from Southeast Asia has restructured families and care arrangements for
millions of children in the region, posing challenges to social protection systems. This review
of previous studies focuses on children of migrant workers who remain in origin communities, a
population that has received limited attention in migration-​related policies. The evidence presented
for Southeast Asia on how multiple domains of left-​behind children’s lives are affected by par-
ental migration allows us to understand better the psychosocial costs of parental migration, as well
as the resilience of children and their families. The possible benefits for nutrition and education
opportunities from remittances depend on context and circumstance and must be weighed against
the challenges to children’s psychological well-​being from long-​term parent–​child separation
and the adjustments families are required to make when a parent migrates. Most of the studies
discussed are based on the analysis of cross-​sectional data and are therefore limited in the insights
they provide. More evidence is needed if we are to understand dynamic processes of adjustment.
The vulnerabilities and resilience of those who stay behind, as of migrants themselves, are likely
to vary over time, and further research adopting a longitudinal design is required to examine the
longer term, and possibly changing, impacts of parental migration across children’s life courses.
Such evidence is essential to help families maximize (economic) benefits while mitigating poten-
tial risks to children left behind when one or both of their parents migrate. It is also needed to
inform effective policy-​making and social-​care provision, which would ensure that moving to find
work elsewhere is a sustainable livelihood strategy for parents and their children.
Future research on the well-​being of left-​behind children in Southeast Asia should focus on
three elements. The first is to improve the evidence base by compiling comparative longitudinal
datasets and conducting longitudinal analyses. Available data that can be used for understanding
the short-​and long-​term impacts of parental migration on left-​behind children are valuable but are
also limited. Studies have mainly focused on international migration, and more work is needed on
internal migration in response to the large flows of internal migrants in the region. It is especially
important to determine whether or not the negative health impacts of parents’ internal migration
apparent in other contexts (Fellmeth et al., 2018) are also found in Southeast Asia. The second
element is to adopt a child-​inclusive approach to research design, policy formulation, and the
development of interventions. Left-​behind children, although not directly involved in migration,

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are nevertheless critical actors in the process of migration; their well-​being largely determines
whether migration can be a sustainable strategy for the family. Children’s voices need to be heard
when developing child-​centered interventions from a resilience perspective. The third element
is to give more attention to the least wealthy migrant-​sending countries in the region, such as
Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar. These countries are increasingly participating in international
circuits of migration and are seeing substantial rural–​urban migration within the country but have
received little attention in the academic literature. Their migration-​related policy and support
programs are scant compared to countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, which formally pro-
mote out-​migration as an economic development strategy (Testaverde et al., 2017). Migration
within and from these lower middle-​income countries takes place in a context where child malnu-
trition and child poverty are still significant, and where the balance of costs and benefits for chil-
dren left behind may also be different. By extending research to such resource-​poor settings, more
will be learned about the ways in which community contexts and family circumstances influence
outcomes for children. Only then will we gain a fuller understanding of the costs and benefits of
parental labor migration for children left behind.

Notes
1 Member countries of ASEAN include all Southeast Asian countries except Timor-​Leste.

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 17
THE POLITICS OF
UNACCOMPANIED CHILD
MIGRATION AT THE
US/​M EXICO BORDER
Kate Swanson

Introduction
Contemporary child migration in the Americas is deeply connected to historic global development
policies and practices, particularly those emanating from the United States. Yet, as the number
of unaccompanied migrant children fleeing violence, poverty, and insecurity in Central America
and Mexico continues to rise, popular accounts often overlook how US policies have contributed
to child migration from this region. In recent years, the vast majority of child migrants seeking
asylum in the United States have been from four nations: Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and El
Salvador (United States Customs and Border Patrol [USCBP], 2022). These four nations have
long been under the United States’ sphere of influence, and US economic and political policies
have contributed to ongoing uneven development and inequality in the region. To understand out-​
migration from Central America and Mexico, the lasting impacts of conquest, capitalism, and US
imperialism must be taken into account (Walia, 2021). In this chapter, I explain child migration
in the Americas through this lens. I begin with a broad overview of US intervention in the region
to set the scene for high levels of poverty, inequality, and violence that drive contemporary child
migration. I then explore immigration policies and practices that shape children’s access to safety
and asylum in the United States. In doing so, I draw on over a decade of experience working with
unaccompanied migrant children in US and Mexican immigration detention. Throughout, I argue
that it is imperative to keep children at the heart of immigration debates.

US Intervention in Central America and Mexico

Widely perceived as America’s hemispheric backyard, Central America and Mexico have long
been subject to US imperialist intervention. Writing at the height of the 1980s civil wars in Central
America, Noam Chomsky notes, “It is important to recognize that little that is happening today is
new. The United States has been tormenting Central America and the Caribbean for well over a
century, generally in alleged defence against ‘outside threats’ ” (Chomsky, 2015 [1985], p. 117).
By now, the history of US military, political, and economic intervention in Central America

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-21 221

 Kate Swanson

and Mexico is widely documented (Galeano, 1997; Chomsky, 2015; Grandin, 2021), so I will
not rehash the lengthy history here. However, I do want to highlight a few examples to under-
score how US policies have spurred contemporary child migration. For instance, Guatemala cur-
rently has one of the highest child migration rates in the Americas (USCBP, 2022). Many of
those who are migrating are from rural, Indigenous regions have been deeply affected by state-​
led repression, genocide, and racism (Ciborowski et al., 2022). Yet, within the United States,
Guatemalan migrants are often perceived as “economic migrants,” rather than refugees. While
poverty is certainly a driving force pushing Guatemalan children to leave home, this simplistic
explanation overlooks decades of intergenerational trauma and injustices due to policies that
took place under US-​backed military regimes. Post-​WWII, one of the United States’ greatest
fears was the expanding sphere of Soviet and Communist influence. The United States was espe-
cially concerned that this influence could spread to Latin America and have a domino effect on
the region. As a result, successive US administrations sought to deter leftist political leanings by
supporting politicians whose policies favored US capitalism and growth. Guatemala, like many
other Central American and Caribbean nations, was a tropical breadbasket for the United States.
The Boston-​owned United Fruit Company was a large landowner in the nation, and the domestic
economy was largely directed toward agricultural exports to benefit US investors. When the
leftist-​leaning president, Jacobo Árbenz, came to power in 1954, he was perceived as a direct
threat to US economic and political interests due to his agrarian reform and land redistribu-
tion policies designed to address profound inequality. In response, the US Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) and the US Department of State engineered a coup d’état to overthrow Árbenz.
In his place, the United States installed and then subsidized a repressive, anti-​Communist, and
pro-​American military dictatorship (North and CAPA, 1990). The 36-​year Guatemalan civil war
that followed (1960–​1996) is directly connected to this US-​engineered coup. During Guatemala’s
civil war, the United States funded, armed, and trained military troops to quell the alleged com-
munist threat. The level of repression was severe. Estimates suggest that over 200,000 mostly
Indigenous people were killed, and up to 1.5 million were displaced during brutal scorched earth
campaigns (CEH, 1999). Some of the displaced fled to the United States as refugees to build
new communities, many of whom settled in California. Those who survived this period testify to
extreme torture and suffering under the hands of the Guatemalan military, especially when they
were viewed as impediments to resource extraction, economic development, and progress (Nolin
and Russell, 2021).
American intervention in El Salvador followed a similar pattern. During the Salvadoran civil
war (1979–​1992), the United States supported, trained, and funded military leaders to repress
leftist insurgents. As in Guatemala, state-​led massacres took place in the name of rooting out
anti-​government activists and stopping the spread of communism. During El Salvador’s 12-​year
civil war, approximately 75,000 were killed, 500,000 were displaced, and tens of thousands were
disappeared (Rauda and Washington, 2021). Many Salvadoran refugees also fled to the United
States to seek safety and asylum. In neighboring Honduras, by the 1970s, US corporations con-
trolled the vast majority of the nation’s production; moreover, the United States invested signifi-
cant funding to train and support the Honduran military to protect against regional communist
threats (North and CAPA, 1990). Finally, the United States’ sphere of influence has perhaps been
most pronounced in Mexico, and through economic and political pressure, Mexico must often
bend its will to US wants and needs. This latter point is particularly evident through immigration
policies, which I’ll discuss further below.
Across the region, distorted development policies and political intervention have created
vast economic inequalities, where the wealthy elite and US corporations control the majority

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of land and resources. In the 1980s, these policies became increasingly neoliberalized through
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs), in which national
debt was restructured in exchange for sweeping social and economic reforms that favored US
and international corporate interests. During the same time period, increasing numbers of small-​
scale rural farmers found themselves unable to compete in agricultural markets and were forced
to abandon their livelihoods and migrate to cities to find waged labor instead (Portes, 1989). In
Mexico, small-​scale farmers struggled further due to the passage of the 1994 North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which led to widespread agricultural bankruptcy as American corn
and other commodities flooded the Mexican market (Wise, 2011).
Against a backdrop of rapidly growing cities, weak public institutions, high unemployment as
well as significant poverty and inequality, gangs, cartels, and narco traffickers began gaining more
power. To combat the growing power of narco traffickers, who were blamed for rising drug use
in America, the United States launched the “War on Drugs” and funneled further military funding
into the region (Watt and Zepeda, 2012). Much of the US effort was directed toward combating
narco traffickers in Colombia, which effectively worked to displace the drug trade to Central
America and Mexico instead (Grandin, 2021). At the same time, growing numbers of Central
American and Mexican immigrants in American cities –​many of whom fled the 1980s civil wars –​
became targets of xenophobic domestic policies. In 1994, California’s citizens overwhelmingly
voted for the “Save Our State” Proposition 187, which banned undocumented immigrants from
attending public schools and accessing public health care, among other social services. While
this proposition was deemed unconstitutional and blocked in federal courts, it reflected profound
anti-​immigrant sentiments. These sentiments were further reflected in the 1996 federal Illegal
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), which targeted immigrants
with gang affiliations or records of criminal history for removal. Consequently, between 1998 and
2014, over 300,000 Central Americans with criminal records were deported from the United States
(Sviatschi, 2022).
Many of those who were deported were both children of Central American refugees and gang-​
affiliated youth. Deported back to unfamiliar nations that they had left as young children, they
sought to build new communities in Central America, and gangs helped fill this niche (Rodgers
et al., 2009). In El Salvador, research suggests that violent crime rates began to increase post-​
IIRIRA, largely because American deportees brought their criminal capital with them and began
building transnational drug trafficking and extortion networks through gangs like MS-​13 and
18th Street (Sviatschi, 2022). These increasingly powerful gangs were attractive to marginalized
Central American youth, given that they offered opportunities for status and power in societies
where this was otherwise denied (Rodgers et al., 2009; Cruz et al., 2017). With poor state infra­­
structure and limited police capacity, these gangs grew much more powerful, particularly given
their transnational connections to the United States (Zilberg, 2011).
Over the past decade, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico have had some of the
highest homicide rates in the world, with much of the violence targeting lower income teens and
young men. In 2015, El Salvador was dubbed the “murder capital of the world” with an inten-
tional homicide rate of 104 per 100,000 residents (Partlow, 2016). The overall youth homicide
rate in Latin America and the Caribbean is especially worrying given that the rate is significantly
higher than the global average (WHO Mortality Database, 2022). Because so much of this vio­
lence targets youth, some scholars have referred to this as a juvenicidio –​or a “youthcide” –​which
can be described as the extermination of youth with impunity (Quintana, 2010; Valenzuela, 2012).
In response to high rates of violence, local police forces in Honduras and El Salvador have adopted
American-​inspired zero-​tolerance policing strategies to crack down on gangs and crime; yet, their

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implementation has been controversial (Swanson, 2013). In effect, some argue that this policing
approach “practically makes being young and poor a crime” (Zilberg, 2007, p. 76).
Today, gangs like MS-​13 and 18th Street control vast swathes of territory in towns and cities
throughout Central America and they actively recruit disenfranchized youth. In El Salvador,
40 percent of youth join gangs between the ages of 13 and 15 (Cruz et al., 2017). In my work with
unaccompanied migrant children in both US and Mexican immigration detention shelters, chil-
dren told me countless stories about how the gangs and cartels had terrorized their lives (Swanson
et al., 2015). They explained how their study, play, work, and social activities were mediated by
their fear of gangs. Many could no longer go to school because they had to cross through gang
territory or because their schools were no longer safe due to gang threats (Tjaden and LaSusa,
2016; Norwegian Refugee Council, 2019). In a participatory workshop that my colleagues and
I undertook with Central American unaccompanied minors detained in Mexico, a group of 13–​17-​
year-​old boys and girls compiled the following list of the risks they faced upon their impending
deportations: abuse, beating, kidnapping, forced to sell drugs, forced to join a gang, rape, murder,
and death (Swanson et al., 2015). LGBTQ youth from the region describe especially intense
hardships, and some turn to sex work as a way to survive (Human Rights Watch [HRW], 2020).
And due to rampant abuse, harassment, and violence at the hands of security sector forces, few feel
safe turning to the police or military for help (Jones and Rodgers, 2009).
Given this context, it may be no surprise that there is a positive relationship between increased
Central American child migration and rising gang violence and homicide (Wong, 2014; Sviatchi,
2022; Clemens, 2017). Faced with gang recruitment or continued persecution and fear, many young
people decide to flee to the United States in search of asylum. These youth are following in the
footsteps of earlier generations of Central American and Mexican migrants who fled civil war and
societal disruptions decades before. This earlier migration spurred subsequent chain migration,
and some youth are migrating to reunite with parents or extended family members in the United
States. In the popular media, Central American child migrants are often cast as innocent victims
of “bad parents” who choose to send children on dangerous journeys to the United States or who
willingly hand their children over to child traffickers. Yet, these characterizations not only lose
sight of the difficult circumstances families endure but also children’s agency in migration. In our
research with unaccompanied migrant children, we uncovered that youth often choose to migrate
on their own –​even though their parents may be reluctant to let them go (Thompson et al., 2019).
It is for all of these intersecting reasons that increasing numbers of children and youth are
leaving their homes to seek safety and asylum in the United States. It is impossible to disconnect
centuries of colonialism, imperialism, US interventionism, and multinational resource extraction
from the present-​day realities in Central America and Mexico. Today, Honduras, Guatemala, and
El Salvador are among the poorest nations in the western hemisphere and gaps between the rich and
poor are vast. The legacies of historical violence continue to permeate daily realities in the region,
and intergenerational trauma runs deep. Children’s migration from Central America and Mexico
must be understood through a lens that considers how global development policies, particularly
US interventionism, have contributed to contemporary contexts of violence, inequality, and pov-
erty. As Harsha Walia (2021, p. 39) notes, “The US border crisis is more accurately described as a
crisis of displacement generated by US policies.”

Policy Framework for Unaccompanied Migrant Youth

Young people who choose to leave home are generally optimists; they embark on these tremen-
dous journeys north with the surety and confidence of youth, determined to carve out better futures

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for themselves in the United States. Some pursue the elusive “American Dream” in response to
Hollywood imaginaries and successful tales from “el otro lado,” or the other side of the Mexico/​
US border (Swanson and Torres, 2016). And despite the risks and dangers they encounter on
their journeys, optimism and excitement push them forward. As 16-​year-​old Oswaldo explained
while detained in a Mexican immigration shelter, “It doesn’t matter that you’re suffering from the
cold, hunger, nothing matters. You’re excited; you’re going to the United States!” (Swanson et al.,
2015). The level of risk child migrants face is connected to the amount of money their families are
able to invest in the journey. Those with more money can fly to the border with false documents
and request asylum. Others hire private coyotes, or guides, to drive their children the length of the
journey, staying in hotels along the way. Most migrants, however, travel with coyotes in larger
groups, and their trips often involve arduous hikes, as well as boats, rafts, trucks, buses, and cars.
For guided journeys, prices can be up to $18,000 per person, which allows for three attempts to
successfully cross the US/​Mexico border. This negotiated price also includes the cost of bribes
required to pay to police, military, migration agents, and cartels along the way (Swanson et al.,
2015; Janetsky, 2022). Youth from the poorest families must make their own way north, and many
end up riding on top of the cargo trains through Mexico. Commonly referred to as “La Bestia” –​
or the Beast, this is an extremely risky venture for children and youth, especially since they must
hitch rides on moving trains. A 12-​year-​old boy from El Salvador told me that he and his uncle
used their belts to strap themselves to the roof of a freight car during their journey north. This
was to prevent them from falling off the train while they slept. For 21 days, they endured freezing
cold nights and hot desert days as they rode atop the metal freight cars until they reached the US/​
Mexico border (Swanson and Torres, 2016).
Once unaccompanied migrant children manage to cross the border and arrive on US territory,
they typically present themselves to United States Customs and Border Patrol (USCBP) agents to
request asylum. The United States is a signatory to the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention,
which dictates that migrants who fear persecution on the basis of race, religion, nationality, mem-
bership in a particular social group, or political opinion have a legal right to petition for asylum
within its borders. Under US law, an “Unaccompanied Alien Child” is an individual under the age
of 18 who lacks legal status and who is without a parent or legal guardian when apprehended. To be
clear, this does not mean that “unaccompanied” children are always traveling on their own. Many
asylum-​seeking child migrants apprehended at the US/​Mexico border are traveling with extended
family members, including uncles, aunts, cousins, and siblings. However, because these extended
family members lack proof of legal custody, these migrant children are processed through the legal
system as “unaccompanied alien children.”
There are several domestic policies that have been developed in response to unaccompanied
migrant children seeking asylum in the United States. One of the most critical is the 2008 Trafficking
Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). Designed to provide better protections for child
migrants, it dictates that all unaccompanied migrant children must be screened at the border as poten-
tial victims of human trafficking. Yet, under TVPRA, children from contiguous countries (Mexico
and Canada) do not receive the same level of screening. Due to bilateral agreements under TVPRA,
Mexican children are rapidly deported unless they are able to demonstrate “credible fear” or a
well-​founded fear of persecution or harm upon return. This is notoriously difficult to prove during
brief screening interviews, let alone for traumatized children while under the scrutiny of uniformed
USCBP agents. In practice, this bilateral agreement means that over 95 percent of Mexican youth are
deported back to potential conditions of harm within two days of reaching the United States (Torres
et al., 2022a). By contrast, the TVPRA dictates that all other nationalities must be transferred to
the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within 72 hours. These migrant children

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are then housed in ORR shelters, which are often subcontracted out to other child-​focused service
providers. Built for youth under 18 years of age, these shelters are required to provide short-​term
accommodation, education, healthcare, and case management for migrant children until they locate
US-​based sponsors to house children for the duration of their immigration proceedings.
Child migration isn’t a new phenomenon; children have been migrating, especially from Mexico,
for decades (Heidbrink, 2014; Terrio, 2015). However, data on apprehensions of unaccompanied
migrant children prior to 2008 is limited, since prior to the 2008 TVPRA, most children were
simply deported to Mexico, regardless of their nationalities. While there have been variations
over the years, between 2008 and 2021 the number of unaccompanied migrant apprehensions has
risen from a low of 8,000 to a high of 147,000 (Figure 17.1). The first “surge,” or the year when
68,000 unaccompanied migrant children were apprehended at the southwest border, was in 2014.
This was the highest number on record and, notably, Central American unaccompanied children
outnumbered Mexican unaccompanied children for the first time. In 2019, the number of unaccom-
panied child apprehensions rose even further, reaching 76,020. While 2020 was an anomaly year
due to the pandemic and border restrictions, 2021 has vastly surpassed all previous records with
nearly 147,000 apprehensions. In March, July, and August 2021, almost 19,000 unaccompanied
migrant children arrived at the US/​Mexico border per month. Apprehensions in 2022 continue to
rise and are expected to surpass 2021 (USCBP, 2022).
While the TVPRA forced the US immigration system to begin screening children as potential
victims of human trafficking and established an institutional framework to better protect migrant
children’s rights, anti-​immigrant activists critiqued it for triggering a significant increase in the
number of unaccompanied migrant children seeking asylum in the United States. Although anti-​
immigrant xenophobia has long been present in America, a slew of harsher anti-​immigrant policies
were introduced under the Trump administration beginning in 2016. This included heightened
mass incarceration of migrants and asylum seekers, construction of a new 30-​foot border wall,
zero-​tolerance family separation policies, and widespread xenophobic rhetoric, among other
measures. Unaccompanied migrant children have been caught in the crossfire of these immigration
debates, which has complicated their ability to obtain asylum.

Mexico Guatemala Honduras El Salvador Other Total

2008 3,369 1,388 1,578 1,391 315 8,041
2009 16,114 1,115 968 1,221 250 19,668
2010 13,724 1,517 1,017 1,910 466 18,634
2011 11,768 1,565 974 1,397 363 16,067
2012 13,974 3,835 2,997 3,314 361 24,481
2013 17,240 8,068 6,747 5,990 714 38,759
2014 15,634 17,057 18,244 16,404 1,202 68,541
2015 11,012 13,589 5,409 9,389 571 39,970
2016 11,926 18,913 10,468 17,512 873 59,692
2017 8,877 14,827 7,784 9,143 804 41,435
2018 10,136 22,327 10,913 4,949 1,711 50,036
2019 10,487 30,329 20,398 12,021 2,785 76,020
2020 14,359 8,390 4,454 2,189 1,165 30,557
2021 24,129 58,571 39,731 15,473 6,930 144,834

Figure 17.1 Unaccompanied migrant child apprehensions 2008–​2021.

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 Politics of Unaccompanied Child Migration

Many migrant children fleeing Central America and Mexico petition for asylum on the basis of
gang persecution or violence, but this is especially difficult to prove in immigration court given
that youth often lack police records or evidence to substantiate their claims. In 2018, this became
even more difficult when Attorney General Jeff Sessions decreed that asylum claims based on fear
of gangs or domestic violence were no longer valid.1 Others have some success gaining asylum by
demonstrating persecution based on their LGBTQ identity or persecution based upon their race or
ethnicity. Migrant children can also pursue Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) classification, which
is for youth who can prove that they have been abused, abandoned, or neglected by one or both
parents. Youth who are victims of certain crimes or trafficking can also obtain special status to
remain in the United States.
While there are several avenues to pursue asylum and permanent residency, success rates are
notoriously low. To begin with, child migrants have no legal right to government-​appointed spe-
cial counsel or legal aid. Instead, they must find pro bono services or secure funds to hire a private
lawyer to help them navigate the US immigration system. There are many organizations willing
to offer aid and support, but there is overwhelming demand for pro bono legal services. For this
reason, few children receive legal representation in court; in fiscal year 2021, a mere 22 percent of
all unaccompanied migrant youth had legal representation during their immigration proceedings
(Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse [TRAC], 2021). This means that almost 80 percent
of children are representing themselves in US immigration court. Not surprisingly, those lacking
legal representation are vastly more likely to receive deportation orders, which are legally referred
to as “removals.” In fact, legal representation is the single most important factor influencing immi-
gration case outcomes. Court documents demonstrate that 85 percent of children without legal
representation end up with removal orders (TRAC, 2014). Politics also play into immigration
success rates. In the United States, federal immigration judges are political appointments, which
means that asylum denials and approvals often match political leanings. Immigration courts with
the lowest removal rates tend to be in the more liberal western and northeastern states, whereas
those with the highest removal rates tend to be in the more conservative southern states, including
Texas (Blue et al., 2021). Immigration proceedings can often take years due to significant backlogs
in the court system.
The US immigration detention shelter system has not been able to keep up with rising demand
either. Due to a lack of shelter space, children are often kept in inadequate USCBP facilities for
longer than the mandated 72 hours under the TVPRA. This is where viral images of “children in
cages” have become widespread in the media and where allegations of rights abuses have been
rife (BBC, 2018; The Guardian, 2018). The 1997 Flores Agreement set out minimum standards for
USCBP detention of children and mandated that conditions must be “safe and sanitary,” and that
children must be treated with “dignity, respect, and special concern for their particular vulnerability
as minors” (Flores Agreement, 1997). Despite this, lawyers and aid workers have documented
overcrowded and unsanitary conditions where children have been held for much longer than 72
hours in “hieleras,” or heavily air-​conditioned concrete cells, or “perreras” –​holding cells resem-
bling dog cages. Children and teens have complained about lack of access to soap, toothpaste,
showers, diapers, sanitary napkins, and adequate clothing, among other basic necessities. Many
have reported verbal abuse and discriminatory treatment, as well as insufficient and poor-​quality
food. Some children have spent weeks enduring these conditions, which has led to significant psy-
chological trauma (Americans for Immigrant Justice [AIJ], 2020). Medical care is also limited;
between 2018 and 2019, six children died in US federal custody (Laughland, 2019).
Family separation under the 2018 Zero Tolerance policies also led to 4,368 children being
separated from their families (Davis, 2020). Under these policies, the federal government chose to

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criminally prosecute all unauthorized immigrants caught entering the United States, which meant
separating parents from their children when they were taken into custody, including mothers
and breastfeeding babies. As later admitted by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, this policy was
explicitly designed to deter family migration to the United States (Shear et al., 2020). The youth,
toddlers, and babies who were separated from their families were sent to 121 different shelters
in 17 states across the United States (ACLU, 2018). Given ongoing public outcry about these
policies, in 2021 US President Biden set up an Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of
Families. As of June 2021, the task force reported that reunification records were still missing
for 2,127 children, largely due to poor record keeping of separated children and their families
(Department of Homeland Security [DHS], 2021). Many families were yet to be reunited, espe­
cially in instances where parents were deported back to their home countries while their children
were still in US custody.
While the total number of unaccompanied migrant children in ORR shelters varies month to
month, in the latter half of 2021, there was a monthly average of 16,400 children in ORR custody
and the average length of stay was 35 days (Health and Human Service [HHS], 2021). As the
number of children seeking asylum at the US border has risen, the US government has opened up
numerous temporary emergency influx shelters. These have included airport hangars, convention
centers, military barracks, tent camps, and converted oil worker camps, among other large-​scale
facilities (Kandel, 2021). Because these are emergency shelters, some of these facilities have been
unable to adequately meet children’s needs, particularly in terms of health and well-​being. The
nation’s ability to house children safely was further compromised in 2020 and 2021 due to the
Covid-​19 pandemic, which required reduced capacities and social distancing to avoid the spread
of the disease. While children’s time in shelters is generally limited to weeks or months, they can
often spend several years living with their US-​based sponsors while they go through their immi-
gration proceedings. During this time, migrant children are able to enroll in US schools and inte-
grate into local communities, although the vast majority end up with deportation orders.

US Policies of Immigration Deterrence

While policies and infrastructure have been developed to accommodate rising unaccompanied
child migration, other policies have been developed to deter it. And while segments of the US
population have gone above and beyond to provide humanitarian aid for migrant children, other
segments have protested vociferously against the rights of people to move across the US/​Mexico
border. In the United States, rising “America First” white nationalism has resulted in the adoption
of sweeping anti-​immigrant legislation at both the federal and state levels. These policies have
been accompanied by anti-​immigrant tropes, particularly in the conservative media where terms
such as, “crisis,” “flood,” “emergency,” and “invasion” are used to speak about “illegal aliens” in
the United States. Rhetoric and language are powerful tools used to reshape controversial debates,
and immigration is no exception. This type of rhetoric tends to dehumanize migrants and works to
justify punitive border policies and rising militarization of the border.
It would be wrong to suggest that anti-​immigrant hostilities in America began recently. These
tendencies have long been present and have taken shape over the years through different policies
and practices on both the right and the left. For instance, the modern-​day mass incarceration of
migrants and asylum seekers began with the expansion of the private prison system under President
Clinton in the 1990s. President Obama (2008–​2016) was responsible for high deportation rates, as
well as enhanced efforts to outsource immigration enforcement to Mexico through the Southern
Border Plan. The latter was achieved through a comprehensive binational immigration strategy

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developed under Obama and Mexico’s President Peña Nieto in 2014. In an effort to prevent
migrants and asylum seekers from reaching US soil to claim asylum –​as they are legally allowed
to do –​the United States invested heavily in Mexico’s immigration enforcement infrastructure.
They have donated millions of dollars in mobile security and surveillance equipment, as well as
for communications equipment, training, and support (Hiemstra, 2019). American efforts to out­
source immigration enforcement to Mexico were temporarily successful, as the overall number of
unaccompanied migrant children dropped by 51 percent in 2015 (Swanson et al., 2015). Yet, given
that these policies focused more on security interventions than on the larger factors pushing chil-
dren from their homes, child migration continued to accelerate in subsequent years.
The militarization and fortification of the US/​Mexico began in earnest in 1994 under President
Clinton with Operation Gatekeeper. Since then, various federal governments have invested in
enhanced border security, and there are now over 20,000 border patrol agents guarding the US/​
Mexico border and the interior. They have heightened surveillance through the widespread use
of aerial drones, radio control towers, infrared cameras, sensors, and other military technologies
(Slack et al., 2016). In 2019, the Trump administration declared a national emergency in order to
redirect military funding to the construction of the southern border wall (Federal Register, 2019).
These funds were used to replace and expand existing barriers over approximately 730 kilometers
of the 3,145-​kilometer southern border. However, while walls and fences might slow unauthorized
migration, they do little to stop it as long as the conditions spurring migration persist. Instead,
critics argue that deterrence policies only serve to funnel unauthorized migrants along more dan-
gerous paths, such as through the harsh Sonoran Desert where they are more likely to suffer death
by dehydration and exposure (De León, 2015).
Perhaps the most significant deterrence policies implemented during the Trump presidency
were the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and US Public Health Order 42, more commonly
known as Title 42. In January 2019, the federal government enacted the MPP program, which is
often referred to as the “Remain in Mexico” program. Under MPP, migrants seeking asylum at
the US border are placed in a queue and allotted a number dictating their place in line. While they
wait for their numbers to be called, asylum seekers are barred from entering the United States and
must wait in Mexican border towns instead. Mexico was coerced to accept MPP under the threat
of escalating US trade tariffs and had little choice but to concede given the history of asymmetrical
power relations between the two nations (Ahmed, 2019). By the end of the Trump administration
in January 2021, over 70,000 migrants were living in Mexican border camps and shelters while
they awaited permission to enter the United States, and tens of thousands of families have been
languishing in makeshift camps for well over a year (Torres et al., 2021). This has placed an undue
burden on Mexican border towns, as they struggle to enhance humanitarian protections for those
stuck in camps and shelters. In these camps, migrants lack access to basic necessities, adequate
shelter, and medical care. Safety and security are also significant concerns. Women and youth are
routinely targeted by cartels and gangs –​often the same gangs and cartels that terrorized their
families at home. In fact, by February 2021, Human Rights First uncovered at least 1,544 publicly
reported cases of murder, rape, torture, kidnapping, and other violent assaults against migrants
who had been forced to return to Mexico under MPP. Worryingly, of these reports, 341 were
instances of child kidnapping or attempted child kidnapping (Human Rights First [HRF], 2021).
The MPP program only makes one exception to its queue system: unaccompanied migrant
children are allowed to enter the United States to proceed with their asylum case. However, this
has led to many family separations as some parents and children have decided that it would be
better for youth to cross independently, rather than wait for months in the dangerous camps and
shelters. In February 2021, the Biden administration attempted to end the MPP program; however,

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the US Supreme Court stayed MPP in August 2021, even though the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees has called upon the United States to restore access to asylum in line with international
legal and human rights obligations (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR,
2021). In June 2022, the US Supreme Court finally ruled that the Biden administration could
legally terminate MPP, which means that as of September 2022, individuals are no longer being
newly enrolled in this controversial program.
While MPP has been one way to slow the flow of migrants across the southern border, US
Public Health Order 42 effectively closed the southern border to asylum seekers in March 2020,
allegedly due to the threat of Covid-​19. The Biden administration continued with this policy,
and by May 2022, nearly 1.8 million migrant expulsions had taken place (American Immigration
Council [AIC], 2022). While the Biden administration announced plans to end Title 42 in May
2022, this decision was also overturned in a US Federal Court. At the time of writing, Title 42
remains in place amidst widespread critiques, especially since US borders have remained largely
open to tourists and other travelers. Critics also point to improved Covid-​19 testing infrastruc-
ture and widespread vaccine availability, which would allow asylum seekers to enter the United
States safely. Like MPP, the only exception to this policy is unaccompanied migrant children.
Asylum-​seeking migrant children are still able to enter the United States, even though their family
members cannot. They can only enter the United States as unaccompanied minors, which places
migrant families in difficult positions. Meanwhile, asylum-​seeking migrant families –​even those
traveling with young children –​are routinely expelled to Mexico in contravention to the United
States’ obligations of non-​refoulement –​a principle that guarantees that no one should be returned
to a situation where they might suffer irreparable harm.
In March 2021, the Biden administration launched an Executive order to develop a new com-
prehensive regional framework to address “the root causes” of migration in Central America. This
new strategy represents an ambitious plan that pledges to combat corruption and strengthen demo-
cratic governance; promote respect for human rights, labor rights, and a free press; counter and
prevent violence, extortion, and other crimes perpetrated by criminal gangs, trafficking networks,
and other organized criminal organizations; combat sexual, gender-​based, and domestic violence;
and address economic insecurity and inequality. Notably, the strategy states that while US involve-
ment in the region has often been “well-​intentioned,” it has been “inconsistent” (The Whitehouse,
2021). There are certainly some laudable parts to this plan, but critics worry that this is just the
latest iteration of US economic and political intervention in the region. And if history is any indi-
cator, this strategy will likely contain more top-​down development projects that benefit private
sector partners, rather than grassroots initiatives developed in coordination with local communities
and youth.

Conclusion
It is impossible to separate child migration in the Americas from the long history of US inter-
vention in the region. Mass outmigration is a product of unequal development policies that have
exacerbated inequality, violence, and insecurity. Instead of viewing child migration as a “crisis,”
it should be understood as an actual crisis of capitalism, imperialism, and US foreign policy
(Walia, 2021). Militarizing borders, detaining, and deporting children are a product of a system
that values capital and trade more than it values the fundamental human right to seek safety and
asylum. Understanding the broader systemic forces driving child migration is critical because,
without a doubt, child migration will accelerate in the coming years. Moreover, conditions
of poverty, violence, and inequality will only be exacerbated when combined with increasing

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climate-​change-​induced droughts, rising food insecurity, and lack of capacity to manage public
health crises, such as the Covid-​19 pandemic.
No matter how the newest US comprehensive immigration strategy unfolds, it is vital that
young voices are heard, particularly since youth perspectives are largely missing in immigration
debates (Heidbrink and Frank-​Vitale, 2021). While there are exceptions (Glockner Fagetti, 2008;
Swanson et al., 2015; Thompson et al., 2019; Heidbrink, 2020; Torres et al., 2022a, 2022b),
child-​centered research with young migrants is lacking in Central America and Mexico. This is
partly due to an issue of access, given that many state-​run shelters are reluctant to work with out-
side researchers, as well as due to the methodological challenges of doing sensitive, ethical, and
participatory research with children. Yet, child-​centered research is vital in order to understand
young people’s motivations and aspirations. Going forward there is a strong demand for partici-
patory, youth-​led research developed in partnership with grassroots community organizations.
Results from this research could help inspire projects that build opportunities, support, and
safety for youth, so that they no longer feel compelled to leave their homes. History has clearly
demonstrated that top-​down policy interventions often fail. Moreover, ignoring young people’s
voices, agency, and perspectives can result in flawed policies, misdirected resources, and
violations of children’s rights (Thompson et al., 2019). Instead, researchers and policy makers
need to work in partnership with local communities, focusing especially on children and youth.
Given that children are moving across borders at unprecedented rates to seek safety from vio-
lence and insecurity, it is vital that we keep children’s perspectives at the heart of immigration
debates in the Americas.

Note
1 Attorney General Merrick Garland vacated this decision in 2021.

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 18
TRANSNATIONAL MIGRATION
AND CHILDHOOD, SOCIAL
REPRODUCTION AND
ECONOMIC CRISIS
Michael Boampong

As human mobility has become a central aspect of many people’s strategies for improving their
lives, so have fluid family dynamics and children’s roles in migration become key to life advance-
ment strategies. People move for various reasons, including improved employment conditions,
training or education, new experiences, family reunification or safety and security. Parental migra-
tion impacts on children who may accompany their parents or stay behind with a parent or relative.
Children themselves may also migrate alone. Migration, therefore, tends to reconfigure families
and how they live together as a household across space. Despite the dearth of data on children and
childhoods in the context of transnational migration, scholarly research also suggests that children
are not necessarily passive in this migration process; they are active social actors who create and
define the meaning of their migration experience and that of their parents (Coe, 2014; Dona &
Veale, 2014; Parreñas, 2005a; Punch, 2007c).
Parents –​or families –​move, or at least have the intention of moving, with the aim of improving
their lives and also that of their social relations including children and extended family members.
Migration is often undertaken due to insufficient resources in the origin countries, perceived greater
economic security elsewhere and future aspirations amid poor structural economic conditions at
home. Yet, economies in the developed world also experience economic downturns in the form of
economic recessions or financial crises, to which migrants are also vulnerable. Thus, these eco-
nomic crises can disrupt the material resources and social practices that facilitate social reproduc-
tion within a family. These factors also underscore how non-​Western countries remain vulnerable
to crisis conditions, particularly in an interdependent and interconnected world. Multiple crises
have occurred since the 1930 Great Depression (e.g. the Latin America and East Asia financial
crises in the mid-​1990s as well as the Ethiopian Crisis of 1999–​2000 (Hammond and Maxwell,
2002). The 2007–​8 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) is regarded as the world’s worst economic
recession since the Great Depression era. Whilst the GFC originated in the Global North, specif-
ically in Wall Street in the US and in the City of London in the UK, the effects have been felt by
many countries in the Global South in three main areas: trade, remittances and financial credit
(Arguello, 2010; Elson, 2010) –​all of which have implications for everyday life.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-22 235

 Michael Boampong

This chapter reviews the extant research on the issues of transnational migration and
childhoods and their intersection with economic crisis and social reproduction that are critical
to understanding how families relate across borders, how children are constituted in the dis-
course on transnationalism and social reproduction and how crises are governed. This litera-
ture review includes both theoretical and empirical evidence and is divided into three major
sections that focus on transnational migration, children and childhoods and the implications
of financial crisis for social reproduction. I conclude that the existing literature does not offer
us sufficient understanding of the relationship between economic crisis and ensuing governing
strategies and their impact on transnational families and childhoods from a social reproduction
perspective.

Migration: Theoretical and discursive shifts

Ravenstein (1885, 1889), a nineteenth-​century geographer, conceptualised the ‘laws of migration’
postulating that ‘migration increases as industries and commerce develop and transport improves’
(ibid.:178 cited in de Haas, 2008; Schiller & Faist, 2009). This seminal contribution argued that
migration was primarily influenced by economic factors such as wage differentials. The initial
contribution of Ravenstein framed the theoretical input of many demographers, geographers and
economists in the 1960s to explain the economic, social and political reasons behind the movement
of people. Lee’s (1966) push–​pull theory, neoclassical micro-​migration theory, behavioural models
and social systems theory underscored micro-​level causes including individual values, desires and
expectations which cause movements (Faist, 2000; de Haas, 2008). Macro-​level theories including
neoclassical macroeconomic theory, World Systems theory, dual labour market theory and the
mobility transition model noted macro-​level factors (e.g. wage differentials) which cause and per-
petuate migration flows (de Haas, 2008).
However, many scholars were dissatisfied with the dominant theory due to its ahistorical and
Euro-​centric nature, and this led to the emergence of meso-​level theories (i.e. cultural and social
capital theory, institutional theory, network theory, cumulative causation and the New Economics
of Labour Migration [NELM]). These emphasised how non-​economic factors, including social
networks, risk reduction and resource flow –​particularly ideas –​for collective interest, can equally
mobilise migration (Schiller, Basch, & Szanton Blanc, 1992; Faist, 2000; de Haas, 2008). For
instance, Stark and Levhari (1982) and Katz and Stark (1986) argued that beyond the notion of
‘migration-​for-​improved income’, migration is a risk-​avoidance strategy families employ for
resource diversification to reduce their vulnerability to negative economic events. Migration as a
risk-​avoidance strategy also relates to assumptions behind the NELM. It has conceptual linkages
with livelihood approaches that emerged in the 1970s among geographers, sociologists and
anthropologists working in countries in the Global South where many families have no income
security, from either private or government interventions, and hence households adopt strategies,
including implicit family contracts, to insure themselves against future risks (de Haas, 2008). The
premise of this livelihood strategy also underscores that ‘choice is based on (selective) access to
assets, perceptions of opportunities, as well as aspirations of actors’ (de Haas, 2008:36). Thus,
there is some form of agency that is exhibited by the household collectively with respect to how to
diversify their resources to overcome structural constraints. This, therefore, emphasises the rela-
tionship between migration and the wider social context (e.g. the role of family and community),
as well as the economic development processes (e.g. (un)employment conditions). Hence, this
approach has implications for what happens to migrants who are avoiding risk in their origin coun-
tries and yet may be exposed to risks such as economic crisis or austerity in destination countries.

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 Transnational Migration and Childhood

I conceptualise this as intensified risk and examine whether an intensified risk-​avoidance strategy
is being practised in economically uncertain periods.
Having considered migration theories, it is important to explore the discursive approaches and
shifts amongst scholarly disciplines, policymakers and international organisations working on
migration. In this regard, there are three main shifts: a move away from ‘dual divides’; a change
from migration as a problem to migration as a solution; and the input of feminist theories. First,
until recently, migration research was marked by what Castles (2007:7) describes as the ‘dual
divides’ in research agendas. Development studies and mainly economists, political economists
and geographers focused on responding to why and how migration takes place. Conversely,
sociologists and anthropologists focused on migrants’ social, cultural and economic integration
(Castles, 2007). Second, migration is not entirely seen as a ‘problem for economic development’;
rather, it is viewed as ‘a solution’ (Schiller & Faist, 2009:4). Consequently, a migration-​for-​ devel-
opment mantra has evolved which treats migrants as development agents for both origin and des-
tination countries, as practised in international development programme implementation and
research agendas (Kapur, 2004 cited in Schiller & Faist, 2009). Northern governments and multi­­
lateral development agencies overwhelmingly drive agenda-​setting for research and dialogue. This
situation presents two challenges: the fact that migration research and debate continue to ori-
ginate and reflect nation-​state interests –​ particularly those of powerful states –​ means that such
research could be trapped within the problem of ‘methodological nationalism’ from the beginning
(Wimmer & Glick Schiller, 2002; Castles, 2010:1570). Moreover, the mantra, which is often based
on macroeconomic notions that Southern governments can utilise diaspora remittances and compe-
tencies, has often been constructed around an adult’s role, without acknowledging young people’s
position in this process. Third, feminist scholars have contributed analysis of the gendered dimen-
sion of migration. Until the early 1970s, family migration research had often been explored from
a male household-​head perspective (Morokvasic, 1984; Boyle & Halfacree, 1999). This could
be attributed to the economically biased nature of most migration theories before and during the
1990s. Feminist theorising of the feminisation of migration drew attention to the lack of studies on
migration’s gendered nature and therefore women’s roles in decision-​making. However, despite
the aforementioned changes, it has only been within the last decade that scholars began to truly
explore the child’s role in family migration (Orellana et al., 2001; Parreñas, 2005a; Whitehead &
Hashim, 2005; Gardner, 2009; de Lima, Punch & Whitehead, 2012; Gardner, 2012).

The transnational turn

Since the 1990s, transnational migration approaches have emerged as a way of capturing family
formations in relation to links that exist between migrants and non-​migrants and the economic,
political and cultural conditions influencing their practices and symbolic meanings in what can be
termed the transnational turn. For instance, Portes et al. (1999) and Vertovec (1999) applied trans­­
nationalism in exploring what it means to live in an interconnected and topographically complex
world without depending exclusively on structural and macroeconomic assumptions.
With few exceptions (for instance Orellana et al., 2001; Parreñas, 2008; Tyrrell, 2011; de Lima
et al., 2012; Gardner & Mand, 2012; Dona & Veale, 2014; Punch, 2014), the transnational turn has
not highlighted young people in academic research and policy discourse. Where visible, emphasis
is rather given to the impacts of transnational life on their future. Children’s perspectives, actions
and their everyday life experiences have often been either overlooked or constructed as innocent
victims of globalisation and passive economic dependents in the migration process (Punch, 2007a;
Cooke, 2008; White et al., 2011) .

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Moreover, studies since the 2007–​8 GFC concentrated on adult migrant workers. This may be
linked to the adult-​centric nature of traditional migration theories discussed earlier or dominant
labour migration discourses that assume migration is an adult worker’s endeavour. This same line
of argument also extends to the notion that children are economic dependents and passive victims
of migration (Crivello, 2015), thereby underestimating their subjective economic agency. Even
more relevant may be the futuristic notion that children are becoming human ( Qvortrup, 1994:2).
This emphasises the need to prepare children to be better citizens rather than focusing on their pre-
sent experiences, identities and social formation (White et al., 2011).
Furthermore, research and policy priorities often focus on enhancing an adult’s freedom of
movement for trade and employment across North–​South migration corridors, with relatively
little attention on family formation and children. Africa–​North America transnational migration
has been under-​researched, and there is virtually nothing on South–​South transnational migration
(with the exception of the transnational adoption literature) and its impacts on children and their
social relationships.

Forms of mobility
The transnational approach, although important, is problematic given the huge emphasis on cross-​
border movement and international migration. Drawing from the views of Faist (1997), Massey
(1998:3 cited in Castles, 2010) and Veale and Dona (2014), it can be deduced that definitions
of migration posit large-​scale, one-​way and long-​term human movements, as was seen after the
Second World War, and cannot fully reflect contemporary forms of mobility that are circular,
interdependent, progressively complex and involving a series of events across time and space.
As posited by Hannam et al. (2006:1 cited in Dona & Veale, 2014), ‘the concept of mobility is
broader than that of migration’, it involves ‘all forms of mobility, ranging from daily routine
movements around the home and neighbourhood, to long-​distance movement and virtual mobility,
and the ways in which transport, travel, [technology] and communication functions in people’s
lives’. Movements for work, education, training, employment, marriage, retirement and tourism
are ways of recognising the significance of mobility in everyday life and the life course trajectories
of people from childhood to adulthood.
Veale and Dona’s (2014:1–​2) work is significant for emphasising ‘child and youth-​mobility-​
in-​migration’. Young people’s lives are characterised by different forms of spatial mobility: short-​
distance everyday mobility; individual or group movements; regional; international/​long-​distance;
and embodied real, virtual and imaginative (Coe, 2012). Other scholars have similarly investigated
child mobilities including return migration (e.g. Orellana et al., 2001) and how being left behind in
an origin country can reinforce children’s mobility between multiple households and geographies
(Zhang, 2015:394). For young people –​and their social relations –​mobility is a critical aspect of
their life course and their aspiration to ‘becoming somebody’ (James et al., 1998; Langevang &
Gough, 2009; Crivello, 2011). For instance, the movement for education is seen as a route out of
poverty and towards better ‘future’ opportunities (e.g. higher education and work) and identity
constructions (Punch, 2007b).
As far as imagined or virtual forms of mobility are concerned, ethnographic accounts reveal
how subjects who stay behind perceive their place in mobility, as well as their conditions as ‘left-​
behinds’. These studies reveal the affective and material conditions of non-​migrant children of
migrant parents and their transnational networks (Parreñas, 2005a; Coe, 2012).
Furthermore, imagined mobility, linked lives, ideas and places have implications for the con-
struction of gender relations in transnational households. For instance, while Hirsch’s (1999)

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work highlights gendered relations for married women living in Mexico as influenced by US soap
operas, Coe’s (2012) and Gardner and Mand’s (2012:984) work particularly highlights how chil­­
dren in Ghana and British-​Bangladeshi children, respectively, associate places and people over-
seas with work, leisure and freedom. This, in turn, informs children’s migration intentions and
place constructions based on intra-​and inter-​generational perspectives or experiences. The cap-
acity to imagine life in a place is critical to present and future mobility motivations. In essence,
the construction of transnationalism is not limited to physical mobility but also the capacity for
imagining connections between people and places.
Another form of mobility which is worth noting from the literature is on ‘cosmopolitanism’
and a ‘flexible lifestyle’ of young people as a means of career advancement and ‘self-​realisation’
through the accumulation of social, cultural and educational capital (Kennedy, 2010:466; Kalir,
2012:324). Kennedy (2010:466) and Kalir (2012), for instance, comment that the intensification of
economic globalisation through the neoliberal agenda and inequalities in capital accumulation has
shaped human mobility and therefore fostered ‘hypermobility’ –​moving to virtually everywhere
internally and internationally (Kalir, 2012:323) by ‘middling migrants’ (i.e. young migrants with
a middle-​class background) and those from wealthy class families. However, maintaining one’s
class category is uncertain with mobility; from an upper-​class status, people may end up in middle-​
class positions in host societies (Kennedy, 2010), as pointed out by Glick, Schiller and Salazar
(2013; see also Kennedy, 2010). Hence, the assumption of increased freedom of mobility among
different classes of moving subjects should be problematised.
The mobilities paradigm has been criticised for celebrating an ever-​increasing global fluidity of
ideas, capital, goods and people (Urry, 2001 cited in Kalir, 2012), rather than representing the con­­
crete consequences that such fluidity carries for different people in different positions and local-
ities (e.g. Wimmer & Glick Schiller, 2002 cited in Kalir, 2012:313). Despite the advancements in
bilateral, regional and international agreements for improved economic integration, particularly
with international trade, human mobility has often been selective and restrictive (UN Development
Programme, 2009; Shamir, 2005 cited in Kalir, 2012:313). This is not to say that only contem­­­
porary migration in relation to globalisation is an activity by the few; even in the colonial era
movements were unequal and coercive (slaves, indentured workers etc.) Rather, an examination of
contemporary mobilities’ restrictive nature can draw attention to non-​migrant children and parents
whose mobility intentions may be delayed or constrained due to gender norms, household struc-
ture, availability of material resources and legal status of parents, amongst other factors (Veale &
Andres, 2014; Veale & Dona, 2014). For instance, studies have shown that while countries attract
adult migrant workers, they do not allow them to move with their family members, including chil-
dren or spouses, in the immediate period. The impacts on social reproduction cannot be ignored
(Katz, 2001:713). Within various constraints, a number of strategies could be adopted. However,
the accomplishment of reproductive needs can be challenging when immigration policies are
tightened to reduce net migration flows. This raises the question of how social reproduction is
accomplished under restrictive migration policies.
The conceptual approach of mobility is plausible for stressing the experiences of both mobile
and immobile people and, consequently, the manner in which neoliberal and political regimes
powerfully shape spatial movements depending on geographic and social position. However, it
has not been sufficiently applied outside of migration across the Americas. Conradson and Latham
(2005), for instance, comment on how so much of the transnational migration research has focused
on mobility patterns between North America and developing countries of Central America and the
Caribbean to the neglect of other migration corridors. A further limitation is the almost exclusive
focus on adult migrants –​especially caregivers –​refugees and businessmen and women (Urry,

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2007:10–​11, cited in Kalir, 2012). Moreover, the state and its role in controlling moving subjects
have often been the point of departure for intellectual hypotheses, research and analysis due to the
neglect of everyday grassroots interactions (Castles, 2010:1566; Kalir, 2012). A related pitfall is
the tendency to underestimate ‘powerfields’ or restrictive migration policies that attempt to ‘stem
the tide’ of migration (Kalir, 2012:314). This happens against the backdrop of representation of
moving subjects with water-​related metaphors (e.g. flows, waves and streams) to represent such
‘copious flows’ which tends to downplay the complex lived-​life experiences of the ‘many losers’
of globalisation as commented by Kalir (2012:314). Moreover, Collyer and King’s (2015) work
equally encourages us to think about the influence of the state on transnationalism and trans-
national social spaces as well as in the context of mobility and immobility. This requires reconsid-
eration of transnational families from a conceptual and analytical approach.

Mobility across the life course

Many scholars employ the ‘life course’ approach to migration in order to emphasise the relational
aspects –​since life involves social relationships with others –​but also notably to examine issues
such as: parent–​child relationships and their social and economic status during key events (Elder,
1994; 1998); youth-​to-​adult transitions in uncertain periods (Locke & Lloyd-​Sherlock, 2011;
Punch, 2014); the impact of child migration on the child’s family; and children’s embodied life
journeys in relation to place (Orellana et al., 2001; Gardner, 2009; Gardner & Mand, 2012). The
life course approach has advanced over time, and pioneers like Elder have theorised and defined
the life course theory as a ‘pattern of socially defined, age-​graded events and roles which is sub-
ject to historical change in culture and social structure’ (1998:302). In research, this is significant
considering the fact that in most societies, discursive elements of families and government pol-
icies are constructed in relation to child-​to-​adult transitions where an individual is expected to
experience certain life events such as education, work and marriage, among others, with respect
to time.
Punch’s (2007a, 2007b) and Gardner’s (2009) seminal work has subsequently influenced
thinking on independent child migration and how migration shapes identities and facilitates
transitions from childhood to youth and adulthood. But while school-​to-​work life transitions
may be an outcome of mobility, a lot appears to be taken for granted amongst migrants –​and
in research –​that establishes a positive relationship between physical and social mobility in life
trajectories (see for instance UN Development Programme, 2009). There appears to be a biased
focus on how mobility improves economic outcomes (e.g. improved earnings) to the neglect of
social aspects. This is epitomised by phrases such as ‘migration for development’ and programmes
implemented by international organisations that posit mobility from one place to another as
offering opportunities such as employment.
There are also intersectionalities to consider when theorising young migrants’ lives and iden-
tities. Gender and age also affect a young person’s possibilities and perspectives about transnational
migration. Coe’s (2012) and Punch’s (2014) work emphasises a gendered analysis of intra-​and
inter-​generational relationships. However, while young people’s job acquisition, improved
earnings and intimate relationships form important aspects of migration decisions (Punch, 2014),
Coe’s research underscores how education mediates migration decisions at a particular life stage.
Coe’s research findings with Ghanaian children suggest that children believed they needed to get
an education in their home country before embarking on international migration, as they held the
perception that overseas was a place for work. Additionally, childhood is a stage in life when chil-
dren are first exposed to various gendered notions that will be constructed differently in specific

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socio-​cultural fields. This is also true for children in transnational families involved in Gardner’s
(2009) research.
How transnationality varies across the life course with respect to generations has also been an
area of focus in the literature. Assimilation theorists suggest that transnational ties get weaker when
immigrants assimilate through ethnic identification with their new society and as their traditional,
family and kinship ties with their homeland dissolve (Schiller & Levitt, 2004). Furthermore,
transnationality may be unequal across generations. However, this notion is problematic, as it
tends to overlook the effect of the many periodic, selective transnational activities that an indi-
vidual engages in at different life stages (Schiller & Levitt, 2004:20–​1). For instance, Waters and
Levitt (2002) argue that transnationality ebbs away among school-​aged young people and signifi­
cantly diminishes in early adulthood due to work and young family commitments. However, it
rises again at a later stage in life. Additionally, constructing notions of transnationality in relation
to the degree of parental assimilation or (family) settlement in the destination country tends to
underestimate young people’s subjective experiences, their agency and how they forge paths that
may be independent of parental oversight (Orellana et al., 2001).
Exploring transnationality from a life course perspective seems plausible considering
that transnational practices vary in degrees of intensity over one’s life experience and per-
haps in relation to an agent’s capacity within the social space (Elder, 1998; Crivello, 2015).
Nevertheless, the life course framework has been criticised by scholars like Mayer (2005 cited
in Vidal, 2010:176) for being ‘unclear about the precise mechanisms and specific forms of insti­
tutional support [or factors] that generate distinct outcomes in people’s lives’. Of course, key
institutional factors such as school quality, household culture and broader social expectations
as well as place-​based inequalities (Dornan & Woodhead, 2015:11) do have an impact on
children’s life outcomes.
Elder (1998:5–​6) has attempted to identify key issues to consider in reducing some of the poten­
tial limitations of the life course approach. This involves the need for systematic consideration of
age-​graded expectations to explain whether specific life events ‘are early, on time, or late’, as well
as the cultural context of child socialisation. Additionally, Locke and Lloyd-​Sherlock (2011:1148)
underscore the significance of linked lives in addressing some of the challenges related to the
analysis and interpretation of life events. Linked lives suggest an interdependent way of living
where a person’s circumstance is likely to have an impact on others whom they relate with. Locke
and Lloyd-​Sherlock (ibid) note the need to adopt a ‘respondent-​centric approach’ that involves
interviewing or seeking the opinions of significant others who are involved in children’s formative
experiences to gain a clearer understanding of the situation.

Unpacking children and childhoods in the context of migration

Recently, interest has intensified in children’s movements within and across borders, transnational
families and the conditions of children left behind. In particular, the literature has focused on
children’s perception of, and feelings about, parental migration or family migration (Orellana
et al., 2001; Parreñas, 2005b; White et al., 2011; Coe, 2014; Dona & Veale, 2014).
Globalisation has caused the spread of transnational households and has challenged the gender
norms of family life. For instance, despite traditionally held views on the gendered and generational
division of labour, some women’s roles have shifted from nurturer (e.g. ‘homemaking’ responsi-
bilities such as child-​rearing) to being breadwinners (Morokvasic, 1984; Boyle & Halfacree, 1999)
as a consequence of being part of a transnational household. However, it has also been noted in the
literature that women do not abandon their gender norms completely (Parreñas, 2001; Coe, 2011a;

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Faist et al., 2013). Instead, they are required to fulfil two obligations: earning income and serving
as caregivers, in both their home and destination countries.
These gendered norms have implications for social reproduction (Hondagneu-​Sotelo, 1994;
Hondagneu-​Sotelo & Avila, 1997; Parreñas, 2005a; Coe, 2014). With the changing nature of
employment in late capitalism, women may procure marketised caregiving in order to undertake
paid work, and this can produce a cascading chain of the displacement of mothers from caring
for their own children to caring for other people’s children (Wells, 2009). In some cases, this
may imply a redefinition of social relations and what it means to be a ‘good mother’ within the
household and thus can affect the household as being the locus of production and social repro-
duction. In transnational households, this consequently means there could be a relocation of
childcare to the child’s parent’s home country in order to fulfil parental duties (Katz, 2004:31–​
2). This results in parenting at ‘a distance’ in which contact is maintained with children in their
home countries, remittances and gifts are sent and occasional visits are made. However, even
when parents fulfil these parental responsibilities under various constraints (Hondagneu-​Sotelo
& Avila, 1997; Parreñas, 2001, 2008), evidence from the Philippines and Central America
suggests that the physical absence of the child’s parent/​s could result in a cumulative negative
experience of loneliness, insecurity and vulnerability for these children, especially for those
who crave family intimacy (Cortes, 2007; Castañeda & Buck, 2011). Additionally, the literature
suggests that the emotional and affective challenges of children are linked to the absence of
their mothers (Parreñas, 2001; Parreñas, 2008; Coe, 2011b). This may be due to women’s role
as naturalised carers at both the individual level and within the wider society (Cox, 2013:496).
Therefore, it is evident that migration affects social reproduction by altering gender norms and
child-​rearing capacities, this has implications for whether those within a transnational house-
hold are considered ‘good parents’.
However, as previously mentioned, it would be erroneous to consider children in transitional
households as malleable and submissive subjects. Instead, children’s present choices, constraints
and future aspirations may influence parental migration motives (Orellana et al., 2001; Parreñas,
2005a; Coe, 2011a; Tyrrell, 2011). This forms part of the conceptual view around varied forms
of children’s agency, i.e. the capacity to act or exert power, in the migration process. In Britain,
Tyrrell (2011) observed a spectrum of agency expressed by children in migratory decision-​making.
The spectrum varied from parent/​s choosing to migrate and then informing the child afterwards to
children who actively participated in the decision-​making process. This agency, as noted by Tyrrell
(2011), is further influenced by age –​older children can be more active in decision-​making when
compared to young children, due to their developing competency. Other scholars have made a
distinction between passive (or thin) agency, meaning when children act on other people’s interest
or within a limited scope of options and active (or thick) agency, meaning when children act inde-
pendently and with wider options available (Punch, 2007c; Tyrrell, 2011).
A segment of the literature addresses young people’s independent migration. Hashim (2007),
Kwankye et al. (2009) and Thorsen (2014) have explored the situation of independent child
migrants in Ghana and across borders in Africa. Their findings have challenged the widespread
categorisation of independent child migrants as vulnerable, ‘out of place’ (Crivello, 2015:39)
and ‘the luggage’ of family migration (Whitehead & Hashim, 2005, 2014); White et al., 2011).
Similar evidence by Orellana et al. (2001) identified various forms of mobility, including ‘para­
chute kids’, whose migration strategy aims for upward social class mobility for themselves and
their families as well as children who are sent to their parent’s origin countries to learn cultural
values. However, it is unclear how effective the latter is, particularly when cultural contexts may
have changed across time. Punch’s (2007b seminal work with Bolivian children who migrated to

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Argentina also highlights young people’s agency in migration by pursuing aspirations, work and
education, resulting in self-​development and autonomy. However, it is observed that return migra-
tion by young independent migrants can lead to a rise in tension over values between migrants
and non-​migrants. In addition, Hashim (2005), Hashim (2006), Thorsen (2014) and Punch (2007a)
reveal the significance of inter-​generational relationships between (potential) young independent
migrants and non-​migrants. However, Punch underscored gaps in research related to how intra-​
generational relations among moving subjects and non-​migrants (e.g. boyfriends and girlfriends)
are managed and negotiated over time and in response to crisis situations.
A significant theme in the literature is the nexus between migration and remittances.
A remittance is a sum of money sent as a gift to family or friends in the migrant’s home
country. The impact of remittances, however, remains a contested issue between economists
and non-​ economic scholars, given its mixed outcomes for recipient households. At the
micro-​level, remittances impacted positively on educational attainment and healthcare in the
Philippines (McKenzie & Rapoport, 2006; Yang, 2008; Lakshman, Perera, & Sangasumana,
2014). Although it is also reported that in some cases, there were in fact incidences of absen­
teeism from school and increased housework for children left behind (McKenzie and Rapoport,
2006). Stark and Lucas (1988) argue that remittances can promote household asset accumu­­
lation with little productive investment (Faist et al., 2013). At the macro-​level, it is argued
that remittances contribute to poverty reduction (Adams & Cuecuecha, 2010). Although other
studies indicate that remittances can lead to a loss of economic competitiveness (e.g. Haiti,
Jordan, Jamaica, Cape Verde and El Salvador) and what has been referred to as ‘dependency
culture’, Hondagneu-​Sotelo (1994), Hondagneu-​Sotelo and Avila (1997), Parreñas (2001,
2005a) showed that remittance effects might vary depending on who migrated, who stayed
behind and the significance of the extended families. For instance, Parrenas (2008) observed
gendered differences in communication with children by the migrant parent. For instance, in
the Philippines, fathers abroad, as compared to mothers, rarely communicated with their chil-
dren at home. The frequency and maintenance of interactions (e.g. through phone calls, postage
and travel) may be mediated by economic and social class factors such as employment sector,
income levels and material assets of migrants and non-​migrants (Bryceson & Vuorela, 2002:3).
Consequently, there appears to be an unexplored area of the literature in relation to the effect
of changing economic conditions on communication by the transnational family, either through
remittance, verbal or other communication.
Migrants’ ideas, values and beliefs could be transferred across space in what Levitt (2001:59–​
63) termed social remittances (Goldring, 2004; Faist et al., 2013; Levitt & Lamba-​Nieves, 2013).
With few exceptions (such as Punch, 2007a, 2007b; Gardner, 2009; Veale & Dona, 2014), the
current state of the literature on social remittances seems to predominantly focus on adults. Less
attention has been paid to children’s role in transfer or receipt –​including what forms of acceptance
or resistance of social remittances may exist across and in the various geographic spaces that chil-
dren occupy. This may be due to how traditional research on remittances has been conceptualised
around adultist and diasporic contributions for national development in origin countries. This
raises questions regarding how children transfer social remittances and how they are negotiated at
different places (e.g. home and school).
Moreover, the theorisation of remittances seems to have been mainly focused on how they flow
from destination to origin countries. However, given that children may fluidly circulate between
origin and destination countries under contemporary mobility, it is important to look for possible
acts which reverse social remittance –​that is what flows from origin to destination countries and
children’s role in this.

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2007/​8 Global financial and economic crisis

The 2007–​8 GFC was the worst economic shock since the Great Depression and the 1930 era of
migration (Awad, 2009; Fix et al., 2009). Various narratives attribute the cause of the crisis to mort­­
gage lending to borrowers with poor credit histories and inability to repay loans (Fix et al., 2009),
in addition to capital investment and production relocation to Asia resulting in wage declines in
the Global North (Elson, 2012a). Beginning as a financial crisis, this event resulted in a global
economic recession with rippling effects on the Global South.

Responses and outcomes: Austerity, the ‘big society’ and the

crisis of social reproduction
Most Western governments since 2008 responded to the crisis through bailouts of financial
institutions. However, unlike the US, most European governments moved from fiscal stimulus
towards austerity (Richardson, 2010; Oxfam, 2013) resulting in mixed outcomes. For example,
since 2010, corporate investment, including non-​bank options, has increased in the US compared
to the UK (Brown, 2010; Posen, 2012), leading to growth in GDP. Moreover, while the US
experienced an increase in real incomes, employment and consumption, less income uncer-
tainty and low cost of energy (Posen, 2012; Oxfam, 2013), the UK experienced higher inflation,
increased energy costs and fiscal austerity measures –​ mainly in the form of spending cuts and
small increments in tax –​which has potential consequences on real incomes and cost of living
(Posen, 2012; Oxfam, 2013).
It is important to bear in mind that unlike other past financial crises (e.g. the Latin American
crisis of the early 1980s and the Asian crisis of 1997), the 2007/​8 Crisis had far-​reaching impacts
on developing countries (Elson, 1998, 2010, 2012a). Elson notes that its impact on nations within
the Global South was evident through factors such as a shortfall in export demand, which resulted
in a fall in output, employment, earnings and enjoyment of labour rights. Similarly, the social
reproductive aspects were characterised by low consumption and nutrition as well as poor school
attendance. Thus, it is evident that the GFC negatively affected countries within the Global South.
Furthermore, perspectives vary on the role of remittance flows from migrants in periods of crisis.
One side of the literature suggests that remittance flows increased (Kapur, 2004; Yang, 2008),
while in some cases a reduction was experienced depending on migrant household conditions
(Awad, 2009; Beets & Willekens, 2009; Fix et al., 2009; Koehler, 2010; Elson, 2010; Ghosh,
2011). As a result of the crisis, emigration trends became more gendered and selective in some
areas. Countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia experienced high female out-​
migration while male migration dropped due to increased demand for domestic service which
remains coded as women’s work (Arguello, 2010; Green et al., 2010). Arguello (2010) presents
anecdotal evidence on how the effect of a crisis in the Global North can impact the livelihood of
people in Peru, resulting in further reinforced gendered and generational norms: women’s partici-
pation in informal sector jobs increased if they were household heads whilst older boys and girls
were encouraged to migrate for jobs and younger girls were tasked with the responsibility of care-
giving in the absence of parents. While some studies (Fix et al., 2009) generally discounted notions
of migrants returning, instances of Filipino migrant workers returning to the Philippines were
reported during the time of the Global Crisis (Elson, 2010). However, this return should be seen
not only from a one-​off crisis point of view but rather with reference to neoliberal globalisation
regimes and the ‘multiple crises’ –​from neoliberal policies like Structural Adjustment Policies
(SAP) to dramatic increases in food and oil prices in 2007 –​affecting residents of the Global South
(Spitzer & Piper, 2014:1009).

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On the other hand, response to the inter-​generational reproductive sphere (mainly through
care, socialisation and education) included an increase in social protection transfers, cuts in social
investment and increased participation in organised unpaid voluntary work (see Elson, 2010:207
on how the financialisation of everyday life and targeting of women for childcare reinforces
gender inequalities). Asian Development Bank (n.d.) , Espey et al. (2010) and Mendoza (2010) all
reported instances in which migrant parents undertook extra jobs and increased working hours for
additional income, may have relocated the child from a private to a public school and urged their
children to work in part-​time jobs. One critical concern has also been the gendered and gener-
ational household response to crisis which threatens equal access to education based on gender and
age, yet at the same time challenges gendered norms of a male breadwinner and female nurturer
(the latter often having consequences for the ability of men and boys to reimagine a successful or
respected masculinity).
Family reunification is perhaps the most useful entry point for understanding how policies in
the context of family migration have changed since the economic crisis. In 2012, the UK govern-
ment passed a new family reunification law with a corresponding increment (minimum of £18,600
per annum) in financial proof to be demonstrated by British/​settled people wishing to sponsor
the immigration of a non-​European. Until the economic recession, migration had risen steadily.
However, reflecting on the immobility discourse (Veale & Dona, 2014), it is presumed that these
changes in immigration policy have had consequences for family reunification processes and the
rise in migration numbers.
Most development policy-​related literature (see for instance Asian Development Bank, n.d.;
Mendoza, 2010) argue that contemporary labour is characterised by insecure employment oppor­
tunities (for both native-​born and immigrants), and thus, migrants have become more vulnerable to
retrenchment and scapegoating as job takers ( Spitzer & Piper, 2014). Children, especially in coun­
tries in the Global South that depend on remittances, have been classified as vulnerable to crisis in
part for this reason. Further implications for migrants and social reproduction include poor school
attendance, deferred education and low consumption of nutritious food as noted earlier (Espey,
Harper & Jones, 2010; Mendoza, 2010).

Children and reconstruction of transnational childhoods and global

householding: The missing perspective in social reproduction
The concepts of global household and transnational families are well-​established in the literature
and have been applied by scholars in theorising family and household strategies and practices.
Evidently, the potential to maintain household interactions or practices –​for instance through
remittances –​is key to the maintenance of transnational households.
Moving subjects embedded in social networks as parents, friends and children of a family are
also situated within the political economy. My critique of existing migration literature and the
impact of the governance of the crisis on the social reproduction of transnational families dovetails
with Douglass’ (2014:315) argument. In the face of major shifts in economic, political and social
relationships among migrants and non-​migrants, the ‘macro-​societal’ factors and their effects on
global householding remain largely under-​researched. Family and household structures are chan-
ging; marriage rates and childbearing among people are reducing; and divorce rates are increasing
in both middle-​and high-​income countries (Douglass, 2014). What does this mean for inter-​and
intra-​generational social reproduction, social network formation and household resilience and
therefore the construction of global householding? Increasing costs of living and shrinking social
welfare are likely to lead to the (re)production of new forms of households (e.g. friends living

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 Michael Boampong

together, children staying longer with parents and group living) (Douglass, 2014:316). Additionally,
the forms of networks and social relationships that are created through mobilities underscore the
fact that it is not enough to examine the impact of economic crisis on kin relations only, but
in addition, to include people who become part of the global household through various social
relationships such as marriage or cohabitation and friendship networks. As suggested by Douglass
(2014), it is important to trace both intra-​and inter-​generational relationships and interactions in
order to understand the global household’s scale and effects.
Research on social reproduction is multidisciplinary. Major perspectives have focused on
the gendered nature of everyday work of reproduction (Haylett, 2003; Mitchell et al., 2004;
Elson, 2012b), education and the effect of neoliberal reforms (Katz, 2004; Waters, 2012)
across various scales of topography (Katz, 2001). Some notable work on transnational migra­
tion concentrated on women’s involvement in paid work, the effect on reproductive roles
(Hondagneu-​Sotelo & Avila, 1997; Parreñas, 2001, 2005a) and how their actions reproduce or
contest gendered norms. Social reproduction can be defined as an intertwined process by which
a socio-​economic system reproduces itself and how human beings who live in the political
economy or society reproduce themselves –​as individuals, communities and generations –​
alongside the transmission of social and cultural values as well as the construction of indi-
vidual and collective identities (Picchio, 1992; Elson, 1998; Katz, 2001; Katz, 2004; Douglass,
2013; Dowling & Harvie, 2014). Common aspects of social reproduction include food pro­­
vision, safety and shelter, child and elderly care, healthcare, emotional or affective labour,
laundry and cleaning, and general household maintenance. In particular, Katz notes that social
reproduction entails a political–​economy of

the reproduction of work knowledge and skills, the practices that maintain and reinforce
class and other categories of difference and … [sets] of cultural forms and practices
that work to reinforce and naturalise the dominant social relations of production and
reproduction.
(2001:712)

It seems that with few exceptions (such as Katz, 2001; Parreñas, 2005b; Ansell, 2008) social
reproduction theory has yet to be further explored in relation to understanding children and young
people’s agency, transnationalisation of political–​economic change as well as the effect of global-
isation of capitalist production on their everyday life work. Here, it is worth mentioning that when
children have featured in existing research analysis, dominant terms such as ‘mothering from a dis-
tance’ (Parreñas, 2001), ‘transnational mothering’ (Hondagneu-​Sotelo & Avila, 1997) and ‘global
care chains’ (Ehrenreich & Hochschild, 2003) have often unintentionally made children and their
role in social reproduction less visible. Similarly, the use of the concept in the literature suggests
that transnational social reproduction with respect to the Africa–​Europe migration corridor and
therefore the role of transnational children has been under-​researched. Another relevant point is
the fact that research on the economic crisis focused mainly on adult migrants and the implications
of the crisis on their reproductive labour (see for instance Arguello, 2010). The temporality of
childhood and the governance of social reproduction through austerity measures that target repro-
ductive places (e.g. the family and school) is critical to understanding and theorising childhoods
and how they are being produced across time and space. Katz’s notion of countertopographies
(2001) offers a political–​economic logic to understanding the geographies of childhood and social
reproduction.

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Coping strategies in times of economic restructuring

Vulnerability has been a dominant narrative of the 2007–​8 GFC. However, other scholars writing
on other periods of financial crisis and precarity have also underscored possibilities of household
resilience and coping strategies to undermine structural constraints (Katz, 2004). In transnational
migration studies, Punch (2014) is particularly notable for revealing how Bolivian families, espe­
cially young people who had migrated from Bolivia to Argentina, coped during Argentina’s 2002
economic crisis through further mobility for work. Unlike Elder’s (1994) research, Elder (1998),
Katz (2004), Cumbers et al. (2010) and Punch (2014) explored resilience beyond individualistic
assumptions (Kennedy, 2010:467) by considering the social relations, networks and community
agency that enable a person to cope in periods of economic restructuring. In doing so, these scholars
perhaps avoided the tendency of simply classifying people as passive and vulnerable victims of
globalisation and economic restructuring and acknowledged their conscious agency. Similarly,
in Growing Up Global, Katz underscored mutually reinforcing social practices that affect how
households may respond to restructuring while sustaining reproductive needs (e.g. migration and
community self-​help). In my own work, I contribute to the discourse on how migrants and their
networks and organisations are (re)produced through practice (Espey et al., 2010; Bailey, 2013),
in particular, through exploring children’s agency and their material/​social practices and survival
strategies in the transnational field of the British-​Ghanaian family (Boampong, 2020).

Conclusion
Migration within the context of economic crisis needs to be revisited to offer a critical assessment
of daily lives within which social relations may be enacted, maintained and altered in relation
to the effects of political economy. The few available studies on economic crisis and the condi-
tion of transnational families focus mainly on adult emigration, often with children’s experiences
being rendered from an adult’s perspective, despite the fact that transnationality is an experience
or attitude that varies across age, gender, class and generation. At the same time, despite growing
research interest in African migration, African children’s participation in transnational migration
or living in a global household has attracted comparatively less attention in relation to studies
of Asian and Caribbean transnational migration in Europe or Latin and Central American and
Filipino migration to the US and Canada.
Austerity and other government structural economic reforms are seen as a way in which crisis
is being governed towards recovery. At the same time in the critical practice of everyday life,
transnational families must maintain their existence to ensure that the conditions of production
are met even in economic change periods. However, it is unclear from the literature how trans-
national lives have been affected with respect to the 2007–​8 GFC or subsequent recessions and
crises following in the wake of Brexit, the global COVID pandemic and sanctions against Russia
for its invasion of Ukraine. How financial crisis impacts children and childhood specifically and
social reproduction generally, as well as the social and cultural factors that shape the reproductive
experiences of transnational households remains a critical question at the intersection of inter-
national development and childhood studies.

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Zhang, N. (2015) ‘Home divided, home reconstructed: Children in rural–​urban migration in contemporary
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 SECTION 4

Health, Gender Norms and

Development
 19
SECTION INTRODUCTION
Karen Wells

Health and education are two of the areas of development that are most directly connected to
interventions in childhood and in children’s lives. Health care is primarily considered within inter-
national development as a practice that improves human capital. Increasing recognition of the
interconnections between humans as biological organisms and the sociocultural and economic
environment in which we live has, to some extent, shifted development from a purely biological
to a biosocial perspective on health. Nonetheless, the argument for increasing the population’s
health and welfare continues to rest on the importance of a healthy population for economic
development (Foucault 2008, Wells 2011). Children’s health is managed, within International
Development, as part of this economic strategy. While this focus on children’s health has led
to significant improvements in children’s health in the Global South and substantial funding to
target major threats to children’s health and wellbeing, and notwithstanding, the emergence of a
biosocial model of health, it has also sought to separate health as a cultural practice from health
as a scientific practice. Food, for example, is reduced to its nutritional value and divorced from its
sociocultural context. Since the way that families and communities think about health, especially
children’s health, is deeply cultural, this can create a gap between scientific knowledge about
the biological basis of good health and indigenous understandings of child health. The biosocial
model also recognises that many illnesses and diseases, especially non-​communicable diseases,
are ‘diseases of poverty’ and insists on the importance of the social, political and economic envir-
onment on individual health.
Sustainable Development Goal 3, ‘Ensure healthy lives and promote well-​being for all at all
ages’, is the core SDG related to child health. Several of the targets of this goal are directly related
to child health, most centrally target 3.2, which aims to:

end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries
aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-​5
mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births.

Other targets relevant to child health are target 3.1 to ‘reduce the global maternal mortality ratio
to less than 70 per 100,000 live births’ by 2030; ‘end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-24 255

 Karen Wells

and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-​borne diseases and other commu-
nicable diseases’ by 2030; and target 3.7 to ‘ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive
health-​care services’.
These targets are the focus of several global health initiatives that involve private, non-​
governmental and quasi-​governmental organisations shaping and implementing global health
policy and championing public–​private partnerships in the delivery of health infrastructure. They
have been criticised for giving unelected and publicly unaccountable billionaires significant influ-
ence over the global health agenda.

The first thousand days of life

The first thousand days of life are a significant focus of contemporary global health policy. It was
developed by a diverse set of actors within the global health framework and refers to the period
from conception to until a child’s second birthday. From research on the Developmental Origins
of Health and Disease (DOHaD), neuroscience and epigenetics, this period is now considered to
be critical to future health outcomes. The ‘first thousand days’ entered health policy as a slogan
to capture the findings of this research in the late 2000s. Addressing the health of the child in the
first thousand days is now endorsed by the World Health Organization, the United Nations and a
large number of non-​governmental organisations (NGO), donors and private-​sector partners, the
largest of which is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Pentecost, 2018). The first thousand days
partnership (https://​thous​andd​ays.org) has led to several initiatives including the UN’s Scaling Up
Nutrition (SUN) initiative.
The SUN initiative aims to operationalise research from economists on the impact of poor nutri-
tion in early childhood on later health outcomes which impact negatively on individuals but also
on economic development. The impact of poor nutrition is captured by a simple statistical claim
that the best predictor of future human capital is height for age at two years (Victora et al 2008).
Addressing poor nutrition is, of course, an important goal and one that will improve children’s
lives and lower their susceptibility to disease. However, treating food solely as nutrition, rather
than recognising food production, preparation and provisioning as deeply cultural practices also
has unintended effects on food systems. Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF), for example,
while a successful treatment for acute malnutrition is increasingly being offered for the prevention
of child malnutrition, with commercially produced RUTF being bought and distributed by UN
agencies and NGOs. The substitution of locally produced low-​processed foods for RUTFs disrupts
local food systems and undermines breastfeeding for infants and young children. Furthermore,
the impacts of these foods on health across the life cycle are not yet known (Bazzano et al 2017).

Adolescence sexual and reproductive health

Access to sexual and reproductive health services is also a target of SDG 3, as mentioned above.
After the first thousand days, and related health goals on maternal health, adolescent sexual and
reproductive health is probably the most significant point of intersection between international
development and childhood studies. There are at least two major studies of adolescent SRH, the
UK-​funded Gender and Adolescence Global Evidence (GAGE) study following 20,000 girls
and boys in developing countries (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, Nepal, Palestine and
Rwanda) to understand what works to enhance adolescent capabilities and empowerment. GAGE
is not only focused on SRH but is also structured around the other SDGs that are relevant to ado-
lescence experiences. A key focus is on how their experiences are shaped by gender norms and

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gendered practices and expectations. Similarly, the Global Early Adolescent Study focuses on
gender norms in adolescence and how they influence SRH. GEAS is funded by the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, David & Lucile Packard Foundation, Ford Foundation, Oak Foundation,
USAID and World Health Organization (WHO). In this section, Liseth Arias Lopez, who was
involved in the Bolivian case study of GEAS, describes how gender norms harden in adolescence,
generally leading to more restrictions being imposed on girls’ mobility and time.
Very little of the research on adolescent sexual reproductive health really focuses on adolescent
sexuality, in the sense of how adolescents feel about sexual desire or the social aspects of SRH.
Rather ASRH in international development has been mostly focused on population control. In her
chapter in this section on ‘Sexuality, Bodies and Desire through the Schooling of Girls’, Deevia
Bharna draws on her research with school students to show that girls are also desiring subjects, not
only subjects constrained by others (boys, parents, teachers) ideas about their sexuality. Like other
aspects of health, if SRH is not recognised as a matter of culture then many of the international
development interventions that are designed to, inter alia, reduce teen pregnancy and reduce HIV
transmission will not be effective.
Adolescent girls account for 85 per cent of new HIV infections among adolescents. In Africa,
young women (15–​24 years) are 10 per cent of the population and 25 per cent of people living with
HIV. The reasons for this are not much understood, although gender inequality, sexual violence
and limited access to SRH education play a part as well as intergenerational sexual relationships.
Courtney Myers, Edith Apondi and Leslie A. Enane in their chapter in this section on ‘Children
and Adolescents Living with and Affected by HIV in African Countries’ show that despite the
successes of new forms of treatment, HIV remains a significant threat to the health of children
and adolescents and they point to the risk that children and adolescents are ‘being “left behind”
in global efforts to scale up treatment’. Adolescent-​friendly services for HIV care, including ones
that engage people living with HIV/​AIDS as providers of care, will be critical to the promise of
ending the HIV pandemic by 2030.
Gender-​ based violence remains a threat to the SRH of adolescent girls and of gender
nonconforming people, both girls and boys as well as trans and non-​binary individuals. In her
chapter in this section on sexual violence, Janelle Rabe discusses how sexual violence affects
children and adolescents at different scales and across a continuum of sexual violence. Taking
the Philippines as a case study, she shows how local activists can mobilise global consortiums to
push national governments to adopt concrete commitments to address pressing issues; in this case,
increasing the age of sexual consent from 12 years to 16 years to protect minors from claims by
their abusers that sexual contact was consensual. Rabe points to the importance of working with
children and young people in conducting research on sexual violence and in developing appro-
priate policy frameworks and professional practices.

Gender norms across the child’s life course

The final chapter in this section considers more broadly how gender norms affect children’s dif-
ferential access to space and how this might impact their health in various ways. In this chapter,
Karina Padilla and colleagues consider how gender norms about risk-​taking are enforced and
sometimes contested by both children and adults. In general, and in keeping with what the other
chapters explore in relation to sex and sexual violence, boys have more latitude to be in public
space and fewer restrictions on what they do with their time, how mobile they are and what kinds
of risk-​taking are considered socially acceptable. When girls transgress the narrower boundaries
that are drawn for them, and which are often enforced by both peers and adults, they are often

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subjected to various forms of violence. Risk-​taking is also related to both positive and negative
impacts on children’s health. When girls are prevented from making their own assessment of risk,
they also lose out on developing an accurate assessment of risk, developing their physical strength
and expanding their horizons.

Conclusion
Child health is a significant area of intersection between childhood studies and international devel-
opment. Childhood studies, with its emphasis on the child as an agential sociocultural being, offers
an important corrective to the tendency in international development to treat child health as a form
of ‘future-​proofing’ addressed through an economic calculus that also treats the child as solely
a biological organism and their health care as the delivery of therapeutic inputs. In this section,
contributors have focused on how gender norms, especially around and after puberty, shape the
differential experience of teenagers as they develop their sexual and gender identities and navigate
new forms of relationality.

References
Bazzano, A., Potts, K., Bazzano, L., & Mason, J. (2017). The life course implications of ready to use thera-
peutic food for children in low-​income countries. International Journal of Environmental Research and
Public Health, 14(4), 4pp. 1 –​19 . https://​doi.org/​10.3390/​ije​rph1​4040​403
Foucault, M. (2008). The birth of biopolitics: Lectures a the College de France, 1978—​79. London: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Pentecost, Michelle. 2018. ‘The First 1000 Days: Epigenetics in the Age of Global Health’. In The Palgrave
Handbook of Biology and Society, edited by Maurizio Meloni, John Cromby, Des Fitzgerald, and Stephanie
Lloyd, 269–​94. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Victora, C. G., Adair, L., Fall, C., Hallal, P. C., Martorell, R., Richter, L., & Sachdev, H. S. (2008). Maternal
and child undernutrition: Consequences for adult health and human capital. The Lancet, 371(9609), 340–​
357. https://​doi.org/​10.1016/​S0140-​6736(07)61692-​4
Wells, K. (2011). The politics of life: Governing childhood. Global Studies of Childhood, 1(1), 15–​25. https://​
doi.org/​10.2304/​gsch.2011.1.1.15

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 20
SEXUAL VIOLENCE
AGAINST CHILDREN
Janelle Rabe

Introduction
Sexual violence against children has been increasingly recognised as a pervasive global issue with
around one in eight children affected by some form of sexual violence across the globe (Mathews
& Collin-​Vézina, 2016; Simon et al., 2020). There appears to be no link between the prevalence of
sexual violence against children and the country’s economic and financial status (The Economist
Intelligence Unit, 2020). Despite its prevalence, there is a growing consensus that sexual violence
against children is preventable (Ligiero et al., 2019). Doing so requires the action and commitment
of various actors, including children, at the individual, community, national, and international
levels.
The chapter begins by examining different types of sexual violence across the continuum of
sexual violence. It does not present hierarchical order of seriousness but rather challenges the
predominant focus on violent abusive behaviours that normalises quieter and ‘less serious’ forms
of intrusion (Kelly, 1988). The impact of intersectionality will also be discussed wherein chil­
dren have varying experiences of sexual violence due to their multifaceted identities based on
their ethnicity, gender, age, and class (Crenshaw, 1991). Specific forms of sexual violence will be
presented such as those occurring in contexts of betrayals of trust (e.g. intrafamilial and institu-
tional abuse), sexual violence among adolescents, children, and young people who display harmful
sexual behaviours, and everyday forms of sexual violence. The section concludes with the appeal
to acknowledge harm from different forms of sexual violence beyond those captured by official
reports and statistics to make sure no child is left behind.
The second section will provide an overview of the developments that influenced addressing
the rise of sexual violence as a global priority. Primary of these is the inclusion of specific targets
in the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Shawar & Shiffman, 2021). This led to
the establishment of global campaigns that urged government members of the consortiums to
commit actions and investments through national policies. The section also makes a case for
increased attention to the experiences and efforts of low-​middle-​income countries by featuring
the Philippines. It has a high prevalence of sexual violence with a recent baseline study estimating
that one out five Filipino children experienced some form of sexual violence (University of the
Philippines –​Manila et al., 2016). Nevertheless, the Philippine government and civil society

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-25 259

 Janelle Rabe

actors worked together in strengthening the policy framework to expand the protection of chil-
dren. This includes the recent enactment in March 2022 of a new law that raises the age of sexual
consent from 12 years old to 16 years old. The focus on the Philippines as a case study is also sig-
nificant since it demonstrates how global developments on the prioritisation of violence against
children facilitated the formation of global consortiums which urged member governments to
make concrete commitments and actions to end violence against children. For instance, the
Philippine government lived up to its commitment to address sexual violence through policy
reform on the age of sexual consent leading to strengthened protection of children from harmful
sexual behaviour.
The final section will argue for ensuring that children and adolescents’ views and experiences
are embedded in policy, practice, and research. The first part will discuss children’s perspectives on
consent, healthy and abusive relationships and sexual encounters, and sexual violence. Providing
safe and open pathways to disclosure and help-​seeking is also proposed as a critical strategy in
combatting sexual violence. It involves genuinely listening to the needs and experiences of chil-
dren that make them vulnerable to sexual violence and hesitant to disclose their abuse instead of
relying on offender-​centric punitive legal actions. Finally, the second part of the section demands
improvements in the involvement of children and young people in decision-​making in issues
that matter to them and their involvement as partners instead of objects of research. This entails
navigating ethical issues in research through a trauma-​informed and child-​centred approach
(Warrington, 2020). Overall, the chapter calls for the meaningful, sustained, and genuine engage­
ment and involvement of children in combatting sexual violence. This entails challenging the view
of children as passive victims of sexual violence towards recognising them as proactive agents and
partners in addressing sexual violence.

Ensuring no one is left behind: Expanding the scope of

sexual violence definitions
Among the major challenges in international and local efforts in combatting sexual violence
against children is the lack of a consensus definition and scope. Some attempts in defining its
scope include focusing on the complex concepts of consent and abuse, while others differentiate
between contact and non-​contact abuse (Mathews & Collin-​Vézina, 2019). Emerging research on
online sexual abuse of children as well as harmful sexual behaviours displayed by children reveals
the theoretical challenges in fully capturing the entire spectrum of sexual violence-​related acts
(Mathews & Collin-​Vézina, 2019).
Finkelhor (2009) observed that there appears to be an overly stereotyped view of offenders
of child sexual abuse as exclusively adult men who are paedophiles and strangers who prey on
young children in public environments. These perpetrator stereotypes are perpetuated in media
portrayals of child sexual abuse and contribute to the perception of sexual abuse as rare or unusual
which downplays its prevalence and impact (Cromer & Goldsmith, 2010). These myths and
misconceptions on child sexual abuse may also influence the development of national and global
interventions, policies, and programmes. A growing body of research has shown that perpetrators
of sexual violence include people known and trusted by children, and even children themselves.
For instance, studies in India, South Africa, and the Philippines demonstrated that majority of the
cases of child sexual abuse were perpetrated by family members, relatives, neighbours, and people
in a position of trust and responsibility (Chandar & Kannappan, 2018; Lalor, 2004; University of
the Philippines –​Manila et al., 2016). Sexual violence occurs in different contexts and relationships
that children face, both in-​person and online (Ligiero et al., 2019).

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Harmful sexual behaviour occurs in the continuum of sexual violence that includes everyday
acts of violence such as catcalling to rape jokes and violent acts such as sexual assault and rape
(Kelly, 1988). This theory proposed by Liz Kelly considers different acts of sexual violence as
connected to one another. The continuum does not present hierarchical order of seriousness but
rather challenges the predominant focus on violence abusive behaviours that emphasises quieter
and ‘less serious’ forms of intrusion (Vera-​Gray, 2016). Ignoring or putting less attention on
everyday forms of sexual violence reinforces a culture that accepts and emphasises abuse which
then facilitates the occurrence of the serious violent sexual offences (Kelly, 1988).
Relying on official reports to determine the prevalence and magnitude of sexual violence and
the corresponding interventions and political priorities often carries the error of underestimation.
The children reflected in these reports are those who were ‘able to disclose, were believed, reported
to, and followed-​up by proper authorities, and whose case had enough evidence’ to be considered a
criminal case (Mathews & Collin-​Vézina, 2016). The available prevalence data represents the ‘tip
of the iceberg’ of the extent and diversity of experiences of children and adolescents (Mathews &
Collin-​Vézina, 2016). Acknowledging the harm occurring from different forms of sexual violence
will contribute significantly in local, national, and international efforts to combat sexual violence.
An important step is listening to children and their conceptualisations and experiences of violence.
Children’s experiences of sexual violence vary due to their intersecting identities such as eth-
nicity, gender, age, and social class (Crenshaw, 1991). Kimberle Crenshaw and other feminist
scholars contend that violence experienced by women and children and the responses to their dis-
closure is often shaped by different dimensions of their identities and the intersecting systems of
oppression and power (Creek & Dunn, 2011; Crenshaw, 1991). For instance, some girls in South
Asian communities may face various cultural and structural barriers in disclosing or seeking help
about sexual violence and child sexual abuse due to the risk of bringing shame or dishonour to
their families (Gilligan & Akhtar, 2005; Cowburn et al., 2015; Gill & Harrison, 2019).
Racialised views of children influence the discourse of ‘ideal’ and ‘non-​ideal’ victims of sexual
violence (Hlavka, 2019). Dominant frameworks of children and childhood juxtapose vulnerable
White children as ‘ideal victims’ since they are depicted as innocent and asexual with images of
Black and Brown children as the ‘other’. Public discourse frames Black and Brown children as
‘bad, hypersexual, and underserving of protection’ and considered non-​ideal victims of violence
(Hlavka, 2019). Due to systematic underrepresentation of the experiences of marginalised indi­
viduals and groups, some members of racially minoritised groups, especially children, may not
be able to make sense of their experience or lack the language to articulate their experiences
(Gangoli & Hester, 2023). For instance, there is limited knowledge in research and practice to
better understand the experiences and responses to child sexual abuse in Black and minoritised
communities in the UK (Gilligan and Akhtar, 2005; Cowburn et al., 2015; Rodger et al., 2020; Gill
& Begum, 2023).
The adultification of Black girls may portray them as complicit in the experience of sexual
violence and ultimately blaming Black girls for their abuse (Epstein et al., 2017; Thomson et al.,
2002). The intersectionality framework is useful to locate and understand Black adolescents’
experiences of sexual exploitation and violence amidst intersecting multiple oppressions and how
these may increase their vulnerability to exploitative and abusive situations (Bernard, 2019). Aside
from Black girls, other ethnic minority groups such as Latinas and Asians are also portrayed as
responsible for the consequences of others’ actions, including sexual violence, unwanted pregnan-
cies, or sexually transmitted diseases (Chmielewski et al., 2020). These discourses align with the
model of children’s sexuality as the Dionysian ‘evil’ child characterised by wildness and sensu-
ality (Smith, 2012). Hlavka (2019) recommends the deconstruction of the use of the innocent child

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and questions the harms done to communities of colour where children are subjected to increased
surveillance or discrimination.
Disabled children and young people are three times more likely to be sexually abused than
young people without a disability (Fox, 2015; Neufeld et al., 2002; Shah, 2017). A systematic
review of sexual violence among autistic individuals reported that autistic children with an intel-
lectual disability diagnoses may face higher odds of experiencing sexual victimisation (Dike
et al., 2023). Shah (2017) countered views that a child is inherently vulnerable to abuse due to
their disability. Instead, their experiences of sexual violence are influenced more by the institu-
tional contexts they are placed, the negative attitudes they face, and practices they are forced to
endure, usually constructed by adults who do not have disabilities or have ableist attitudes. It
follows the social model of disability that posits that ‘disability is the outcome of social barriers
that restrict the activities of people with impairments’ (Thomas, 2004, p. 570). Disabled chil­
dren and young people are often framed as innocent and asexual which hinders the fulfilment
of their sexual citizenship. This connects to the predominant model of children’s sexuality, the
Apollonian ‘innocent child’ (Smith, 2012). Children and young people with disabilities typically
have limited knowledge about acceptable sexual behaviours and an inadequate understanding
when sexual boundaries are crossed or abuse is occurring, especially among trusted adults,
caregivers, and peers (Shah, 2017; Wissink et al., 2015). They also have less opportunities to
explore their sexuality in a safe way (Wissink et al., 2015). Listening to and understanding the
perspectives of victim-​survivors with disabilities of sexual violence is critical in protecting them
from harm (Shah, 2017).
LGBTQ+​young people must not be pathologised as risky or at risk for domestic abuse and sexual
violence. A growing body of literature on domestic violence and abuse in LGBTQ+​relationships
‘consider the influence of societal factors on social and intimate/​relationship practices’ (Donovan
& Barnes, 2019, p. 4). Adolescence is a significant developmental period where young people
must develop their sexual and gender and navigating dating and relationships. Stigma-​related
stress may affect the ability of LGBTQ+​young people to develop healthy relationships and may
affect their exposure to intimate partner victimisation, including sexual violence and abuse within
romantic relationships (Russel et al, 2001; Scheer & Baams, 2021).
Boys’ experiences of sexual violence seem to be understudied in literature (Fox, 2015). A preva­
lence study on violence against children in the Philippines reported that more boys are victims of
sexual violence than girls (University of the Philippines –​Manila et al., 2016). However, a sub-
stantially smaller number disclose or report their experience. Rigid norms and expectations on
masculinity in the Philippines serve as barriers to disclosure. Boys are often not aware that sexual
encounters between males may still be considered sexual abuse even if they enjoyed it if there are
elements of coercion or if they receive money for sexual favours (Sanchez et al., 2018). When dis­
closing or reporting to authorities, their experience of abuse tends to be diminished since enjoyed
the sexual encounter or for fear of being called a homosexual. There are strong attitudes against
homosexuality in the Philippines which appear to be shaped by religious beliefs. In general, boys
are expected to be emotionally strong and just cope with the experience on their own (Sanchez
et al., 2018). Boys may have concurrent identities as victims, offenders, bystanders, and allies.
They should not be boxed into just one of these identities since they may overlap within the same
young person. Also, they are not stuck into one fixed identity and could support into new ones like
being an active bystander or an ally in sexual violence prevention (Burrell, 2018).
The insights on the intersectionalities of age, gender, race, class, and disability in young people’s
diverse experiences reflect the impact of discourses on their experiences of sexual violence. There
should then be more proactive efforts to involve and listen to young people with these intersecting

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identities since they are most often the victims of sexual violence and often less represented in
research, programmes, and policies (Fox, 2015).

Sexual violence in contexts of betrayal of trust with authority figures

Grooming, or the cultivation of a relationship and trust with the child to enable the child to acqui-
esce to abusive activity, is inherent in instances of sexual abuse with relationships of trust between
the child and the perpetrator such as intrafamilial and institutional abuse (Craven et al., 2006).
Understanding the dynamics of grooming is significant in challenging the common misconcep-
tion of ‘stranger danger’ in sexual abuse because often children do not consider the offender as a
stranger due to the relationship or trust established between them (Chandar & Kannappan, 2018;
Mcalinden, 2006). For instance, a study in India revealed that there is a lower proportion of sexual
abuse committed by strangers (Chandar & Kannappan, 2018). The relationship-​building involves
befriending the potential victim, cultivating a special friendship through incentives such as money
or material gifts, and committing boundary violations and inappropriate behaviour that desensitises
the child to future sexual abuse (Bennett & O’Donohue, 2014; Craven et al., 2006; Mcalinden,
2006). Children often do not disclose the abuse due to the complex feelings of fear, complicity,
guilt, and shame that silence the children (Mcalinden, 2006). Children are often made to feel
responsible for the abuse or their feelings of responsibility and guilt are magnified by the child’s
feeling of self-​betrayal if their body reacts to the sexual stimulation (Bennett & O’Donohue, 2014).
A growing body of literature has reported that intrafamilial child sexual abuse, perpetrated
by a family member or within a family environment (Horvath et al., 2014), is the most common
type of sexual violence against children. Intrafamilial child sexual abuse often leaves other family
members powerless to help child victim-​survivors due to the offender’s power and ability to strike
terror into them or keep them silent. Context-​informed research can help address distinct family
and social dynamics that facilitate or prevent disclosure due to cultures of shame, honour, stigma,
or blame (Gangoli et al., 2009; Katz & Field, 2022). There is not any specific value held by one
culture or country exclusively. Still, understanding the values and factors that are held by people
with a shared culture can contribute to understanding barriers and facilitators to disclosure of child
sexual abuse in a certain culture (Fontes & Plummer, 2010).
In recent years, there has been a rise in reports of sexual violence occurring in institutions such
as religious organisations, youth-​serving organisations, competitive sports, residential facilities,
and schools. Organisational factors increase children’s vulnerability and risks to sexual abuse from
authority figures in these contexts such as power differentials and institutional cultures of denial
or silence which makes disclosure of abuse more difficult (Simon et al., 2020). Entrapment and
targeting techniques may also be used by the perpetrator. This involves selecting children who may
be considered more vulnerable to abuse, the provision of inducements in intimate relationships,
and the distancing of children from parents or other people who can represent a source of safety
(Gallagher, 2000). Even if institutional abuse may account for a small proportion of reported
cases, there should be more proactive child assessments of children’s needs, vulnerabilities, and
experiences rather than a reactive scandal-​driven response (Gallagher, 2000).
Online setting for sexual violence has also received amplified international attention and
commitments to prevent it (Simon et al., 2020). Online forms of sexual violence include the cir­
culation of child sexual abuse material, live streaming of abuse, grooming, and exploitation of
children facilitated by family members (Simon et al., 2020). Children face increased risks of
online violence perpetrated by people known or unknown to them, both adults and their peers
(Witting, 2021).

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Previous studies have not dealt with children’s views and experiences of intrafamilial or insti-
tutional sexual abuse. Most studies have only focused on retrospective accounts of adults who
experienced abuse in childhood (Horvath et al., 2014). Children often find it difficult to tell anyone
or seek help due to the complexities of the relationship and encounter, leading to extended suffering
and making intervention or prevention very difficult (Horvath et al., 2014).

Sexual violence among adolescents, peers, and children and

young people who display harmful sexual behaviours
Compared to younger children, adolescents (10–​17 years old) may be exposed to potential harmful
sexual behaviour from extra-​familial relationships with peers and strangers as well as in settings
such as schools and public spaces (Ligiero et al., 2019; Owens et al., 2020). Additionally, sexual
violence in dating and relationships of adolescents has been extensively studied (e.g. Banyard
et al., 2021; Edwards et al., 2019). There is a growing body of research that has reported on the
rising rates of dating aggression including physical, sexual, and psychological aggression between
current or former dating partners. These include unwanted sexual behaviour, harassment, or rape
(Edwards et al., 2019). Sexual violence among peers appears to be often perpetrated by opposite-​
sex peers but there are also individuals who reported same-​sex peer violence. This illustrates the
importance of expanding interventions beyond the heteronormative lens. Among the barriers to
disclosure in peer-​on-​peer sexual violence in schools is the fear of being labelled a ‘snitch’. The
consequences of disclosing harm appeared to be worse than harmful sexual behaviour (Lloyd
et al., 2020).
Approximately one-​third of contact sexual violence against children is done by children under
18 years of age (Hackett et al., 2019). Harmful sexual behaviour entails sexual behaviours that are
developmentally inappropriate, harmful towards the self and others, or abusive towards another
child, young person or adult. Hackett et al. (2019) proposed the continuum of sexual behaviour to
differentiate between normal, problematic, and abusive behaviours to distinguish normal sex play
from exploitation with harmful behaviours. It is critical to understand the situation and experiences
of these children and how their actions may be a result of their ‘disrupted sociologies’ that are
influenced by individual and structural factors (Balfe et al., 2019b). Young people who display
harmful sexual behaviours have strengths, yet they often have problems with their personal and
health domains. A number of these children continue to remain sexually violent in residential
settings (Balfe et al., 2019a).
Despite evidence that differentiates children from adults, some juvenile justice systems treat
adolescents like adult offenders and consider them as future adult offenders (The Economist
Intelligence Unit, 2020). For instance, in India, there was a watershed moment from the Nirbhaya
case or the December 2012 gang rape in Delhi, India, involving adolescents. It influenced the
amendment of the Juvenile Justice Law so that juvenile offenders who commit heinous crimes
in the age group of 16–​18 years old may be treated as adults depending on the decision of the
Juvenile Justice Board (Agarwal, 2018). Punitive actions tend to be detrimental to the cognitive
development, psychosocial maturity, and mental health of adolescents (Steinberg, 2009). In fact,
most young people who display harmful sexual behaviours will not become adult sex offenders,
although some may do (Erooga & Masson, 2006). The focus on the child as a future adult limits
understanding of children’s present sexual selves or capacity for change and resilience (Nakata,
2015). This reflects the predominant deficit and risk model focused on children’s problems, psy­
chopathology, and risk factors. Alternatively, the resilience-​based approach has been proposed
which focuses on children’s strengths, attributes, and competencies (Hackett, 2006). Hackett

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et al. (2019) emphasise that children who exhibit harmful sexual behaviours should be considered
children first before they are offenders. This urgent call for action and understanding illustrates
the significance of moving beyond punitive actions and vilification of children towards genuine
engagement and child-​centred responses to children’s views and experiences.
Prevention and protective strategies instead of punitive strategies should be emphasised when
engaging children and young people who display harmful sexual behaviours. These include sup-
portive responses to childhood disclosure from adults, supportive adult relationships, and building
family resilience (Hackett, 2006). Kjellgren (2019) reported that young people needed adults to
intervene in the sexual abuse and help them make sense of their abuse. Another preventive oppor-
tunity is through disrupting the impact of pornography which may trigger sexually abusive behav-
iour for some young people (Kjellgren, 2019).

Everyday forms of sexual violence

Little is known about everyday sexual harassment experienced by girls including their exposure to
seemingly mundane practices such as being asked to ‘cheer up’ in public spaces, unwanted sexual
comments, being stared at or even unwanted sexual contact such as being touched, groped, or
grabbed (Vera-​Gray & Kelly, 2020; Vera-​Gray & Fileborn, 2018). A study by Plan International
UK revealed that all the girls reported stories of unwanted behaviour and harassment which they
experienced at very young ages, some as young as eight years old. These harassment incidents
often occur when they were wearing their school uniforms that make them distinct targets of the
harassment (Southgate & Russell, 2018). Another worrying finding from the study is that girls
have come to expect and normalised sexual harassment as part of their daily lives. A qualitative
study by Plan International (2020) in 16 countries revealed that 68% of girls and young women
in the Philippines experienced online harassment. They even face more online harassment than
street harassment. Relatedly, gender microaggressions are commonly encountered by adolescents
yet their impact seems to be minimised since they are counted as low-​severity offences (Gartner &
Sterzing, 2016). These include ‘intentional or unintentional insults, invalidations or assaults based
on gender’ and often perpetrated against girls (Gartner & Sterzing, 2016).
The innocuous and pervasive nature of everyday sexism and harassment incidents, the challenge
of finding or challenging the perpetrator, and having little evidence to report to authorities serve
as barriers for disclosure or reporting. Furthermore, public harassment is often trivialised and
girls fear that they would be blamed or not believed (Southgate & Russell, 2018). It is thus crit­
ical to engage children and adolescents to understand more about their experiences and raise their
awareness about the actions they can take to disclose or report incidents.

Global developments and sexual violence against children

The urgency and enormity of sexual violence against children as a global issue became elevated
as a priority because of specific targets in 2015 SDGs and the 2030 agenda (Mathews & Collin-​
Vézina, 2016; Shawar & Shiffman, 2021). Various scholars have observed that prior to the inclu­­
sion in the SDGs, violence against children, including sexual violence, was not included among
the priorities of international economic and social development actors (Mathews & Collin-​Vézina,
2016; Shawar & Shiffman, 2021).
The UN Sustainable Goals set the tone for ending violence as a global development priority and
urged governments to set targets to end violence by 2030. While the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child established legal imperatives on child protection, the SDGs provided a

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stronger case for countries to include the eradication of sexual violence against children in their
national development plans, investments, and goals (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2020).

• Target 16.2: end abuse and exploitation of children

• Target 5.2: eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, including sexual abuse
• Target 5.3: eliminate harmful practices such as child, early, and forced marriage and female
genital mutilation
• Target 8.7: Eradicate forced labour, modern slavery, and human trafficking
• Target 4.7: Ensure all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote … a culture
of peace and non-​violence

Resulting from the SDGs, several global initiatives and campaigns on sexual violence
against children were established. The Global Partnership and Fund to End Violence against
Children is a coalition of 700 organisations including governments, UN agencies, research
institutions, international NGOs, and local CSOs (End Violence against Children, n.da).
Together for Girls is a global partnership working to end violence against adolescents, particu-
larly girls with a focus on prevention, healing, and justice (Together for Girls, n.d.). We Protect
Global Alliance, the global multi-​stakeholder response to combatting online child sexual abuse
and exploitation, has 63 member countries. Participants in the Global Alliance committed con-
crete actions to policy targets on identifying victims, investigating child sexual abuse cases,
increasing awareness, and reducing the availability of child pornography (WeProtect Global
Alliance, n.d.).
Member countries of these global consortiums on sexual violence against children demonstrated
their concrete commitments by strengthening their national legal frameworks and ratifications of
international laws. Data collected from 73 countries showed that a majority of the respondent
states have a clear legal definition of child sexual abuse in their policies, although definitions
among states differ (Dubowitz, 2017). The Out of the Shadows Index reported that the growing
momentum at the global level is driving increased commitments and investments from national
governments (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2020). Yet several challenges remain in sustained
action such as the lack of a consensus on the definition and scope of the issue, limited data avail-
ability, and fragmented actions from different government and non-​government actors (Shawar &
Shiffman, 2021; The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2020).

Philippines: A case study on the nexus of global-​national-​individual actions and

outcomes on combatting sexual violence
Most studies on sexual violence against children have been carried out in a small number of
high-​income countries (HICs). Little is known about the government and civil society initiatives
policy and programmatic initiatives towards reducing sexual violence and the prevalence and
experiences of children in low-​and middle-​income countries of sexual violence (Ligiero et al.,
2019; Simon et al., 2020). Critics of the INSPIRE package of interventions on preventing vio­­
lence against children observed that experiences and voices of local actors outside the HICs are
not sufficiently integrated into global discussions (Shawar & Shiffman, 2021). INSPIRE is a set of
seven evidence-​based strategies for countries to work to eliminate violence against children. These
include implementing laws, changing norms and values, promoting safe environments, engaging
parents and caregivers, strengthening income and economic standing, and supporting response
services and education and life skills (World Health Organization, 2016). This chapter seeks to

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expand the literature base by including the experiences and best practices from a low-​and middle-​
income countries like the Philippines.
The national baseline study on violence against children in the Philippines revealed that
one in every five children in the Philippines aged 13–​17 years old experienced sexual violence.
The perpetrators are often family members and more boys (22.1%) than girls (15.9%) reported
experiences of sexual violence (University of the Philippines –​Manila et al., 2016). The Philippines
has also been considered a global hotspot for online sexual exploitation of children. Approximately,
20,000 child pornographic materials of Filipino children 11–​17 years old are uploaded every week
(Hernandez et al., 2018). Online sexual exploitation of children is often a family-​based crime.
Parents are the most frequent facilitators of sexual abuse (41%) and children often experienced
victimisation along with other family members, with many victims being siblings (40%) or other
familial relationship like cousins (International Justice Mission & Interagency Council against
Trafficking, 2020). There seem to be clear linkages between online and offline sexual offences
perpetrated by family members (ECPAT et al., 2022).
Despite these high levels of sexual violence against children, the Philippines has been recognised
for its strong commitment to combatting sexual violence and its robust legislative framework (End
Violence against Children, n.da). In recent years, the Philippine Congress has passed several laws
that address sexual violence. These include the Anti-​Trafficking in Persons Act, Child Protection
Act, Anti-​Violence Against Women and Children Act, Anti-​Child Pornography Act, Prohibition of
Child Marriage Act, Increasing the Age for Determining the Commission of Statutory Rape Act,
and Expanded Anti-​Trafficking in Persons bill (Child Rights Network [CRN] Philippines, n.d.).
The Philippines ranks in the top quarter of the 60 countries for government and commitment cap-
acity in combatting sexual violence against children. It is also one of 23 countries that joined the
WePROTECT Statement of Action by Government to tackle online child sexual exploitation (The
Economist Intelligence Unit, 2020).
The Philippines was selected as one of the pilot Pathfinding countries. These Pathfinding
countries include governments who made a ‘formal, public commitment to comprehensive action
to end all forms of violence against children’. They are expected to appoint a senior govern-
ment focal point in the country, develop an evidence-​based and costed National Action Plan
that sets the country’s commitments for three to five years, and consult with children following
child participation standards. There are currently 29 Pathfinding countries (End Violence against
Children, 2019). The Global Partnership to End Violence against Children promoted Pathfinding
as a model for countries to apply the INSPIRE strategies for ending violence against children
(End Violence against Children, n.db). Among the Philippines’ actions as a Pathfinding country
include the conduct of a national baseline study on violence against children and a review of
drivers affecting violence against children. The Philippine Plan of Action to end Violence against
Children (2017–​2022) translated the findings of the 2015 National Baseline Study on Violence
against Children into action through its multi-​sectoral roadmap for ending violence against chil-
dren. These include interventions at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of the impact
pyramid for sexual violence prevention such as the promotion of social norms to protect children
from violence, increasing the age of statutory rape, improving the access of children and ado-
lescent to information regarding sexual health (Council for the Welfare of Children & UNICEF
Philippines, 2017).
One of the notable achievements of the Philippines as a Pathfinding country is the enactment
of Republic Act 11648, which raised the age of sexual consent from 12 years old to 16 years old.
Twelve years old was one of the lowest age of consent in the world and the lowest in Southeast
Asia (Oco, 2007). The new law also provides equal protection to boys and girls, and a close-​in age

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exemption that does not criminalise consensual sex between children within a specific age range
(Republic of the Philippines, 2022). The enactment of the new law on sexual consent serves as the
culmination of years of civil society advocacy initiatives led by the Child Rights Network (CRN),
the largest alliance of national, international, and local organisations pushing for children’s rights
legislation in the Philippines (CRN Philippines, n.d.). Civil society members of the CRN, with the
support of international organisations such as UNICEF, have been actively advocating to amend
the law since 2018 through online petitions and dialogues with policymakers (Madarang, 2018;
UNICEF Philippines, 2021). Highlighting the partnerships of local civil society actors in collab­
oration with international agencies illustrates the impact of global developments on policy change
and concrete outcomes for children’s protection from harmful sexual behaviour. More research is
needed to document and analyse the drivers of policy change and commitments since most of the
available references are grey literature from non-​governmental organisations.
The amendment of the law was urgently needed because having the age of sexual consent at
below 12 years old had severe and concrete adverse impacts on the lives of Filipino children. It
made it difficult to prosecute cases since children who are 12 years old and above had to prove that
they did not consent to the sexual act. Reports from government statistics demonstrated that most
of the victims of rape and intrafamilial sexual abuse were aged 14–​18 years old and approximately
300,000 teens 13–​15 years old experienced sexual abuse but only 0.1% were reported to author-
ities.1 For the crime of statutory rape, the child only needs to prove two things: his or her age and
that the sexual act happened (Oco, 2007). These children were older than the age of sexual consent
and were afforded less protection under the previous law, as perpetrators were punished below the
penalties for statutory rape or they are acquitted (Oco, 2007). For instance, in September 2020,
the Supreme Court of the Philippines acquitted a man of child sexual abuse charges after impreg-
nating a 12-​year-​old girl (Supreme Court of the Philippines, 2020). The defendant argued that the
sexual relationship was consensual since the girl bore two children before he was sentenced. The
court ruled that they were not prepared to deprive the two children of a normal family life simply
because of the minor age of the girl. It also ruled that the prosecution failed to establish the elem-
ents of sexual abuse. The law is silent about sexual intercourse of children between 12 years old
and below 18 years old with adults that are ‘not for money or due to coercion or influence of an
adult, syndicate or group’. The ruling stresses the importance of amendments to the law and the
need for awareness-​raising on recognising children not as future adults or a mother in this case but
instead also protecting the childhood of the girl (Nakata, 2015).
The Philippine case demonstrates the links from the global, national, local, and individual
level. Global developments on the prioritisation of sexual violence led to the formation of global
consortiums with government members who then committed to strengthened policy frameworks
which expand the ambit of protection of children from sexual violence. The Philippine case also
demonstrates the understudied actions and commitments of citizens in LMICs in strengthening the
enabling environment for the protection of children from sexual violence. This is the reality for
many LMICs who would benefit from increased attention from local and international researchers
to boost the literature base of best practices in policy and programmes related to sexual violence
against children. Global developments and international commitments should seek to improve the
equity in access to resources to produce peer-​reviewed research in Global South countries.

Way forward: Elevating children’s voices in global development

A critical component in combatting sexual violence prevention is the meaningful engagement of
children. These entail listening and acting on how a child feels when and after being victimised,

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the harms and consequences to the child, the barriers to disclosure, their responses after victimisa-
tion, and their understanding of consent and violence (Mathews & Collin-​Vézina, 2016).
Young people appear to accept and tolerate sexual violence as normal (Barter, 2006; McCarry,
2012). McCarry’s (2012) qualitative study explored how young people conceptualised their
understanding of gender and its influence on their views or acceptance of interpersonal violence.
It revealed that young people tolerate male violence/​abuse in intimate heterosexual relationships
due to prevailing perceptions of gender roles and masculinity. For instance, violence is legitimised
within heterosexual relationships when it is a consequence of a female not conforming to their nor-
mative position, meaning compliance to male authority. Relatedly, Chung (2005) demonstrated that
gender inequality and unequal power relations are maintained in adolescent dating relationships
which make it difficult for adolescent girls to identify and challenge violent, coercive, or control-
ling behaviour with sexual partners.
Pearce (2013) proposed the social model of consent to capture the social and environmental
factors that influence young people’s capacity to consent. It may be influenced by the relation-
ship with the adult wherein the child is manipulated into consenting to sexual activity, social
attitudes about violence that normalise consent, economic conditions that push the young
person into consenting to sex in exchange for money or other gifts, or attitudes of practitioners
that hinder them from recognising that sexual exploitation is occurring. These different social
and environmental factors that facilitate the consent of the young person to exploitation do not
make them culpable or deserving of the ensuing abuse (Pearce, 2013). Funded interventions
from national or international actors that are outcomes-​led and short-​term do not adequately
address the issue because the focus should be on securing long-​term trusting relationships
between adults and children (Pearce, 2013). This demonstrates the gap between the perceived
concrete outcomes of development actors and the actual needs of children which necessi-
tate relationship-​building and may not translate to concrete outcomes that can be reported to
funders.
Young people may not recognise their abuse or disclose their exploitative experiences.
Uncovering the needs and experiences of young people is important in developing appropriate
strategies and to avoid their pathologisation as culpable for their abuse. Ellis (2019) reported that
some girls who experienced sexual abuse from their partners felt they were trapped further and
cannot get out without feeling vilified for their earlier compliance. It proved to be difficult since
they felt judgement or lack of support from their carers. They are then caught in a bind. They also
felt responsibility, shame, and guilt for their exploitation which re-​victimises them (Ellis, 2019).
These instances stress the importance of providing stable, positive, and trusting relationships with
adults to support intervention (Shuker, 2013).
Peers can help in protection from exploitation but also cause risks related to child sexual
exploitation and sexual violence (Hallett, 2016). In the Philippines, peers are often responsible
for introducing children to commercial sex work and many children stay involved due to strong
friendships with other children (University of the Philippines –​Manila et al, 2016). Conversely,
positive relationships with peers may be protective factors because responding to the needs of chil-
dren for care and attention help them feel a sense of stability and control in their lives; hopefully
making them less likely to seek it elsewhere (Hallett et al., 2019).
Children may help prevent sexual violence in several ways such as noticing and sharing
concerns, active listening, and support, reassuring them that they were not to blame, or offering a
safe place to stay or assistance to get help from adults (Allnock, 2015; Hallett, 2016). Moreover, as
peers and prosocial bystanders, children may play a powerful role in preventing sexual violence by
speaking up against sexist and rape jokes (Banyard et al., 2021), expressing concern and support

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 Janelle Rabe

to their peer who may be uncomfortable with the actions of someone (Edwards et al., 2019) or
reporting the incident (Cismaru, 2013).
Various barriers to disclosure of sexual abuse and help-​seeking include limited understanding
of abuse especially when the perpetrator convinced the experience was normal or non-​abusive,
the fear of not being believed or being blamed, and the wish to protect the perpetrator (Crisma
et al., 2004). This often occurs in intrafamilial abuse wherein adolescents respondents said that
they decided to maintain the secret due to their perceived responsibility of upholding the family
reputation or protecting other family members whom the perpetrator threatened to harm (Crisma
et al., 2004).
Young people tend to disclose to their friends and peers and do not make it known to adults
like parents or professionals (Allnock, 2015; Manay et al., 2022). Young people reported that their
peers offered encouragement to tell adults. Receiving positive and validating responses from their
peers tends to facilitate further disclosure to adults. However, there are also instances when they
do not receive a positive response and feel victimised further by gossip among their peers (Manay
et al., 2022). In addition to prevention and intervention programmes, more attention is needed in
raising awareness among young people and adults in providing helpful responses to victims and
helping them access the support that they need (Manay et al., 2022).
Discussions on the personal contexts and needs of children and adolescents appear to be absent
in the wider global commitments and efforts which appear to be more concerned with the crim-
inal and judicial interventions on offender management and prosecution at the national and trans-
national levels (Finkelhor, 2009). Embedding the perspectives and experiences of young people
will be helpful in the prevention and protection aspects of sexual violence instead of the legalistic
interventions that are implemented after the abuse has already occurred.
Child rights experts and various scholars acknowledge that meaningful participation of chil-
dren and adolescents has a significant impact in protecting them from violence and abuse with
adults having a key role in supporting children’ actions (Feinstein & O’ Kane, 2009) However,
research by UNICEF demonstrated that only a few countries incorporate children’s right to be
heard in their constitution (e.g. Ecuador, Finland, Poland, South Africa). Most countries have
laws to recognise children’s right to be heard in legal proceedings or have broad general terms in
children’s codes, yet this remains to be policy pronouncements rather than actionable strategies for
children’s sustained involvement in the decision-​making on issues that matter to them (Feinstein
& O’ Kane, 2009).
There have been efforts to support children’s participation in the World Congresses against
Sexual Exploitation of Children and the regional consultations leading up to the World Congress.
Children and adolescents were provided platforms to provide their insights and recommendations
for addressing sexual abuse and exploitation in the World Congresses and UN Special Sessions.
They were also involved in participatory action planning at local and national levels in Southeast
Asia to speak about sex trafficking. The recommendations were presented to government
representatives to get results. In Latin America, children are involved in the office of the ombuds-
person in several countries, while in the Middle East and North Africa, adolescents were engaged
with the media and municipal governments to advocate on the issues of sexual abuse, trafficking,
exploitation, and early marriage (Feinstein & O’ Kane, 2009).
Despite the increasing opportunities to participate in national and international platforms, the
child and adolescent respondents lamented that they were generally brought into the process in
a haphazard or tokenistic manner (Feinstein & O’ Kane, 2009). They were rarely engaged in the
development or preparatory phase of policies and programmes. Children advocated for adults
and decision-​makers to actively listen and respond to their voices, especially the victim-​survivors

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of sexual abuse. Their views, needs, and experiences can be useful in informing programme and
policy decisions. They also wanted adults’ recognition and respect of them as partners with cap-
acities, skills, and potential that should be supported through capacity-​building and dialogue
(Feinstein & O’ Kane, 2009).
Children are often involved as respondents and objects of research in several prevalence
studies. Substantial qualitative and participatory action research with children and adolescents
is necessary to understand their meanings, experiences, and insights on consent, sexual violence,
and its prevention (Gartner & Sterzing, 2016). Participatory methods using creative and arts-​
based methods like drawings, collages, and vignettes are useful in making the research pro-
cess enjoyable for children (Horgan, 2017) and are particularly suited for gender, violence, and
abuse research (Westmarland & Bows, 2019). Child-​led participatory research has also been
recommended as a strategy for disrupting hierarchical power imbalances by sharing the power
and control with children during the research process, with adults taking on a facilitator or tech-
nical support role and children as co-​researchers (Cuevas-​Parra & Tisdall, 2019; Kellett, 2010).
It concretely demonstrates the commitment of the adults in recognising young people as com-
petent researchers by letting go of the control so children can carry out the research in their way
(Cuevas-​Parra & Tisdall, 2019).
However, children and young people’s voices are rarely heard in sexuality and sexual violence
research. There appears to be a widespread hesitation among researchers in engaging children in
sensitive research due to the potential risks of their involvement such as feelings of distress or
re-​traumatisation (Bovarnick et al., 2018). Children and young people have limited involvement
in participatory research on sexual violence due to practical and ethical barriers (Bovarnick et al.,
2018). These include the need to address inherent power imbalances between the adult researcher
and children (e.g. Gallagher, 2008; Holland et al., 2010; Spyrou, 2011), contending with uncertain­­­
ties in participatory research projects (Holland et al., 2010), and ensuring sound justification for
the use of innovative methods (e.g. Kirk, 2007; Gallacher and Gallagher, 2008; Tisdall and Punch,
2012; Kyritsi, 2019). Researchers working on sexual violence with children should be aware and
proactive in considering and addressing these practical and ethical issues.
The trauma-​informed and child-​centred approach is proposed as a strategy to address
potential ethical and practical concerns in involving children in sexual violence research
(Warrington, 2020). It involves recognising the potential presence and impact of trauma and
being prepared to respond if any activity may be triggering to the participants who could have
direct or indirect experiences of sexual violence. The goal is to minimise the potential for
re-​traumatisation.
The limited involvement of young people in research is glaring because children and young
people have consistently expressed their willingness to share their experiences (Cody, 2017);
to be involved in policy development and decision-​making (Horwath et al., 2012) and research
(Bovarnick et al., 2018). Children deem that their meaningful and sustained engagement in sexual
violence prevention efforts and research is beneficial because hearing from them may facilitate
their peers’ disclosure (Cody, 2017). Overall, their personal experiences make them uniquely
qualified to provide perspectives on what works best for them (Houghton, 2015).

Conclusion
Children’s meaningful engagement in combatting sexual violence will be maximised if adults
and the wider society support the inherent strengths, capacities, and knowledge of children about
their lives and the issues that matter to them. A strengths-​and resilience-​based approach instead

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of a deficit approach should be followed that looks beyond children’s vulnerabilities and risks
(Hackett, 2006; Lloyd, 2019). It also entails a strong commitment to listening to and acting on
their experiences, perspectives, and meanings of sexual activity and sexual violence. Participatory
action research with children provides much hope and optimism for a radical revolution in know-
ledge production, access, and impact that pushes the boundaries of traditional research. Together,
children and adults can act together as partners from research and policy development until dis-
semination phases towards sustainably and effectively combatting the many different forms of
sexual violence.

Note
1 Extrapolated estimate from the Department of Health (DOH) Baseline Study on the National Objectives
of Health in 2000; Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

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NAVIGATING SOCIAL AND
GENDER NORMS IN EARLY
CHILDHOOD
A case study in a flood-​prone area in
Amazonian Perú

Karina Padilla, Deborah Fry, and María Cecilia Dedios Sanguineti

Introduction
Around the world, more than 1 billion children experience violence every day, increasing the
likelihood of experiencing significant health, behavioural, social, and educational consequences
(Hillis et al., 2016). Given their widespread global prevalence, preventing all forms of violence is
a global concern, as reflected by the inclusion of this issue in the Sustainable Development Goals
(SGD), 2015.
Violence against children is not attributed to a single cause but rather arises from the interaction
between drivers at institutional and structural levels, as well as risk factors at the individual, inter-
personal, and community levels (Maternowska et al., 2018). Recent studies investigating the con­
tributing factors to violence against children highlight certain social norms –​defined as rules that
determine whether specific behaviours are typical or desirable within a particular reference group
(Cialdini et al., 1990; Donnelly & Ward, 2015; Cislaghi & Heise, 2018) –​as significant drivers that
increase the likelihood of experiencing or perpetrating violence (Fry et al., 2020, 2021).
The literature demonstrates that some harmful social norms not only condone but also promote
violent behaviours. What is more, gender norms, as a subset of social norms, contribute to the per-
petuation of gender disparities, creating environments where violence, particularly gender-​based
violence, is more likely to occur (Heise et al., 2019; Levy et al., 2020). Therefore, understanding
how social norms are shaped, propagated, and transgressed is critical to identify causal pathways
to develop better evidence-​based prevention strategies (Fry et al., 2016; Lilleston et al., 2017).
By delving into the intricate dynamics between social norms surrounding childhood and gender,
this chapter expands the existing understanding of how these norms can directly or indirectly
lead to violence against children. By shedding light on this crucial connection, we can deepen
our comprehension of the complexities underlying violence against children and work towards its
prevention. Furthermore, this chapter emphasizes the active role children themselves play in the
transmission and reinforcement of these social norms.

278 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-26

 Navigating Social and Gender Norms in Early Childhood

Different theoretical and empirical literature on social norms is located across varied discip-
lines, such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, and health science. Much of this literature tries
to understand how social norms shape harmful behaviours and practices, to identify pathways to
prevent violence and gender inequalities (Cislaghi & Heise, 2018; Dedios et al., 2022; Fry et al.,
2016; Heise et al., 2019; Institute for Reproductive Health, 2019).
In a simple way social norms are those “informal, mostly unwritten, rules that define accept-
able, appropriate, and obligatory actions in a given group or society” (Cislaghi & Heise, 2018,
p. 2). Despite the various definitions, the existing literature agree in four key aspects: (1) one’s
beliefs about how others behave; (2) their social expectations; (3) who they believe the reference
group is (people important for the decision or behaviour in question); and (4) the anticipated reac-
tion of others to following or not following the social norm in the form of possible sanctions (Fry
et al., 2016; Mackie et al., 2015). In other words, those beliefs about what others do, and what
others think we should do, within some reference group in a particular context, maintained by
social approval and disapproval (Fry et al., 2016; Lapinski & Rimal, 2005; Mackie et al., 2015).
Social norms are intricately connected to, yet distinct from, attitudes and individual behaviours
(Alexander-​Scott, Bell, & Holden, 2016; Cislaghi & Heise, 2018; Lilleston et al., 2017). Personal
attitudes pertain to an individual’s evaluations or perceptions of something, while behaviours
encompass the actions one takes. Both attitudes and behaviours can be influenced by social norms
(Eagly & Chaiken, 2007). However, there are notable differences, particularly in terms of their
motivational roots. Attitudes are internal constructs driven by individual motivations, while social
norms represent beliefs at the structural level concerning what is socially practised and approved
(Cislaghi & Heise, 2018; Heise & Manji, 2016; Mackie et al., 2015). Nevertheless, it is important
to note that social norms and individual attitudes can align to some extent, reflecting the influence
of the social norms prevalent in the socio-​cultural context where an individual develops (Cislaghi
& Heise, 2018). This convergence suggests that an individual’s attitudes may be shaped by the
prevailing social norms and expectations within their community.
Social norms encompass a wide range of behavioural expectations and standards within a
society. In the field of child protection, a significant focus lies on identifying those social norms
that contribute to an increased likelihood of violent behaviours and harmful practices (Bicchieri
et al., 2014; Dedios et al., 2021; Institute for Reproductive Health, 2019; Lilleston et al., 2017;
Marcus et al., 2021). Social norms about how children should be and behave, as well as gender
social norms, are frequently associated in the literature with the possibility of experiencing or per-
petrating violence.
Social norms around how children should be and behave vary across cultures, but some
common norms can be observed globally. For example, there is a norm that children should be
obedient and respectful to their parents and other authority figures and children are also often
expected to be well-​behaved and to follow rules. These social norms around children’s behaviour
can have important implications for child development and well-​being, as they shape how children
perceive themselves and their roles in society. The social norm that mandates that children should
be obedient might promote the use of violence as a disciplinary method, since it can relate with an
authoritarian parenting style (Haque et al., 2019). These social norms not only increase the likeli­
hood of the use of violent discipline at home, but also at schools (Ogando Portela & Pells, 2015).
Gender norms also play a role in shaping expectations around children’s behaviour, with boys
often being encouraged to be strong and independent and girls expected to be nurturing and com-
pliant. Gender norms are a type of social norms that refer specifically to “shared expectations about
how men and women should behave” (Cislaghi & Heise, 2020, p. 408). While gender norms are a
subset of social norms, they have unique characteristics that distinguish them from other types of

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norms. For example, gender norms are often more rigid and hierarchical than other social norms,
and they are often enforced through social sanctions and punishments (Cislaghi & Heise, 2020).
Despite these differences, gender norms are similar to other social norms in that they are learned
through socialization processes and are subject to change over time and across cultures (Cislaghi
& Heise, 2020). Gender norms then refer to those unspoken rules that influence accepted attributes
and behaviours for men, women, and gender minorities and are maintained by a system of gender
inequalities (Alexander-​Scott et al., 2016; Heise et al., 2019). Gender norms influence the way in
which men and women see and evaluate themselves as men and women, in their relationships,
their sexuality, and through the allocation of power and resources (Alexander-​Scott et al., 2016).
The literature agrees that restrictive gender norms underpin power hierarchies, increasing the like-
lihood of violence and gender disparities (Heise et al., 2019).
Despite the increasing tendency of studying social norms in the field of violence preven-
tion, there still exist some areas that need further attention. There is vast literature on socializa-
tion processes and learning of gendered behaviours during childhood (Renold, 2001; Skelton &
Francis, 2003; Thorne, 1993, 2004); however, more research is needed to understand how social
and gender norms are internalized, acted upon, or resisted in early childhood.
“Social norms are not formed within a vacuum” (Lilleston et al., 2017, p. 127), but they inter­
sect with other individual, social, environmental, institutional, structural, and global factors in
sustaining behaviours (Institute for Reproductive Health, 2019; Lilleston et al., 2017). For this
reason, more empirical studies are needed to increase the understanding of the factors that con-
tribute to the perpetuation of social norms that trigger situations of violence within a given context.
Since the 1990s there has been a growing interest among academics and practitioners about
social norms related to violence in low-​and middle-​income countries (LMIC) (Cislaghi & Heise,
2018). In this chapter we seek to build on this existing but nascent evidence base by providing fur­
ther evidence on how social norms work in LMICs, particularly in Latin America, which is one of
the regions that experiences the highest prevalence of community violence, including armed vio-
lence, homicides, and insecurity (Muggah & Aguirre, 2018). In Latin American countries, commu­
nity violence is a historical, complex, enduring, and heterogeneous phenomenon that threatens the
well-​being of children and their families (Chioda, 2017). A recent systematic review on the drivers
of violence against children in Latin America and the Caribbean, Fry et al. (2021) found that vio­
lence at the community level not only affects children directly, but also increases the risks for
experiencing or perpetrating interpersonal violence, such as corporal punishment (Cuartas et al.,
2019) and peer physical aggression at school (Gimenez et al., 2020).
To sum up, considering the key role of social norms in experiencing and perpetrating violence
during childhood, this chapter explores how children reproduce and challenge social norms around
childhood and gender norms, using a case study from the Global South. The analysis is based on
ethnographic work conducted in the Amazon region of Peru with a focus on key aspects of social
norms for young children: (1) How social norms shape children’s attitudes and behaviours, and
(2) how children navigate social norms, to identify opportunities to prevent violence.

Navigating social and gender norms in early childhood in a flood-​prone

area in Amazonian Peru
In this subsection we analyse and discuss the existing social and gender norms in the studied
community, and how boys and girls, aged between 4 and 5 years old, challenge such norms. This
case study is part of the data collected during a PhD research conducted by the first author of this
chapter, between 2017 and 2020. The ethnographic study explored the lived citizenship of children

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in the early years in a flood-​prone area in the Amazonian Peru, and the findings are published else-
where (Padilla, 2022). One of the emerging findings was that children enacted their citizenship
through acts of citizenship by transgressing social norms to enforce their rights. For this chapter,
we conducted a new analysis of the data to understand the dynamics around social and gender
norms and how children participate in the transgression and replication of them.

The neighbourhood: A floodplain of an Amazonian city

The fieldwork took place in a neighbourhood located in an urban floodplain of an Amazonian city
in Peru surrounded by three main rivers.1 The neighbourhood is one of the regions with the highest
levels of poverty in the country. In 2021, the percentage of people living in poverty reached 34.6%,
with only 38% of the total population in the region having access to essential water and sanitation
services (INEI, 2021). The region also has high rates of child malnutrition (51.7% of anaemia) and
low rates of children completing basic education (MIDIS, 2023). While a high percentage (91.8%)
of children aged between 6 and 11 years old attend school, only 66.2% of 12–​17-​year-​old children
attend school, and this percentage decreases sharply among youth (17 years old), only 19.3% has
some post-​secondary education (MIDIS, 2023).
Community and interpersonal violence are also matters of concern. The Amazonian city has
high rates of insecurity and feminicides (Ministerio Público, 2018); and although the percentage of
mothers who use corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure dropped between 2014 and 2017
(from 14.7% to 10.8%), it is still frequently used by families (United Nations Children’s Fund
[UNICEF], 2019). The area also has several statistically significant gendered disparities compared
to other areas in Peru, for instance it has the highest prevalence of teen pregnancy in the country
(UNICEF, 2019).
The conditions of vulnerability mentioned above are unfortunately common characteristics of
urban settlement in Latin America that pose a threat for children’s capacity to reach their full
potential. The threats to children and families in flood-​prone urban settlements are particularly
severe. In addition to the inherent risks such as infrastructure damage, increased waterborne
diseases, and difficulty in mobility, the usual vulnerable conditions, deficient urban planning, and
lack of disaster risk management policies further exacerbate the myriad of risks faced by children
and their families.
Figures 21.1 and 21.22 show the main street of the neighbourhood. The researcher selected the
neighbourhood by holding meetings with members of the local government who provided infor-
mation about flood-​prone areas in the city. They explained that peri-​urban human settlements in
the city are considered “non-​mitigable areas”, meaning that despite efforts, it is impossible to pre-
vent floods resulting from an increase in river flow. Due to the annual cycle of the river, the river
flow increases from January to April, producing seasonal floods that locals refer to as the “rising
stage” (see Figure 21.1). From August to October, the water level decreases, and neighbours refer
to it as the “falling stage” (see Figure 21.2).
The settlement has only one main street alongside the riverside, at both sides of the street
there are approximately 150 houses. As seen in Figure 21.1, houses have a typical building style
of houses in floodplains in the Amazonian. Houses are built mainly with wood and corrugated
metal roofs, with high stilts that protect them from floods. During the falling stage people use the
ground floor of their houses for “private activities” such as their kitchen, to house animals, to save
their motorcycles or moto-​cars, as well as activities such as to socialise, such as receiving visitors.
During the rising stage, since the ground floor is flooded, all these activities are done on the first
floor of the houses, people usually move their belongings to that floor.

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Figure 21.1 The main street of the neighbourhood. Picture taken on January 2019.

Figure 21.2 The main street of the neighbourhood. Picture taken on October 2018.

The neighbourhood is located 10 minutes from the city centre, and around 150 metres from a
main avenue where public transport is available. During the falling stage, neighbours walk from
the main avenue to the main street, and during the flood season, residents build a bridge that
connects the neighbourhood with the avenue.

Methodology
The study followed a qualitative research design influenced by the interpretivist paradigm. The
data was collected over a nine-​month period, using ethnographic methods. Due to the naturalistic
character, complexity, and long-​term nature of ethnographic methods, the researcher was able to
collect “thick” data on children’s experiences together with the environmental changes taking
place where they live (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007; Mason, 2002).
The methods included participant observation to capture how children negotiate their lived
citizenship in their own context, considering the main dimensions of children’s citizenship
recognised in the literature –​rights, membership, participation, and responsibilities (Lister, 2007).
The researcher conducted participant observation at the pre-​school located in the neighbourhood,

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children’s houses, and public spaces, where the researcher interacted with children and their
families, and took fieldnotes to register the information, which included pictures and written
descriptions.
Semi-​structured interviews with children and adults (caregivers and government workers) were
also conducted to learn about children’s and adults’ perceptions of aspects related to lived citi-
zenship. The researcher prepared questions including on the dimensions of citizenship identified
in the literature and incorporated aspects that emerged during data collection (e.g. autonomous
mobility). To conduct the interviews with children, the researcher used prompts such as drawings.
As mentioned, one of the emerging findings was that children enacted their citizenship through
acts that transgressed social norms to enforce their rights, hence this aspect was included in the
interviews.
Given the features of ethnographic methods (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007), the sample was
variable across the data collection time and depended on the methods. Overall, 21 children between
3 and 5 years old (12 girls and 9 boys) were observed. Because of methodological and ethical con-
siderations,3 out of the 21 children only 17 children aged 4–​5 years old were interviewed (8 girls
and 9 boys). Regarding adults, 14 caregivers (10 females and 4 males) and 5 government workers
(4 males and 1 female) participated in interviews.
The study obtained approval from the ethics committee at the School of Social and Political
Science, University of Edinburgh, and followed the prescribed procedures for ethical research. To
develop the ethical study guidelines, the researcher reviewed literature on the field of childhood
studies (Farrell, 2015; Graham et al., 2013), literature about undertaking research in risky areas
due to natural hazards (Ferreira et al., 2018; Inter-​Agency Standing Committee [IASC], 2006)
and in vulnerable conditions, particularly in Latin America (Montero, 2006; Winkler et al., 2014).
The study ensured participant’s informed and voluntary consent to be involved in the research, as
well as their privacy and confidentiality. To ask for children’s consent, the researcher asked for
written caregiver’s consent and employed different methodologies for asking children directly. For
example, for asking consent at the pre-​school setting, the researcher employed the magnets’ tech-
nique (Kustatscher, 2014). To observe children in public spaces, each time she visited the neigh­
bourhood, and before she began the participant observation, she asked them if they agreed for her
to be around them and if they wanted her to accompany them during their activities or to interact
with them. In addition, parents and other adults were also asked to provide their written consent.

Findings
In this section, we present the findings related to social norms around childhood and gender norms.
In the first part we provide evidence of the existing social norms around how children should
behave and analyse how such social norms shape children’s behaviour and their relationship with
other children and adults. In the second part, we provide an example of a common restrictive
gender norm that determines how boys and girls should behave. In both analyses, we also explain
how children replicate and transgress such norms.

When I took the photograph, Andy’s grandmother told me that Andy and Ana were “dis-
obedient”, she explained to me that Andy always wanted to play in the water and that his
mother got angry, because he could catch a cold (Figure 21.3). She also said that Ana, who
was watching soap operas at Heidy’s house, had run away without her permission (Figure
21.4).
(Fieldnotes, February 2019)

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Figure 21.3 Andy’s house.

Figure 21.4 Heidi’s house.

The researcher took photographs, illustrated in Figures 21.3 and 21.4, on the same day in February
2019 during the flooding season. During this season it was common to see boys playing outside
their houses such as Andy4 (4 years old) and his friends in Figure 21.3. Girls, on the contrary, usu-
ally socialised inside their homes, as shown in Figure 21.4, in which Ana (4 years old), Heidy
(5 years old), and Daisy (3 years old) were watching a soap opera at Heidy’s house.
When the researcher took the pictures, she also collected information from Andy’s and Ana’s
grandmother, who explained that both children were playing outside despite their mother’s rule.
Like many other mothers in the neighbourhood, she did not allow her children to play outside,
particularly during the rising stage. In both situations, Andy and Ana transgressed an adult social
norm since they disobeyed their mother and were playing with their peers outside their houses.
However, there was a gendered difference, Andy disobeyed his mother to play outdoors in the
water, while Ana transgressed the rule to play in a private space, the house of another girl in the
neighbourhood. Although disobeying adult norms, children were replicating gender norms that
promote girls socialising in private spaces and boys in public spaces.

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Young children complying, challenging, and replicating social norms

about how children should be and behave in society
Cultural variations exist in social norms regarding the behaviour and upbringing of children.
However, certain universal norms can be observed across different cultures, such as the norm
that children should obey their elders and authority figures, adhering to the rules set by adults
or caregivers without questioning. Latin American scholars suggest that Spanish colonisation
introduced models of submission and subordination, based on patriarchal structure, that continue
to shape the political, sociocultural, and affective relationships between society and children in
the region (Ludescher, 2001; Mannarelli, 2002; Rodríguez & Mannarelli, 2007). In fact, the social
norms that children should obey without questioning is also a common norm in Peruvian society,
as evidenced in a study on parental practices that surveyed 1,474 adults (above 18 years old),
in 19 out of the 24 regions of the country (Instituto de Opinión Pública [IOP-​PUCP], 2017).
The study found that 90% of people agree that it is more important to educate children to be
obedient than to strengthen their autonomous thinking and develop their common sense. Most of
the participants from the Amazonia region (91.7%) –​region where the data was collected –​agreed
with the following statement: “A child must obey his or her parents instead of being responsible
for his or her own actions”. In addition, 92.9% stated that children must have respect for their
elders, instead of thinking for themselves. As mentioned, this social norm increases the likelihood
of the use of violent discipline at home and at school (Haque et al., 2019; Ogando Portela & Pells,
2015), since it contributes to condoning the use of violence against children, and caregivers usu­
ally use punishments to enforce it.
The above case illustrates children’s transgression of the common social norm that children
should obey their adults. In the words of the children’s grandmother, Andy and Ana were “dis-
obedient”, because they were playing outside the house despite their mothers saying not to do
so. During fieldwork the researcher observed that caregivers often restricted children’s outdoor
play, particularly during the flooding season. What is more, caregivers clarified that children who
spent a lot of time playing on the street, and in the water, were viewed as disobedient and a bad
influence on their peers. The researcher also collected information that shows that caregivers used
punishments such as verbal reprimands or spanking, to enforce their rules.5
The caregivers justified this restriction by emphasizing the importance of protecting chil-
dren from various risks. Specifically, they expressed concerns about the flooding season,
mentioning the potential dangers of illnesses such as colds or skin diseases, as well as the risk
of drowning in water. This aligns with previous research conducted globally, which indicates
that caregivers’ perceptions of risks in their cities often result in limitations on children’s free
play, especially for girls (Alparone & Pacilli, 2012; Prezza et al., 2001; Rudner, 2012). Similar
to the findings of Rudner (2012), the research revealed that these restrictions were not solely
influenced by adults’ perception of urban risks, which intensified during the flood season,
but also by their perception of children’s abilities and expected behaviour. Adults perceived
girls and younger children as having fewer skills to handle these risks, thus imposing greater
limitations on their outdoor play.
While acknowledging the existence of the inherent risks of living in a flood-​prone area,
the researcher observed that children had their own strategies for self-​care during risky play,
meaning the play that encompasses “thrilling and exciting forms of play that involve a risk of
physical injury” (Sandseter, 2009, p. 3). The researcher observed that common risky play in
the neighbourhood included playing outside their houses, such as outdoors in the river side or
in the streets because of the presence of garbage on the floor or where there may be dangerous

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animals, like boars, as well as the unsafe areas due to the presence of thieves. During the flooding
season, additional risky play included playing in the water or in the bridges –​which had poor
infrastructure.
Regarding facing the risks during the flood season, the researcher witnessed that children took
several measures to learn and protect themselves. For example, if possible, children took baths
with clean water after swimming, which according to the local practices, not only prevents skin
illnesses but also colds. As discussed further in Padilla (2022) and in line with other studies (e.g.
Olsson, 2017), the researcher found that while adults tended to protect children from risks, risky
play provides children with opportunities to develop their skills to adapt and protect themselves
during the flooding season. For instance, the researcher observed children playing by the river-
side with small objects to gauge the water depth as it rose and to determine which objects would
sink. This enabled them to play in shallower areas and avoid using those types of objects during
the flood season. Additionally, in the falling stage the researcher accompanied children to play
exploring their neighbourhood, during which they identified small hills. These hills later served
as landmarks for the children, helping them remember areas where the water level was compara-
tively lower during the flood season. Therefore, while adults tended to protect children from risks,
risky play provides children with opportunities to develop their skills to adapt and protect them-
selves during the flooding season. It is important to note that there were gendered differences in
the opportunities for children to explore, play, and learn how to cope with risks. This aspect will
be further discussed in the subsequent section.
Caregivers used reprimands to enforce their rule of obeying adults when they ordered
children not to play outdoors. Punishments were also usually used by caregivers when chil-
dren found ways to transgress the restrictions. The ethnographic data found that social norms
of obeying the elders and the use of violence to enforce it, not only shaped the relationship
between children and adults, but also the relationship between peers. The researcher witnessed
several moments in which older children, boys and girls, used violence to limit younger chil-
dren to play outside their houses, just as adults did with them. For instance, older children hit
younger children when they were at risk of drowning when playing in the water or because
they disobeyed some other adult rule. The replication of the use of violence by older children
when younger children transgress the social norm of obeying elders offers further evidence
about how social norms are one way that violence transmits between groups (Ransford &
Slutkin, 2017).
To sum up, this subsection discussed how caregivers employed verbal and physical
punishments to reinforce the social norm that children must obey their elders, particularly
concerning the restriction of children’s outdoor play. Consistent with previous research, these
limitations imposed by caregivers were motivated by the need to safeguard children from urban
risks, particularly those associated with the flooding season. Additionally, these limitations were
influenced by caregivers’ perceptions of children’s capabilities in facing these risks. However,
as explored in the study, children found ways to challenge this social norm and engage in play
in public spaces. The research provided evidence demonstrating that playing in public spaces
enabled children to explore and become familiar with their neighbourhood, thereby facilitating
their ability to navigate risks and exercise their rights to play, move, and utilize public spaces
within their environment. Nonetheless, as will be discussed in the following section, gender
differences emerged, placing girls at a disadvantage. Consequently, in addition to the use of vio-
lence as a means of enforcing the norm, the norm itself constrained a crucial aspect of children’s
development and the exercise of their rights.

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Young children complying, challenging, and replicating gender norms

Despite the limitations imposed by adults, children exhibited ways of challenging these norms,
as shown in Figure 21.3, in which Andy is playing outdoors near his house in the water, and
Figure 21.4, illustrating Ana also engaging in play outside her house, albeit in a private space.
Intriguingly, this gendered difference was repeatedly observed in the fieldnotes, which documented
instances where girls defied the elder’s rules to go out their homes to socialize in other private
spaces, such as the homes of others. Conversely, boys took more advantage of opportunities to
play outside on the streets or in water. Moreover, during interviews, boys revealed that they typ-
ically played in a dry area located far from their homes during the flood season, an area they had
explored during the receding season. In essence, children transgressed societal norms imposed by
adults to continue playing, but in doing so, they replicated a gender norm.
Gender norms encompass widely accepted beliefs regarding the expected and appro-
priate behaviours for individuals based on their gender (Alexander-​Scott et al., 2016). In Latin
America, these norms are intricately connected to the concept of Machismo culture, a term spe-
cific to the region that aids in understanding and interpreting gender dynamics. Machismo cul-
ture is deeply rooted in patriarchal relationships and fosters a binary and dichotomous outlook
on femininity and masculinity. It reinforces the notion of male superiority and gives rise to social
practices and representations that depict females as vulnerable, thereby perpetuating gender dispar-
ities and increasing the likelihood of violence against women across all age groups (Oblitas, 2014;
Martinez, 2020).
The researcher identified common gender norms in the neighbourhood. For instance, gender
norms that prescribe dichotomised spaces where women and men were expected to socialise, achieve
success, and gain social approval. Another common gender norm identified was the expectation for
men to provide financial support for their families, while mothers were expected to assume respon-
sibility for household activities and caregiving. In fact, during fieldwork and in interviews, adults
explained that men were expected to socialise and work in public spaces, for example most of the
children’s fathers worked outside the neighbourhood. In fact, most of the children’s fathers worked
outside the neighbourhood, while most mothers did not have paid employment outside of it. However,
it is worth noting that a few mothers managed small businesses from their homes.
These gendered social expectations influenced caregivers’ beliefs and ways to raise girls and
boys. For example, caregivers usually ordered boys and girls to not to play outside; however,
the researcher also noticed that they were more permissive with boys than with girls when they
transgressed the norm and disobeyed them. As explained in the previous section, caregivers’
limitations around outdoor play related not only with the existing risks of a human settlement and
a flood-​prone area, but also with caregivers’ perceptions on children’s skills to face risks. Such
perceptions had also gendered differences, adult caregivers tended to perceive girls at all ages and
younger boys as less skilled and more fearful than males.
By limiting girls to play outdoors, adults reinforced the gender norm that determines that girls
should socialise in private spaces and expect them to behave fearfully, promoting such behaviour
in girls. While the researcher witnessed that both boys and girls expressed their fears, boys took
more actions to play in the water, and girls were more cautious and preferred to play at home.
What is more, the limitations imposed on girls not only restricted their outdoor play opportunities
but also hindered their ability to explore and acquire essential skills, such as swimming, necessary
for adapting to their surroundings and gaining independence. Consequently, this reinforced the
division between public and private spheres and supported girls to be more passive, and boys to
be more risk takers. Such gendered expectations could increase the likelihood of violence against

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girls and women, and gender disparities (Fry et al., 2020), since it places women in an unequal
power dynamic in comparison to men.
Nevertheless, the researcher found that some girls challenged gender norms that restricted their
socialisation in public spaces, as seen in the following excerpt.

Paula (5 years old) was one of the girls who spent large amounts of time in the water. Once
I was sitting on the bridge chatting with Paula’s neighbours, while Paula was playing in the
water. A man told me, “She [Paula] is not a girl; she seems like a boy; she always stays in
the water”. Paula laughed, and said, “Yes because I like it”. Her mother was also with us,
and she also laughed.
(Field notes, May 2019)

In the excerpt, Paula transgressed a gender norm by playing outside her house in the water. As a
response, she received social disapproval from her neighbour, who assigned masculine features to
her, he said: “She [Paula] is not a girl; she seems like a boy; she always stays in the water”. Similar
to other research (e.g Blakemore, 2003), during fieldwork, the researcher witnessed several situ­
ations where girls and boys who challenged gender norms not only received condemnation from
adults, but also from other peers. As an example, when boys opted to wear pink clothes or utilised
school supplies or breakfast cups that were associated with femininity, their peers would mock
them by suggesting, “You must be a girl, not a boy”.
Paula’s vignette highlights a crucial aspect that sheds light on the influence of the reference
group in adhering to or deviating from a social norm. Social norms, including gender norms, are
reinforced through social approval or disapproval from individuals who hold significance in our
lives (Bicchieri, 2015). Moreover, gender norms are further reinforced through dichotomous gen­
dered socialization (Alexander-​Scott et al., 2016; Heise et al., 2019). Despite being reprimanded
by her uncle for not conforming to the gender norm, Paula had the support of a significant person
in her life: her mother. Paula’s mother not only refrained from suppressing her daughter but also
embraced and supported Paula’s actions by laughing along. Pulerwitz et al. (2019) emphasize the
importance of integrating the concept of power into social and gender norm theories to under-
stand the role of power dynamics in shaping individuals’ choices to conform or challenge existing
norms. It can be argued that the mother’s support empowered Paula to defy the norm and assert
her right to nonconformity.
In summary, this subsection has examined the influence of gender norms on children’s behav-
iour and the significance of the reference group in either challenging or conforming to harmful
gender norms. It has provided examples illustrating how caregivers’ restrictions contribute to the
replication of dichotomous gender norms and highlighted the active role of children in both repli-
cating and defying gendered socialization.

Conclusions
This chapter has contributed to the growing evidence on social norms, providing further evidence
on how social norms around childhood and gender norms work based on the findings of a PhD
research with a group of children from 3 to 5 years old in a flood-​prone area in the Amazonian Peru.
The study sheds light on how young children engage in a complex interplay of complying
with, challenging, and replicating social norms regarding how children should be and behave
in society, and regarding the gendered expectations. These norms, shaped by cultural and soci-
etal influences, establish expectations for children’s actions, roles, and behaviours. Children often

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internalize these norms and strive to conform to societal expectations. However, they also exhibit
agency and demonstrate moments of resistance or defiance, challenging these norms in their own
unique ways. Simultaneously, children can inadvertently replicate these norms as they observe and
imitate the behaviours of adults and peers. The dynamics of compliance, challenge, and replication
of social norms by young children reflect their active participation in the socialization process and
their evolving understanding and negotiation of societal expectations.
The existing discussion around social norms has discussed how social norms influence
harmful practices and behaviours (Bicchieri et al., 2014; Lilleston et al., 2017), and this study
also provides evidence in this area. This chapter has discussed how restrictive social norms
around childhood and dichotomized gender norms increase the likelihood of violence and other
social disparities. It was analysed, for example, how following the social norm that “children
must obey” and not to play outdoors may limit children’s opportunities to explore their neigh-
bourhood and learn how to face the risks particularly those related to living in a flood-​prone area.
As discussed, due to gender norms, caregivers impose greater limitations on girls, restricting
their ability to play outdoors, explore, and develop skills for self-​protection. These gender norms
influence children’s behaviour and perpetuate gender stereotypes, portraying girls as passive and
boys as more prone to taking risks. This complex dynamic might increase the risks for girls and
reinforce gender disparities.
This study provided further evidence about the key role of the reference group in maintaining
or navigating social norms. Not only adults, but also children and young people contributed to
reinforcing stereotypical behaviours. As mentioned, children also reprimanded their peers when
transgressing the norms of being disobedient or acting outside of the gender norm. However,
the study also showed that the reference group can contribute to breaking down gender social
norms and promoting healthier relationships and conduct. Therefore, the study suggests that
it is also necessary to work with adults, to encourage children and young people to establish
conditions that support them to feel more empowered about transgressing restrictive social
norms. That is to say, interventions should promote behaviours that seek to develop skills and
conditions that contribute to challenging restrictive social norms, with the aim of reducing
gender inequities, and thereby lessening the chances of perpetrating or experiencing violence
in the long term.
The analysis in this chapter lays the groundwork for future research on social norms in Latin
American countries. The discussion has highlighted the importance of caregivers’ encouragement
for children to challenge restrictive social norms and the importance of analysing and contrasting
the perspectives of males and females in relation to gender and peer violence social norms. Given
the importance of promoting protective norms and practices (Cislaghi & Heise, 2018), further
investigation is needed on the aspects of positive social norms that would contribute to addressing
negative norms. The discussion has shown that children and young people are active agents in
maintaining social norms, understanding the factors that lead them to reprimand other children
when they transgress would contribute to understanding this complex scenario. All of this taken
together gives us stronger evidence in relation to social norms on violence.
Additionally, the discussion throughout this chapter shows that multiple systems work to
uphold or change harmful social norms (Heise et al., 2019). Age, social risks and vulnerabilities,
and even environmental characteristics are some interrelated aspects that need to be included in the
analysis when understanding social norms or addressing them during interventions.
In summary, this chapter offers an exploration of the interplay between social norms related to
childhood and gender and their potential impact on the prevalence of violence against children and
other social and gender disparities. It underscores the significance of acknowledging children’s

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agency in perpetuating these norms. By recognizing children as both subjects and agents of social-
ization, and working with the reference group, interventions can empower children to challenge
and reshape restrictive social and gender-​related norms, ultimately contributing to a safer and
more equitable society.

Notes
1 A floodplain is a low relief earth surface located adjacent to rivers or lakes and is subject to flooding
(Tockner, 2013). Floodplains cover about 2% of the land surface globally and are particularly abundant in
areas adjacent to large rivers, like the Amazon River (Tockner, 2013).
2 The researcher took the photographs as children’s requests and asked for their consent to show the
photographs when disseminating the findings.
3 For example, strategies to reduce the risks during the flooding season.
4 Considering the study ethical guidance pseudonymous were used to preserve participants’ anonymity.
5 As part of the ethical procedures of the study, when the researcher witnessed or acknowledge the researcher
contacted families with the Children’s Rights Ombudsman Institution, where they can receive information
on parental skills without violence.

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INFLUENCE OF POLICIES
ON EARLY ADOLESCENT’S
SEXUAL AND
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
Liseth Lourdes Arias López

Introduction
Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a topic of special concern during adolescence, due to
physical changes (Desai, 2021) and because personal life experiences and sociodemographic
factors such as education, neighborhood, and income influence the transition from adolescence
to adulthood (Schlegel and Smith, 2021). SRH has become a critical dimension of the inter­
national development agenda, for the individuals’ health and well-​being (Waldman & Stevens,
2015); particularly in low-​income countries, given the impact of poverty on reproductive health
(Bukuluki, 2021).
At the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held
in Cairo in 1994, 179 country representatives reached a consensus that population policies should
address social development beyond family planning, with particular emphasis on the advancement
of the status and empowerment of women, and should strive to make accessible, through the pri-
mary health-​care system, reproductive healthcare to all individuals of appropriate ages as soon as
possible and no later than 2015 (Fathalla, 2017); in addition, the representatives emphasized giving
priority to gender equity and equality, as a necessary condition for women to be able to make their
own decisions and attend to their own health and well-​being. This approach is important because
it guides efforts and actions to empower women, modifying the conditions of social subordination
to which they have been subjected and which have prevented them from being active subjects of
their decisions for their lives and for their families (Ramos, 2006).
The actions adopted at ICPD stimulated interest among international agencies, governments,
non-​governmental organizations (NGOs), and donors leading to the formulation of policies and
programs to respond to the needs of adolescents in developing countries, in order to provide ado-
lescent girls and boys with the necessary SRH information and services to enable them to deal in
a “positive and responsible way” with their sexuality (WHO, 2011).
Therefore these changes have been influenced by the shifting tides of politics and the various
configurations of political power (Pugh, 2019) that have generated a series of transformative
events unfolding globally and in specific countries (Worthington, 2008).

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-27 293

 Liseth Lourdes Arias López

In the last 25 years, much has changed in the lives of adolescents, and there has been significant
progress in their SRH. Girls are less likely to be married and bear children before age 18 but are
still more likely than adults to have unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions (Venkatraman,
2019). People of lower socioeconomic status tend to have children at younger ages and in higher
numbers than those in higher income brackets, and this can keep many adolescents living in pov-
erty and result in their reproductive health being overlooked (Barroso, 2019). Levels of sexual
abuse of boys and especially girls under 18 and of sexual violence toward girls aged 15–​19, unfor-
tunately, remain high (Venkatraman, 2019). The great challenge of the next decades is to reverse
this trend between gender and violence and increase global living standards (Barroso, 2019).
In recent decades there have been improvements in worldwide indicators of reproductive health,
but there are still enormous inequalities in access to SRH services (Haaland, 2020) regionally,
nationally, and locally, affecting progress in many areas, such as access to safe abortion, access
to contraception, the protection of the sexual and reproductive rights of migrants and refugees
including those in humanitarian settings, and the advancement of the rights of LGBTI individuals.
According to Pugh (2019) how governments, political leaders, activists, NGOs, lawyers engage
in the politics of SRHR impacts, both positively and negatively, on the everyday lived realities
of people around the world. Strategies are needed to improve SRH-​related knowledge, treatment-​
seeking, and health outcomes among adolescents including community-​based outreach, peer edu-
cation, adolescent-​friendly health services, and school health education (Desai, 2021).
Gender norms often assign women a reproductive role beyond their control and decision and
women’s sexual pleasure has been denied by men as a form of patriarchal control (Tapia-​Martinez,
2017). Therefore, the gender perspective, together with the recognition of sexual and reproductive
rights, are two fundamental axes to take into account when analyzing the situation of women and
men in relation to SRH (Perrotta, 2010).
But it is in the period of adolescence that the differences by sex associated with gender learning
become more important in relation to the risks to the general health of young people, since,
although most of them enjoy good health, premature mortality, morbidity, and injuries among
youth and adolescents remain considerable. Diseases can affect their ability to grow and develop
fully, for example, alcohol or tobacco use, lack of physical activity, unprotected sex, and exposure
to violence can endanger not only their current health but also that of their adulthood and even the
health of their future children (OMS, 2018).
Recent evidence helps us to understand and address social norms in relation to improving ado-
lescent reproductive and sexual health (ASRH). Especially important is the increasing recognition
that gender is at the center of social norms that shape ASRH outcomes, and that these norms are
underpinned by power inequalities (Malhotra et al., 2019).
Moreover, underlying social determinants, particularly structural inequities and gender norms,
play a major role in influencing SRH outcomes among adolescents (Desai, 2021), in fact, it
is impossible to think of ASRH-​related social norms that are not fundamentally about gender
and power, given that control of women’s and girls’ bodies, sexuality and reproduction is at the
heart of gender inequality (Malhotra et al., 2019). Compared to men, women experience dis­
parate poorer SRH outcomes and disproportionate SRH risk, especially women ages 18–​25 years
(Schlegel, 2021).
It is well-​recognized that addressing the social determinants of health and treatment-​seeking,
including gender norms, should be central to improving health outcomes among adolescents
(Desai, 2021). The recommendations of research suggest that the effective and ethical scale-​up of
social norms change initiatives requires a careful rethinking of current donor and implementation
practices, including (among other key points) decisions around the duration of program funding

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and who receives such funding, how to ensure accountability to communities, and the need to
rethink evaluation approaches and practices to produce evidence that can guide processes of scale-​
up, and which represents the voices of activists and communities from within the Global South
(Pugh, 2019).
The norms are not just perpetuated through shared social expectations but actively enforced
through social sanctions that very clearly emphasize the underlying gendered power dynamics: there
are real and sometimes brutal costs for girls and/​or their families for violating norms that relate
to sexuality and reproduction –​ranging from mistreatment, violence, abandonment, social or eco-
nomic exclusion disfigurement, rape, or even death. Therefore, it is critical to keep a focus on
gender and power in ASRH social norm programming, recognize and address the unique com-
plexity of these norms, and challenge the underlying structures that perpetuate them (Malhotra
et al., 2019).
Thus, we can say that gender influences health and well-​being in three areas: first, through the
determinants of health related to gender, including the interaction they have with other social and
structural determinants; second, by behaviors in the sphere of health according to gender; and
finally, the response of the health system based on gender (OMS, 2018).
It is necessary to know the myths, prejudices, and false beliefs that are transmitted in the pro-
cess of adolescent socialization around sexuality, which can help expose the sexism that is hidden
under the forms of representation of masculinity and femininity that are internalized and, on the
other hand, it can contribute to having basic and applied tools for the educational interventions
necessary for the sexual health of young people, since the adolescent’s opinion of their sexuality
depends most of the time on the socio-​cultural context in which they live (Beltran, 2009).
Thus, gender dimensions include (1) the socio-​cultural norms and values attached to what
women and men, girls and boys, do, that is, gender roles; (2) the differential access to control
(including making decisions) over resources such as money, information, and education; (3) the
influence that social institutions such as family, school, religious institutions, workplaces, and
health services have in reinforcing gender norms; and (4) the impact of laws and policies, which
often have gender-​based inequalities written into them (Cottingham, 2017); therefore, SRH is a
critical theme connecting adolescence to international development policies and practices. It will
require new clinical protocols, new areas for data collection, and new collaborations among basic
scientists, clinicians, social scientists, and policymakers (Temmerman, 2013). Few age-​specific
policies or person-​centered practice guidelines are available to reduce sexual risk. It is important
to explore the unique characteristics of emerging adulthood that contribute to greater SRH risks
for women (Schlegel, 2021).
This chapter aims to analyze the issue of SRH policies and their influence on the SRH of
adolescents, taking into account the commitments made by countries when ratifying international
human rights treaties, such as the ICPD (CELADE, 2006). This chapter draws on a qualitative
international study, the “Global Early Adolescent Study”, which studies how gender norms evolve
and inform a spectrum of ASRH outcomes (GEAS, 2022a,b).
The project started in 2010 when the World Health Organization convened a committee of
experts to specifically identify priorities for adolescent health and address the paucity of research
on early adolescence. At this meeting, gender inequalities and their consequences for SRH and
health, in general, emerged as the main priorities. The GEAS project was led by Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health. It conducted research in 15 countries in Latin America
(Ecuador, Bolivia), Europe (Belgium, Scotland), the United States, Africa (South Africa, Malawi,
Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Egypt), and Asia (Vietnam,
China, and India) (Blum, 2017).

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GEAS aims to understand the factors in early adolescence that predispose young people to sub-
sequent sexual health risks and promote healthy sexuality, so as to provide the information needed
to promote sexual and reproductive well-​being. In some sites, it is used alongside an intervention
to assess the impact (HRP, 2018).
The GEAS study was designed in two phases, the first phase focused on identifying common
themes related to the norms and attitudes of young adolescents and sought to develop tools to
measure changes in these norms and health behaviors for their subsequent implementation in the
second phase of the investigation. The second phase follows cohorts of young adolescents for
3 years in a smaller group of countries to understand how gender norms and attitudes evolve while
applying these new validated, standardized, and developed measurement tools (Lane, 2017). In
this chapter I will refer to the first phase which Bolivia participated in.
The project focuses on ages 10–​14, which are critical ages for human development, but at
the same time, it is a less understood stage. While biological processes are universal, the social
contexts in which they occur vary considerably. During this transition, young people are expected
to assume socially defined gender roles that shape their future SRH (GEAS, 2022).
On the other side, gender norms and beliefs have important implications for both girls and
boys. The consequences for girls in many parts of the world include child marriage, early
school leaving, pregnancy, HIV and the risk of sexually transmitted infections, exposure to
violence, and depression. But despite popular perceptions, boys are not exempt. As a result
of these norms, they are victims of physical violence to a much greater extent than girls; die
more often from unintentional injuries; are more prone to substance abuse and suicide; and
their life expectancy is shorter than that of women (Blum, 2017). The project focuses on poor
adolescents in urban areas, as a rapidly growing and vulnerable population throughout the
world (GEAS, 2022).
The development of adolescents occurs within multiple contexts that influence both attitudes
and behaviors within a defined institution. Thus, the results will be organized into individual and
family characteristics, school and media exposure among adolescents living in peri-​urban areas,
which, although they are different processes, are interrelated, through which globalizing forces
affect children’s lives and shape the ideology, orientations, and social practices that are directed at
them (Bernal, 2009).

Methods
To build trust and increase engagement among the adolescent participants, we used two different
research methods at the start of the sessions that were designed to engage adolescents in a more
“game-​like manner”: (1) a timeline exercise which was a small group-​based exercise and (2) a
Venn diagram exercise (VDE) which was conducted individually and used at the start of the
in-​depth interview (Mmari et al., 2017), taking into account that it is a visual method that can
be used with children of all ages, particularly those who have received little education (Kleine,
2016). Venn diagrams are a depiction tool suitable for visualizing relationships, particularly
commonalities and differences between different categories (Koll, 2022). This methodology
is important in terms of the reachability of research and ensuring deeper participation given
the preceding discussion on power dynamics and lesser-​heard voices in research with children
(Horgan, 2017).
Incorporating a timelining method adds a visual representation related to the experience that
can anchor the interview and help focus the participant on key elements. Timelining can provide
participants with a way to engage their stories deeply and even help to create new meanings and

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understandings. Timelining is particularly appropriate with sensitive and complex topics or when
interviewees’ oral language expression is limited due to a variety of circumstances (Marshall, 2019).
The timeline method in the GEAS project involved groups of five adolescents; 20 timelines
on average were made in each country of study, the adolescents were asked to draw the most
important events of a typical person’s life on a timeline starting from birth until adulthood. The
discussion focused on gender differences (example: what events might be different and how might
trajectories differ between boys and girls) (Mmari et al., 2017).
For the VDE, individual adolescents were asked to indicate the key relationships in their lives
by drawing circles on a piece of paper, in which bigger circles represented those relationships that
were most important. As part of the VDE, adolescents were also asked to show which relationships
were positive (with a smiley face) and which were negative (with a sad face). The subsequent in-​
depth interview then allowed for further exploration of these relationships. Embedded within the
in-​depth interviews was a narrative methodology that explored “the storied nature of adolescent
experiences”, the methodology that has been used extensively in the social sciences to tap the
language, perceptions, and stories people associate with events (Mmari et al., 2017). Narrative
questions were used to collect stories about changes in adolescents’ interpersonal relationships as
they grow up, as well as how they learned about certain “rules” and behaviors about being a boy
or a girl (Mmari et al., 2017).
Both the timeline and the VDEs were essential methods for constructing connections between
researchers and early adolescent’s prior to the in-​depth interviews, helping to create a relaxed envir-
onment to respond freely to the researcher’s questions. The VDE helped to initiate the discussions
about the relationships within their family and several of the questions in the interview guide were
immediately addressed.
In the narrative interview, questions were used that motivated the adolescents to answer, for
example, one of the questions said: “For this last part, let’s pretend I’m not from this earth at
all –​that I’m from another planet. I visit earth, right here where you live, and I see these humans
who are called ‘girls’ and ‘boys’ ”. Game dynamics were used using an alien mask that developed
a good atmosphere during the session and produced confidence between the researchers and the
children, in addition to the fact that the questions gave flexibility in the answers, that is why prior
work experience with adolescents is important among interviewers.
Throughout the process, it was emphasized that there were no right or wrong answers and that
everything that early adolescents say is important to the research. We also try to explain clearly
what the research is about, and what the information will be used for. We also explained the
concepts of anonymity and confidentiality to the children in simple words.

Gender Norms Harden in Adolescence

From the development of the first phase of the GEAS, five key themes can be highlighted:

• Puberty is a critical time in the life course when pre-​existing gender socialization becomes fur-
ther crystalized;
• Unequal gender norms and attitudes are widespread across geographic and socio-​cultural
settings, with similarities and differences across contexts;
• Societal expectations of boys and girls differ, and so do their own gender attitudes;
• Race, ethnicity, class, and immigrant status influence gender norms and attitudes;
• Peers and parents are key in shaping the gender norms and attitudes of young adolescents
(Venkatraman et al., 2017).

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Inequitable gender norms and attitudes are reinforced by parents and peers; it also found some
evidence, albeit less robust, that schools and media play a role (Venkatraman et al., 2017). In
addition, it is highlighted that schools, parents, the media, and their classmates reinforce the hege-
monic myths that girls are vulnerable and that boys are strong and independent (Blum, 2017), so
the results are organized according to individual, family, school, and media factors.

Individual Factors
The individual dynamics are internalized as knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, aspirations, values, and
feelings of self-​efficacy (Arias, 2021).
Published results from GEAS indicated that in Egypt as in Belgium, adolescents were found to
have few friends of the opposite sex. Gender norms influenced the choice of friends, as well as the
type and location of shared activities (Al-​Attar, 2017). Due to adult concerns about their sexual
vulnerability, girls are repeatedly told to stay away from boys and there are penalties for not doing
so: punishment, social isolation, sexual rumors, and innuendo (Blum, 2017).
In the particular case of Cochabamba –​Bolivia, it can be found that almost all adolescents
begin to recognize the power to develop their own values, deciding whom to trust and beginning to
differentiate between friends and acquaintances, in the case of female adolescents more than half
of the interviewees prefer to distance themselves from friends who are looking for a relationship
(Arias, 2021), for example, one respondent’s said: “In other words, she is already thinking about
boys, and says unpleasant things, I don’t know what they mean. That is why I don’t hang out with
her since 5th grade, but we do still talk in class” (Arias, 2021).
The findings reflected that in all sites except Ghent, both young people and their parents
perceived girls to face greater risks related to their SRH, the fact that they could get pregnant
meant that they were perceived to need greater protection. Instead, as boys grow up, their parents
recognize that their independence is expanded, and parents felt that the boys were strong enough
to protect themselves. This also has negative consequences, as boys were perceived to be more
prone to risks associated with street violence and peer pressure. These differences in perceptions of
vulnerability and related mobility are markers of a gender system that separates the roles, responsi-
bilities, and behaviors of young women and men in ways that amplify the gender power imbalance
with social and health consequences for people of both sexes (Mmari et al., 2018).

Family Factors
Another less evident but equally growing facet of gender relations is the commercialization of
“safety” and “protection” both “of our children” and “towards other children”, objectified as “chil-
dren at risk” and/​or as responsible for a reputation of violence which leads to a moral panic. Around
these fears, various material and social mechanisms have expanded and consolidated for the per-
petual surveillance and protection of children, especially among the more affluent classes: from
endless planning of supervised and monitored extracurricular activities (for a fee), to security
cameras (used from birth, in the cradle), or the growing and ubiquitous dependence on mobile
phones as a tool to control adolescents. Motivated by these fears located in the urban public space,
many families restrict children’s leisure activities to those that involve commercialized consump-
tion or control, leaving little space for the practice of free and unsupervised play in the streets and
squares, which certainly limits children’s ability to play and interact independently (Bernal, 2009).
Qualitative data from the first phase of the GEAS project found that young adolescents living
in peri-​urban areas in different countries have a lot in common with each other. These findings

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underscore the important role parents play in the lives of early adolescents and the similarity of
adolescent experiences and gender norms across cultures, with both girls and boys experiencing
the damaging effects of gender stereotypes and inequitable gender norms (Lane, 2017). Shared
experiences included that pubescent girls on the one hand are seen as holding power over boys
through their sexuality but at the same time boys are seen as predators and girls as potential targets
and victims. Messages like –​don’t feel like that, don’t wear that, don’t talk to him, boys will ruin
your future –​support the division of power and affection by gender while promoting sexual segre-
gation to preserve girls’ sexuality. In some places, girls come to internalize these norms even more
than boys (Blum, 2017). As a consequence of adult perceptions of female sexual vulnerability, in
almost all settings, the mobility of girls is much more restricted than that of boys. As one girl in
Assuit, Egypt noted: “A girl cannot go out as she wishes because she is a girl and if a girl comes
home late, her parents yell at her, but it is fine for a man” (Blum, 2017).
In Delhi –​India and Shanghai –​China, the adolescents identified mothers as the main actor, in
the socializing of adolescents, determining how to dress and behave and what gender roles to play,
although fathers were also mentioned as influential in less proportion (Basu, 2017). Restrictions on
opposite-​sex interactions were rigid for both boys and girls in Delhi and Shanghai (Basu, 2017).
On the other hand in Delhi, gender roles about mobility were applied more strictly to girls than
to boys.
In Cochabamba –​Bolivia, it was found that parents give girls less freedom of physical
movement. Parents determine when and where girls can go, controlling whether they can go alone
or with other people. In contrast, boys have more freedom because it is believed that boys can pro-
tect themselves. In fact, this belief can also expose them to risky behaviors (Arias, 2021).
In Cochabamba, the power exercised by relatives over female adolescents is important, influ-
encing the expression of affection. Girls are expected to be sensitive, tender, and affectionate.
This is important in SRH because they learn to assume a passive and often subordinate role in
relationships, with submissive attitudes and little empowerment regarding the decisions of male
adolescents, preventing them from freely choosing what they want to do with their own bodies
and how to regulate their reproduction, which is reflected in the following expression: “Some girls
are restless and my cousins say that you always have to behave like a young lady” (Arias, 2021).
In the GEAS research, peers played a role in influencing the gender norms and attitudes of
young adolescents. Discussions with friends on topics such as career aspirations, menstruation,
romantic interests, and problems at home shape the way adolescents view the world, recognize
expectations, and understand their roles. Adolescents from all sites confirm that friendships pro-
vide them with emotional and social support through common experiences, as well as social
protection from other peers. On the other hand, peers patrol each other’s behavior and pressure
each other to conform to prevailing gender norms through teasing, bullying, and social exclusion
(Venkatraman et al., 2017).
Another common finding across all study sites was that early adolescence brings a decrease
in the social tolerance for opposite-​sex friendships, prompted by parents’ fear of romantic and
sexual relationships. This finding was most pronounced in the data from Assiut, New Delhi, and
Shanghai. In Ghent, adolescents vocalized the fear that their peers might misconstrue the nature of
these friendships (Venkatraman et al., 2017).
Across the sites, findings show that parents want their children to assume roles that conform
to the prevailing gender norms of their culture and community and reinforce these norms through
instruction, encouragement, reward, regulation, discipline, punishment, and admonition. Parents
and adolescents most often cited mothers as the primary source of influence, and sometimes as the
main disciplinarians. However, adolescents in Delhi and Shanghai noted that fathers also play a

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major role in shaping gender norms and attitudes, especially for boys. Parental concern for their
adolescents was a strong finding across all sites: parents fear that their children’s futures and the
reputations of their children and families could be harmed by nonconventional behaviors, particu-
larly early sexual initiation (Venkatraman et al., 2017).

School Factors
There is growing government support for sexual rights, for example, many countries have passed
laws and regulations for comprehensive sexuality education to be provided in public school
curricula (Barroso, 2019). School-​based programs appear to be a logical choice for SRH edu­
cation. However, conservative groups have energized evangelical forces in many countries cre-
ating hurdles to advancing internationally agreed standards (Barroso, 2019). At the same time,
the provision of comprehensive SRH interventions in developing countries has been impeded by
ideologically driven restrictions. Many community-​based programs have had to focus on HIV pre-
vention rather than comprehensive SRH, again because of funding restrictions (Hindin, 2009); so
it is necessary to expand access to SRH services and is a critically important focus on the particular
vulnerability and susceptibility of young adolescent women (Temmerman, 2013).
Effective school interventions delay marriage and childbearing but also can reinforce trad-
itional gender values that ultimately result in rising gender inequalities in education. According to
Denford et al. (2017) it is important to take into account the design, content, and implementation
characteristics because they appear to be associated with greater effectiveness.
There is some evidence that schools/​teachers shape attitudes (Venkatraman, 2018). In the
particular case of Cochabamba –​Bolivia, almost no interviewee mentioned the institutions as a
structural source of the problems, very few mentioned receiving education about development
and gender and regarding government institutions, and apparently they do not have effective
interventions, they lack effective policies to address family violence, gender inequity, or economic
inequity (Arias, 2021), one girl interviewed said: “Damn the teacher of social science, she has
scolded my classmate asking her: why do you have your hair cut? My poor classmate, her hair is
short. The teacher told her, you have to hold your hair tight, very tight, why did you cut your hair?-​
she has scolded her”. (FI_​11_​A16).

Media Factors
The media plays an important role in the sexual health of adolescents (Olumide, 2016). In general,
according to the results in GEAS, parents are worried about the influence of mass and social media
(Venkatraman, 2018). Among early adolescents in the city of Cochabamba, it could be seen that
parents recognize the great influence of the media on the behavior of their children, for example,
a mother in Bolivia, referring to boys watching porn online, said: “Most boys go to the internet to
see forbidden things” (MOMI_​A_​02).
The media, and in particular the Internet, is used more by boys and is considered dangerous
by girls, an adolescent in Bolivia commented: “I mean, you enter more people, but their faces… .
you don’t see their faces, some of them have the face of a child and they probably are around 20,
I don’t know, it’s like a Facebook, but with an account” (FI_​12_​A02).
Social media use further extends the influence of peers on health. Online spaces have changed
adolescent developmental tasks such as relationship and identity building which were mainly
negotiated in face-​to-​face communication with peers (Venkatraman, 2018). Thus, intervention
programs need to make use of the media to reach out to more adolescents (Oluminde, 2016).

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Conclusion
The issues associated with sexual and reproductive rights –​sexuality, abortion, gender-​based vio-
lence, sex-​positive messaging, and teenage sexual pleasure –​are politicized, involve religious and
moral values, and receive polarized opposition (Waldman & Stevens, 2015).
It is necessary to propose effective policies on SRH issues since they are fundamental to the
health and well-​being of all (Pugh, 2019), though alleviating the burden, and addressing the glaring
inequity have been on the international and national agendas (Fathalla, 2017), unfortunately, we
are in a period of widespread populist politics, replete with propaganda and lies, the promulgation
of hatred and fear, and regressive SRHR policies (Pugh, 2019).
It is necessary to analyze the ways in which political discussions around SRHR are created and
advanced, how policies are developed and implemented, how to create and maintain coalitions
across disciplines and across issues, and how to work to change social, cultural, and political
norms that continue to deny or restrict access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, particu-
larly for girls (Pugh, 2019).
According to the results of GEAS, unequal gender attitudes and norms are widespread across
geographic and socio-​cultural settings with both similarities and differences across contexts
(Venkatreman, 2018), so it is important to address the social determinants of health and treatment-​
seeking (Desai, 2021) including the gender inequities that shape adolescent SRH and are critical
to achieving equitable health outcomes (Desai, 2021) among adolescents; to translate the concepts
of gender and power structures into better funding, research, interventions, and measurement,
it is important that these concepts and language become routine in ASRH-​related social norms
work (Malhotra et al., 2019), according to the results in GEAS, it is important to engage with
adolescents in open discussions about gender norms and attitudes that take into account their
evolving cognitive capacities (Venkatraman, 2018).
The findings show the great influence that parents have on gender that shapes adolescents’ SRH;
therefore, the policies should include content on gender-​equitable norms in parenting interventions
(Venkatraman, 2018). Peers’ influence is also very important, they can have strong positive or
negative influences on adolescent health (Venkatraman, 2018), so it would be important to stimu­
late critical reflection to change attitudes and norms within peer groups (Venkatraman, 2018).
Likewise, given the pervasive influence of the media, it is important to tap into the reach and influ-
ence of media and technology (Venkatraman, 2018). Finally, many programs have had a focus on
HIV prevention rather than comprehensive SRH (Hindin, 2009); so GEAS recommends developing
school-​based efforts to promote equitable gender attitudes and norms (Venkatraman, 2018) and it
is necessary to expand access to SRH services to young adolescent women (Temmerman, 2013).
Progress has been made on SRH policies, although this progress has been uneven, and major
parts of the world still fall short of desired goals. A sustained collaborative effort supported by pol-
itical commitment, together with mobilization and rational allocation of resources, can bring about
a brighter future for SRH (Fathalla, 2017).

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 23
SEXUALITY, BODIES AND
DESIRE THROUGH THE
SCHOOLING OF GIRLS
Deevia Bhana

Kuhle: …sometimes at home we have trouble and all that stuff mam, your parents are fighting,
your parents don’t have money and all of that and when you go to school there’s this
boy…you start being happy…but our parents don’t want us to be in love…first they
want us to finish school, go to university and then get a job…but mam you can’t tell
yourself not to fall in love mam, you can’t, you can’t…[Individual interview with
14 year old teenage girl, Kuhle, in a primary school in Durban, South Africa]

Khule, a 14-​year-​old teenage girl, is in a grade 7 primary school in the South African province
of KwaZulu-​Natal. Kuhle, like 11 other girls in this study who are aged between 12 and 14 years
old, located in a low-​income setting built on the legacies of apartheid. In this chapter, I ask: What
capacities are engendered when girls are given the opportunity to talk about their heterosexual
experiences at school? In response, Khule says, ‘there’s this boy’ and angles our attention to
affective capacities and the saliency of love in the experience of heterosexuality at school. This
focus on poor racialised girls in sub-​Saharan Africa is uncommon especially when these girls
are regarded as objects of development rather than the subjects of their own lives (Parikh, 2015;
Bhana, 2016; Switzer, 2018). It is especially unconventional to ask questions to young girls (who
are expected to be devoid of desire), about their pleasurable pursuits, and to take their sexual
agency seriously. Following Pincock (2020, agency is not simply resistance and protestations
against domination. Rather, sexual agency is complexly entwined within the surrounding socio-​
material world in which girls can accommodate, protest, accept, object to and ignore domination.
In this chapter, girls’ expression of sexual agency is deeply embedded within relations of power
where sexual expressions for girls are situated within dominant norms where feminine respect-
ability and purity as well as sexual innocence are both valued and expected (Bhana, 2018). Herein,
girls are seen to be victims of sexuality and in a state of danger when confronted with the sexual.
In this chapter, sexual agency involves desire, embedded within, accommodating, rejecting and
accepting dominant heterosexual norms. Sexual agency is also about protesting against gendered
norms and coercive sexual practices that seek to subordinate girls.
For those who see African girls in a constant state of sexual suffering, as victims of a rampant
heterosexual African masculinity, and who need to be rescued from the horrors of sexual violence,
HIV, poverty, conflict and war (Bakare-​Yusuf, 2013), the inclination to see girls differently, with

304 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-28

 Sexuality, Bodies and Desire through the Schooling of Girls

sexual agency, is limited. Furthermore, the affective intensities produced in Kuhle’s narrative are
at odds with the mainstream literature which has squeezed out affective discourses in the study of
African sexualities (Cole & Thomas, 2009; Hunter, 2010) and this is very striking when younger
girls are considered. A focus on girls’ sexual becomings is not one that sits comfortably with devel-
opment projects and the incessant focus on Global South girls as the new targets for innovation and
‘change agents’ (Switzer, 2013). Prescribing agency in the progression of school to university and
to a ‘job’ ties Kuhle to an ‘agent of progress’. In South Africa, children’s role through schooling
in transforming the social and economic status of many poor black South African families slowly
emerging out of racialised poverty is pivotal (Hunter, 2019). Unless sexual agency is directed
towards development ideals, it is placed under erasure, muted and regulated. But as Kuhle reminds
us girls cannot be reduced to prescribed tropes of agency and when insufficient attention is given
to the complexity of their sexual experiences, this as I argue in this chapter is counterproductive
to development.
Kuhle’s narrative is situated against the backdrop of the international development agenda
with a particular focus on ensuring that girls benefit from schooling to achieve gender equality
and end poverty (Ansell et al., 2020; Huijsmans et al., 2021). In the Global South, girls’ edu­­
cation is thick with hope for changing gender relations and ensuring girls’ well-​being (Parkes,
2015). Inspired by the potential of schooling to expand girls’ capacities as autonomous and
fully agentive beings, development efforts have been funnelled towards girls as pivotal agents
of change. As Robinson (2022, p. 264) observes, the axiomatic relationship between educa­
tional development and gender equality makes investment in girls, ‘not only the right thing
to do but the smart way to eradicate poverty’. In this, education is good for girls, their fam-
ilies and communities providing prospects for alternative futures, based on the hope for better
learning outcomes, improved sexual and reproductive health, fewer children and enhanced well-​
being, thereby lifting girls and their families out of poverty. If the path to development and
gender equality is through schooling (Ackerly, 2016), then any obstruction to girls’ education is
important to interrogate.
Over the last three decades, girls’ access to primary school education has been identified
and interrogated as an important barrier to educational development goals (World Bank, 2022).
In this regard, while there has been significant expansion of basic education at a global level,
Monkman and Hoffman argue that ‘too many children are not in school and the overall majority
of these are girls’ (2013, p. 65). In fact, sub-​Saharan Africa has the highest rate of primary
school children who do not attend school. Recent estimates suggest that one in five children or
23% of girls and 18% of boys in this region do not attend primary school (UNESCO Institute
for Statistics, 2019).
Unlike many countries on the continent, South Africa, the setting for this study, stands out in
that access to primary school shows no ‘statistically significant gender differences in either access
or attendance’ (Hall, 2018, p. 149). In terms of learning outcomes, Spaull and Makaluza suggest
South African ‘girls outperform boys at the mean in all subjects and all grades’ (2019, p. 11).
They argue for this reason, that in school, ‘girls do better’. Given the differential opportunities for
boys and girls at school (Parkes, 2015), girls’ academic success is illustrative of their capacities
to create new futures and alternate pathways to success. Attending school and improving learning
outcomes for girls however is not the ‘finish line’ (Spaull & Makaluza, 2019). And to narrow down
girls’ agency and experience of schooling to their academic accomplishment and exceptionalism
(Switzer, 2013) is problematic as it glosses over the complexity of girls’ own experiences of pri­
mary schooling. I return to Khule. At the heart of her experience is the claim to love, which sits
uneasily with girls’ education and development discourse.

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Seeking to move beyond the ongoing international development gaze on getting African
girls into schools and celebrating heroic femininity (Cobbett, 2014; Switzer, 2018), this chapter
highlights the significance that primary school girls, aged between 12 and 14 years, attach to
their everyday heterosexualised experiences as an affective and pleasurable resource (Renold,
2005; Porter, 2015; Morison et al., 2022). This focus on girls’ sexuality, unless it concerns sexual
violence, danger and risk, continues to fall outside of mainstream concern with girls’ education
(Bhana, 2016). The point here is not to ignore the evidence of the pervasive scale of gender and
sexual violence in African school settings (Parkes, 2015; Bhana et al., 2021). Rather, the con­­
tinuing gaze on girls’ education as good for girls while interrogating what is bad for girls’ educa-
tion (Psaki et al., 2022) fails to take heed of girls’ own desires. A recognition of girls’ desires does
not exclude how these desires may also be entangled with dominant gender norms and hierarchies
of power. Simply put, if we continue to trade on girls’ education as enhancing a prescribed devel-
opment notion of agency, then the space for recognising their capacities for pleasure and desire is
constricted and shamed. This, I argue, is an impoverished view of girls’ potentials and capacities.
Specifically, girls’ education, seen in this way, alongside the many aspects of development based
on economic value, contributes to a restricted account of sexuality and draws girls into a narrow
moralistic agenda as doing good, for example, preventing pregnancy, and on an upward march to
eradicating poverty.
Beyond girls’ exceptionalism and beyond gender parity in primary education, in this chapter
I am concerned with primary school girls’ experiences of sexuality from their own perspectives
recognising their situatedness within a racialised context in South Africa and mediated across
gender, age and class. By taking their narratives about sexuality seriously, the chapter releases
the hegemonic foothold of educational development discourses which essentialise African girls
as saviours, individualise their experiences and narrow what more we can know of them. Thus,
instead of uniformly positioning schools as foundational sites for girls’ education and girls’ agency
as only pivotal when it comes to meeting development goals, we need to examine how sexuality
is generative, constricted and contested as a vibrant force, an intensity while showcasing girls’
capacities to ‘affect and to be affected’ (Deleuze, 1988, p. 123). While the path to development is
through girls’ schooling, schools are also rich sites for expressions of sexuality shifting how we
currently know and think of racialised poor girls in Africa.
This chapter highlights the significance that primary school girls attach to their everyday
heterosexualised experiences as an affective and pleasurable resource. This focus on girls’
sexuality, unless it concerns the prevention of pregnancy, and the harm that boys create for girls
at schools, falls outside of mainstream concern with girls’ education. I argue that the erasure
of girls’ desires and pleasures is an impoverished account of girls’ sexual potentials and cap-
acities. Specifically, girls’ education, seen in this way, alongside the many aspects of devel-
opment based on economic value, draws girls into a narrow formulation of sexual capacities.
The chapter shows how bodies, love and desire coalesce to frame an understanding of girls’
sexuality that tells us more about their sexual becomings as well as the circumscribed ways
through which they experience heterosexuality. What this might mean for girls’ sexual health
and well-​being frames the conclusion of the chapter. The next section of the chapter provides
contextual analysis of girls and sexuality, followed by the theoretical approach that describes
the assemblages through which sexuality is produced. What follows then are brief methodo-
logical details which provides the groundwork for the analysis of girls, bodies, heterosexuality,
love and romance.

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Contextualising Girls and Sexuality

In the last few decades, girls’ visibility in the west has brought attention to the contradictory and
binary positions around agency. As Renold and Ringrose (2013, p. 247) suggest:

As a socio-​political project, the figure of the contemporary girl is over-​determined, weighted

down with meaning and commonly represented through binary formations of celebratory
postfeminist ‘girl power’ vs. crisis discourses of ‘girls at risk’…

It is girls’ relationship with sexuality that produces the binary logic of simultaneously powerful
and at risk. While girls are recognised in the growing body of research as complex makers of their
sexual worlds (Lamb & Gilbert, 2018), their own experiences of ‘speaking sex’ are ‘sensationalised,
silenced, caricatured, pathologized and routinely undermined’ (Renold, Ringrose & Egan, 2015,
p. 1). Under the umbrella category of children and childhood, it is argued that girls are innocent
and they should be protected from sexuality (Angelides, 2019). Through dominant conceptions
linking age and sexual immaturity, children’s sexual agency is eroded and subsumed by theories
of childhood sexual innocence (Renold et al., 2015; Angelides, 2019).
Girls’ bodies are especially problematised in relation to sexuality in which their innocence (in
comparison to boys) is seen as virtuous. The sexual double standard places pressure on girls to
achieve respectable femininity through the performance of passivity, whereas male sexual behav-
iour is viewed more liberally (Allison & Risman, 2013). In the entanglement with sexuality, girls’
bodies and agency are placed under surveillance, needing protection from sexuality. This entangle-
ment is further demarcated by race and class rooted in the legacies of colonialism and racial dom-
ination where white middle-​class femininity is associated with fragility and virtuousness needing
more vigilance, surveillance and protection compared to working-​class girls who are marginalised
and depicted as defying sexual respectability (Carter Andrews et al., 2019). These ideologies about
girls and sexuality are part of a wider assemblage –​both historical and contemporary –​that places
pressure on what it is possible for girls to become.
Nowhere, is this more visible, than in African studies of girls, sexuality and violence where
the dominant framing territorialises and normalises young femininity and girls as ‘at-​risk’ (Bhana
et al., 2021). This unending narrative works to ‘undermine, normalise, pathologise, or obfuscate
the social, historical, cultural, and affective dynamics’ of girls’ relationships and investments in
sexuality (Huuki & Renold, 2016, p. 764). With few exceptions, there is very little scholarship
that addresses how girls’ sexual subjectivities in the Global South are experienced (Parikh, 2015;
Switzer, 2018; Bhana, 2018; Pincock, 2020). Like the west while anxieties about girls’ sexualities
within gendered patriarchal and cultural norms do prevail in countries like South Africa (Bhana,
2016), a greater preoccupation concerns ‘social reproductivity and stunted economic productivity’
and about girls being ‘too reproductive too soon’ (Switzer, 2013, p. 349). Returning to Kuhle in the
opening transcripts of the chapter, when love and sexuality are entangled with girl’s experiences of
schooling, it is placed under erasure, disavowed as disruptive, regulated and policed especially as
sexuality is seen as stalling future aspirations, girls’ education and development goals.
Much of the literature on female sexuality in Africa has affirmed the narrow analysis of girls’
sexuality which diminishes their capacities and potential and aligns young female sexuality with
sexual suffering, pain, loss and embroiled in disease and disease prevention (Bakare-​Yusuf, 2013;
Shefer, 2016). This is especially evident with AIDS in Africa (Frye, 2017) where women and girls
have been viewed as victims and sex as risk. In South Africa, this narrative has framed the research

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on sex and sexuality for more than three decades (Dellar et al., 2015). Herein girls’ particular vul­
nerability to the disease has been highlighted and compounded by social-​structural and biological
factors. Age-​disparate sexual relationships, poverty, gender violence and the gendered nature of
contraception use and the concerns about the links between early childbearing and the risk of HIV
have framed a discussion about girls’ sexuality (Karim et al., 2017). Statistics South Africa (2021)
indicated that of 899,303 babies born in 2020, 34,587 were born to girls aged 17 and younger pro-
ducing a dominant narrative of ruination. In the context of sexual danger, alternate understandings
of girls’ sexuality are limited. These concerns irradiate power where black working-​class girls’
sexuality is under surveillance.
It is no wonder then that African girls in low-​income settings have been lumped together as
being terrorised by sexuality, without hearing from girls themselves about what matters to them.
Dominant norms about female sexuality coupled with cultural expectations about what girls can
possibly become constricts new becomings. The point here is that sexuality is salient beyond the
one-​dimensional narrative of sexual terrorism. While girls’ education is valuable in itself, girls’
own voices about sexuality, beyond what is convenient for development goals, have been silenced.
Like Cobbett (2014, p. 314), we need to listen to girls and unless we do so we ‘essentialize a par­
ticular construction of girlhood which narrows the kind of attention which girls receive’. Moreover,
left unproblematised, the familiar racialised, classed, gendered and sexualised stereotype appears
as the only way to understand African girls. Even in challenging settings characterised by poverty,
violence and inequalities, girls too have desires and they are an indispensable part of growing up.
We cannot uniformly standardise what we know of African girls. We need to address the particu-
larities in girls’ localised experiences to modify and revise our theoretical gaze (Pincock, 2020).
Analytically to move away from the repetitive narrative of risk, an approach that sees girls’ agency
not simply as individual experiences but as affective flows within assemblages that are of made
up of objects, bodies, thoughts, ideas, feelings and social institutions and that come together as
‘desiring machines’ (Deleuze & Guattari, 1983, p. 6) is required. The next part of the chapter turns
attention to these theoretical possibilities.

Theorising Sexuality-​Assemblages
In re-​organising girls’ entanglement with sexuality, and instead of being framed as naïve sexual
dupes of power, this section provides an analytical basis upon which to understand girls’
micropolitical experiences of sexuality. To do this I rely on a new feminist materialist framework
which sees bodies as being produced by a range of material forces including socio-​cultural, psy-
chological and physical (Deleuze, 1988; van der Tuin, 2011). This process of intra-​acting involves
a range of social, affective and political materialities which includes bodies, ideas, thoughts and
feelings (Ringrose & Renold, 2016; Fox & Bale, 2018). Bodies (both human and non-​human) are
always entangled and relationally produced and thus in a state of infinite becomings (Deleuze,
1988). Here, I examine the ways in which girls’ bodies and sexuality are entangled and the ‘affects’
and capacities that they establish in their micropolitical interactions at school.
Framing girls and sexuality from a material and contextual basis enables a complex
understanding of their capacity as neither victims nor heroines but as ‘fluid, relational and change-
able –​becoming’ interacting with the ‘physical and sociocultural environment from moment to
moment’ (Cluley et al., 2022, p. 2). Thus, girls’ sensing of sexuality is not based on some individual
internal mechanism but entangled with and intra-​acts with socio-​material–​cultural–​physical–​
psychological forces. Sexuality is relationally produced to make particular events and things
happen (Braidotti, 2011). These events produce different potentials, constrain and enable capacities

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and allow for new expressions of sexuality. We can only understand how events are produced in
relation to other things, ideas, bodies, and through this intra-​acting, we can make sense of continu-
ities, changes, fluxes and ‘becomings’ (Deleuze, 1988).
Recent work in Tanzania (Pincock, 2020) and South Africa (Bhana & Nathwani, 2022) have
applied these new feminist materialist perspectives to the study of girls and sexuality replacing
static and essentialist understandings of girlhood to an examination of the micropolitical experience
of everyday interactions. This framework allows for understanding the ‘sexuality-​assemblage’ –​a
term coined by Fox and Alldred (2013, p. 769). Alldred and Fox (2015, p. 908) describe sexuality-​
assemblages as the affective flows of things, ideas, thoughts which ‘establish the capacities of
individual bodies to do, feel and desire… they shape the eroticism, sexual codes, customs and
conduct of a society’s members’.
The sexuality-​assemblage is made up of bodies, institutions and ideologies which make pos-
sible different ways of expressing sexuality but can also reproduce old forms and inequalities.
In new materialist terms, assemblages provide capacities for bodies to expand, become different
but they can also close down, constrain and circumscribe opportunities to be different. They are
always relational and bodies, ideas, feelings can only be produced in relation to each other. The
emphasis on sexuality-​assemblages is its capacity to ‘affect and be affected’ and creates oppor-
tunities for sexual agency, as well as the limitation of agency (Pincock, 2020). Following this
approach, girls can express sexuality in different ways but the social codes, habits and gendered
ideals in the assemblage can also operate to re-​affirm familiar patterns of inequalities. For instance,
in a ‘sexuality-​assemblage’ about boyfriends, a range of affects which include heterosexuality,
ideas, gender discourses, cultural contexts, experiences, sexual norms as well as many other
relations that are specified to that event are invoked (Alldred & Fox, 2015). Bodies, thoughts,
ideas and objects are never outside of assemblages affecting and being affected by a multiplicity
of relations and elements. In this way, assemblages are rich in creating potential and change but
they can also confine and restrict:

Assemblages may serve as sites for the reproduction of oppressive sexual norms, but
they may also be deterritorialised, opening up new avenues for resistance…Identifying
spaces of negotiation…creates space for resistance, rather than seeing the reproduction
of regulatory ideas as inevitable, and resists normative judgments about what sexual
agency looks like.
(Pincock, 2020, p. 1284)

Within new feminist materialism, when assemblages constrain bodies, they territorialise while
they can also loosen the grip or ‘de-​territorialise’ (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987, p. 89) providing
new capacities and ‘lines of flight’ which allow for difference, change and transformation. My
aim then is to investigate the kind of assemblage that provides particular capacities for girls in the
intra-​actions that both territorialise and de-​territorialise. We do not need to give up on the ways
in which oppressive relations are produced when girls’ sexual agency is the focus of attention –​
each informs the other. In fact, this theoretical framing allows us to both acknowledge sexual
becomings while also showing how particular patterns re-​affirm hierarchies of power and girls’
subordination. Like Pincock (2020) and Angelides (2019), I am interested in girls’ sexual agency.
While agency is not a concept that is used in new feminist materialism, agency remains strong in
international educational development and shapes how we think about girls in South Africa. In
new materialism however, agency is replaced with the capacity to ‘affect and be affected’ (Deleuze

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& Guattari, 1987 pp. 127–​128). Affective capacities can be generated within a specific action or
event and are always part of assemblages (Deleuze & Guattari, 1983. An affect is a ‘becoming’
(Deleuze & Guattari, 1987 p. 256). At the same time agency is not predetermined, it is relational,
fluid and changing and intra-​actively connected. Here bodies can change and these changes can
be social, physical or psychological. In using sexual agency, I also refer to its affects in ways that
suggest its relationality, contextuality, its possibilities and contradictions.

Brief Methodological Details

This chapter focuses on 12–​14-​year-​old black girls and sexual agency as they reflect on their
experiences of boys, bodies and boyfriends. Noting the lack of attention to girls’ own voices
about their own desires, a methodology in which their views are taken seriously as experts
about how sexuality matters to them governed the approach. I give attention to individual
and focus group discussions with 12 girls in grade 7 (through the use of pseudonyms) and
who emerge from low economic township settings or live in surrounding informal settlements
near the vicinity of the school. Children who live in dilapidated structures walk to school and
others commonly travel in taxis and municipal buses. The children emerge from social and
economic conditions where poverty, unemployment and reliance on social grants are common
denominators in their experience.
In this chapter, a young person-​centred perspective allows girls to set the agenda and dis-
cuss matters which they felt were important. It is through this approach which recognises girls as
active participants in shaping their own lives that the issue of boys and boyfriends was raised as
important to them. In this regard, girls were asked questions about whether boyfriends featured in
their lives and if so in what ways. In the group dynamics girls opened up and together expanded
the discussion around sexuality in ways that oozed emotional investments and delight. English
familiarisation especially in urban centres in South Africa as well as the compulsory English
medium of schooling from grade 3 meant that girls were highly fluent in the language. Data was
analysed through a thematic approach following Braun and Clarke (2019). I give attention to two
intersecting themes around bodies, love and desire. Herein in, body parts including lips, ‘boobs
and bums’, things such as lipstick and celebrities like Nicki Minaj take on specific significance in
the expression of female heterosexual desirability. For girls, boys’ bodies, their six packs, being
handsome and tall and with a particular ‘bracket’ rendered them desirable. Girls’ bodies are located
within a field of forces, interactions and intensities that provide particular capacities to affect and
be affected that show both changes and are also restricted through the sexuality-​assemblage that
reinforces girls’ sexual subjection.

Girls, Bodies and Heterosexual Desirability

This section offers a micropolitical analysis of the ways in which the sexuality-​assemblage subverts
the intended aims of international development discourse which prescribes agency to Global South
girls only as change agents fulfilling development goals. In the analysis that follows, girls cannot
be essentialised and reduced to their bodies; however, even in primary school, their bodies engage
with other bodies, things, ideas, objects to establish the body’s performative capacities within the
sexuality-​assemblage (Alldred & Fox, 2015). This dynamism when girls talk about boys in school
contrasts with a narrow understanding of what girls can do to the ways in which their capacities
are produced in the sexuality-​assemblage.

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Sne: When you look at boys… you look at the lips… .oooh those lips. …It’s the lips
and the brackets
Researcher: Brackets?
Mandisa: It’s like…you can see their shape when they’re standing…
Sne: And the six pack…Check the six pack
JJ: …he’s hot… .he’s hot, check out his body… .
Mpho: …look at his walk…

This narrative foregrounds the complex and contradictory nature of the sexuality-​assemblage of
girls’ gendered and sexual cultures (denied and silenced by development discourse) to an account
of how they in the primary school setting are ‘doing, being and becoming sexual’ (Holford, Renold
& Huuki, 2013, p. 710). A critical component of the sexuality-​assemblage was the compelling
force of the heterosexual matrix (Butler, 1990) and the reproduction of an idealised masculinity.
Girls’ sexual expression and agency were deeply capacitated through the heterosexual matrix of
desirability (Coffey, 2020). Being desirable, desiring boys and performing desirability were inte­
gral to the assemblage and ignited capacities to affect and be affected. To do this, various things,
ideas, forms, thoughts and discourses assembled together to generate agency. Boys, body part,
lips, brackets (a reference to boys’ posture), six packs to produce affective flows between these
various bodies including a collective solidarity amongst the girls in the focus group discussion
about what constituted heterosexual desire. From a dominant script where young girls’ sexual
feelings and capacities to express intimate desires are squeezed out in relation to the broader socio-​
political terrain, mapped by concerns of early childbearing, sexual violence and disease, bodies
feel, shape and give meaning to the early expressions of heterosexual desirability. All the things
within the assemblage can only have meaning in relation to each other.
In becoming sexual, becoming (heterosexually) beautiful and doing gender and sexuality were
key to girls’ everyday experiences at school:

Buhle: Sometimes you know mam, you like it when the boy likes you…you make yourself
beautiful so that they love you more…

The heterosexual coding around body performativity aligned to its capacities to affect and gen-
erate and open up flows of desire between girl bodies and boy bodies. These flows are not simply
school-​based or frivolous accounts of girls’ expressions of desire as they matter to what girls
do and how they relate to broader socio-​cultural norms, the compulsion of heterosexuality and
idealised notions of feminine subjectivity (Coffey, 2020). Even at age 12, gendered ideals affect
the body and provide capacities and impact on the range of possibilities to affect or expand on
what the body can do. As Deleuze (1988) notes, bodies are not organs or separate entities but they
are defined by what they can do. They are constantly shifting and contexualised in relation to other
bodies and forces in the surrounding context. Within the micropolitics of interactions, different
bodies, things, norms and ideals enabled girls’ sexual agency and were particularly salient in the
pressure that girls faced in ‘how they look’. Looking beautiful at school was an important part of
the sexuality-​assemblage:

Paleesa: Do you have lipstick?…How do I look?…You wish you like have a mirror in
front of you…how do I look?
Sne: Hey mam… .you know the lips mam, the lips mam. The boys like them…you now
one day mam… .I was putting lipstick mam…I was sitting with my friend mam…

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so I put the lipstick on…I was sitting next to two of my friends… .you know what
the other boy told the other one…‘she looks so sexy’…and the other boy said,
‘I could get in those lips anytime’… .and I was like ‘uuuuuuhhhhhh… .What
guys?… how can you say that?

By centring sexuality as key to schooling experiences, the girls loosen the stranglehold that
claims that we can only know of African girls within the binary position as victims of sexuality
or heroines of educational success and development. The girls above invoke the heterosexual
matrix and connect it with boys, other girls, things such as lipstick and the gendered body as
well as other relationalites within the assemblage. The body has to be worked on and modified
through the use of lipstick to generate specific capacities. The lipstick imbued with the power to
affect enables what is possible for girls to become. More specifically, a range of bodies interact
to permit a ritualised expression of sexuality as it connects with broader discourses through
which gender is rendered ‘intelligible’ (Butler, 1990). Herein, girls are already transforming
themselves (inside the school setting) connecting the lipstick, with being beautiful, with boys,
other girls, feelings, desire and being ‘sexy’. How do I look functions as a key question in the
performance of an idealised heterosexual subjectivity and as a ‘line of flight’ from the inces-
sant denial of young girls’ sexual agency to becoming sexual? While desire is productive, can
transform and changes bodies, it is also connected to and flows into broader territorialising het-
erosexual codes.
As Coffey (2020) suggests body work is key to the production of gendered subjectivities,
notions of bodily perfection and the heterosexual matrix through which female subjectivity is
under pressure. Thus, the question of how do I look is not simply about girls in a primary school
in South Africa but travels across different social spaces and across different bodies to reinforce
the compulsion of heterosexual norms and girls’ bodily practices and pressures. Critical here is
that in becoming sexual and expressing desires, girls are not in some free-​flowing context but
always embroiled in sexuality-​assemblages that are relationally produced in relation to socio-​
material contexts and where dominant codes around male sexual entitlements continue to loom
large. A plethora of research (Parkes, 2015; Porter, 2015), including my own (Bhana, 2012, 2018),
has shown how schools on the continent are active sites for sexual harassment, male power and
sexual risk –​across spaces, in the corridors, inside classrooms, playgrounds and toilets. ‘I could
get in those lips anytime’ provides evidence of cat calling, shaming and male sexual entitlement
at school. In other words, different assemblages flow providing potential to transform and express
desire and de-​territorialise but also territorialise through heteronormative and gender constraining
performances. Another example of girls’ subjection to male sexual harassment, although
normalised, is indicated here:

Mpho: …they say check out the boobs, check out the bums…mmmmm mmmmm mmmm
(imitates the boys) …check how she’s standing, your walk, your lips, your eyes,
brown eyes or black eyes…

Mpho provides a nuanced perspective on the ways in which the patriarchal assemblage operates in
school through a minutiae assessment of the ways in which female body parts, ‘boobs, bums, eyes’,
create affective capacities which are constraining for girls and yet these are normalised within a
sexuality-​assemblage where girls’ capacities to affect and be affected are aligned to heterosexual
desirability and in service of men and masculinity. These assemblages thus de-​territorialise shifting
how we understand African girls and desires while being re-​territorialised through the evidence

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of sexual objectification and the enforcement of compulsory heterosexuality which produces the
pressure on girls and boys at school:

Loanda: …the boys talk about Nicki Minaj…she has big boobs and she is a singer…big
boobs and big butt and everybody likes her. I don’t have that and so I think the
boys don’t like me…I don’t have that so maybe I’m not good enough, but it’s not
about that …it’s about you and if he will ask you out. If Nicki Minaj was not like
that, that doesn’t mean that they [men] wouldn’t ask her out…
Buhle: I wish I was like Nicki Manaj…

Boobs, big butt, boys, Nicki Minaj (an international celebrity) desire and heteronorms produce
particular capacities in which girls’ bodies are placed under scrutiny and the demand for the ideal
body is engendered. Here, the sexuality-​assemblage is sustained by a connection to dominant ideas
around femininity, female body parts, beauty ideals (Ingram, 2022) and being beautiful. These
affective entanglements form dynamic assemblages that co-​constitute the girlhood production of
doing, being and becoming sexual at school. How do I look, being beautiful, idealising bodies
and expressing desire exceed what we currently know of African girls in the primary school.
Affect and bodies do something for girls as a productive force in disrupting the taken for granted
assumptions of their innocence, victimhood and celebrating them for doing better at school.
However, this section shows how limiting that account of schoolgirls is, while also illustrating
how a focus on desire can expose normative, heterosexualised and oppressive accounts of their
schooling experiences.

Love and Kissing

For young schoolgirls whose sexuality remains an underground culture, expressing desire through
heterosexual love, reflecting on kissing and feelings provides a line of flight, a de-​territorialisation
where their own voices and desires have been eroded from how we think and know about girls in
Africa.
Consider for example the affective dynamics in the following focus group discussions:

Mandisa: Siya came and told me that he loves me and I love him too mam (laughs, other laugh
too) cos when he comes near to me mam I can’t control myself, I can’t…when he is
close to me I feel like…I feel like I’m going… I’m over the moon mam…he makes
me feel like I’m over the moon, like a queen! And mam, and mam, I love him too!

A ‘capacity to affect and be affected’ (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987, pp. 127–​128) is part of all matter.
In this assemblage girls, boys, feelings of love, desiring bodies, excitement, passion, gender and
heterosexuality all coalesce to shape what girls can do and feel at school. These capacities are
invoked in a wider context of gender wars where girls’ vulnerability to sexual risk and violence
shows no signs of abating (Bhana et al., 2021). Even in the context of risk, girls themselves do
not reduce sexuality to suffering but alert us to its force in shaping their capacities and agency.
Feelings, touch, closeness and being over the moon and ‘like a queen’ are illustrative of what love
can do, what boys can do and what girls can do within a relationality of other bodies and things.
Love increases passion, ignites feelings and transforms what girls can do and is an indispensable
part in growing up sexually. In school boys and girls come together, not simply as automatic
subjects prescribed to doing better at school. Bodies, gender, things, ideas, feelings come together

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to negotiate alternate patterns, change and transform how to be and provide opportunities for
the expression of sexual agency. Girls do sexuality, feel it and desire it and in doing so provide
meaning to their lives while reproducing heterosexuality.
Schools are academic places but they also co-​constitute sexuality where school spaces and the
break time provide rich opportunities to explore sexuality and ignite desires as J.J below talks
about her first kiss:

J.J: There is this boy mam, one day he came to me mam …during the break time.
He told me that he loves me mam (laughs) …he loves me (laughs again) and he
wanted an answer and I told him I will tell him tomorrow. And the next day, I told
him yes (they all laugh) and then he wanted a proof mam.
Researcher: Proof?
J.J. Yes mam. A kiss…it’s not just a kiss. It’s a deep kiss…Deep kiss…like smooch
deep. It was during the break time mam and we talked and talked and talked and
mam and he kissed me…

It was during break time that the kiss became possible but it is deeply connected to the gendering
of heterosexuality. The kiss is described in eloquent terms as ‘deep’ suggesting its power through
which forms of pleasure, desire and connection manifest. Kissing excites, it is described as
passionate and brings boys’ bodies and girls’ bodies in close proximity and through which we have
a better sense of young intimate explorations and desires. It cannot be reduced to bodily feelings
as it involves other connections that generate affects. Here, the kiss and its relationalities are part
of girls’ actions and passions to compose and transform who they can be:

Lettie: It was my birthday on 20th October. He [the boyfriend] came and said, ‘happy birthday’
and I was happy…He told me that I must come with him. I could not stop myself. I
went. We went then we talked. He told me that he loves me and I told him that I love
him too…And them mam, we kissed…

The birthday kiss, boyfriend and love are all produced within the space of the school, where desire
is actively worked upon by young subjects invested in the project of sexuality as pleasurable and
pleasure-​seeking beings. As noted by other scholars (Ringrose & Renold, 2016; Huuki & Renold,
2016), girls’ desire is a line of flight and productive in illustrating the affective flows and discourses
both in the school and in wider society. In the girls’ experience we see how capacities are intensified
in a vibrant way in ways that make a difference in how girls think and feel, showing transformations
as they are propelled by desire. The passions, feelings and desires expressed in the narrative of love
and the exchanges made possible through the kiss suggest the powerful ways through which hetero-
sexual desirability is maintained. But love and kisses are also troubled and problematic:

Azande: The first day I started dating, it just happened, something came over me mam…and I
just couldn’t control my feelings. Sometimes you cannot control this feeling…some-
times when he[boyfriend] tells you to do something [kiss], you do it because you
really love him…its difficult…

While love and kissing are passionately conceived, within the sexuality-​assemblage it can also
impose and trouble girls. Love and kissing are part of affective socio-​material relation and
are entangled within local contexts which makes different options possible. Women and girls’

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circumscribed agency within intimate relations has been well-​documented in the country (Parkes,
2015; Bhana et al., 2021). Azande’s capacities within the first experience of dating and the first
kiss were not consensual but an instantiation of gendered norms and male power exercised within
relationship dynamics. Becoming sexual in this regard is also about failing to act on agency while
situating this failure within the dominant discourse of love and romance.

Lettie: Boys get jealous…They will start fighting for you and sometimes if your boyfriend
sees you just talking with other boys, just laughing and they will start fighting…and
say ‘you’re taking my girl’ and you cannot just say we were just talking, you start
lying, and you just say he was troubling me.

Love and desire still yield to dominant norms around sexuality and are territorialised by expressions
of hegemonic masculinity and entitlement where femininity is rendered subservient. Girls’ cap-
acities are thus constrained and limited within the sexuality-​assemblage that deploys familiar
gendered patterns to block and constrain girls in becoming sexual while aggregating them into
prescriptive norms curtailing their agency. And girls use these same norms to negotiate boys’ dis-
comfort in relation to other male competitors as Lettie says, ‘he was troubling me’.
In this, the sexual double standard was intensified producing anger and resentment towards
boys as Mandisa illustrates in referring to a rampant heterosexual masculinity:

Mandisa Dump that one and take this one, dump this one and take that one…I hate that thing we
call that thing isithembu (polygamy)…He[boyfriend] can see that I am also capable of
taking a lot of boys like how he can take a lot of girls…

The sexuality-​assemblage here prescribed dominant gender norms and intensifies capacities which
are also embedded in notions of cultural norms and polygamy. Historically, polygamy was set
amongst the Zulu-​speaking majority in the province in the context of rural households, men’s
superior position and the need for maintaining the homestead and agricultural prosperity (Hunter,
2010). Herein having many children was key to economic prosperity and thus polygamy was very
much part of these historical processes. While much has changed and is changing regarding pol-
ygamous relationships, Mandisa situates a rampant masculinity in the context of cultural scripts
(isithembu) and asserts her agency and rights to multiple partners. Instead of seeing Mandisa as a
victim of heterosexual masculinity or culture, context-​specific capacities are engendered and her
emergent capacity to think, feel and act against cheating partners both reveals the possibilities
and the closing down of girls’ sexual becomings within an assemblage that valorises male sexual
entitlements.

Conclusion
Girls’ agency in the Global South continues to be rendered visible when they go to school and
when girls do better academically (Switzer, 2018). This, I argue, squeezes out an understanding
that schooling co-​constitutes girls’ desiring capacities. Girls’ agency must be more than what
we currently make visible in research and debate. Through a nuanced account of girls’ expres-
sion of love, desire, kissing and boyfriends, this chapter has shown what girls can do as they
become sexual. A new feminist materialist approach is helpful in illustrating the actual happenings
within a material and micropolitical field set in a primary school in South Africa. This perspective
allows for the subversion of agency towards one which makes sense of affects, capacities which

315
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provide us with a richer sense of how, where and in what ways they affect and are affected by the
assemblage. The chapter has shown how desire is a productive force in girls’ sexual becomings,
loosening the grip of development discourse while also pointing to limitations of their agency.
In this regard, the need to confront both their desires and the oppressive heterosexual conditions
which limits their becomings remains important work especially as it has effects for sexual health,
sexual consent and gender equality.
We need to recognise girls’ desire and address how these desires provide capacities to become
more than we know –​whether adult and development narratives accept this or not, the reality is
that girls’ desires seep through schooling. Interventions need to address girls’ agency at a young
age while exploring how the assemblage operates in ways that generate capacities to become
sexual and to constrain them through wider gender ideologies. Heterosexuality is key to the
sexuality-​assemblage. In it, girls are negotiating sexuality without consideration of their agency
while alerting us through their own voices about the early makings of their gendered agency and
their restrictions in relation to sexual consent (the proof of love in kissing and their subordination
within intimate relations). Finally, much more research should include a focus on younger sexu-
alities and remains a critical gap in how we think about girls’ education, sexual health, gender
violence and equality.

Acknowledgement
This work is based on the research supported wholly by the National Research Foundation of
South Africa (Grant Number 98407).

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 24
CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
LIVING WITH AND AFFECTED
BY HIV IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES
Converging Crises, Vulnerability, and Resilience

Courtney Myers, Edith Apondi, and Leslie A. Enane

Introduction
The impact of the HIV/​AIDS crisis globally cannot be overstated, with its most pervasive effects
in African countries, and the highest prevalence in southern and eastern Africa (UNAIDS, 2021).
The HIV/​AIDS crisis has had profound impacts on health, economic development, and on family
and social life across the continent, particularly affecting children and youth. As of 2020, the
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/​AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated that 15.4 million children
ages 0–​17 had lost one or both parents to HIV/​AIDS globally (UNAIDS, 2021). It was further
estimated that 1.7 million children (0–​14 years) and 1.7 million adolescents (10–​19 years) were
living with HIV, among whom the majority were in African countries (UNAIDS, 2021). While the
international response and global scale-​up of HIV services has dramatically changed the course of
the HIV/​AIDS epidemic, it continues to pose an ongoing emergency that acutely impacts young
people.
Children and adolescents experience converging vulnerabilities that place them at risk for HIV
infection and poor treatment outcomes. While tremendous progress has been made in addressing
the HIV pandemic, with massive scale-​up of antiretroviral treatment (ART) and the global Treat
All strategy, children and adolescents continue to acquire HIV infection and have worse treatment
outcomes as compared to other age groups (World Health Organization, 2015; Enane et al.,
2018b). HIV continues to be a leading cause of hospitalization and mortality among children
and adolescents in the African region (UNAIDS, 2021; Liu et al., 2022; Kariminia et al., 2018;
Slogrove and Sohn, 2018).
It is estimated that only 54% of children living with HIV are on treatment, as compared with
74% of all adults (15 years and older) (UNAIDS, 2021). With the onset of the COVID-​19 pan­
demic in 2020, the number of children on ART declined, owing to worsened gaps in diagnosis,
particularly for older children and adolescents (UNAIDS, 2021). Only 40% of children on ART
were virally suppressed in 2020 (UNAIDS, 2021).
Children and adolescents face specific challenges in HIV care, alongside acute vulnerabilities
from stigma, adversity, and economic insecurity. They require health services and programs that

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-29 319

 Courtney Myers, Edith Apondi, and Leslie A. Enane

meet their needs, as well as family and social support and adequate social protections, to achieve
healthy outcomes. In the context of the COVID-​19 pandemic, amid disruptions to HIV diagnosis
and access to care, the demonstrated resilience of young people, families, healthcare workers,
and programs to sustain treatment has lessons for ways forward to better meet the needs of young
people with HIV.
In this chapter, we discuss specific challenges and vulnerabilities faced by children and
adolescents in HIV care and also opportunities to meet their needs and improve health outcomes
in this group.

Epidemiology of HIV in Children and Adolescents

Every day, approximately 4,000 people newly acquire HIV globally, with 10% of new infections
arising in children under 15 and 28% in adolescents and young adults of ages 15–​24 (UNAIDS,
2021). As of 2020, there were 1.7 million children living with HIV and 1.7 million adolescents living
with HIV globally (UNAIDS, 2021). While the global expansion of testing and treatment for HIV
has reduced perinatal transmission from prior years, this continues to be a major challenge with
150,000 new pediatric HIV infections estimated annually (UNAIDS, 2021). Among adolescents,
there is a wide gender disparity in new HIV infections, with 85% of new infections occurring
in adolescent females (UNAIDS, 2021). Children and adolescents living with HIV experience
increased morbidity and mortality compared to other age groups globally, with an estimated 330
AIDS-​related deaths per day among individuals under 19 years of age, and 235 of these deaths
occurring in children under 9 years of age (UNAIDS, 2021).

Global Response and the HIV Care Cascade

National and international institutions and partnerships have collaborated in the ongoing global
response to the HIV/​AIDS crisis. In 2003, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
(PEPFAR) was announced, instituting large-​scale investment and support for a massive expan-
sion of HIV treatment programs globally. PEPFAR’s efforts have united with those of UNAIDS
in responding to and eradicating the HIV/​AIDS epidemic. Under the global Treat All strategy, all
people living with HIV should receive treatment once diagnosed, regardless of stage of illness or
immune suppression (World Health Organization, 2015).
The HIV care cascade (Figure 24.1) conceptualizes the stages of HIV care engagement from
diagnosis through viral suppression. This model is useful from an individual care perspective,
as well as for public health and research—​not only for evaluating the epidemiology of HIV care
engagement and outcomes but also for understanding barriers and opportunities for HIV care at
each stage. The HIV care cascade includes HIV diagnosis, linkage to HIV services, ART initi-
ation, retention in HIV care, and HIV viral suppression. Individuals may cycle between stages,
for example from being retained in care and virally suppressed, to having gaps in care retention or
adherence, to again experiencing viral suppression on treatment. At a population level, therefore,
there is a “churn” of individuals through stages of care engagement and viral suppression (Rebeiro
et al., 2013; Gill and Krentz, 2009). HIV viral suppression results in marked improvement in
health outcomes, including preventing the advancement of immune suppression and opportunistic
infections, HIV-​associated cancers, hospitalization, and mortality; and preventing onward trans-
mission of HIV (Günthard et al., 2014; Group, 2015a; 2015b).
The UNAIDS 90–​90–​90 targets set forth that by 2020, at least 90% of people living with
HIV should be diagnosed, 90% of those diagnosed receiving ART, and 90% of those on ART

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 Children and Adolescents with HIV in African Countries

Figure 24.1 HIV care cascade.

achieving viral suppression, in order to end the HIV epidemic by 2030 (HIV/​AIDS, 2017).
While significant progress has been made, these goals were not met by 2020, with an estimated
84% of all people living with HIV diagnosed, 73% accessing treatment, and 66% achieving
viral suppression globally (UNAIDS, 2021). Furthermore, children and adolescents with HIV
are faring significantly worse as compared to older age groups, due to critical barriers for
children and adolescents in the HIV care cascade (Enane et al., 2018b, 2018c; HIV/​AIDS,
2017; Zanoni et al., 2016b). Among children living with HIV under 15 years of age, 59%
are estimated to be diagnosed, 54% are on treatment, and only 40% are virally suppressed
(UNAIDS, 2021).
Many challenges exist that can disrupt care for children and adolescents at each stage of the
HIV care cascade. HIV diagnosis, linkage to care, and ART initiation may be affected by limited
access to HIV testing, potentially limited awareness of HIV risk in some circumstances, perva-
sive HIV stigma and intersectional stigma, limited social support, and gender inequity (Enane
et al., 2018b; UNAIDS, 2016; Ayieko et al., 2018). Further stages of retention in HIV care, adher­­­
ence to ART, and achievement of viral suppression are also impacted by systems-​based factors,
such as limited access to viral load monitoring and/​or to pediatric/​adolescent-​friendly services.
Further psychosocial and structural factors influencing HIV care engagement include economic
and food insecurity, HIV stigma, and mental health burdens on people living with or affected by
HIV (Enane et al., 2018b, 2018c, 2020, 2021b; UNAIDS, 2016; Ayaya et al., 2021; Ayieko et al.,
2018). Barriers from limited peer, family, and social support and prevalent stigma are particularly
impactful for children and adolescents (Enane et al., 2018b, 2018c, 2021b; Murray et al., 2017;
Desmonde et al., 2018; Ayaya et al., 2021; Myers et al., 2022a). Poor adherence to treatment leads
to a lack of viral suppression and potential for resistance and increased risks for opportunistic
infections and mortality.
Limited pediatric treatment options and challenges in administering multidrug regimens have
been major barriers to ART adherence and viral suppression in children. A very welcome recent
development is the global roll-​out of pediatric dolutegravir, a second-​generation HIV integrase
strand-​transfer inhibitor medication, which has demonstrated superior efficacy, safety, and toler-
ability (Amuge et al., 2022; Waalewijn et al., 2022; Turkova et al., 2021). The rapid implementation

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of pediatric dolutegravir-​based regimens is underway and represents a significant advance in

treating pediatric HIV (Golin et al., 2021).

Considerations for Infants and Children Affected by HIV

Perinatal HIV transmission occurs due to gaps in maternal HIV prevention and care cascades,
as well as in early infant diagnostic testing and management. Among the estimated 150,000
preventable HIV infections among children in 2020, perinatal HIV transmission resulted from
gaps in the maternal and infant care cascades from pregnancy through breastfeeding; including
those related to incident maternal HIV infection (representing missed opportunities for preven-
tion); gaps in the provision of effective maternal ART; inability to achieve maternal HIV viral
suppression; and gaps in the provision of infant antiretroviral drugs and obtaining early infant
testing.
The WHO recommends diagnostic testing for all HIV-​exposed infants at four to six weeks of
age (World Health Organization, 2016). However, the rate of early infant diagnostic testing varies
widely across global regions, ranging from 15 to 62% of infants tested within the first two months
of life (Abuogi et al., 2018). An analysis of one Haitian and six African HIV programs revealed
that testing only exceeded 50% of HIV-​exposed infants in two of the seven countries studied, with
average testing turnaround taking 22–​38 days (Asaolu et al., 2016). There are many barriers to
infant HIV diagnosis resulting from gaps in maternal HIV diagnosis and infant testing (Cohn et al.,
2016; Koller et al., 2015).
Without effective ART, perinatal HIV infection can progress rapidly in infants and young
children. Prior to the availability of infant ART, an estimated 50% of untreated infants and chil-
dren died by the age of 2 years (Abrams et al., 2003; Gray et al., 2001; Newell et al., 2004). An
estimated two-​thirds of perinatal HIV infections occur in utero or at delivery, which is associated
with rapidly progressive illness; perinatal HIV infections during breastfeeding may be associated
with a slower progression and later onset to severe disease (Becquet et al., 2012; Marston et al.,
2011; Stover et al., 2006). Median survival from rapidly progressing perinatal HIV is estimated
to be less than 8 months, whereas median survival from “slow progression” of perinatal HIV is
estimated to be 16 years (Ferrand et al., 2009). For those who survive early childhood without
ART, advanced immunosuppression and opportunistic infections occur into older childhood and
adolescence, when HIV may be diagnosed at an advanced stage (Lowenthal et al., 2014; Ferrand
et al., 2007). Immune suppression at the time of ART initiation is associated with a worse prog­
nosis for children and adolescents with HIV. In the African region, pediatric HIV is more often
diagnosed in older childhood, at an advanced stage of illness and medical vulnerability (Koller
et al., 2015; Lowenthal et al., 2014).
Late diagnosis and advanced clinical manifestations represent missed opportunities to diagnose
HIV in childhood, such as during clinic, hospital, and nutrition clinic presentations (Enane et al.,
2018b; Ferrand et al., 2009; Cohn et al., 2016). Barriers to diagnosis in infancy and childhood
include missed diagnosis of maternal HIV, gaps in care access, and HIV stigma (Bandason et al.,
2013; Enane et al., 2018b).
Starting in 2008, all infants up to 12 months of age became eligible for ART, with dramatic
reductions in mortality (76%) and disease progression (75%) (Violari et al., 2008; Davies and
Pinto, 2015). However, gaps in diagnosis, linkage, engagement, and retention in HIV services
threaten healthy pediatric HIV outcomes (UNAIDS, 2021). In 2020, it was estimated that only
half of children (0–​14 years) were receiving ART and only 40% of children ages 5–​14 years
(UNAIDS, 2021).

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An analysis of global cohort data for children and adolescents with HIV (ages 0–​19) from 2004
to 2015 found that infants had the lowest ART initiation, and 20% of children and adolescents
were lost to follow-​up prior to initiation of ART (Desmonde et al., 2018). Identified barriers to
care included delays in diagnostic testing, limited healthcare worker capacity, and supply chain
issues impacting HIV care (Desmonde et al., 2018). In Botswana, risk factors for loss to follow-​
up included patient age under 5 years, advanced disease, significant immunosuppression, and not
receiving ART, with the majority of this group ceasing follow-​up after one visit (Machine et al.,
2016). Caregivers reported leaving care because they believed their child was well or due to fears
of disclosure and stigma (Machine et al., 2016).
Infants and children have lower rates of viral suppression (40%) than adults (67%) (Evans
et al., 2013; Davies and Pinto, 2015; McHugh et al., 2017; Nachega et al., 2009; Zanoni et al.,
2016a; Vreeman et al., 2008; UNAIDS, 2021). Early treatment and virologic response dramatic­­­
ally reduce disease progression and mortality and improve neurocognitive and growth outcomes
(Davies and Pinto, 2015). Drivers of virologic failure are complex. Limited routine viral load
testing and heterogeneous approaches to population monitoring in the global pediatrics population
make it difficult to identify factors associated with virologic failure at a global level (Vreeman
et al., 2008; Lilian et al., 2017). In an assessment of South African children living with HIV, only
about half of the children retained in care achieved viral suppression (Lilian et al., 2017). Efforts
to reach the 90–​90–​90 targets in this age group are made more challenging by the paucity of
pediatric ART formulations (Technau et al., 2014; Vreeman et al., 2008). Difficulties in assessing
virologic suppression, ascertaining and determining underlying causes for virologic failures, and
the complexities of managing HIV resistance through life-​long administration of second or third-​
line regimens make the achievement of viral suppression in this population a challenge.

Considerations for Adolescents Affected by HIV

HIV is a leading cause of death for adolescents in Africa (World Health Organization, 2014). As
effective and accessible ART has become increasingly available, more children living with peri-
natal HIV are reaching adolescence; other adolescents acquire HIV at this age (Ferrand et al.,
2009; Slogrove et al., 2017). Gender inequity significantly drives HIV incidence, with females
acquiring 85% of new infections among 15–​19-​year-​olds (UNAIDS, 2020, 2021). This disparity
has been associated with gender-​based differences in HIV-​related education, intimate-​partner vio-
lence, access to financial resources, and age-​mismatched relationships (Asaolu et al., 2016; World
Health Organization, 2013).
Adolescence is a complex developmental stage, during which specific adolescent-​specific
needs exist for managing a heavily stigmatized chronic illness. During adolescence, neurologic
pathways for reward-​seeking develop before the full development of emotional regulation and
impulse control, leading to increased risk-​taking behaviors at this developmental stage, and poten-
tially complicating care for chronic conditions (Telzer et al., 2013; Casey et al., 2008). In addition
to the rapid physiologic changes associated with adolescence, this developmental stage centers
on identity formation and social changes, with evolving roles for adolescents within the family
structure, among peers, and in relationships. Adolescents living with HIV (ages 10–​19) must navi-
gate these challenges with the added complexities of HIV care, including learning of their HIV
diagnosis, learning to self-​manage their medication-​taking and ongoing clinic engagement, and
navigating stigma (Enane et al., 2018b, 2018c; Wolf et al., 2014). Adolescents with HIV have
worse mental health outcomes than their peers, including higher levels of stress and depression
(Cavazos-​Rehg et al., 2020; Okonji et al., 2020; Vreeman et al., 2017). Limited peer, family, or

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social support and/​or mental health burdens can all complicate adolescent adherence to ART and
attainment of viral suppression.
Substantial gaps exist in adolescent HIV testing, resulting in underdiagnosis and precluding
engagement in the care cascade (UNAIDS, 2021). Among multiple factors contributing to these
gaps, some key challenges relate to the needs for parental consent for testing, and limitations in
adolescent access to sexual and reproductive healthcare and health knowledge (UNAIDS, 2020;
McKinnon and Vandermorris, 2019). Issues around parental consent can contribute to gaps in
HIV testing for children and adolescents, particularly in African countries, where multiple family
members may participate in child-​rearing and clear documentation of guardianship is uncommon,
including when the adolescent is orphaned or when parents must migrate for work (Kranzer
et al., 2014). Additional barriers to diagnosis include misconceptions about infection risk, privacy
concerns, fear of stigma, costs associated with healthcare access and testing, and gender inequality
(Musheke et al., 2013).
As a result of gaps in adolescent HIV testing, adolescents are significantly less likely to be
aware of their HIV status than other age groups. In population surveys of youth ages 15–​24 in
Congo (Brazzaville), Mozambique, Nigeria, and Uganda, only 36.5% had ever been tested for
HIV; among younger adolescents ages 15–​19, only 25.5% had ever been tested (Asaolu et al.,
2016). Among surveyed youth in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, only 46% of youth living with
HIV were aware of their status, compared to 65% of 25–​34-​year-​olds, and 78% of 35–​59-​year-​olds
(UNAIDS, 2017; Ministry of Health, 2017).
Adolescents have lower rates of retention in HIV care and adherence to ART as compared to older
age groups. Among youth on ART globally, average adherence was estimated to be 62.3%, ranging
from 53% in North America to 84% in Africa and Asia (Kim et al., 2014). Furthermore, adolescents
experience high rates of loss to follow-​up from care, with a recent global estimate of 20% loss to
follow-​up among children and adolescents with HIV prior to ART initiation (Desmonde et al., 2018;
Koech et al., 2014; Evans et al., 2013; Fwemba and Musonda, 2017; Okoboi et al., 2016).
Adolescents experience complex barriers to retention in HIV care and adherence to ART.
Adolescents rely on key family and social support while transitioning to autonomy in HIV care.
HIV care engagement is threatened by loss of caregivers, insecure access to food or housing,
trauma and mental health burdens, substance abuse, and by social isolation and stigma (Enane
et al., 2018b, 2018c, 2019a, 2019b; Petersen et al., 2010; Wolf et al., 2014; Davies and Pinto,
2015). Experiences of trauma are highly prevalent among people living with HIV and frequently
occur during childhood or adolescence (Enane et al., 2018a, 2018b, 2018d, 2019a, 2019b, 2019c;
Sales et al., 2016). Among adolescents with HIV, trauma may result from the loss of caregivers
or loved ones, experiences of severe illness, or from experiences of discrimination, abuse, or vio-
lence, with impacts on adolescent well-​being as well as for adherence to ART and retention in care
(Enane et al., 2020, 2021b; Myers et al., 2022a).
Youth living with HIV have lower rates of viral suppression compared to older age groups
(Evans et al., 2013). An estimated 79% of adolescents receiving ART are virologically suppressed,
translating to approximately 30% of all youth living with HIV (ages 14–​24) achieving viral
suppression globally (HIV/​AIDS, 2017). In East Africa, it has been estimated that only 26% of all
youth with HIV have achieved viral suppression (Petersen et al., 2017; Collaboration et al., 2018).
Adolescents with viral suppression may have a shorter time to viral rebound and may be less likely
to attain long-​term immunologic recovery as compared with adults, even when starting ART at
similar stages of immune suppression (Nachega et al., 2009).
Importantly, female adolescents and young adults are disproportionately affected by HIV. In
Africa, young women ages 15–​24 represent 10% of the total population, yet they make up 25%

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of people living with HIV (UNAIDS, 2021). This disparity has been driven by gender inequality,
sexual assault and coercion, limitations in access to education, and economic disempowerment,
as well as limited access to sexual and reproductive health education and reproductive rights
(UNAIDS, 2021; Ramjee and Daniels, 2013; Dellar et al., 2015). Gender-​based violence affects
approximately one in ten women each year and is independently associated with an increased risk
of HIV acquisition (UNAIDS, 2021; Dunkle and Decker, 2013; Andersson et al., 2008; Dunkle
et al., 2004).

Onset of the COVID-​19 Pandemic and Impacts for People Living with HIV
The onset of the COVID-​19 pandemic presented significant challenges and disruptions for HIV
diagnosis and access to care globally (Jewell et al., 2020; Jiang et al., 2020; Pinto and Park, 2020;
Nachega et al., 2021a). At the same time, strategies and adaptations during this difficult period
point to multiple opportunities to expand and sustain HIV care access for young people.
The novel coronavirus SARS-​COV-​2, the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019
(COVID-​19), was first detected in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and rapidly spread across
the globe. The first confirmed cases in Africa were reported on February 27, 2020 (Spiteri et al.,
2020; World Health Organization, 2022; Dong et al., 2020). Studies since the beginning of
the COVID-​19 pandemic have demonstrated an increased risk of infection and mortality from
COVID-​19 in individuals with HIV (Kanwugu and Adadi, 2021; Covid et al., 2020; Ssentongo
et al., 2021; Davies, 2020; Dandachi et al., 2021; Hoffmann et al., 2021). Concerns regarding
the vulnerability of populations with high HIV prevalence, together with anticipated health
systems challenges, prompted initial fears of high COVID-​19 mortality in African countries.
The Africa region, however, has generally reported overall lower COVID-​19 mortality than
has been reported elsewhere (Nachega et al., 2020a). This has been attributed to a combination
of factors, including advanced preparation and planning for infectious disease epidemics and
younger population age structures (Nachega et al., 2020a; Coker et al., 2021; Musa et al., 2021).
However, comparisons may be limited by diagnostic challenges resulting in underdiagnosis
from limited testing availability and reporting, and the heterogeneity of mortality surveillance
systems (Coker et al., 2021; Torti et al., 2020). A study of pediatric hospitalizations from
COVID-​19 in African countries demonstrated high morbidity and mortality from COVID-​19,
emphasizing the importance of examining outcomes within population strata, recognizing the
impact of COVID-​19 on public health and vulnerable populations, and quickly expanding
access and roll-​out of COVID-​19 vaccinations (Nachega et al., 2022a). African countries have
experienced stark and unjust delays in access to COVID-​19 vaccinations, and as of this writing,
pediatric COVID-​19 vaccinations have been exceedingly limited (Nachega et al., 2021b; Sam-​
Agudu et al., 2022).
Healthcare systems in Africa, which have long been responding to the dual pandemics of HIV
and tuberculosis (TB), are now strained by a third infectious pandemic from COVID-​19 (Nachega
et al., 2021a; Torti et al., 2020). Models have predicted increased morbidity and mortality resulting
from disruptions to HIV and TB care during the COVID-​19 pandemic (Hogan et al., 2020; Jewell
et al., 2020; Nachega et al., 2021a). Initial studies have demonstrated global impacts on patient
access to care and treatment outcomes for HIV, given reduced clinic visits, decreases in new diag-
noses, and reports of increased mental health challenges and substance use in people living with
HIV (Shiau et al., 2020). Furthermore, unpredictable delays in access to ART medications can lead
to coverage gaps, which can promote HIV resistance and increase the complexity of treatment
needs within entire communities.

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Impacts of COVID-​19 on Children and Adolescents Living with HIV

Children and adolescents living with HIV are a vulnerable population and may be particularly
impacted by disruptions in access to clinical care and ART during the COVID-​19 pandemic
(Enane et al., 2018b, 2018c; Lowenthal et al., 2014; Ayieko et al., 2018; Koller et al., 2015).
Such disruptions affect household income, food security, and education and decrease access
to health services, including routine immunizations and TB and HIV care (Coker et al., 2021).
Further concerns have been raised for potential impacts on youth mental health (Semo and
Frissa, 2020).
Studies in Kenya have highlighted vulnerabilities for adolescents living with HIV during the
COVID-​19 pandemic. Adolescents with HIV have reported challenges stemming from unmet
basic needs, food insecurity, economic instability, difficulties accessing ART, and needing
to abandon education (Enane et al., 2021a). Adolescent HIV care during this time has been
challenged by travel restrictions, fears of acquiring COVID-​19 at the health facility, migration to
rural areas, adolescents becoming street-​connected, and unplanned adolescent pregnancies (Enane
et al., 2022). Health system challenges and limited services have specifically impacted access to
adolescent-​friendly services during this time (Enane et al., 2022).
COVID-​19 clinical outcomes among children and adolescents with HIV are not well established,
given limited data and lack of disaggregation by age (Sam-​Agudu et al., 2021; Coker et al., 2021).
A study across six African countries demonstrated higher morbidity and mortality outcomes for
hospitalized children in sub-​Saharan Africa compared to other global settings (Nachega et al.,
2022b). The presence of comorbidities such as chronic lung disease, hematological disorders, and
hypertension was associated with greater risk for severe outcomes, with the presence of multiple
comorbidities significantly associated with mortality (Nachega et al., 2022b).

HIV Care Adaptations

The COVID-​19 pandemic has exacerbated barriers to HIV care for children and adolescents living
with HIV. HIV-​affected families and youth, healthcare workers, and treatment programs have con-
sequently needed to adapt in order to sustain care engagement. At the onset of the pandemic
and with initial lockdown periods, immediate adaptations to HIV care delivery included provi-
sion of multi-​month refills, care transfers, and sending ART to local dispensaries (Enane et al.,
2022). Differentiated service delivery (DSD) models of HIV care, which encompass a range of
community-​based care approaches, were also expanded (Ehrenkranz et al., 2019). Differentiated
care models have traditionally been restricted to individuals with virologic suppression and
stability in care; however, disruptions from the COVID-​19 pandemic prompted greater expan-
sion of DSD models, particularly through extension of eligibility for services to pregnant or
breastfeeding women, children and adolescents, and patients on second-​and third-​line regimens
(Grimsrud and Wilkinson, 2021; Nachega et al., 2020b; Ehrenkranz et al., 2019). DSD adaptations
include reduced frequency of clinic visits, multi-​month dispensation of ART, integrating HIV care
delivery with care for TB and noncommunicable diseases, and emphasizing community-​based
care delivery models (Grimsrud and Wilkinson, 2021; Nachega et al., 2020b). Previous research
has demonstrated that adolescents can be retained in differentiated care models (McHugh et al.,
2017), yet further work is needed to assess how to best implement such models at scale, and how
adolescent adherence can be further supported.
Research among adults with HIV is informative regarding further community-​based models.
Prior to the COVID-​19 pandemic, studies had demonstrated promise for community-​based ART

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delivery (Grimsrud and Wilkinson, 2021; Nachega et al., 2020b; Barnabas et al., 2020). A trial
of DSD in South Africa and Uganda, from 2016 to 2019, illustrates this model. Included in
the trial were adults with HIV who were not on ART and who had detectable HIV viral load.
Community-​based services included provision of ART for treatment initiation and maintenance,
clinical evaluations, and laboratory monitoring. Eligible participants could start ART on the same
day they were diagnosed, with standardized counseling and treatment, and follow-​up by phone
and in subsequent visits conducted in a mobile van unit in the community, at 1, 3, 6, 9, and
12 months from initiation. Mobile text messaging was used to provide appointment reminders
and to convey lab results through standardized messages that would not indicate HIV status, such
as, “All is going well. Keep up the good work,” or, “Please contact us for more information.” The
messaging system provided an avenue for bidirectional communication to address questions and
refill requests. At the end of the trial, pooled retention in care at 12 months was 95%, with greater
viral suppression in the community-​based services group (75%) and in a hybrid delivery model,
as compared to a group in standard clinic-​based care (65%). The researchers additionally found
that community-​based services would confer eventual cost-​savings benefits, estimated at US
$275–​452 per person who achieves viral suppression (Barnabas et al., 2020). These findings help
to support community-​based service models, though scalability, variations in delivery models,
differing needs of specific patient populations, and patient preferences are important consider-
ations (Nachega et al., 2020b).
Further research has studied community-​based multi-​month dispensing of ART and social adher-
ence clubs, with promising outcomes. In Zimbabwe, a randomized-​controlled trial demonstrated
that ART refills dispensed in the community at three-​month intervals were noninferior to clinic-​
based refills (Fatti et al., 2020). Similarly, in Lesotho, community-​based ART delivery at three-​and
six-​month intervals demonstrated similar outcomes to clinic-​based care at three-​month intervals,
as measured by retention in care and viral suppression, though some decline in retention was
observed in the six-​month community-​based group compared to the three-​month control group
(Tukei et al., 2020). A study in South Africa analyzed the effect of social adherence clubs, wherein
patients meet in small groups outside of the clinic to receive their ART refills and discuss adher-
ence, finding improved outcomes with significantly higher one-​year retention rates as compared to
standard of care, with particular effectiveness for men (Fox et al., 2019).
Mobile technology may have promise to help address gaps in HIV care access and treatment
support (Forrest et al., 2015). Randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that mobile text
messaging can improve ART adherence (Lester et al., 2010; Pop-​Eleches et al., 2011). A meta-​
analysis of mobile text messaging interventions has suggested 40% higher odds of ART adher-
ence, specifically with programs that utilize less frequent messaging (approximately once per
week), set to match participants’ ART dosing schedule, with personalized message content, and
with bidirectional communication (Finitsis et al., 2014). Mobile text messaging interventions have
demonstrated benefits in maternal postpartum care and early infant testing in Kenya; improved
care access and retention in care in mother–​infant pairs in Malawi; and improved ART adher-
ence among pregnant women with HIV in South Africa (Odeny et al., 2014; Mwapasa et al.,
2014; Dean et al., 2012). By contrast, a study in Kenya involving weekly text messaging found
no improvements in early retention and engagement in care during the first year following HIV
diagnosis; furthermore, an incident was reported involving a domestic dispute that arose from
suspicions regarding frequent messaging—​pointing to both limitations and potential risks of
mobile messaging interventions (van der Kop et al., 2018).
A compelling youth-​led approach to mobile support for youth with HIV was developed by a
group of Kenyan youth peer mentors—​young adults living with HIV who have been trained to

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assist and support adolescents in care, including in adherence and disclosure counseling and care
navigation. This group identified the need for a mobile application that could support educational
resources and access to care navigation, then developed the tool with the oversight and assistance
of an institutional and clinical advisory team. They designed this application to provide access to
educational resources, clinic reminders, and healthcare navigation assistance including counselor
access, with bidirectional communication so that users can reach out to the peer mentors with
questions or requests for assistance (Apondi et al., 2020).
All of these DSD models have potential benefits in adapting HIV care during disruptions, as
experienced during the COVID-​19 pandemic. However, even lacking the pressure of a pandemic,
advances in supportive care for children and adolescents living with HIV are urgent and necessary.
Relatively simple interventions, such as multi-​month dispensing of medications can have a signifi-
cant impact on families affected by HIV and the effective utilization of mobile health technology
can reach past many barriers, such as stigma, distance, and coping challenges, to have positive
effects for HIV prevention, testing, and treatment for infants, children, and adolescents.

Psychosocial Interventions
Young people living with HIV can face difficult social circumstances, economic and food inse-
curity, traumatic exposures, and mental health threats. They have a higher prevalence of anxiety
and depression in comparison with their peers (Cavazos-​Rehg et al., 2020; Okonji et al., 2020;
Vreeman et al., 2017). These social, economic, and mental health challenges can present complex
barriers to retention in care and adherence to ART (Cavazos-​Rehg et al., 2020; Enane et al., 2020,
2021b; Okonji et al., 2020; Myers et al., 2022b; Toromo et al., 2022). Given this context, psy­­­­
chosocial interventions may have an important role in improving care outcomes for children and
adolescents affected by HIV—​and research is ongoing in this area. Such interventions may target
mental health, social well-​being, and/​or economic empowerment (Laurenzi et al., 2021).
Given the central roles of family/​ caregiver relationships for children and adolescents,
interventions at the household level may also have a role. Household-​level interventions may
hold promise for improving mental health outcomes for both children and caregivers, including
by supporting caregiver coping (Mukumbang et al., 2019; Li et al., 2017). Family communication,
connectedness, and parental understanding have demonstrated importance in promoting the well-​
being of children in families affected by HIV (Betancourt et al., 2011; Betancourt et al., 2017).
Family economic empowerment through an intervention combining child development savings
accounts, microenterprise workshops, and financial mentorship has been shown to have multiple
benefits for adolescents living with HIV, such as improved confidence, decreased hopelessness,
increased viral suppression, and—​among those with evidence of mental health challenges at
baseline—​improved mental health outcomes (Ssewamala et al., 2016; Cavazos-​Rehg et al., 2021a;
Cavazos-​Rehg et al., 2021b; Tozan et al., 2021).
Further support is provided in holistic and developmentally appropriate models of care, such
as through the provision of adolescent-​friendly services. Adolescent-​and youth-​friendly models
of care should be equitable, accessible, acceptable, appropriate, and effective (World Health
Organization, 2012). Key pillars include peer support components (such as peer support groups,
peer counseling, or peer mentorship) and facilitated access to needed care, for example for mental
health and sexual and reproductive health care. Adolescent-​friendly services for provision of HIV
care help promote adolescent well-​being and in turn may have positive impacts on care engage-
ment (Burke et al., 2022; Denison et al., 2020; Hacking et al., 2019; Zanoni et al., 2019).

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Conclusions
While tremendous advances have been made in diagnosis and treatment, HIV continues to present
an urgent threat with disproportionate impacts on children and adolescents (UNAIDS, 2021). In
1989, the United Nations General Assembly introduced a legally binding international treaty to
address and protect child rights (Kasper, 2010; Kelly, 2006; Lee, 2010). Key guiding principles
include protection from discrimination and the right to life, survival, and development (Committee
on the Rights of the Child, 2003; Kelly, 2000, 2006; McMillan and Simkiss, 2009). These rights
address basic human needs such as access to clean water, food, education, and health (Committee
on the Rights of the Child, 2003; Kelly, 2000, 2006; McMillan and Simkiss, 2009). The devel­­­
opment and promotion of optimal policies and practices for HIV prevention, early diagnosis, and
treatment are essential to protecting and honoring these rights. While global progress has been
made in pursuit of ending AIDS, 160,000 new infections were still reported in children ages 0–​14
in 2021 (UNAIDS, 2021). Gaps in diagnosis, access to treatment, and viral suppression evidence
that children and adolescents are at risk of being “left behind” in global efforts to scale up treatment
(UNAIDS, 2021; Davies and Pinto, 2015). At this critical moment, promising developments
include the adoption of new ART regimens, innovation in HIV care adaptations, implementa-
tion of adolescent-​friendly services for HIV care, and development of a range of psychosocial
interventions to support this vulnerable group. Furthermore, the resilience of young people, and of
the healthcare workers who care for them, demonstrates that young people can advocate for and
lead equitable solutions to address their needs and achieve healthy outcomes.

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 SECTION 5

Governing Childhoods
Law and Rights
 25
SECTION INTRODUCTION
Tatek Abebe

This section provides perspectives on the connections between international norms, laws
and rights and ideals of childhood on the one hand and, on the other hand, the governance of
children’s everyday lives in specific geographical or policy contexts. The contributions have a
‘global scope’, representing research from diverse world regions where global development is
today most pronounced: the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America. They emphasise how
development as a ‘global project’ driven by powerful international child rights institutions shapes
policies and programs that map out and restructure the lived experiences of children. These may
take the form of ‘global standards’ concerning children’s work or campaigns to eradicate Harmful
Traditional Practices (HTP) such as child marriage (CM) and female genital cutting. They also
take the form of a normative understanding of what is best for children and their development that
replicates contemporary democratic values embedded in the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) policies to abolish
child labour or Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These frameworks emanate from and
project out universalising discourses of rights and the neo-​liberal, sovereign child subject of
Western creation.
Three chapters are conceptual or theoretical and cover the discursive understandings of
childhood and rights. They elaborate on and challenge the hegemonic construction of childhood
in global development policies and narratives (Jana Tabak), the coloniality of the global child
labour governance regime (Laurence LeBlanc and Edward van Daalen), as well as the child-​right
framework and the governance structures it reproduces in multiple contexts and scales (Anna
Holzscheiter, Felix Stadelmann and Benjamin Stachursky). On the other hand, three chapters dis-
cuss studies with children, families and communities while simultaneously engaging critically with
international policies on children with disabilities in the context of the Middle East (Dina Kiwan),
CM and female genital cutting in Burkina Faso (Josephine Wouango and Susan L. Ostermann)
and NGOs practices of ‘child saving’ from community practices of child upbringing construed as
child trafficking and labour exploitation in Ghana (Sam Okyere, Kwame Agyeman and Bernard
Koomson).
Countries in the global south are encouraged or, at times, coerced to harmonise their national
laws with international standards that largely reflect the values and ideals of Western societies. As

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-31 341

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discussed by Okyere and his colleagues, for example, the raiding of marginalised communities and
oppressive practices such as economic sanctions or withholding aid reflect not only Western polit-
ical and development supremacy but also the unquestioned pursuit of neoliberal norms as ‘correct’
and progressive. The deployment of children’s rights framework as a tool for international devel-
opment and how institutions such as the ILO wield considerable power in dictating child labour
laws and policies in poorer societies also illustrate this point. The ways in which global actors
of development are implicated in the promotion of ideologies of development that may not be in
tandem with local contexts further reflect the desire by these institutions to remake non-​Western
childhoods through the images of the Western world. Arguably, the governance of childhoods
predicated in idealised approaches demonstrates how international organisations are complicit in
the liberalisation of societal values often framed in seemingly altruistic projects of humanitarian
aid and development but, in reality, reflect Western cultural imperialism.
Coloniality of knowledge informs approaches to shifting social norms underpinning female
genital mutilation/​cutting (FGM/​C) and CM. Wouango and Ostermann examine the effect CM
and FGM/​C have on the health and well-​being of girls in Burkina Faso, framing both practices
under gender and human rights debates that have been targeted for elimination in the SDGs 3 and
5. Burkina Faso’s national laws, translated into national action plans, criminalise both practices
on the basis that FGM/​C and CM have serious health, social and psychological consequences for
girls and women. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, their chapter examines compli-
ance with anti-​FGM/​C and anti-​CM laws, assessing people’s knowledge, attitudes and behaviour
towards these laws and their implementation as well as investigating the moral, social, punitive
and religious motivations people have for obeying the law. The relative success of anti-​FGM/​C
law enforcement suggests that implementation of a law that uses multiple strategies and is well-​
matched to the cultural and religious context within the country is critical to its compliance or
intended success.
International organisations in the field of FGM and child/​forced marriage interventions demon-
strate systemic exclusion of local knowledge or local social norms that could be elevated. They also
suffer from what Newman (2023) calls ‘grandmother-​exclusionary bias’, sidelining grandmothers
as change agents compared to adolescent girls, women of reproductive age, men and boys and
religious leaders. Campaigns and legislations are common strategies, but if they are not alert to
the local cultural context in which norms are to be transformed, they hinder the empowerment of
children and, worse, pathologise families and communities. Research has shown how efforts to
eradicate early marriage and female circumcision resulted in unintended negative consequences
including increasing trends in premarital sex, clandestine surgeries and other adverse reactions
to a law that was supposed to protect girls (Boyden, Pankhurst, and Tafere, 2012, Mekonnen
and Aspen, 2007). To overcome backlash in these areas, Newman (2023) proposes changes in
social norms through approaches that are culturally grounded, intergenerational and grandmother-​
inclusive. These include adult education, actively involving grandmothers as they influence FGM
and building a coalition between girls, mothers and grandmothers to combat FGM and CM and to
promote girls’ education.
This section does not have a chapter on the governance of children’s rights during war, but
Kiwan explores the various constructions of disability and public attitudes’ influence on disabled
children’s learning experiences in the context of conflict. Although dominant understandings of
disability largely come from knowledge production in the global North, global estimates show that
80% of the world’s 1 billion people who experience some form of disability live in the global South.
Kiwan discusses the challenges faced by children with disabilities as structural, intersectional and

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intersectoral, and the ways disability is associated with lower educational attainment demonstrates
how access to children’s education is not only dependent on resources, but importantly how dis-
ability is understood by policymakers, practitioners as well as wider society. Bringing examples
from Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, she highlights the culturally bound and historically specific
nature of disability and how international and national policies, school policies and community
attitudes influence disabled children’s learning experiences. The chapter makes the case for the
importance of the co-​participation of disabled children and their families in research and inclusive
knowledge production and, as such, contributes to policy development on disability justice edu-
cation in the global South.
The chapter by Okyere, Agyeman and Koomson interrogates the Ghanaian childhood and
rights governance architecture by examining the influence of international child rights instruments,
discourses and practices on child rights legislation. Drawing on a case study on efforts to elim-
inate children’s work in fishing, notably the forced removal of children from their families in
remote, marginalised island communities on the Volta Lake; the chapter identifies a major paradox
in this abolitionist governance structure as well as legal and policy justifications offered for the
raids which have caused fear, panic and devastation among children and families. These raids and
‘child saving’ practices are rooted in what is now widely recognised in the fields of childhood
studies, sociology and anthropology as Western-​centric notions of child rights and childhood,
which underpin international child labour and child trafficking abolitionist instruments and modal-
ities. Whereas the measures, the NGOs involved in the raids and other proponents are inspired
by international child rights and practices; they fail to address how children’s insecurities in the
fishing sector and elsewhere in Ghana are shaped by historical and persistent adversities largely
emanating from Western industrialised nations. By sanctioning the raiding of communities pur-
portedly to rescue their children, the authors argue, the dominant child rights governance structure
blames these communities for structural problems over which they have little control. It shields
from scrutiny the forces, discourses and practices that need to be ‘rescued’ or held accountable for
the challenges confronting Ghanaian children, inadvertently entrenching the imbalances driven by
dominating powers and neoliberalism instead of a frontal assault against them.
The critiques on the policy consequences of the legal and moral framework of children’s rights
are not new. Several texts have examined the problematic ways in which international law and
children’s rights instruments ‘translate’ into local realities (Hanson and Niewenhuys 2013; Twum-​
Danso Imoh and Ansell 2015; Kassa and Abebe 2016). Hanson and Niewenhuys advocate for
the ‘living rights’ of children, noting that children craft and put notions of right into practice as
they struggle to make sense of their daily existence and, in so doing, bring to life what rights are
and become in the social world. Twum-​Danso Imoh (2015) draws attention to the importance
of balancing rights and responsibilities in interpreting children’s codified rights. Others call for
vernacularising children’s rights so that the universal language of children’s rights does not render
meaningless the already existing, ‘unwritten’ social and cultural rights children are entitled to in
their families and communities (Abebe and Tefera 2015, Jaleta 2022), further highlighting the role
of customary laws in legally pluralist societies (Kiame 2010). What the chapters in this section do
is a renewed reading on children’s rights –​how rights are embedded in international development,
articulating the interplay between children’s rights in development and making international devel-
opment interventions accountable for children’s rights. This tracing of the questions of children’s
rights in development while calling attention to how development is embedded within children’s
rights is pertinent because development policies and rights discourses reinforce each other in a
powerful and often complex manner.

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The apparatus of children’s rights participates and authorises the construction of childhood
predicated on normative ideals of child development and protection. Tabak problematises two dis-
cursive movements of children’s rights that inform the borders of what she calls the ‘world child’,
seeking to transform the world’s children into world citizens. These movements are (i) the articu-
lation of an allegedly universal model of the child as irrational and vulnerable in need of inter-
national protection; and (ii) the production of childhood as a transitional stage and thus a site for
investment in the future. Whereas Tabak’s deployment of the ‘world-​child’ within the politics of
child rights is predicated on protecting the vulnerable becoming subject, it also ties with protecting
the vulnerable future ahead of ‘us’. Extending the debate introduced by Boyden (1997) as the
global model of childhood, the ‘world-​child’ reifies the ways all children share an essential set
of needs and course of development. However, the category also invokes and invites us to reflect
on the lines of the bounded category of the world, the supposedly broad context within which
modern political life has been possible, which cannot be disconnected from a totalising, coherent
and abstract child as an exemplar and is only possible through a certain grammar of responsibility
and progress.
Holzscheiter, Stadelmann and Stachursky’s chapter explores the connection between rights and
governance in childhood through a discussion of the concept and practice of child rights gov-
ernance –​with a focus on international development. It does so by tracing key historical, polit-
ical and social factors that have been shaping the understanding of what child rights governance
entails, how this concept is reflected in research, policies and practices as well as by asking how
it can gain a better understanding in the ways children can take part in the governance of their
rights. Thinking about childhood and development from the perspective of child rights governance
helps to understand the structures and processes through which governmental, intergovernmental
and nongovernmental actors and institutions uphold, negotiate, implement and contest children’s
rights. Moreover, the social and economic rights and their relevance in the context of child rights
governance are crucial but often ignored in programming and policies surrounding hard choices
on budgets and questions of redistribution are indicative of the extent to which child rights inform
development politics. By discussing how child rights are given meaning in the activities of state
and non-​state actors in development cooperation and on the indicators with which the realisation
of child rights governance might be measured, this chapter demonstrates how the practice of inter-
national development simultaneously draws on and deploys child rights governance in regional,
national and local level.
Le Blanc and van Daalen extend the debates around the eradication of the so-​called worst
forms of child labour, to offer a critical reflection on the global child labour governance regime.
Understood as the assemblage of international legal conventions, norms, organisational strategies
and discursive and visual representations, this regime depoliticises the child labour debate by
utilising a neutralising discourse that obscures the violence of the global market economy without
necessarily improving the lives of working children. Informed by interviews with stakeholders,
LeBlanc and van Daalen argue that the goal to eliminate all forms of child labour by 2025 as
stipulated in Target 8.7 of the SDGs pursues a strategy that relies on liberal market logic and tools
to ‘sell’ the goal to increase global awareness, online momentum, political will and funds to sus-
tain the campaign. Whereas this strategy obscures the role of the international political economy
in the reproduction of children’s precarious labour, it also denies them the opportunity to mean-
ingfully contribute to shaping policies and programmes. Organised working children who have for
long sought recognition and influence over the international agenda on child labour are structurally
ignored and excluded from international law and policymaking because they defy the carefully
constructed ideal type of the passive victim waiting to be rescued by a benevolent outsider. Their

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persistent resistance to the regime continues to remind the world that ‘child labour’, like all inter-
national development issues, is complex and highly political.
The ILO (n.d.) differentiates between ‘child work’ which is acceptable and ‘child labour’ which
is dangerous and exploitative and does not commensurate with children’s strength and development.

Not all work done by children should be classified as child labour that is to be targeted for
elimination. The participation of children or adolescents above the minimum age for admis-
sion to employment in work that does not affect their health and personal development
or interfere with their schooling, is generally regarded as being something positive. This
includes activities such as assisting in a family business or earning pocket money outside
school hours and during school holidays. These kinds of activities contribute to children’s
development and to the welfare of their families; they provide them with skills and experi-
ence, and help to prepare them to be productive members of society during their adult life.
(ILO, n.d.)

Whereas this distinction, in part, reflects ILO’s policy shift from ‘abolishing’ child labour to
‘regulating’ the conditions under which children work; it has several conceptual limitations.
Labour statistics in the global South are notoriously difficult to establish. Children are involved
in irregular –​sometimes illegal –​livelihoods in multiple economies: in waged labour, household
reproductive activities and unpaid labour in a family business or the informal economy, often sim-
ultaneously. There is also little agreement as to what constitutes ‘work’ or ‘no work’ –​e.g. playful
work and school work. More crucially, ILO’s definition is paradoxical because work is alright as
long as it is unpaid, e.g., for ‘pocket money’ or in ‘family enterprises’ (only if children’s parents
own one) but not for property-​less child workers who need wage the most to make a living. As
opposed to being a hindrance to schooling, the income these children obtain from working is often
vital to paying school fees, buying uniforms and stationary materials or even sponsoring siblings’
education.
Advocacy for child work that does not interfere with schooling not only denigrates the role
of work in learning, education and social reproduction but also calls for a broader discussion
around ‘work’ and ‘labour’. For neoliberal and Marxist thinkers, work must be liberated if it
is to fulfil its promise of emancipation and empowerment. Neoliberal economists argue that by
deregulating labour and expanding the boundaries of the market, work can be transformed into
a realm of entrepreneurship, in which workers build capital, move freely and realise the poten-
tialities of work (Di Nunzio 2022). Yet, the circumstances that create the material conditions of
life and of scarcity in which children must work to supplement familial livelihoods are inextric-
ably linked to the neoliberal capitalist systems of economic production and social reproduction.
Left-​wing labour politics, on the other hand, centres on liberating ‘work’, more broadly, from
‘labour’ (Di Nunzio 2022). As Di Nunzio notes, for Marxists, the task is to free concrete ‘work’
from abstract and alienated ‘labour’, namely to liberate humankind’s unique ability to transform
nature through work from the capitalist logic of profit and surplus value. The relations of force
and production that shape and constrain workers’ experiences of capitalism –​‘labour’ –​must be
challenged and subverted for ‘work’ to express its full potentialities (Holloway 2010, cited in Di
Ninzio 2022 p. 403).
Childhood studies is implicated in promoting the neoliberal values of children’s right to work,
often glorifying working children’s agency and paying less attention to the structural conditions of
their work, or how child work is structurally highly circumscribed. An emphasis on children’s right
to work could inadvertently increase exploitation and legitimise capital, enabling poor children to

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claim the right to fend for themselves without any restructuring of the global economic system
through redistributive justice (Levine 2011). In fact, the question of child labour is not something
that one can simply be in support of or against, and there are many forms of adult labour that we
could abolish too. The goal of progressive social transformation should not be a teleological reduc-
tion of child labour. Instead, it needs to be developmental (both for adults and children) whereby
we undertake enriching and meaningful work that is designed to realise our human capacities, not
enable the accumulation of private property by capital or compensate for the failure of existing
capital to take on the costs of social reproduction having separated workers and peasants from
direct control over the means of social reproduction.
Global development agendas have become the only framework for imagining development
and the future, foreclosing alternative approaches to empowering children as well as neglecting
solutions that children and their families consider vital for their wellbeing. Development and
childhood are deeply entangled, and they both concern temporality. Yet, ideas of protection
deployed in social policies to ‘save’ children –​and in the process to ‘save the world’ –​carry with
them particular visions and versions of the future/​childhood/​development/​world. Relatedly, the
chapters in this section provide fresh insights into the structural connections of various global
child rights governance regimes by historicising and contextualising the political and scholarly
discourses about how policies, laws and rights intersect in the lives of children. They are alive with
nuanced critiques on global development agendas that are taken as blueprints for future-​making
while simultaneously calling for freedom from a teleology of neoliberal rights framework that
dictates this is the only world possible or desirable for children. Why does the international com-
munity keep mobilising symbolic gestures of banning child labour while doing nothing to redis-
tribute wealth, power, opportunities and life chances? And, despite the widespread recognition of
the significance of work in children’s lives; why is the ILO’s policy of child labour communicated
to the global community as an indisputable and expert-​crafted tool for governing the world’s
children?
How children, their families and communities contest, resist, circumvent and, at times, defy
laws and standards that cascade from international institutions reveal that global development and
the violence of neoliberal capitalism that underpins it continue to be countered by actors at multiple
levels. Arguably, global gender and labour norms and policies are not working, raising questions
about how the international child protection system could reverse its priorities, starting from the
concerns of children and communities and mobilising international resources to meet local needs
rather than using a one-​size-​fits-​all all strategy in the governance of diverse childhoods. This
includes grounding policies on child protection in communities’ logic of childhood and strategies
of survival in ways that neither pathologise nor criminalise their poverty and livelihood and social
practices.
The lack of bottom-​up research on how children encounter global rights discourses and global
development processes is a common concern of the chapters. This gap needs to be taken ser-
iously not just in knowledge production and implementation of policies into practice but also in
the design of programs for social inclusion, justice and fulfilment of children’s citizenship rights.
This further presupposes moving beyond the translation of codified international and regional
human rights of children in national politics, law and society to practical implementation of laws
that affirm children’s rights in development as opposed to their rights to development. Children’s
real lives do not begin and end with donors’ or the international community’s preoccupation with
development goals, targets and checklists. The chapters here exemplify the yearning to reassess
the connection between children’s rights, childhood and social change in ways that are expansive
and imaginative.

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References
Abebe, T., and T. Tefera. (2015). Earning rights –​discourses on children’s rights and proper childhood in
Ethiopia. In: Twum-​Danso Imoh A., Ansell N. (eds), Children’s Lives in an Era of Children’s Rights the
Progress of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Africa. Britain: Routledge, pp. 43–​62.
Boyden, J. (1997). Childhood and the policy makers: A comparative perspective on the globalisation of
childhood. In: James A., Prout A. (eds), Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood: Contemporary
Issues in the Sociological Study of Childhood. 2nd edition. London: The Falmer Press, pp. 184–​215.
Boyden, J., A. Pankhurst, and Y. Tafere. (2012). Child Protection and Harmful Traditional Practices: Female
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doi.org/​10.1080/​09614​524.2012.672​957
Di Nunzio, M. (2022). Work, Development, and Refusal in Urban Ethiopia. American Ethnologist, 49,
401–​412. https://​doi.org/​10.1111/​amet.13091
Hanson, K., and O. Nieuwenhuys. (2013). Reconceptualizing Children’s Rights in International
Development: Living Rights, Social Justice and Translations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
pp. 3–​26.
ILO (n.d.). What is child labour? www.ilo.org/​ipec/​facts/​lang-​-​en/​index.htm Accessed 07.11.2023.
Jirata, T. J. (2022). Indigenous Rights of Children among Agropastoral Communities in Southern Ethiopia.
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Kaime, T. (2010). ‘Vernacularising’ the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Rights and Culture as Analytic
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Levine, S. (2011). The Race of Nimble Fingers: Changing Patterns of Children’s Work in Post-849 Apartheid
South Africa. Childhood, 18(2), 261–273.
Mekonnen, B., and H. Aspen. (2007). Early Marriage and the Campaign against it in Ethiopia. Paper presented
at the XVIth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies (ICES 16), Trondheim.
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‘grandmother-​inclusive’ Approaches. Third World Quarterly, 44(6), 1230–​1248. https://​doi.org/​10.1080/​
01436​597.2023.2178​408
Twum Danso Imoh, A. (2015). Realising children’s rights in Africa: An introduction. In: Twum-​Danso Imoh
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Twum-​Danso Imoh, A., and N. Ansell. (2015). Children’s Lives in an Era of Children’s Rights the Progress of
the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Africa. Britain: Routledge.

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 26
CHILD RIGHTS GOVERNANCE
IN INTERNATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Anna Holzscheiter, Felix Stadelmann, and Benjamin Stachursky

Introduction
Many international organisations working in development and many governments around the
world have come to acknowledge that the realisation of the civil, political, economic, social and
cultural rights of children is key to development (OHCHR, 2016). The Agenda 2030 reflects an
international consensus that development must be “for the full benefit of all, for today’s and future
generations”.1 The rights of children in the here and now and of children as the future generations,
thus, are, at least internationally, firmly established as a normative point of reference in debates on
the realisation of the right to development. But how can international and domestic development
policies be more responsive to children, their vulnerability, needs and rights –​thus focusing not
only on their right to but also in development? What mechanisms and strategies are in place to
translate codified international and regional human rights of children in national politics, law and
society?
Our chapter explores the link between childhood and development by placing the notion of
governance centre stage in addressing the relevance of child rights (in theory and practice) in the
development context. The chapter starts from the assumption that governance is a “useful theor-
etical and conceptual starting-​point for thinking about child rights as it addresses the interplay
between principle and practice” (Holzscheiter et al., 2019: 275). We will discuss the extent to
which thinking about childhood and development from the perspective of child rights governance
helps to understand the structures and processes through which governmental, intergovernmental
and nongovernmental actors and institutions negotiate, implement and contest children’s rights in
the context of development.
The chapter explores the connection between child rights, governance and development by tra-
cing key historical, political and social factors that have been shaping the understanding of what
child rights governance entails, how this concept is reflected in research, policies and practices
and, ultimately, by asking how it can help in better understanding how children experience and
take part in the governance of their rights at the international, regional, national and local level.
In contemporary Political Science, governance has become a key concept employed to capture
the diverse forms of collaboration and shared authority between public (governmental) and pri-
vate (nongovernmental) actors and institutions through which public goods are provided in most

348 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-32

 Child Rights Governance in International Development

political systems around the world. Thinking about childhood and development from the vantage
point of governance has both theoretical and practical relevance, as it allows to embedding con-
siderations of (children’s) human rights into the concrete institutional structures, political and
legal mechanisms through which these rights are translated into development cooperation, both
globally and locally. Analytically, a governance perspective allows the analysis of child-​focused
development policies and practices towards actors and structures beyond governments or inter-
governmental development agencies. From a critical standpoint, finally, a governance perspective
on child-​focused development policies may help to expose moments and processes of exclusion
and contestation of certain (historical) developments, patterns and effects of engaging with child
rights and childhood in development. As we will show in the later part of our chapter, a focus
on governance also permits us to address more critical questions of who is included in specific
governance arrangements and who is excluded as well as, more generally, power relationships
and hierarchies that may explain the particular form and content of development policies that are
signposted as “child-​focused” or “child-​rights” oriented. Practically, the concept of governance is
useful in order to compare and assess the meaning and implications of “child rights governance”
for specific actors and in specific development contexts. What are the (normative) expectations
that are associated with child rights governance? What are the concrete actions and transform-
ations that are envisaged under the rubric of “child rights governance” in the development con-
text? And, again more critically, to what extent is the idea of child rights governance embedded in
broader discourses and policies on good governance that promote very specific, often donor-​driven
understandings of child rights?
Our chapter begins with a discussion of the concept of governance and its implications for
the study of the politics and law of (international) development –​ with a specific focus on the
aspects associated with “governance” that appear particularly relevant to children and their rights
in a development context. The second part of the chapter revolves around the notion of child
rights –​in particular, international legal standards on child rights and the ways in which child
rights might be thought of in conjunction with governance. This part of the chapter places par-
ticular emphasis on the potential and limitations of child rights when thinking of governance and
the different directions from which child rights continue to be contested in the context of develop-
ment. Following contemporary debates on child rights governance, we suggest considering social
and economic rights and their relevance in the context of child rights governance in particular –​
as debates and policies surrounding hard choices on budgets and questions of redistribution are
indicative of the extent to which child rights inform development politics in practice. Finally, the
chapter discusses the practice of child rights governance in the context of development, with a
particular focus on how child rights are given meaning in the activities of core state and non-​state
actors in development (cooperation) and on the indicators with which the realisation of child rights
governance might be measured.

Governance
When we ask about the relevance of governance in theory and practice related to children/​
childhood and development, we need to start from a specification of what governance entails.
Indeed, from the 1990s and 2000s onwards, governance has become a widely used concept in
different academic disciplines, from Political Science to Economics and Business Studies to
Legal Studies. The shift from government to governance implies a broadening in focus, away
from the study of governments as bearing the main responsibility for the provision of collective
goods towards more diverse forms of shared authority and horizontal coordination between

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 Anna Holzscheiter, Felix Stadelmann, and Benjamin Stachursky

governmental (public) and nongovernmental (private) actors in the provision of common goods.
Scholars of Public Administration, Political Science and International Relations, thus, turned
their attention to the many ways in which private actors, institutions and networks (including
civil society organisations, firms and charitable foundations) entered into relationships of shared
responsibility with governments in the formulation of collective rules, the regulation of matters of
public interests and to provide public goods, locally and globally.
In its broadest understanding, governance can be taken to refer to all modes of coordinating
social action in human society, from very small social units to gigantic bureaucracies such as the
United Nations. In one of the most influential definitions of the concept, James Rosenau describes
global governance as “systems of rules at all levels of human activity –​from the family to the
international organisation” (Rosenau, 2005: 46). From a governance perspective, thus, the starting
point is not so much the social or political unit per se (state, government, firm, church, family) but
the public good that is at stake, the cooperative structures between public and private actors who
share responsibility for providing that public good and the specific rules that define how that public
good should be provided, how responsibility is shared and how governance actors should interact.
The concept can thus be seen to cover ruling by the state through cooperative networks of public
and private actors as well as rule-​making by non-​state actors or self-​regulation by civil society.
Under the rubric of governance, the dispersion of authority through collaborative relationships
between public and private actors places collaborative relationships between public and private
actors as the primary mode of governing centre-​stage in contradistinction to rule-​making and
administration by centralised, hierarchical governments. In much of the more functionalist, man-
agerial literature on policy-​making, governance is defined as an organisational structure marked
through horizontal structures with flat hierarchies, in contrast to the vertical, hierarchical organisa-
tion of governments (Héritier & Lehmkuhl, 2008; Rhodes, 1996). Various scholars, however, have
taken issue with the power blindness of governance theories, pointing out that, in fact, new forms
of collaboration between public and private actors are no less fraught with power relationships and
asymmetrical distribution of benefits (Barnett & Duvall, 2005; Buse & Harmer, 2004).

Governance and development –​Organisational set-​up, co-​governing through

public and private actors; good governance
Governance has become a key concept in both the scholarly debates on international develop-
ment and in the organisational practice of international and national state and non-​state actors
engaging in development cooperation (Abrahamsen, 2004; Munck, 2008; Weiss, 2005). By and
large, scholars have been using a governance perspective to study three dimensions of develop-
ment and development cooperation: first, on a micro-​scale, to disentangle the particular institu-
tional set-​up of individual organisations, networks or partnerships (governance as organisational
structure) (Haque, 2004; Manning & Roessler, 2014); second, as an instrument to study the com­­
plex interplay of public and private actors, networks and organisations in the provision of public
goods, shared authority and responsibility between public and private actors, or the roles of public
and private actors in the formulation and implementation of public policies (governance as co-​
governing) (Abbott, 2012; Abrahamsen, 2004; Bäckstrand, 2006; Bull & McNeill, 2007; Kaan &
Liese, 2011); and third, governance as a set of normative criteria against which responsible public
administration and legitimate development policies and practices are measured (governance as
good governance) (Weiss, 2005).
Broadly speaking, in the study of development policies and practices, it is particularly the
idea of “good governance” that forms the basis of academic theorising and analysis –​an idea that

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directs attention towards the rule of law and the recognition of fundamental human rights, respon-
sible public administration, transparency and democratic opinion-​building and decision-​making as
the cornerstones of responsible authority and provision of public goods. Lately, the responsiveness
of governance actors and systems towards those most vulnerable and affected by development
problems and policies has attracted more attention (Holzscheiter, 2018; Sändig et al., 2018) –​and
it is here that responsiveness towards the needs and rights of children in development governance
comes into play.
The Social Science debate on governance as a focal concept in the study of cooperation
between public and private actors in providing public goods such as security, welfare, health and,
in fact, development as well as structures and processes of collaborative policy-​making implemen-
tation of rules and norms between public and private actors (locally, domestically, internationally)
has not only been marked by the various trends identified above. It has also been marked by a
tension between scholars using governance as a descriptive-​analytical concept to capture actor
constellations and regulation beyond the state on the one hand and those casting a more crit-
ical perspective on the power asymmetries hidden behind supposedly “flat hierarchies” between
governance actors (Barnett & Duvall, 2005; Walters, 2004); the governmentality of governance
as a specific logic of rule-​making and implementation (Sending & Neumann, 2006); as well as
the genealogy of governance as a Eurocentric concept deeply embedded in neoliberal discourses
(Chandler, 2014; Davies, 2012). As we will discuss below, these tensions between status-​quo-​
oriented, descriptive-​analytical governance theories on the one hand and critical theories of gov-
ernance on the other also characterise debates on governance in development and, to a lesser
extent, scholarship on child rights governance. In the remainder of this chapter, we will show
that both of these perspectives on governance are highly relevant and useful for the study of child
rights and development. Governance may serve as an analytical lens for the analysis and relevance
of child rights in the development context. At the same time, a more critical engagement with
how governance has been used in academic discourse and the practice of child-​rights-​focused
development cooperation brings to light moments and processes of exclusion and contestation of
certain (historical) developments, patterns and effects of engaging with child rights and childhood
in development.

Child rights and the CRC

When discussing child rights internationally, the main normative point of reference certainly is the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ([UN]CRC), adopted in 1989 and, today,
the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. By now, the CRC and its 41 substantive
articles, together with the Convention’s three Optional Protocols, have become the cornerstone
instrument at the international level for assessing and promoting the relevance of the rights of chil-
dren in politics, law and society.
The CRC sets out the human rights of every person below the age of 18 years. At the centre
of the Convention is the recognition of children as independent (legal) subjects. The Convention
enshrines civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that can be subsumed under the
categories of protection, promotion and participation rights to which all children everywhere are
entitled to independently of their ethnicity, gender, religion, language, abilities or any other status.
Although the main responsibility in respecting, protecting and fulfilling these rights lies with CRC
State Parties, i.e. governments, the Convention stands out as one of the human rights treaties that
explicitly widens the range of duty-​bearers towards a large spectrum of actors, including muni-
cipalities, service providers, parents and caregivers, and, ultimately, society at large (Art. 5). The

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 Anna Holzscheiter, Felix Stadelmann, and Benjamin Stachursky

adoption of the CRC marked an important, though by far not uncontested, change in the perspec-
tive on children, from objects of charity to subjects of their own rights. Having gained hegemonic
status, the human rights of children as articulated in the CRC strongly influence policy-​making,
political and social practices as well as the production of knowledge on children and childhood. As
Holzscheiter et al. emphasise, though, “children’s rights have become an explicit instrument, not
only to protect and emancipate children from oppression but also to govern, regulate and control
children and childhoods” (Holzscheiter et al., 2019).
At least three central characteristics of the CRC have direct implications for a governance-​
focused discussion and analysis of child rights-​related development policies and practices. First,
the focus is on children’s agency as potentially claiming their human rights actively vis-​à-​vis
state and non-​state actors, which may justify their role as co-​governors. Second, the broad range
of duty-​bearers considered in the Convention serves to underline the roles and responsibilities
of actors beyond the state and, thus, points at a process of governance (rather than government)
in the realisation of child rights. Third, the definition of the age range of the CRC, especially
in practice, is closely related to questions of agency, representation and on who is considered a
legitimate partner/​stakeholder in governance. While the CRC considers any person under the age
of 18 years as a child, the United Nations and many development agencies define youth as aged
15–​24 years for statistical purposes, for policy and programming many countries and development
organisations are likely to engage individuals aged 10–​29 as a broader youth cohort, with the crit-
ical understanding that the transition from childhood to adulthood is not finite or linear and varies
across and within countries. This is relevant not only because youth is an important category for
development programming and many activities focusing on participation target this age group but
also because older adolescents might identify more as teenagers or youth rather than as children.
In this regard, inconsistencies and an overlap regarding the definition of children and youth in the
CRC and in development cooperation have implications for the actual involvement of children as
co-​governors.
While highlighting the centrality of the CRC as a normative point of reference in international
development, it is important to note that, from its very inception, the Convention has also witnessed
much contestation on different levels and from various actors. Hence, already the drafting of the
CRC as well as debates within UNICEF –​the UN agency responsible for providing humanitarian
and developmental aid to children worldwide –​after the adoption “show the considerable reluc-
tance of the organisation to fully subscribe to the idea of children’s human rights as enshrined in
the Convention” (Holzscheiter, 2010: 244). UNICEF adopted a rights-​based approach as one of its
core principles in 1998, eight years after the adoption of the CRC. The Executive Directive 1998–​
004, “Guidelines for Human Rights-​Based Programming Approach” provided initial guidance for
all UNICEF Country Programmes of Cooperation focused on the realisation of the rights of chil-
dren and women (Dorothy, 2001). While showing a near-​universal ratification rate –​the US is the
only country that has not yet ratified the Convention –​more than 70 State Parties from all regions
of the world have accompanied their ratification of the Convention with reservations (some of
which, by now, have been withdrawn), some of which far-​reaching, and/​or interpretative declar-
ations intended to limit the scope of their obligations (some of which have been withdrawn at a
later stage). Many governments too –​knowing the huge challenge in implementing CRC and in
the face of dwindling resources for vulnerable populations –​contest the idea of universal rights of
children. As the CRC contains far-​reaching and costly responsibilities for governments to imple-
ment social and economic rights, acknowledging children have rights itself, thus, brings to the fore
uncomfortable questions of inequality and redistribution. Contestation and resistance towards the

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principles and rights enshrined in the CRC, however, has not only come from governmental actors.
Indeed, the CRC has also encountered much resistance at the grassroots level. For instance, con-
servative, right-​wing and religious fundamentalist groups around the world as well as anti-​rights
groups have been vocally opposing the Convention (Quennerstedt et al., 2018). Hence, “even in
cases where governments have undertaken serious efforts to implement the provisions of the CRC
in their country’s legislation, certain clauses of the CRC seem to ‘encounter a powerful societal
resistance’ ” (Harris-​Short, 2003: 177).
A total of 33 years after the adoption of the CRC, Article 12 on the respect of the child’s
views stands out as a particularly troublesome dimension in the implementation of child rights –​
and one that is particularly relevant when assessing the practice of child rights governance.
On a micro-​level, McCafferty (2017) lays out the ethical, theoretical and practical challenges
regarding the implementation of Article 12 as a real-​world tool within social work and argues
for a more empowering approach to children’s participation. More broadly, the important aspect
of giving weight to the views of children –​although this is explicitly mentioned in Article 12 –​
“is not enshrined in all laws and settings, where this right should be ensured” (Krappmann,
2010: 511). This is especially true for younger children. Lundy (2007) developed a model for
duty-​bearers to capture the full extent of this provision. According to this model, four factors
must be considered in order to assess the extent to which the involvement of children is mean-
ingful: space, voice, audience and influence. In the context of our discussion of child rights
governance, Lundy’s model draws our attention to the difference between mere participation
(which may result in forms of tokenism) and children’s actual possibility to influence the out-
come of decision-​making processes. On a different level, the COVID-​19 pandemic has, once
more, brought to light the extent to which child rights, and particularly children’s rights to par-
ticipation and political representation in decisions affecting them, continue to be neglected in
crisis governance and beyond. Measures to respond to the COVID-​19 pandemic have reduced
spaces for children and youth to influence decision-​making and policies, in particular for those
without access to the internet (Cuevas-​Parra, 2021). These restrictions have been shown to
cement or even exacerbate inequality in developing and developed countries alike (Bessell,
2022; Kwan, 2022; Larkins & del Moral-​Espín, 2022).
Independently of the more radical and confrontational forms of contestation of the CRC that
call the very concept of children as rights holders into question, the above discussion serves as
a reminder that the CRC –​as any human rights treaty –​ought to be seen as a living legal instru-
ment (Hanson & Nieuwenhuys, 2013) that is “made sense of, given meaning and used in political,
social and legal processes in order to solve specific problems” (Holzscheiter et al., 2019: 275).
More than being “a fixed idea with clear cut contours to be traced from the past into present” child
rights should be treated as “an idea that is changing in meaning and expression, and that is ‘fused’
with different ways of conceptualising children and childhood” (Holzscheiter et al., 2019: 275).
The governance of child rights, thus, is ultimately centred around different and at times conflicting
interpretations of the CRC and the principles and rights it enshrines. The spectrum ranges from
essentialist and strictly legalistic definitions that see the norms as well as the mechanisms for their
implementation as clear and unequivocal on the one hand to interpretations of norms as malleable
in time and space, that need to be “translated” into local contexts and that, in this process, can be
contested and interpreted differently. Acknowledging, analysing and navigating these dynamics
is particularly important in the context of development cooperation, as it helps to understand the
tensions, contradictions and conflicting aspirations that might arise in a specific context when
dealing with the governance of child rights.

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 Anna Holzscheiter, Felix Stadelmann, and Benjamin Stachursky

Child rights governance

Following the above discussions on governance and child rights, child rights governance, in the
widest sense, refers to structures of shared authority –​often comprising public and private, state
and non-​state actors –​surrounding the implementation of children’s rights, including the distri-
bution of resources for child-​specific programs. More specifically, it refers to “how children’s
rights, and the principles and institutions associated with the idea of children’s rights, have become
part of the mechanisms, systems, actor constellations and instruments of governance across local,
national, regional and global levels” (Holzscheiter et al., 2019: 272). Following from the above,
an element inherent to the concept of child rights governance is that children ought, albeit to
varying degrees, to be acknowledged as potentially relevant actors of governance from the local
to the global level. In this sense, child rights governance necessarily also involves an analysis of
the diverse ways in which children and youth are (or ought to be) involved in the very processes
of creating and implementing rules and policies.
Interestingly though, it may be noted that despite the normative centrality of the understanding
of children as both “targets and shapers of governance” (Holzscheiter et al., 2019), even within
childhood studies only a few studies (see, for instance, Duhn, 2018; Nakata, 2015; Sealander,
2003; Smith, 2014) have systematically explored processes of governance of children and youth
or how the rights of children are “given shape in national and transnational politics, law and
society”. Beyond the field of childhood studies, many if not most analyses continue to be based
on an understanding of children and youth as primarily governed by others –​parents, teachers,
social services and religious authorities. Even within the field of childhood studies, scholarly lit-
erature from the Global South refers to children mostly as relational subjects rather than individ-
uals (Kehily, 2015; Markowska-​Manista, 2018). In global governance literature, more studies can
be found on the participation of children at the local level (Guerra, 2005; Masuku & Macheka,
2021; Riggio, 2002; Witter & Bukokhe, 2004) than at the national (Arnott, 2008; Couzens, 2012),
regional (Orman, 2022) or international level (O’Kane et al., 2021). Although there are examples
of the active involvement of children on these “higher” levels, the active role of children is less
acknowledged, in particular for younger age groups. Overall, it can be observed that “child rights
governance” as a concept is not very frequently explicitly used in scholarly research on childhood,
rights and development. Rather, more often, issues pertinent to the governance of child rights are
framed in terms of child participation, agency and citizenship.

Child rights governance and (meaningful) child participation

Broadly speaking, the right to participation and political representation are fundamental
prerequisites for democratic and pluralist governance. Scholars highlight the need to let children
as key stakeholders of child rights governance participate more actively across all levels. The
term “participation” should be understood in its entirety. Roger Hart’s (1997) influential “Ladder
of Participation” encompasses the many different degrees of participation starting from manipu-
lation, decoration and tokenism to being informed, consulted, taking initiative and eventually
being part of actual decision-​making. Therefore, the extent to which children are acknowledged
as social agents and governors in their own right depends not on whether children are able to par-
ticipate at all but on the extent to which they are allowed to do so effectively. Accordingly, Dar
and Wall (2011) argue that it requires not only political participation for children but also own
political representation in order to make a difference: “The right to political representation is so
fundamental to a society that it should be enjoyed as extensively as possible by all” (Dar & Wall,

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2011: 610). The inclusion of children as marginalised groups must go beyond the provision of
deliberate space for children to raise their voices. It is crucial to empower the experiences and
concerns of marginalised groups such as children to shape global norms and structures (Josefsson
& Wall, 2020).

Child rights governance and budgeting

In scholarly discussions of child rights governance, child rights budgeting appears as another
critical component of child rights governance (Augsberger et al., 2019; Byrne & Lundy, 2019;
Cabannes, 2004; Lundy et al., 2016). As Lundy argues, while adults are confronted with tech­­
nical, attitudinal and practical challenges in participatory budgeting, children are additionally
considered to be less capable of understanding the issue at hand (Lundy et al., 2020) despite the
fact that participatory budgeting improves policies, services and overall governance (Malena et al.,
2004). Consequently, children should be empowered to claim their rights, and adults should facili­
tate effective child participation, not represent them in all dimensions of governance. Regarding
development cooperation and policies, it seems that children are mostly considered as passive
targets of well-​intended policies. When child participation is promoted by development actors,
it is mostly under the scope of a project as highlighted by White and Choudhury (2007). This
danger of “projectisation” prohibits transformational change and extensive child participation
on different levels and governance mechanisms, including redistributive justice, social account-
ability and meaningful representation on local, national, regional and international levels (White
& Choudhury, 2007).

Child rights governance as a distinct frame in development

cooperation? Norm implementation, shifting responsibilities
and child participation
If child rights governance is taken to denote the institutional framework and organisational
structures that surround the implementation of children’s rights, the concept is certainly relevant
to key programming areas of development cooperation. Development agencies typically promote
good governance, which includes the dissemination of and respect for human rights and conse-
quently also child rights (Börzel & Hackenesch, 2013; Kjœr & Kinnerup, 2002; Williams, 2019).
This goes beyond government bodies and encompasses societal actors and the private sector
(Broberg & Sano, 2018; Weissbrodt & Kruger, 2004). The focus is set to balance interests and
work towards common goals such as providing access to public services for all and reducing pov-
erty. Although there is no single definition of “good governance”, it usually covers the following
aspects: full respect of human rights, promotion of the rule of law, strong civil society participation
including children, transparency, accountable institutions, efficient and effective public sector and
inclusion (OHCHR, 2022).
Overall, good governance is considered a prerequisite for achieving the goals of develop-
ment cooperation (Kaufmann et al., 2000; Knack, 2003). Extensive participation, consensus-​
based action, equitable and inclusive institutions as well as an efficient and effective public sector
guided by transparency and accountability build the foundation for the promise of human rights.
Simultaneously, human rights standards and principles provide a framework for the work of
governments and other political and social actors. Regarding the rights of children, the UNCRC
determines standards and principles and provides a set of values against which these actors can be
held accountable –​it appears that, in many ways, child rights governance is implicit in the legal

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framework of the CRC. Such child rights principles provide information that may be considered
among others in the development of legislative frameworks, policies and budgetary planning. In
return, child rights cannot be protected and respected sustainably without good governance. The
implementation and application of child rights depend on a proactive and enabling environment
with adequate administrative, managerial and political processes functioning under appropriate
legal frameworks and institutions responsible for safeguarding the rights and needs of the public
(OHCHR, 2022). Ultimately, good governance is measured by the extent to which human rights
are respected and integrated into political and institutional processes, which is seen as a require-
ment for achieving sustainable development. With regard to children’s rights, the question in this
context is whether governance structures, processes and actors effectively guarantee child rights,
such as access to education, sufficient food, personal security and the right to health and adequate
housing on the one hand and whether they enable child participation in the creation, implementa-
tion and evaluation of programmes on the other.
As already noted with a view to scholarly debates, it is interesting to point out that the concept
of child rights governance is not explicitly used by many stakeholders active in the fields of child
rights and development. While two key stakeholders such as Save the Children (STC) –​one of
the biggest and most influential international child rights NGOs –​ and UNICEF as well as some
NGOs such as Coram International or the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) do actively use the
concept, many other important development agencies do not use this specific frame for their activ-
ities. Indeed, STC stands out with its holistic policies and systematic acknowledgement of child
rights governance. The STC policy, designated in 2011 as a global theme for the organisation,
illustrates the multidimensionality of governance in practice and highlights the need to empower
children and enable their participation in governance practices. Similarly, UNICEF focuses on
providing guidance to governments on how to effectively implement the CRC and promotes child
participation explicitly in local governance structures (UNICEF, 2017). In contrast to these two
prominent organisations, other key stakeholders that also pursue similar activities to strengthen the
rights of children and integrate child rights across stakeholders at different levels do not use this
specific frame of reference. This is not to say that they are not active in fields relevant to the above
definition of child rights governance, but rather that they do not pursue holistic child rights gov-
ernance strategies, rather emphasising selective aspects such as child participation, child-​focused
budgeting, citizenship and empowerment.
Contemporary scholarly discourse reveals two approaches to child rights governance: the con-
cept of child rights governance as programmatic content (Ansell, 2016) vs. child rights governance
as a shift in responsibilities for the different actors, in particular towards more responsibility for
private actors (Bartlett et al., 2016; Weissbrodt & Kruger, 2004) and key stakeholder such as chil­­
dren and youth themselves (Tisdall, 2017). On the one hand, external actors are eager to take on
a more active part in child rights governance while also enabling children as key stakeholders to
participate themselves. On the other hand, they shape the programmatic scope of child rights gov-
ernance as an umbrella term for their understanding of the term through the publication and dis-
semination of their own approaches to this topic (STC, 2011, 2014). The mentioned international
development actors operate globally and thus “export” their understanding of child rights govern-
ance across target countries (Coram international, 2022; STC, 2014; UNICEF, 2022a). This means
that in practice, depending on the development actor and its understanding, the concept is being
used to improve/​assess the national and local implementation of child rights and/​or to strengthen
and expand child rights governance as a multi-​stakeholder approach, including the promotion of
child participation (STC, 2014; UNICEF, 2022c).

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Child rights governance in the practice of development cooperation

As mentioned above, STC is the largest private development actor that disseminates the concept of
child rights governance globally under its Child Rights Governance Global Initiative. UNICEF, as
the largest intergovernmental organisation for child rights, refers to the concept as child-​friendly
governance, which is highlighted as one of their targeted medium-​term changes in its global stra-
tegic plan 2022–​2025 (UNICEF, 2022b). With a stronger focus on national governments, ACPF
developed a Child-​Friendliness Index (CFI) to track progress in the “child-​friendliness” of African
governments by assessing governments’ performance in improving conditions for children
(ACPF, 2018).
The main normative framework of reference for development actors to promote the concept of
child rights governance is the CRC. While the CRC does not explicitly refer to governance and the
Committee on the Rights of the Child rarely directly mentions this concept, the Convention lays
the ground for the integration of governance concerns in its implementation. Art. 4 of the CRC
obligates State Parties to:

undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures for the implementa-
tion […]. With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, State Parties shall undertake
such measures to the maximum extent of their available resources and, where needed, within
the framework of international cooperation.

For the specific fulfilment of this article, the Committee on the Rights of Children provides
guidance in its General Comment No. 5 (2003) by identifying a set of so-​called General Measures
of Implementation (GMI) that need to be put in place to ensure good governance for children.
These GMIs work as a framework and specification of child rights governance. Out of the four
general principles of the CRC –​non-​discrimination (Art. 2); primary consideration of the child’s
best interest (Art. 3 (1)); right to life, survival and development (Art. 6); and right to be heard and
taken seriously (Art. 12) –​article 12 is certainly most directly related to the concept of child rights
governance. Article 12 guarantees children’s status as individuals with rights instead of objects of
pity. It stipulates that all children have the right to express their views freely and that their views
should be considered in all matters affecting them, according to their age and maturity. In its
General Comment No. 12 (2009), the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child further specifies
how Article 12 shall be legally interpreted and implemented in order to ensure the right of children
to be heard.
Since 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the related Agenda 2030 set the
framework for international development cooperation and its actors. The Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) explicitly points out that “Child participation is crit-
ical for the successful implementation of a universal sustainable development” and calls for chil-
dren to “be systematically involved in SDG processes, implementation and monitoring, and in
policy and programme design” (OHCHR, 2021: 4). By addressing aspects such as child-​specific
poverty (SDG 1.2), hunger (SDG 2), health (SDG 3), education (SDG 4), gender equality (SDG
5), climate change (SDG 13) or violence against children (SDG 16.2), the goals and targets of the
Agenda 2030 capture issues that are inherently linked to child rights. SDG 16.7 directly refers to
good governance by urging to “ensure responsive, inclusive and representative decision making
at all levels” which also includes children, especially when considering the aforementioned child
rights principles.

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Even though very few development actors embrace “child rights governance” as a programmatic
term or philosophy, many development agencies and actors, in fact, carry out activities that may be
subsumed under child rights governance as identified by the literature informing this contribution.
Many child-​focused programmes are carried out through collaborations and partnerships between
multiple stakeholders from the public and private sectors. At all levels –​municipal, local, national,
regional and international –​these joint programmes and initiatives support a national child rights
infrastructure encompassing advocating for laws and policies, increased and adequate spending on
children, promoting child participation in local and national governance (Witteborn, 2010), birth
registration (Pais, 2002) and child access to information (Marshall et al., 2017). Concrete activ­­
ities also include training and capacity building in state institutions and of professionals (teachers,
health workers, service providers etc.), children and parents. Also, cooperation and collaboration
with civil society is fostered. Thereby, some CSOs represent the interest of children as right-​
holders while others deliver and organise services for children. Development actors encourage the
engagement with regional bodies such as the Inter-​American Commission on Human Rights or the
African Committee of Experts on Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC). In these activities,
the inclusion and empowerment of children is often a key concern: Witteborn (2010) elaborates on
the logics of transnational NGOs that promote self-​expression and participatory decision-​making
for children and youth on a local level but also stresses the importance of reflecting on the values
taught and supported in the local context and possible implications for the individual and society.
Trivelli and Morel (2021) conclude that rural youth inclusion, empowerment and participation
can produce substantial results, in particular by collecting their opinions around relevant issues,
capitalising rural youth and articulating rural youth with institutions and organisations. The Child
Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) by UNICEF is a prime example for promoting child rights gov-
ernance in cities. The initiative was launched in 1996 as a result of the United Nations Conference
on Human Settlements where the wellbeing of children was identified as the ultimate indicator
of good governance. Today, the initiative spreads across around 40 countries globally, although
the majority of the countries are in the Global North. The approach does not remain undisputed;
scholars criticise the lack of context-​sensitive standards that take local resources, culture and his-
tory into account and identify a commercially motivated component of the concept (van Vliet &
Karsten, 2015).
As mentioned above with reference to Lundy, children and youth are not automatically
involved in budget planning. Nevertheless, various scholars speak out in favour of promoting
youth(-​led) participatory budgeting. STC promotes not only child-​centred budgeting but also
the inclusion of children in planning and budgeting processes within the scope of its CRGI
(STC, 2014). Examples of children’s participation in the municipal budget in Brazil and Portugal
were evaluated as positive in the scientific discourse (Cabannes, 2018; Guerra, 2005; Marquetti
et al., 2012).
The openness and multidimensionality of the concept of child rights governance make it diffi-
cult to measure and assess its practical effects. ACPF developed a measurement and monitoring
framework with 27 indicators to track the child-​friendliness of governments based on three
dimensions: protection (legal and policy framework), provision (including budget expenditure
and child wellbeing outcomes achieved) and participation (efforts of governments made to ensure
child participation) (ACPF, 2018). Regular child rights and human rights reports provide further
insight into the meaningful implementation of child rights, including core dimensions of child
rights governance such as legal reforms, budget allocation or child participation. In a wider sense,
thus, a comprehensive review of domestic human rights implementation such as the Universal
Periodic Review (UPR) may be seen as potentially involving an assessment of child rights

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governance. Other mechanisms to observe and measure the degree of child rights governance
and whether children play a role in it include regular CRC State Parties reporting, (independent)
institutions for children’s rights (Council of Europe, STC, ACPF, World Vision etc.), child rights
impact assessments and child-​rights-​focused budget analysis.
Overall, our overview of the theory and practice of child rights governance in development
cooperation evidences that the role and agency of children themselves are often identified as a
neglected aspect in efforts to implement, promote and improve child rights governance. With a
view to central debates on children’s citizenship and their economic and political agency, the par-
ticipatory dimension of child rights governance stands out as particularly important. However, the
agency of children as “co-​governors” is not firmly entrenched in existing policies and programmes
of child rights governance. As UNICEF points out: “in practice, child participation is often token-
istic, it may exclude vulnerable groups, and evidence of its impact is frequently limited” (UNICEF,
2017: 1).

Conclusion
Our chapter has discussed the extent to which a governance perspective on child rights and devel-
opment has theoretical and practical relevance. We noted that, to date, its value is twofold: on the
one hand, it may serve as a descriptive-​analytical tool for scholars, practitioners and evaluators
of development policies, in order to carve out how child rights are translated into concrete gov-
ernance structures and policies in the context of development cooperation. In that vein, and from
a critical point of view, it helps to identify moments and processes of exclusion and contest-
ation. Second, as an element of good governance, the focus on child rights governance serves
to evaluate the extent to which legal, political and societal implementation of international child
rights standards reflect a greater emphasis on the needs, rights and interests of children (e.g. in
legal reform, budgeting, programming priorities), shifting responsibilities, as well as greater par-
ticipation and agency of children.
As we have discussed in our chapter, the CRC speaks to a multiplicity of duty-​bearers beyond
governments, calling for active inclusion and participation of children themselves in claiming
their rights. Looking at the practice of development cooperation, however, it appears that in the
practical translation of child rights governance, the actual involvement of children as co-​governors
faces difficulties as some grassroots groups vocally oppose the CRC. As both child rights and
governance are two concepts that continue to be debated among governments and across cultures,
more work needs to be done to understand how development actors confront child rights govern-
ance as a contested concept. In fact, as we observe, “child rights governance” is a concept that
is by and large not explicitly used by many stakeholders active in the fields of child rights and
development, despite the fact that prominent development agencies have adopted policies on child
rights governance.
Despite a growing acknowledgement of the human rights of children and young people,
including their right to be heard and represented in policy-​making processes, the practice of child
rights governance suggests that it may remain a controversial issue in development cooperation
for a number of reasons. In the first place, we observe that many development actors carry out
programs/​activities that could be labelled “child rights governance”, but they do not adopt child
rights governance as an overall philosophy or programmatic goal. There appears, thus, to be con-
siderable resistance to embedding child rights in a systematic and holistic manner into develop-
ment governance, particularly when it comes to the participatory dimensions of CRG. In the light
of increasing (rather than decreasing) attacks on human rights and diversity by anti-​liberal state

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and non-​state actors, we expect child rights to lose rather than gain relevance in development
cooperation. What is more, mounting evidence on the exclusivity of many global partnerships
and initiatives working in development cooperation suggests that despite their promise to increase
access and pluralisation in global governance, the opposite may be the case. Frequent concerns
about the “shrinking space” for civil society actors are as much linked to the recent wave of
authoritarianism and right-​wing populism as they result from ever more exclusive, club-​like
institutions of global governance. Further research is needed into the effects that these broader
developments will have on the relevance of child rights in development cooperation, including the
possibilities of children and young people themselves to access relevant institutional spaces and
to be meaningfully represented in the spaces in which politics and programmes of development
cooperation are negotiated.

Note
1 United Nations, “2030 agenda”, see: www.sdgs.un.org/​203​0age​nda, last access 10 March 2023.

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 27
THE POLITICS OF
CHILD RIGHTS
Protecting the “World-​Child,” Governing the Future

Jana Tabak

Introduction
In 2017, at a special event to mark the World Children’s Day, the United Nations Secretary-​General
António Guterres affirmed:

Whenever I meet children –​including and especially those living in the poorest, most des-
perate situations, suffering terrible hardships –​they never fail to inspire me with their smiles,
their laughter, their vision and their hope. In a world that can so often seem to be a hopeless
place, we need children’s hope, more than ever.
(UN, Department of Public Information, emphasis added)

Through such a statement, it is possible to identify the images of children that prevail in inter-
national politics, which have been classified by Malkki (2010) into five interrelated registers: (i)
children as sufferers; (ii) children as embodiments of basic human goodness; (iii) children as seers
of truth; (iv) children as ambassadors of peace; and (v) children as embodiments of the future.
As both ambassadors of international peace and embodiments of a good future for the world,
children’s lives, their development, and formation, in the future, as useful members of society, have
been rendered to incisive and different forms of control and disciplinary normalization techniques.
Also, their treatment, as Holzscheiter argues, operates as an indicator of “civilization” (2010). In
the former UN Secretary-​General Kofi Annan’s words: “A society whose children are malnour-
ished, abused, undereducated or exploited cannot truly claim to be progressing or to be developed,
however impressive its economic growth or per-​capita income levels might be” (2001, p.103).
Considering the discourse on childhood as a site for investment in the future, this chapter aims
to understand, in order to resist, what goes on at the boundaries or limits of politics orchestrated
through and by the “child rights governance” (Holzscheiter et al., 2019) that simultaneously
imagines and (re)produces the possibilities and impossibilities of a particular kind of child and
childhood. Within this approach, the children’s rights documents must be understood as “an
explicit instrument, not only to protect and emancipate children from oppression, but also to
govern, regulate, and control children and childhoods” (Holzscheiter et al., 2019, p.272). In this
model, authorized and reproduced by mechanisms of child protection and development, the child

364 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-33

 The Politics of Child Rights

has several set features, such as immaturity, vulnerability, and reduced capability until the age of
18, and there are certain set needs and requirements for it to develop healthily, safely, and happily
toward adulthood.
The focus here is on the lines that flow from children’s rights, and the principles and inter-
national institutions associated with the idea of children’s rights, in order to both discriminate and
to connect: to include, to exclude, to both include and exclude, and, in doing so, to affirm both the
possibility and impossibility of particular versions of the child, the adult-​citizen and of the world.
These lines –​boundaries or limits –​are, thus, understood as sites and moments of political engage-
ment rather than as simple borders that distinguish one form of being here or now and another form
of being there or then.
Specifically, the highly complex discussions involving the rights of children serve here as a
window through which I aim to explore some of the boundaries that articulate the discourse about
what I have termed the “world-​child” (Tabak, 2020). In order to engage more carefully with the
way particular accounts of drawing these lines work to shape not only where, when, and what we
think children and childhood are, but also what we claim to be the world and its desirable future,
I identify and work with three overlapping and interrelated discourses that are articulated and
(re)produced through the child rights governance. The first of these includes statements about what
could be called a natural child, in which “objective” conceptions of children’s social and biological
needs are established and universalized. It is prescribed according to some “stages and scripts” that
must be followed by every child. Associated with the very idea of children’s universal needs, the
second discourse (re)produces the world-​child as being inherently innocent and vulnerable and,
because of that, the object of international protection. The third discourse, for its turn, articulates
childhood as deserving of investment in the future by expressing concerns about children’s devel-
opment toward becoming productive members of society, the “world-​adult-​citizen” per se. These
two discourses are connected to the time fragments of present and future simultaneously: first,
childhood in the present time is like a piece of blank paper which is filled with the path of devel-
opment that has to be followed by everyone, coloring the world with the crayons that paint and
imagine a particular version of it; and, secondly, the world-​child is articulated as an object of
international concerns as its development process, depending on its script, maybe the golden road
to make the future come closer to reality or the driver of the disordered reality. At the end of the
day, the three discourses express and reproduce the bounded temporal-​space of the child and, at
the same time, authorize the governance of the world’s future. The conceptual links between the
international order, mechanisms of child development/​protection, and the natural child are thereby
articulated and promoted through the world-​child as the norm (Tabak, 2020).
As such, the concept of the world-​child differs from what Boyden (2005) criticized in terms
of a “global standard of childhood” as an ideal of a safe, happy, and protected childhood, which
is exported from the West to the rest of the world regardless of the diversity of cultures and pri-
orities in different societies. Following the discussion introduced by Boyden (2005), the term
“world-​child,” on one hand, speaks of a general, abstract child as if all children shared an essential
set of immutable characteristics, needs, and course of development toward adulthood. However,
on the other hand, it also highlights and invites us to reflect on the lines of the bounded cat-
egory of the world, the supposedly broad context within which modern political life has been
possible, which cannot be disconnected from a totalizing, coherent, and abstract child as an exem-
plar and is only possible through a certain grammar of order, responsibility, and progress. Or, as
the former UNICEF Executive Director, Henry R. Labouisse said in his acceptance speech when
the UN agency was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965: “(…)each time UNICEF contributes
(…) to giving today’s children a chance to grow into useful and happier citizens, it contributes

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to removing some of the seeds of world tension and future conflicts.” This is why I insist on
hyphenating the concept of the “world-​child” as it stands for a circularity between the limits that
articulate the boundaries of what a “normal” childhood is supposed to be (based on a supposedly
universal model for the development of mature citizens) and which are instrumental in defining
and maintaining a particular version of the world predicated on notions of order and security, and
its modern promise of a tomorrow better than today.
In other words, the idea of sameness contained in the norm of the world-​child embodies a
guarantee of a better future not only for children but also for all humanity. Bartelson (1995)
highlights that the world encompasses a very particular conception of time, which is a
succession of events that is always linear, always progressive. This belief in progress enables
an interpretation of history as a journey toward a better future: a stable, peaceful world. In this
future, man will be able to transcend the borders of the world, leave behind its insides and
outsides, and inhabit a domesticated, globalized space belonging to a perfected humanity. This
idea is operationalized, for example, by mechanisms for protecting and developing a universal
model of the child (the world-​child). However, if these prevailing discourses about the child
and its childhood are only “an unstable victory won at the expense of other possible nows”
(Shapiro, 1992, p.12), the world-​child is only one possibility and the multiplicity of childhoods
is only deviancy in relation to this model.
Within this approach, using the term “world” instead of “global/​globalized” operates as a way
of resisting the modern political aspiration of creating/​imagining a world without insides and
outsides through the reproduction of highly generalized formal patterns of being –​childhood is
just one of these ideals. My overall argument is that it is simply impossible to imagine a world
that exceeds these limits and is transformed into a universalized and inclusive globe, once this par-
ticular and prevailing version of the world and of the child need a constitutive outside/​other to be
able to recognize themselves as the only –​or the best –​possibility. As Walker affirms:

To assert the universality of any particular value (like life, or freedom, or right, or justice) is
immediately to express some kind of conditionality (like mortality, or necessity, or obliga-
tion, or law), and thus to invite some sort of limitation.
(2010, p.188)

In this sense, the term world –​instead of global –​expresses fragmentation rather than unity,
a world of modern citizens (the future profile of the world-​child), rather than the universality
encompassing the globe as a whole, which is always a desirable promise to be reached. To treat
the world and globe as synonyms is to invite a seductive leap into discourses of universalization
sustained by many inclusions/​exclusions and marginalization.
In order to explore these processes of framing and making sense of the borders of the world-​
child, the chapter is divided into two main sections, besides this Introduction. In the next section,
I return to the three discourses, which are articulated and reproduced through the child rights gov-
ernance, and analyze the boundaries of the world-​child through two interrelated key themes: protec-
tion and development. As such, I aim to discuss how children’s rights have, over time, determined,
arranged, and defined the boundaries and dimensions that articulate not so much different ways
of codifying children’s behavior as ways of normalizing what a child is and the journey it takes
to become its future profile as a “world-​(adult) citizen” who is competent and educated enough
to participate in the particular version of the world and to reproduce its promise of a progressive
future.

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In such an approach, childhood and children are not only objects of my attention but also
operate as analytical categories. That is, instead of (re)producing the prevailing narratives, I make
an alliance with childhood not as a chronological phase of life, but as a condition with its infinite
power of (re)starting, of questioning, showing that, ultimately, when we think, we are always
in the beginning. In this sense, childhood is the realm of possibilities and the absence of deter-
mination (Kohan, 2015). When childhood operates as an analytical category, it assumes different
meanings: it is neither about absence nor insufficiency, but about the many possibilities to explore
what has not been said or experienced yet. In doing so, it might be possible to offer a chance to
think about “other ways of becoming otherwise in worlds that do not end where we have learned
to draw the line with such elegance, and with such violence” (Walker, 2010, p.258).

The “Politics on/​of the Line”: One World-​Child, One Future

As the holders of the “promise of a good future,” children have been submitted to incisive
mechanisms dedicated to their protection and development toward adulthood that, at the same
time, authorize and are reproduced through the norm of the world-​child. What is distinctive about
the discourse of the world-​child is how the ambivalent meaning of the child –​as both the promise
of a good future and at the same time the risk of the uncivilized “becoming” as a source of threat to
this particular version of the world –​is internationally addressed. In this sense, the social and inter-
national regulation of children’s lives through the child rights governance is not only about rec-
ognizing their rights but rather operate as an apparatus of governance and control that is designed
to invest in the construction of a progressive international order that rests on the transformation
of the world-​child into the world-​citizen. As such, the children’s rights, as Abebe affirms, in the
conversation about “Global”/​“Local” childhood, are seen “as ‘rightful’ pathways to solving com-
plex problems of childhood,” and, I would add, the problems of the world order. However, Abebe
concludes: “This is not necessarily positive for –​or seen as desirable by –​children and their fam-
ilies” (2018, p.278). Children’s rights, thus, entail attributing distinctive rights and duties to both
children and adults, determining the objects and agents of protection, setting the scope and time
limits for protection and development programs, identifying violations of such protections, and
establishing punishments in cases of violation.
In this section, I seek to explore the rights of the children dedicated to their protection and
development in order to analyze the story they tell us about the mechanisms designed to order a
particular version of the child and the world that claims to be universal. In order to engage with
the politics of/​on the line that express and enable the regulative ideal of the world-​child, I draw
on official documents devoted exclusively to children –​the so-​called children’s rights milestones,
which include: the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child, adopted by the League of
Nations in 1924, and the documents produced by or in consultation with the United Nations, in
particular UNICEF, such as the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959); the International
Year of the Child (1979); the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC); the World
Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and the plan of action for its
implementation in the 1990s, adopted at the World Summit for Children in 1990; Convention No.
182 concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of
Child Labour, adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1999, the resolution “A
World Fit for Children” adopted by the UN General Assembly at a Special Session on Children
in 2002; and the five-​year follow-​up to this UN General Assembly Special Session on Children,
which ended with the “Declaration of the Commemorative High-​level Plenary Meeting devoted
to the Follow-​up to the Outcome of the Special Session on Children,” (United Nations General

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Assembly, 2008) which acknowledges the progress made and the challenges that remain, and
reaffirms a commitment to the World Fit for Children compact, the UNCRC, and its Optional
Protocols. Also, two other international standards on human rights that are not devoted exclusively
to children, but which comprise the group of norms concerning the protection of children and their
rights, are analyzed here: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United
Nations in 1948, and Convention No. 138 on the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment,
adopted by the ILO in 1973. Based on this analysis, it is interesting to note how, in the 1990s, the
concept of protecting children emerged as a core obligation and how this international focus on
childhood has been associated with the (re)production of a particular version of the world since
the end of the Cold War.

The Governed World-​Child: Protecting the Vulnerable Becoming

As an idea and a target, the world-​child has become inextricably connected to the aspirations of
international actors, such as the United Nations and, more specifically, UNICEF. In the period
following World War II, international practices –​in particular, UNICEF advocacy –​concentrated
on the physical well-​being and protection of children as encapsulated by the Declaration of the
Rights of the Child (UN General Assembly, 1959), which complements the rights established in
the Declaration of Geneva (League of Nations, 1924) with an emphasis on the explicit right to
protection in order to guard children against violence and harm.
The 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in its second principle, states that

[t]‌he child shall enjoy special protection, and shall be given opportunities and facilities,
by law and by other means, to enable him to develop physically, mentally, morally, spir-
itually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and
dignity.

Later, in Principle 9, it affirms that “[t]‌he child shall be protected against all forms of neglect,
cruelty and exploitation.” In 1979, the UN General Assembly introduced –​ and justified –​ the
International Year of the Child by stating it was

[d]‌eeply concerned that, in spite of all efforts, far too many children, especially in developing
countries, are undernourished, are without access to adequate health services, are missing
the basic educational preparation for their future and are deprived of the elementary amen-
ities of life.
(United Nations General Assembly, 1979, emphasis in the original)

For its part, the majority of the articles of the UNCRC (UN General Assembly, 1989) refer to the
protection and care of children in light of their specific vulnerabilities, including survival and
development (Article 6) and family life (Articles 9 and 10). Other articles (for example, 19, 23,
and 27) set out how the child’s health and welfare are to be secured and protected. In particular,
Article 19, which serves as guidance for UNICEF child protection practices, states:

States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational
measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse,

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neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while

in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.

The use of the term “special” to qualify child protection –​as it is used in the Declaration of the
Rights of the Child –​and the focus on children’s physical well-​being in child protection practices
articulate children’s special status as a distinct category of people who is in need of special con-
cern and attention for their rights (Hanson, 2022). Furthermore, the idea of the natural child,
(re)produced by the focus on children’s physical well-​being within child protection practices,
associated with a discourse that articulates the world-​child as an object of international protection,
frames a hierarchical relationship between the child –​naturally special and naturally innocent and
in need of protection and services –​and adults, as the dominant providers, as if it were the only
possibility. As the former UN Secretary-​General, Kofi Annan, affirms: “ ‘we as adults’ have an
irrefutable duty to create a world fit for children, that is the kind of world that children deserve”
(2001, p.101, emphasis added).
The world-​child’s protected (and regulated) life has its spaces circumscribed and limited to
home/​school/​recreational centers. In this regard, the family unit is (re)produced as a fundamental
group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-​being of all its members,
especially children. Within this approach, the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in its principle
6 states: “he [the child] shall, wherever possible, grow up in the care and under the responsibility
of his parents, and, in any case, in an atmosphere of affection and of moral and material security.”
The preamble of the UNCRC reproduces the idea of the family environment as a safe and loving
place –​fundamental aspects for the development of a still dependent, vulnerable, and innocent
being. When these international practices refer to the relevance of the family environment for the
world-​child’s normal development, they are also implying a particular world-​family structure that
equals a patriarchal nuclear family, as the prevailing reference point for child-​rearing and devel-
opment. The mother, it is assumed, will have primary responsibility for guaranteeing that her chil-
dren develop appropriately, while the state must perform a policing role, intervening whenever the
family does not act appropriately. Should the state fail, then the international community must step
in as both provider and protector so the child does not lose its childhood and the world does not
miss out on its chance for a progressive future.
Although the UNCRC adds a new category of children’s rights to participation, it is argued
here that it does not form a decisive break from child-​saving and is not a paradigm shift in the
governance of childhood. Article 12.1 from the UNCRC is probably the best example of the coex-
istence of the vulnerable and the competent child in international children’s rights law and it
takes us back to the conception of childhood that establishes children’s development as a pro-
gressive gradation through stages, marked by years, to ever-​greater competence and maturity. For
the children’s rights discourse to be reconstructed so it can work as an emancipatory mechanism
instead of a disciplining one, it needs to engage in further dialog about the nature and boundaries
of the agentive, competent, knowing child who makes meaning with regard to her/​his own life-
world (Spyrous et al., 2019) and to “recognize children’s citizenship comprising children’s respon­
sibilities, include marginalized childhoods, overcome essentialist adult-​child divides and take
into account class, ethnicity and gender as important variables for the advancement of children’s
rights” (Hanson, 2022, p.150–​151).
After all, the international obligation to protect children is authorized precisely by this particular
articulation of the natural child as an inherently irrational, innocent adult or human in the making.
In this regard, protection mechanisms are designed to assure a process of development informed
by both the universalized idea of childhood and its very clear telos to children’s development. To

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draw on Bigo’s (2006) discussion, the world-​child’s protection, identified through the children’s
rights milestones, may be associated with the idea of tutore, which means “to look after.” In Bigo’s
words, protection as tutore is

[...] to help in the present and for the future. It reinforces the monitoring and the surveillance
of the protected but in the name of love. It is a caring voice which substitutes the will of the
protected for the will of the protector.
(2006, p.92)

Here, we could substitute “in the name of love” for the principle “in the best interests of the
child” –​or of the world’s future –​calling attention to the world-​child as an object of external inter-
vention. This particular way of articulating protection as tutore is even clearer in the discourse
about the natural child as being universally neutral, expressed in international politics as a “zone
of peace” and a site of investment in the future.
The children’s rights framework is not only authorized and reproduces the fragment of
present time articulated by and through the norm of the atemporal world-​child described in
the Introduction of this chapter but also articulates and is made possible by the fragment of
the future time. The preoccupations about children’s development toward becoming useful
members of society permeate all the international practices under analysis here. In the next
subsection, the discourse on the world-​child as a site for investment in the future is explored
by focusing essentially on two issues: (i) the (re)production of the idea of school education as
a fundamental element of the world-​child’s preparation for the future; and (ii) the articulation
of the promise of a progressive future for international relations predicated on notions of order
and stability which are maintained and (re)produced by world-​citizens; i.e., the future profile
of the world-​child.

The Governed World-​Child: Protecting the Vulnerable Future Ahead of “Us”

In 2002, the United Nations outlined its vision of a world fit for children, in which its notion of
the “child fit for the world” was (re)produced through the themes of protection and development
(or preparation):
A world fit for children is one in which all children get the best possible start in life and have
access to a quality basic education, including primary education that is compulsory and available
free to all, and in which all children, including adolescents, have ample opportunity to develop
their individual capacities in a safe and supportive environment. We will promote the physical,
psychological, spiritual, social, emotional, cognitive, and cultural development of children as a
matter of national and global priority (UN General Assembly, 2002, p.14).
This joint commitment reflected the same goal already established in the Declaration of Geneva
(1924), whose provisions were premised on the understanding that “mankind owes to the Child the
best that it has to give.” Specifically, its second provision says:

The child that is hungry must be fed; the child that is sick must be nursed; the child that is
backward must be helped; the delinquent child must be reclaimed; and the orphan and the
waif must be sheltered and succored.

Biological needs, such as those associated with hunger and illness, psychological issues, like those
related to being “backward” in relation to some kind of normality, and moral aspects, such as

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treating the “delinquent” are conflated together and must all be addressed by “men and women of
all nations.” In Wall’s words, this overall provision-​based approach pointed toward chiefly devel-
opmental grounds: “Society owes children the necessary means for growing up to become healthy
and productive members of the world” (2008, p.534).
It is interesting to note how the health, welfare, and “normal” development of the child
prescribed in the children’s rights milestones has been linked in thought and practice to the fate
and responsibilities of the nation-​state and the world. This idea is clearly (re)produced in the
International Year of the Child resolution: “Recognizing the fundamental importance in all coun-
tries, developing and industrialized, of programmes benefiting children not only for the well-​being
of the children but also as part of broader efforts to accelerate economic and social progress” (UN
General Assembly, 1979, preamble; emphasis added). In the same vein, the World Declaration
(1990, p.19) affirms that giving high priority to children’s survival, protection, and development
will ensure the wellbeing of all societies. The message is even more explicit in its Plan of Action
for Implementing the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children
in the 1990s (United Nations General Assembly, 1990, p.3), which relates children’s development
to the progress of humanity:

Progress for children should be a key goal of overall national development. It should also
form an integral part of the broader international development strategy for the Fourth United
Nations Development Decade. As today’s children are the citizens of tomorrow’s world,
their survival, protection and development is the prerequisite for the future development of
humanity (emphasis added).

That is, investing in children’s health, nutrition, and education is, this Plan of Action tells us,
the “foundation for national development” (UN General Assembly, 1990, p.3) and, as such, the
children’s rights framework operates as the necessary political and legal tools to advocate to
making society a better place (Hanson, 2022).
Within this formulation, children are not just an abstract symbol used to promote peace and
a progressive future, the bodies and minds of both “endangered” and “healthy” children are the
targets for the investment, authorization, and (re)production of the promise of a better future.
Hence, progress for the child and the progress of the world coincide or, rather, are co-​(re)produced.
That is, two important discursive movements happen simultaneously: (i) the articulation of the
world-​child as an immature, irrational, and vulnerable becoming whose time is predicated on the
notion of a particular desirable developmental journey toward adulthood; and (ii) the establish-
ment of the idea that international development promotes the reconciliation of a linear progress
(seen as an inevitability) with order and security, which are maintained and (re)produced by world-​
citizens (Tabak, 2020).
Effectively, by developing the child, the promise of a progressive future for the world order
is protected. Or, by disciplining the child, risks of international instability and insecurity may be
kept at bay. Furthermore, the connection between children’s development and national and inter-
national security and progress may also be read through a familiar political narrative whereby it is
not only “morally right” to protect and care for children, especially those in poor circumstances,
but not doing so could lead to wars and political instability. Or, according to the concluding para-
graph of the five-​year follow-​up to the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children, “a
World Fit for Children,” (2007, p.5) the best interest of all humanity (not necessarily “the best
interests of the child”) is served by ensuring the well-​being of all children in all societies, with a
collective sense of “urgency.”

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 Jana Tabak

The discourse of the world-​child that relates child development to international progress makes
some spaces normalized as places for children. Within a conception of temporality predicated on
the notion of being “in process” of formation, schools are the ideal place for children to learn and
to be prepared by imparting knowledge so they can “become a useful member of society.” The
Declaration of the Rights of the Child says:

it will […] promote his [the child’s] general culture and enable him, on a basis of equal
opportunity, to develop his abilities, his individual judgment, and his sense of moral and
social responsibility, and to become a useful member of society.
(UN General Assembly, 1959, principle 7)

The UN General Assembly resolution on the International Year of the Child (principle 7),
for its turn, reaffirmed the international commitment to children’s education in exactly the same
terms as the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child and added that “[t]‌he child shall have
full opportunity for play and recreation, which should be directed to the same purposes as edu-
cation.” Article 29 of the UNCRC, for its part, refers specifically to children’s right to education,
saying that it must be directed to “[t]he development of the child’s personality, talents and mental
and physical abilities to their fullest potential” (item A) and, in this sense, to the child’s prepar-
ation for a responsible life in a free society (item D). More recently, in 2015, the United Nations
adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that work as a universal call to action to
end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
The fourth Goal “Quality Education” affirms, thus: “Achieving inclusive and quality education
for all reaffirms the belief that education is one of the most powerful and proven vehicles for
sustainable development,” which resonates with the same message articulated by the previous
documents. Nikolas Rose, thus, argues that education is at the same time imposed and recognized
as a personal right for the child and as a social and collective right since it implies the “duty of
each individual to improve and civilize themselves for the benefit of the social health of the com-
munity” (1999, p.124).
With their “promise of a good future,” the maturing of the world-​child is not just one of seri-
ation (a sequence of moments and tasks), but a continuous and evolutionary journey from being a
“savage” to becoming a “modern citizen,” which articulates simultaneously, a progressive future
for the world. In the end, reproduced and authorized by the child rights governance, the three
overlapping and interrelated discourses that articulate the boundaries of the norm of the world-​
child –​the natural child, the inherently innocent child, and the child as a site of investment in
the future –​make possible the mechanisms of child protection and development through which
children’s multiplicity is dissolved into individual docile bodies that can, in Foucault’s terms
(1995), be kept under surveillance, trained, used, transformed, and improved. In so doing, not only
a totalizing, coherent, abstract child as exemplary is continuously reproduced, but also a particular
version of the world with its promise of a progressive and peaceful future is permanently (re)
imagined, promoted, and kept under protection.
In the face of the universalization of child rights governance, it might be possible to argue that
the “universality-​within-​particularity” (Walker, 2010). I call that the “world-​child” has become
hegemonic as a cultural and political form of being. However, the analysis here does not lead us
to adopt the universality as such, but to engage, in order to question, a specific political articu-
lation of universality-​within-​particularity that must necessarily generate huge challenges and
violent exclusions at the line at which this model meets its external conditions of possibilities,
such as different worlds and childhoods that express possibilities for heterogeneity and plurality.

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Following on this effort, in its next and last section, the chapter explores the possibility –​and
limits –​of (re)imagining the child, the world, and its future not as a complete switch from one
version to a completely new one, but as contingent political forms, whose boundaries are not
silenced or essentialized, but rather fluid and always in the process of being drawn and redrawn.

The Politics of Childhood: (Re)imagining the World-​Child and

(Dis)governing the World
According to the analysis here, the social and international regulation of children’s lives through
child rights governance is not just about recognizing their rights but is designed for their govern-
ance and control on account of the threat to the stability of the world order they pose in the present
or will pose in the future. Within this discursive formulation, where the risks associated with the
child as a developmental potential are always present, possible deviations in relation to the world-​
child as the norm are not excluded or extinguished. In fact, notions of normality are extrapolated
from the international attention directed toward those children in the Global South, such as child-​
soldiers, refugee children, and girls who marry young, who deviate from the normalized course of
development prescribed by the children’s rights.
In this sense, following from Rose’s discussion on the governance of the child (1999), the
world-​child operates in four guises: as that which is natural and healthy; as that against which
children are judged and found deviant or pathological; as that which is to be produced by (devel-
opmental and protection) programs; and as that which provides the rationale for intervention
when “reality” and “normality” fail to coincide. Children and worlds are, thus, made visible or
articulated only through the articulation of the model of a single world-​child, allowing some of
them to be modified, normalized, universalized, and included in the group of (normal) children,
while many others are left out.
This final and concluding section aims to bring forth the complexity of what has come to be
treated as the naturalized ideas of the (particular) child and the (particular) world. As Walker
(2010, p.257) suggests, the challenge is “to reimagine the potentials that might be created in a
sustained politicization of the boundaries, borders and limits of modern political formations,”
when there may or may not be perfect synchronicity between real children’s childhoods and the
one prescribed by the world-​child. In this sense, by approaching childhood not only as an object of
attention but also as an analytical category, the idea is that no fixed truth will be gleaned from such
a process. Childhood –​or infancy –​here does not mean standing before in a chronological time,
but an inaugural time, a condition that makes us keep questioning, what challenges the world,
which reminds “us” of what the world claims to have left behind or outside its borders and does
not want to remember.
Then, the discussion here converges on the status and politics of boundaries, which may appear
or be articulated as clean lines that organize modern political life by dictating that we belong here,
you belong there, and they belong elsewhere (Walker, 2006, p.57), they are actually anything but
straightforward, as they (re)produce inclusions and exclusions that authorize a kind of (normal)
childhood, and social order not only in domestic life inside nation-​states, but also in the world.
As already argued here, the concept of world neither refers to global sameness nor universality,
but rather to a particular version of it that is colored and defined by the multiplying boundaries
that reproduce and set the models and standards that mark out the pathways for those who are
outside and have to follow to be admitted and brought into the world. The preparation of children
to become the (adult) citizen, for example, is a task taken on by the world, while the need for par-
ticularistic mediations, such as nation-​states, schools, or families, is subsumed within a discourse

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 Jana Tabak

of absolute universality, working in the name of a better future for humanity. Children are, in fact,
considered as all the same.
At the end of this analysis, what becomes clear is the need to destabilize the model of the world-​
child in order to move toward considering a multiplicity of childhoods and children that do not
fit the models assigned to them. The challenge, however, is how to question the world-​child norm
and its many silences and exclusions without problematizing the idea of the world-​citizen who is
entitled to keep the modern promise of a progressive future ahead of “us,” the adult-​citizen.
One way of engaging in an alternative approach to childhood is to take on the “global” that
reflects fluidity, instability, and relationality, as suggested by Abebe et al. (2022): “that the ‘global’
is a relational field that constitutes and is constitutive of childhood and children’s lives through
multiple interactions and is always in flux” (p.260). Within this approach, Balagopalan affirms
in the conversation about “global”/​“local” childhood (Hanson et al., 2018), that it becomes pos­
sible to recognize children’s identities, which are constituted through and by many intersecting
histories of race, gender, colonialism, and capitalism. Instead of “just” criticizing the “global”
model of childhood created by the West that travels around the world imposing and normalizing a
way of being a child, we should recognize the “global” in the sense that “ ‘particular’ childhoods
in the majority world seldom played a supplementary role and were instead quite integral to the
creation of the norm” (Hanson et al, 2018, p.276). This doesn’t necessarily advance toward a
more inclusive norm, but it rather brings forth children’s multiplicity constituted by and through
this complex story of inclusions/​exclusions of the world order. In doing so, the space is opened
for questions, such as: what happens when different imaginations of childhood and (ideal) paths
toward protecting children and their futures collide? And, what world is this that celebrates and
promotes some stories of children and childhood while at the same time relegating others to some-
where outside the bounds of normality?
At the end of this chapter, I do not aim to offer any alternative political form to the category of
the child, which operates, as I argued, as one of the many battlefields in which a particular version
of the world that seems particularly well-​equipped to produce and exclude its many exceptions
may be contested. I rather conclude by suggesting two possible avenues of engagement: (i) to keep
the idea of world –​instead of global –​in relation to childhood as a way of reminding us to insist on
exploring the already complex politics of boundaries that express and enable some of the most per-
vasive constructs of modern life, such as the world-​child; (ii) to work with the concept of “children
between boundaries” (Tabak, 2020), which do not so much escape from as defy the limits of par­
ticular, but universalized, ideas of childhood and of the world. By challenging the politics on the
line and focusing on what “between” means, it may be possible to consider encounters –​instead
of exclusions/​inclusions –​between differences. Encounters that may happen through many varied
and troubling paths that do not necessarily lead toward a single, stable endpoint are portrayed as
progress.

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 28
THE GLOBAL POLITICS
OF CHILD LABOUR
A Critical Analysis

Laurence LeBlanc and Edward van Daalen

Introduction
Ever since they were unanimously adopted in 2015, the United Nations (UN) Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) have come to dominate the international development agenda.
Considering a significant number of the 169 SDG targets specifically address issues related
to children (Arts, 2019), these developments have had an enormous impact on discourse and
agenda-​setting around international children’s rights, and in particular on child labour. By
adopting Target 8.7 of the SDGs, UN member states agreed to abolish all forms of child labour
by 2025. Target 8.7 is underpinned by two nearly universally ratified child labour conventions
of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that aim for the abolition of child labour in all
its forms, The Minimum Age Convention 138 of 1973 (hereafter C138) and The Worst Forms of
Child Labour Convention 182 of 1999 (hereafter C182). Target 8.7 adds a global time-​bound
goal to this system of global governance, something that was not previously part of the ILO’s
agenda. The notion that such a global time-​bound goal is important and beneficial is generally
taken for granted and remains largely unquestioned. In this chapter we critically engage with
Target 8.7 and come to argue that SDG Target 8.7 works to naturalise abolition assumptions
in addressing child labour while entrenching market-​ based strategies in global advocacy,
effectively depoliticising the global governance of child labour. When we refer to ‘abolition’
or ‘abolition approaches’, we refer to zero-​tolerance initiatives vis-​à-​vis child labour, such as
encouraging states to pass legislation to ban child labour outright. Depoliticisation refers to the
practice of obscuring the political nature of concepts or phenomena –​often through repeated
discourse –​which is inherently political because it conceals assumptions (Ferguson, 1994).
A main takeaway of this chapter is that Target 8.7 depoliticises the abolition approach to child
labour, with wide-​reaching consequences.
To better understand the rationale behind Target 8.7 and the role it plays in shaping global gov-
ernance on child labour, we conducted interviews with anonymised key personnel of international
governmental and non-​governmental organisations that actively work on the operationalisation
and implementation of Target 8.7. Informed by these interviews, we argue in the first section, titled
‘SDG Target 8.7’ that this target relies on market-​based strategies to create: (1) a sense of urgency

376 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-34

 The Global Politics of Child Labour

through a discourse of modern slavery; (2) a global partnership that effectively co-​opts NGOs
and manages opposition to approaches other than abolition; and (3) conditions and incentives for
NGOs to self-​discipline themselves to align with the discourse and objectives of the ILO. In other
words, we demonstrate how the advocacy machine that drives Target 8.7 is capable of garnering
support from NGO actors that may be hesitant to embrace certain interventions to address child
labour, thereby posing serious questions about the legitimacy of the abolitionist ‘solutions’ that are
globally proposed by the ILO as evident and neutral. This makes Target 8.7 an essential compo-
nent of what we understand to be a global child labour regime.
In the second section, titled ‘Shaping the Global Child Labour Regime’, the chapter works
backwards in time by putting in place the background and evolution of the global governance
of child labour to clarify how Target 8.7 is but a contemporary manifestation of the increasingly
coherent global child labour regime. We understand the global child labour regime to be a system
of ‘principles, norms, rules and decision-​making procedures around which actor expectations
converge in a given issue-​area’ (Krasner, 1982, p. 185). ‘Shaping the Global Child Labour
Regime’’ expands our focus from Target 8.7 to the assemblage of international legal standards,
norms, organisational strategies, and discursive and visual representations that universalise and
normalise particular ways of understanding and addressing child labour. A concise socio-​legal
history of this global child labour regime elucidates the colonial and post-​colonial geo-​political
interests that underpin international minimum age standards. We argue that child labour definitions
and responses to address it are not neutral, especially when considering the adoption of C182.
Ultimately this section serves to clarify how history, ideology, and politics behind the abolition
approach to addressing child labour carved the path for uncritical acceptance of Target 8.7, a
powerful iteration of an ILO-​led project.
In setting out this chapter in this manner, we hope to provide readers with a critical take on
the current landscape before providing a genealogy on how it came to be accepted. We end this
chapter by expressing our concerns about the depoliticisation of the global governance of child
labour which leaves increasingly shrinking space for critical and dissenting voices and alternative
approaches. Since child labour will not be abolished by 2025 or any time soon after (ILO, 2021),
such resistance to the mainstream abolition approach is important to developing more effective
and sustainable ways to better protect and empower working children and their families.

SDG Target 8.7

Predated by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the SDGs were drafted between 2012
and 2015 and unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly. Although the SDGs are not
legally binding, advocates point out that many of its targets and objectives have previously been
codified in treaties and conventions (Kim, 2016), lending them normative force in driving policy
action.
Despite acclaim by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-​Moon for being a ‘people’s agenda’ (UN
News, 2015), critiques are in no short supply. Perhaps one of the most relevant critiques for our
purposes is that the SDGs rally around common-​sense aspirations for human progress linked to
measurable targets, but as a result they become mechanisms for knowledge and power relations
(Fukuda-​Parr & McNeill, 2019 p.7). A target linked to the universal appeal of human rights can
neutralise morality (Evans, 2005), especially considering the politics involved in setting the targets
(Kapto, 2019). As argued by Soederberg (2017) with regard to affordable housing, by Wilson
(2017) with regard to population policies, and by McKeon (2017) with regard to food insecurity,

377
 Laurence LeBlanc and Edward van Daalen

neutralised SDG goals can influence actors and make highly political policy stances seem obvious.
A similar critique can be applied to Target 8.7 of the SDGs. It reads:

Target 8.7: Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern
slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms
of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour
in all its forms.
(UN Stats, 2023)

As mentioned earlier, Target 8.7 is underpinned by ILO conventions C138 and C182 which legally
define ‘child labour’ as any type of work done for any amount of time by a child under a certain
minimum age. In industrialised countries, the minimum age for general (full-​time) employment is
15 years (C138, article 2.3), with children of 13 and 14 years old being allowed to do ‘light work’,
meaning work done after school hours and on weekends (Ibid., article 7.1). Developing countries
may set the minimum age to 14 for general employment (Ibid., article 2.3), and children of 12 and
13 years old may engage in light work (Ibid., article 7.4).1
In what follows, we draw from 15 interviews conducted in the spring of 2021 with anonymised
key personnel of international governmental and non-​governmental organisations that actively
work on the operationalisation and implementation of Target 8.7. We contend that by means of
Target 8.7, the ILO tightens its hold over the global governance of child labour by marketing
‘urgency’ and by co-​opting NGOs. In turn, NGOs reproduce patterns of discourse by self-​
disciplining themselves in line with the objectives of Target 8.7 in fear of losing legitimacy. By
virtue of the powerful actors advancing it, the target depoliticises the global governance of child
labour, ‘sells’ these logics through marketing tools, and reduces discussion about possible alterna-
tive approaches and solutions.

Marketing ‘Urgency’
Marketing a sense of urgency is a common strategy in advertising products to consumers. SDG
Target 8.7 contributes and solidifies two marketing techniques which contribute to particular ways
of understanding child labour, the first we call ‘urgency by association’ and the second through a
‘limited edition’ approach.
The first technique, ‘urgency by association’, refers to meshing two phenomena in the hopes one
may benefit from the urgency usually afforded to another. SDG Target 8.7 employs the ‘urgency by
association’ strategy by bridging modern slavery and child labour into one goal (see Target 8.7 text
above). The association with modern slavery affords child labour more importance as it invokes
perceived severity, and by extension, urgent funding (Murphy, 2019).
When asked about the pairing of child labour with modern slavery in SDG Target 8.7, many of
those we interviewed indicated that they perceive and use this to garner more support for the cause
of child labour where ‘the money had run out’ (Interview with staff member of intergovernmental
agency, 22 June 2021b). Interviewees spoke in terms of using the ‘momentum’ around trafficking
and modern slavery to get child labour back on the agenda to ‘give it an extra push’ (Interview with
staff member of INGO, 18 May 2021). Child labour advocacy campaigns rely on images of chil-
dren engaged in slave-​like tasks to further blur the lines between child labour and bonded labour,
drawing from compelling imagery as a means to compel donors to react accordingly (Manzo,
2018, p.96). Donors are influenced by the legitimacy of SDG goals and, thus, partake and con­
tribute to the social imaginary which attaches more importance in funding certain programmes

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over others (Murphy, 2019). Those we spoke to were transparent that ‘mushing’ together different
phenomena, like child labour, trafficking, and modern slavery (Interview with staff member of
INGO, 4 May 2021), was a strategic choice to allow for ‘crunchy stories’ that were more appealing
to the public (Interview with staff member of INGO, 3 May 2021). Slavery is perceived to be
‘sexier’ than child labour when it comes to obtaining emergency funding, especially in a context
of funding fatigue surrounding child labour (Interview with staff member of intergovernmental
agency, 16 June 2021). As one interviewee told us, ‘If you’re not on the agenda, you’re on the
menu’ (Interview with staff member of intergovernmental agency, 10 May 2021). In other words,
if an organisation’s target agenda, like addressing child labour, is not clearly a priority cause for
donors, then that agenda will be overtaken by other causes, potentially to the detriment of the
organisation.
Another strategy employed by Target 8.7 to garner urgency is the ‘limited-​edition’ approach
(Institute for Human Rights and Business, 2015). Whereas most other SDG goals are set to be
reached by 2030, Target 8.7 specifies that child labour in all its forms is to be eliminated by
2025. This appears to be a straightforward marketing strategy of using time limits to encourage
immediate action, similar to how limited-​edition items can encourage sales. In fact, as explained
by Childs and Jin (2020), the most successful way to create consumer urgency is by marketing
the product as a limited-​edition item. Target 8.7 packages a time-​bound goal of abolishing child
labour as one that expires before 2025, which encourages actors to jump onto the trend of political
commitment. This ‘limited-​edition’ approach contributes to urgency, whether or not it actually
materialises in achieving the goal set out. In fact, none of those we interviewed actually believed
child labour would be abolished by 2025. In the words of a senior trade union organiser ‘2025
was never going to be achieved […] if you do the maths, it was just impossible’ (Interview with
staff member of international trade union organisation, 10 May 2021). While some suggested
this posed a problem for the credibility of the SDGs (Interview with staff member of intergov-
ernmental organisation, 22 June 2021b), others maintained that such aspirational goals are neces-
sary for creating ‘political will’ (Interview with former staff of intergovernmental agencies, 5
May 2021).
While the ‘urgency by association’ and the ‘limited edition’ approaches may be beneficial to
child rights organisations in obtaining funding or relevance, this detracts from the reality that the
vast majority of child labourers are not slaves or sex workers, but rather working in agriculture,
often within a family setting (ILO, 2021; Thévenon & Edmonds, 2019). This does not mean that
such work is without risks, yet one interviewee was concerned that placing ‘13-​year-​olds who help
out on the family farm’ in the same category as trafficked child sex workers was problematic for
addressing the causes of child labour (Interview with staff member of INGO, 18 May 2021). As
Bukovská (2008, p.10) explains, advocacy that perpetuates victimisation may not actually address
the problem but rather entrench stereotypes. Finally, it creates a false depiction of the problem
that needs addressing, and thus diminishes the array of possible solutions that might be capable of
addressing it.

NGO Co-​Optation
So far, we have put forward the idea that drafters concerned about the buy-​in of states and
organisations adjusted their language, like any good marketers, to create urgency and moral outcry.
Such representations are not simply theoretical and top-​level, but directly impact how donors
decide which projects to fund, how civil society groups alter their advocacy campaigns, and how
the public understands socio-​political phenomena.

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Civil society is richer when actors come to the table with diverse perspectives in creating
policy action. Since the early 1990s, (I)NGOs have taken up the issue of child labour from
diverse approaches and philosophies, taking different positions in formulating strategies to best
address it (Van Daalen, 2020). While most concerned actors and organisations prefer encour­
aging states to pass legislation to ban child labour outright through an abolitionist approach
(Global March, 2023), others take the position that banning child labour does little to prevent
it and can actually result in pushing these markets further underground, potentially placing
children in more precarious situations (Sanghera, 2017, p.301; Swaminathan, 1998). When it
comes to complex phenomena like child labour, a plethora of positions is necessary to reach
sustainable outcomes. However, the ILO has been increasingly controlling the child labour
discourse that makes the ‘abolition through legislation’ approach seem neutral, evident and
non-​negotiable.
The ILO’s dominance in setting the child labour agenda can be analogised to how a major oli-
gopoly successfully markets products to consumers through market segmentation. Although there
are obvious differences between the ILO and profit-​oriented giants, the ILO relies on market-​
share dominance to advance its position. Instead of selling products, however, the ILO is influen-
cing different levels of policymaking. Interview findings suggest that creating a ‘quasi-​subsidiary’
called Alliance 8.7 was instrumental in this effort as it helped the ILO tighten its grip on discourse
and actors that populate the field of child labour response.
Alliance 8.7 is a global partnership initiative ‘for eradicating forced labour, modern slavery,
human trafficking and child labour around the world’ committed to achieving Target 8.7 of the
SDGs (Alliance 8.7, 2022). Although there is a brief mention on the Alliance 8.7 website that the
ILO holds the Secretariat position, nowhere does it mention that the ILO orchestrated regional
consultations that created it and effectively controls it. Rather, the vague language makes it seem
as though the ILO was democratically chosen by the 242 partner organisations to facilitate the
day-​to-​day operations of the Alliance. To join Alliance 8.7, an organisation must declare that they
are committed to embracing SDG Target 8.7. This means any organisation that openly questions
the target or the SDGs will not be included in the Alliance.
One interviewee who was implicated in the organisation of Alliance 8.7 stated that the purpose
of this initiative ‘is about the shared goal of reaching these targets and it is not necessarily a place
for a debate on critical things […] it is not a Parliament’ (Interview with staff member of inter-
governmental agency, 22 June 2021a). Such a position reaffirms that the Alliance has one solitary
agenda, where potential members sign a waiver ascribing to that agenda. This is despite promoting
itself as an inclusive venue for productive discussion and action for addressing child labour.
One alarming aspect of Alliance 8.7 is the composition of its board, the so-​called global coord-
ination group that meets regularly to set goals and assess progress. The Global March Against
Child Labour sits on this board as the representative of civil society at large. The Global March
entirely supports and advocates the ILO’s approach in maintaining discursive control over the
child labour regime and can accurately be described as the ILO’s closest partner organisation,
advocating to ‘eliminate and prevent’ all forms of child labour (Global March, 2023; Van Daalen,
2023). The Global March’s power to represent all other NGOs within Alliance 8.7 did not come
about democratically through an election or agreement between these NGOs but was granted by
the ILO that selected the Global March to sit on the board. In this way, the ILO appears participa-
tory despite what one interviewee considered to be ‘exclusionary tokenistic practices’ (Interview
with staff member of INGO, 3 May 2021).
Only inviting NGOs that support the abolitionist approach as advanced in SDG Target 8.7
does not represent civil society as the ILO claims, but rather privileges certain NGOs when they

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act as spokespersons for a certain agenda (Interview with staff member of INGO, 12 May 2021;
Interview with staff member of INGO, 7 June 2021). This is to the detriment of other organisations
favouring approaches to regulate child labour and empower working children directly. One inter-
viewee said, ‘we don’t have a seat because [we are] not using those instruments’ (Interview with
staff member of INGO, 3 May 2021) and another stated ‘my organisation is seen as periphery’ for
the same reasons (Interview with staff member of INGO, 18 May 2021). Dissidence and subse-
quent exclusion from Alliance 8.7 is problematic for organisations because participation confers
legitimacy at the policy level. In other words, rather than advancing their own policy objectives,
NGOs are pulled towards Alliance 8.7 and reproduce ILO discourse.

Civil Society as Self-​Disciplining

With the ILO at the institutional bow of the child labour regime and Alliance 8.7 at the stern,
civil society is reticent to stray too far from the agenda advanced by the ILO and SDG Target 8.7.
Support for Target 8.7 and membership with Alliance 8.7 is powerful in steering relationships with
donors. For this reason, organisations are increasingly expressing their support for Target 8.7 and
the abolitionist approaches it advances. By advancing abolition of child labour rather than its regu-
lation, Target 8.7 pulls civil society actors into adhering to the abolition discourse, because they
fear being deprived of legitimacy. In concrete terms, some of the interviewees admitted to ‘self-​
disciplining’ their language in line with the abolition discourse in order to stay relevant (Interview
with staff member of INGO, 4 May 2021). They expressed that the vocabulary and strategies
acceptable to donors and governments to describe and address child labour are becoming increas-
ingly constrained to a certain child labour agenda, including the need to join Alliance 8.7 if they
want to get a seat ‘at the big boys table’ (Interview with director of INGO, 7 June 2021). Feminist
analysis aside, this language underscores that in practical terms, (I)NGOs must latch onto Target
8.7 because veering off course from its discursive appeal threatens mainstream representations and
thus may result in reduced influence and funding.
Just like companies react to market pressures for capital, INGOs may be conforming to
discourses of child labour for donor support and legitimacy. This includes marketing certain
images to compete for the dwindling funds reserved for child labour, joining an Alliance that
advances solutions they do not always believe are based in evidence, and proudly announcing
their membership to this Alliance when applying for donor funds. As one of the interviewees said,
‘NGOs cannot avoid being co-​opted’ (Interview with staff member of INGO, 7 June 2021).
This section has clarified how SDG Targets are political instruments, capable of changing global
norms and even behaviours of once-​critical NGOs. Perhaps more worrisome than having INGOs
project positions they are internally reticent about is that INGOs are themselves re-​appropriating
the SDG marketing tools to further ‘sell’ these logics to the public. One interviewee made clear
that it did not matter what position was projected publicly, because internally their organisation
could still use the funds however they saw fit (Interview with former staff of intergovernmental
agency, 5 May 2021). This is a clear indication that INGOs are re-​appropriating Target 8.7 dis-
course for their own marketing needs, perhaps with conflicting intentions. If (I)NGOs are out-
wardly projecting acceptance of SDG Target 8.7 even if they may disagree with what it stands for,
we must acknowledge that the ILO has succeeded in creating not only governance norms for child
labour, but an inherently entrenched and accepted global child labour regime which makes the
abolition approach seem neutral, evident, and non-​negotiable.
This opens our critical account of Target 8.7 to the development of the global child labour
regime, which is built on a contested political history. The abolition approach to child labour is

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driven by assumptions and norms which have shifted and solidified over time. A closer look at the
colonial and geo-​political roots and objectives of the regime demonstrates how Target 8.7 is but a
recent iteration of a longstanding political and ideological project led by the ILO.

Shaping the Global Child Labour Regime

In this section we go back in time to unpack why the global goal to abolish child labour is by
no means based on ‘natural’ or ‘neutral’ universalised legal definitions of child labour. Global
governance is an inherently political process involving different political actors with different
levels of power negotiating diverging interests into agreements. This involves engaging in
significant discursive work. The political nature of such projects often remains obscured in
practice, especially when it comes to issue-​areas and objectives that seem evidently ‘right’ to
most people, like abolishing child labour. The history of the child labour regime poses serious
questions about the legitimacy of the abolitionist ‘solutions’ that are globally proposed by the
ILO, because it forces us to question how many alternative options have been shut out from
policy discussion.

The Early History

Although child labour did not rise to prominence on the international development agenda until the
1990s, it has long been a subject of global governance. Efforts to forge international agreements
and treaties concerning child labour date back to the 19th century, thus long before the founding of
the UN in 1946 and even that of the ILO in 1919. During the industrialisation of Western-​European
countries in the 19th century, the exploitation of the labour of children in mills and mines became a
prominent social issue. Similar in nature to the current-​day awareness campaigns on child labour,
social commentators of the time focused on the most shocking cases to raise awareness through
newspaper articles, novels, poems, and songs (Bourdillon et al., 2010). This emotive public dis­
course played an important part in early campaigns advocating for labour reforms through legisla-
tion (Holzscheiter, 2010) and continues to encourage child rights INGOs to use ‘buzzwords’ today
(Bryan, 2022 p.11).
During Europe’s industrialisation, ‘child labour’ was understood as children’s wage labour
in factories and mines, even though the majority of working children worked in other sectors
including unpaid agricultural work, family businesses, and domestic settings including caring for
other children (Nieuwenhuys, 1994, p. 9). In other words, new child labour laws for factory and
mining work excluded the majority of children from the industrial production process, as labour
was still needed, allowed, and even encouraged for often feminised tasks in subsidiary processes
vital to the economy (Ibid.).
From an international trade perspective, domestic laws on child labour had obvious international
consequences (Cunningham & Stromquist, 2005). Heads of industry in competing industrialising
countries called for European standards to avoid competitive advantages due to differentiating
minimum age standards. At the same time, internationally organised trade unions called on states
to regulate the much cheaper labour of women and children and demanded international standards.
In short, economic incentives and the fear of a workers’ revolution compelled states to address
child labour as an international problem (Dahlén, 2007).
The domestic emphasis on industry and the narrow understanding and framing of ‘child
labour’ as formal wage labour was reflected in international agreements between states. During
an International Labour Conference held in Berlin in 1890, participating European states agreed

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that it was ‘desirable’ that ‘children of either sex not having reached a certain age be excluded
from work in factories’ (Shotwell, 1934a). Although this was a non-​binding agreement, it laid
the groundwork for the legally binding international child labour conventions adopted under the
auspices of the ILO after the end of WWI.

Colonial Roots of the Regime

The ILO was founded in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles as part of the League of Nations (LoN).
Unlike other intergovernmental organisations, the ILO is not only constituted out of member states,
but also out of representatives of trade unions and employers’ organisations. These three constitu-
encies make up its renowned tripartite structure. Within the newly established ILO, the Western
trade unions of the International Federation of Trade Union (IFTU) were a powerful force to be
reckoned with (Van Goethem, 2006). One of their earliest demands was the regulation of child
labour in industry (Shotwell, 1934b). During the International Labour Conference (ILC) of 1919,
this demand was addressed by adopting the Minimum Age (Industry) Convention No. 5 (hereafter
C005), the first ever legally binding international convention dealing with child labour. The key
provision of C005, Article 2, stipulated that ‘children under the age of fourteen years shall not be
employed or work in any public or private industrial undertaking… or in any branch thereof, other
than an undertaking in which only members of the same family are employed’ (C005, article 2).
Fourteen years was a pragmatically chosen age, as it was already the legal minimum age for work
in industry in the United Kingdom and other influential European states (Dahlén, 2007).
C005 featured special clauses about former colonies which had the effect of granting
differentiated rights to children depending on where they were. The influence of the British Empire
in the founding of the ILO was immense (Hidalgo-​Weber, 2013) and directly manifested itself in
Article 6 of C005 which stated that the ‘the provisions of Article 2 shall not apply in India’ (C005,
article 6). Article 8 similarly provided the other European powers with the option of excluding
their colonies from the scope of the convention (C005, article 6). The aim was to consolidate and
expand the empire through the exploitation of colonised peoples and resources while pushing
social reforms at ‘home’, in part to raise and educate the working class to increase the pool of
adequate people to populate and govern the empire (Hidalgo-​Weber, 2013). In short, the abolition
of industrial child labour in the West was made possible by the continuous exploitation of adults
and children in the colonies (Nieuwenhuys, 2007).
In the years that marked the interwar period, organised labour in several sectors other than
industry lobbied for minimum age conventions, and various were indeed adopted, all with spe-
cial clauses for states to exclude children in their colonies from the scope of the instruments.2
However, by this time, ‘child labour’ as formal wage labour was no longer a pressing issue in the
West, and it was not considered to be an issue of importance within the ILO (Droux, 2013).
This changed when the ILO became a UN-​specialised agency in 1946, and the gradual decolon-
isation and the making of ‘the third world’ meant the former colonies were now competitors on the
global market. It was argued that the lack of labour standards, including child labour, gave these
countries a competitive advantage. Ironically, the primary reason for strengthening the global child
labour regime was the same as during the end of the 19th century. As Nieuwenhuys (2007) noted,
‘The exploited child in the developing world became the spectre unearthed from its historical
grave to haunt the north’s economic security and welfare system’ (p. 154). Whereas several ILO
studies and reports of the time show that there were genuine concerns for the conditions, well-​
being, and rights of working children in the ‘third world’ (e.g., ILO, 1968, 1969), very little of this
found its way into the C138 on the minimum age to employment adopted in 1973.

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Where the first child labour conventions effectively excluded the former colonies from its scope,
C138 was made specifically for the ‘third world’ to address its perceived competitive advantage on
the world’s increasingly globalising market. To this day, C138 remains the core legal instrument
of the global child labour regime, as it legally defines ‘child labour’ and what needs be abolished
(see Section ‘SDG Target 8.7’). How did this inherently geo-​political project become accepted and
unquestioned as a neutral and self-​evident objective of global governance? Key to answering this
question lies in the adoption and rapid global ratification of C182 on the ‘worst forms’ of child
labour.

Naturalising the ‘Worst Forms’ of Child Labour

It was only at the end of the 1980s, around the finalisation and adoption of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC), that the ILO started taking child labour seriously as a topic of inter-
national development. Around that time, it commissioned the first studies into the phenomenon
(e.g., Bequele & Boyden, 1988) and launched its first so-​called technical assistance programme
(Gunn & Ostos, 1992). In 1992 the ILO founded its International Programme on the Elimination of
Child Labour (IPEC), through which it continued to provide on-​the-​ground assistance to country
programmes, mainly focusing on improving the conditions of children involved in hazardous work
(ILO, 1993).
The discrepancy caused tension between what the ILO was doing in practice, namely protecting
working children, and what it normatively advocated for in C138, namely abolition. This led to
internal discussions about the effectiveness and viability of the convention (Van Daalen & Hanson,
2019). C138 remained poorly ratified during the first two decades after its adoption in 1973, and
for a long time it was considered a failure. IPEC staff made a case to change or even retract C138
to better reflect the practice of protecting working children rather than the almost impossible task
of abolishing child labour altogether, as the former would have better represented the ILO’s work.
NGOs also advocated for these approaches (Myers & Boyden, 1998). On the contrary, the trade
unions of the powerful International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)3 took a radic­
ally different approach, namely to strengthen the ILO’s mandate to promote the abolition of child
labour (Van Daalen & Hanson, 2019 p.8). This was a direct response to the refusal of the member
states of the newly formed World Trade Organisation (WTO) to link international trade to min-
imum labour standards, including the prohibition of child labour (Ibid.).
The solution to the internal divide between IPEC and the ICFTU was found in the adoption
of C182. C182 reflected the IPEC’s strategy to first tackle children caught up in what were
perceived to be the ‘worst forms’ of child labour while reaffirming that C138 and its aboli-
tion objective would remain central to the global child labour regime (Tapiola, 2018). For this
reason, C182 does not actually prescribe any new legal standards. It merely reconceptualises
‘child labour’ so that it now also includes phenomena such as child slavery, forced labour, child
trafficking, child prostitution, and child soldering and calls on governments to prioritise action
against these ‘worst forms’ –​which are a far cry from the initial concept of ‘child labour’ as
wage labour in C138.
Recalling how early European child labour legislation was promoted through campaigns
focusing on severely exploited children working in factories and mines, C182 was similarly
promoted with emotive global advocacy campaigns driven by personal stories of children
caught in forms of modern slavery such as bonded labour and the sex trade (Holzsheiter, 2016).
A major role was played by the Global March Against Child Labour which constituted a hugely
successful advocacy campaign revolving around physical marches that were attended by former

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child slaves and bonded labourers (Invernizzi & Milne, 2002; Levine, 1999). The convention
swiftly became widely ratified, due to this successful advocacy campaign and because C182
did not present any real legal implications for countries. Within only two years it was ratified
by over 100 countries, and in 2020 it became the first truly globally ratified ILO convention,
meaning ratified by all member states. More importantly for the child labour regime, following
C182, more and more member states ratified C138 as, jumping from 45 ratifications when
adopted to 172 today.
Although wildly successful in shaping the public imaginary (Holzscheiter, 2016) and garnering
support from other international organisations and donors to support child labour abolition
initiatives, C182 disguises the complex legal definition of ‘child labour’ in C138, rhetorically and
visually replacing it by simplistic representations (Van Daalen, 2023). Child slavery is slavery, and
child prostitution is prostitution. Expanding the C138 definition of child labour to include these
terms is distorting.
Yet, the ILO’s ‘global estimates of child labour’ further strengthens this strategy. The ILO
publishes new numbers approximately every four years: 211 million in 2002, a number which
gradually dropped to 152 million in 2017, before rising again to 160 million in 2021 (ILO,
2021). While these figures reflect child labour as broadly defined by C138, and thus include non-​
hazardous and non-​invasive work done by children under the minimum age standard, they have
been structurally coupled with discourse and images reflecting the ‘worst forms’ of child labour.
When the first global estimate was published in 1996, Frans Röselaers, the director of the IPEC
at the time, noted: ‘The number drew international attention to the magnitude and scope of the
child labour problem worldwide’ (ILO, 2002), providing an ‘obvious’ rationale for the adoption of
C182. However, the global estimates do not include data on most of the worst forms, such as child
slavery, prostitution, trafficking, and soldiering, as information about these phenomena cannot be
obtained through standard house-​hold surveys used to compile estimates (ILO, 2021). Moreover,
as several studies have shown (Janzen, 2018; Dammert et al., 2018), they are highly unreliable and
not fit to serve policymaking and monitoring. This brings us back to SDG Target 8.7. When UN
member states adopted the Target in 2015 and agreed to eradicate of all forms of child labour by
2025, the ILO’s global estimates were chosen as the only indicator of progress towards this end.
This is emblematic of how the ILO creates, controls, and depoliticises the global governance of
child labour.
This section considered the evolution of the global child labour regime to shed light on
contemporary manifestations of child labour definitions and responses. In sum, a highly polit-
ical process led by colonial and geo-​political interests (Rahikainen, 2001; Van Daalen, 2020)
has made the objective to abolish all forms of child labour seem natural, evident, and benefi-
cial. The roots of the depoliticisation process took hold when successful trade union lobbying
strengthened the ILO’s abolitionist approach, expanding these representations to include all
child labourers worldwide, culminating in C138. The adoption and promotion of C182, coupled
with the ‘worst forms’ discourse on child labour, has only reinforced abolitionist tendencies as
common sense.
Discourse about child labour continues to be largely controlled by groups or organisations
approved by the ILO, as evidenced by the Global March, and this discourse is hugely influential
for donors and even countries. Just like C182, SDG Target 8.7 builds on the vocabulary of ‘the
worst forms’ of child labour by including it into the Target. While this strengthens the regime and
makes its assumptions seem coherent, it disguises why child labour is defined the way it is in
international law and shields the regime from critical actors who propose counter-​narratives and
propose alternative solutions (Van Daalen & Mabillard, 2019).

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Concluding Remarks
This chapter began by focusing on how the child labour regime is communicated to the global
community through SDG Target 8.7 to see the inner workings of how these policy tools influ-
ence global actors. We saw how Target 8.7 employs a ‘limited-​edition’ strategy to increase the
urgency of addressing child labour, and how the ILO tightens the child labour regime through
Alliance 8.7 and exclusionary practices. We also saw that NGOs eventually reproduce the regime
by self-​disciplining their policy positions in line with the objectives of SDG Target 8.7 for fear
of losing legitimacy. The chapter took a step away from this contemporary manifestation of the
regime to trace the broader evolution of how child labour governance has been neutralised through
years of lobbying and ILO conventions. We explained how conventions, powerful institutions,
and emotive discourse can come together to create a cohesive regime that is increasingly advan-
cing a supposedly unified agenda. While C138 and C182 contributed to the cohesiveness of the
regime by tying themselves to certain representations and definitions, SDG Target 8.7 employs
and encourages actors to self-​discipline their platform and market these representations. In other
words, SDG Target 8.7 is imbedded in this hegemonic regime entrenching child labour abolition
strategies, adding elements of marketing and coercion not seen in prior iterations of child labour
advocacy. As our discussion reveals, this agenda is by no means neutrally directed.
The global governance of any issue area can become inconspicuously politicised through various
pressures, including colonial and post-​colonial state objectives, non-​state advocacy efforts, and the
global political economy more broadly. While no political discussion has a completely neutral
starting point, it is dangerous when the non-​neutral starting point becomes the only way political
phenomena can be discussed. The more ubiquitous a certain discourse or agenda becomes, the less
actors question the assumptions underpinning those discourses.4
We fear the global child labour regime has become so deeply entrenched in a certain narrative
that views outside of that narrative which present or think about child labour in different ways
are illegitimated because they challenge the mainstream construction. In practical terms, this also
means that solutions other than abolition approaches, including regulation, are constrained because
of how child labour is understood and presented. Regulators fear that without well-​rounded strat-
egies to achieve sustainable realisation, abolitionist approaches that advocate for outlawing child
labour outright may place the most vulnerable into even more precarious situations by pushing
their lives into the fringes of illegality (Sanghera, 2017, p.301; Swaminathan, 1998). Practical
regulation includes, among other strategies, providing better working conditions for children and
working with child labour unions to address their concerns.
While the SDG goals are promoted as untouchable, indisputable, and expert-​crafted tools,
this chapter has challenged readers to consider the risks when such goals are legitimised to the
point that they set the only agenda for policy action. This is especially alarming when child rights
professionals admit that ‘there is limited added value in reflecting on the SDGs [which] we use, we
quote, we refer to when we justify our work or set the framework for projects even though they are
still nebulous for us’ (Interview with staff member of INGO, 19 May 2021). We suggest there may
be unintended consequences to such an approach, the most obvious being the lack of engagement
with a political regime with real consequences for working children.
This chapter encourages readers to question who can speak on behalf of working children
and where policy objectives come from. It is not clear if such a time-​bound approach that uses
marketing tools for advocacy efforts benefits working children. After all, if policy action is based
on marketing, the solutions advanced may not actually work. Solutions other than abolition should
be seriously considered by the international community to address child labour. By using Amartya

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Sen’s capability approach, Biggeri (2007) explains how children can delineate their capabil­
ities, which can be telling for what solutions would resonate with children. If engaging with the
agency of working children is key in finding durable solutions for them (Myers & Boyden, 1998;
Holzscheiter et al., 2019), then associating working children with child slaves and prostitutes does
more to run the SDG advocacy machine than solve underlying problems. To end this chapter in
the words of a senior policy expert, ‘I have become increasingly aware of how political the whole
thing is and how divorced it is from the actual concerns’ (Interview with staff member of INGO,
7 June 2021).

Funding
This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) under grant number
P2GEP1_​191426.

Notes
1 The minimum ages are increased to the age of 18 for hazardous work that is in any way harmful to chil­
dren. Article 3 of C138 provides an exception to this exception. Children of 16 years old may do haz-
ardous work if they are adequately trained, and with their health, safety, and morals fully protected.
2 The Minimum Age (Sea) Convention No. 7 (C007) of 1920; the Minimum Age (Agriculture) Convention
No. 10 (C010) of 1921; and the Minimum Age (Trimmers and Stokers) Convention No. 15 (C015)
of 1921.
3 The ICFTU –​which is now called the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) –​also achieved
to have the eradication of child labour included in the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and
Rights at Work.
4 That processes of depoliticisation have real political consequences was made evident by James Ferguson
(1994) in his Foucauldian-​inspired work The Anti-​Politics Machine in which he de-​constructs ‘develop-
ment’ projects in Lesotho, ultimately concluding that the discourse surrounding ‘development’ plays a
role in legitimising policy agendas that do not work. No matter how much money is spent on addressing
gaps in development projects in Lesotho, Ferguson explains how the desired ‘development’ cannot happen
because the discourse is based on a set of misguided solutions.

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 29
DISABILITY AND EDUCATION
UNDER CONFLICT AND CRISIS
IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH
Dina Kiwan

Introduction
A total of 15% of the world’s population –​1 billion people –​experience some form of disability,
with 80% living in the Global South, exacerbated by poverty and conflict (World Bank, 2018).
The global Covid-​19 pandemic has further exacerbated inequalities for marginalised groups. This
chapter examines the lived educational experiences of children with disabilities in contexts of
conflict and crisis, taking the Middle East –​ and in particular, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine as
the focus of the chapter. These experiences are situated in relation to various constructions of
disability in international and national policies, and public attitudes influence disabled children’s
learning experiences.
Disability is an economic as well as social development issue as disability may increase the risk
of poverty, and poverty may increase the risk of disability (Sen, 2009; World Health Organisation,
2011). Furthermore, there is a significant gendered dimension to disability, where three-​quarters
of disabled people in the Global South are women and girls. Women and girls are more vulnerable
to the effects of disability, both economically and physically, including male violence (USAID,
2019). Not only is disability higher in the Global South –​its effects exacerbated by the socio­
political conditions, infrastructure and attitudes to disability, but disability also arises as a direct
result of conflict and armed violence (World Bank, 2018).
Future demographic trends predict that by 2050, there will be 2 billion people, or 20–​25% of
the global population, with disabilities, exacerbated by conflict, pollution and the effects of cli-
mate change leading to intensified mass migration, with 1 billion people who will be displaced as
a result. Disability is associated with lower educational attainment, and in the Global South, 90%
of disabled children do not go to school. In some countries, this is less than 1%. Even in those
countries with almost universal primary education, there is a high ratio of disabled–​non-​disabled
out-​of-​school children. These findings suggest that initial access may be an important factor to
address for out-​of-​school children with disabilities, and additionally, that educational policies and
practices are not addressing challenges to disabled children attending school. Access to education
is not only dependent on resources, but importantly how disability is understood by policymakers,
practitioners as well as wider society. Disability is a contested concept, with ‘medical’ models
foregrounding physical or cognitive deficits, in contrast to ‘social models’ that foreground the

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-35 391

 Dina Kiwan

limitations imposed on people by the structural, cultural, discursive and practical constraints of an
‘able-​ist’ society.
Whilst the World Health Organisation estimates that 15% globally have a disability, regional
estimates of disability in the Middle East are paradoxically low. However, this discrepancy can
be explained in terms of under-​reporting, narrow medical definitions of disability and a relative
lack of disaggregation of statistics by disability. In Lebanon, there is a history of armed conflicts
and as a site of displaced populations, is characterised by sectarian divides, with further inequal-
ities along multiple intersecting axes of age, gender, sexuality, disability and national legal status.
Wealth inequalities continue to increase, with the population living below the poverty line having
risen to 78% in 2021 from 25% in 2019, a result of the most recent economic crisis that started in
2018 (UNESCWA, 2021). Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees in relation to its national
population in the world (UNHCR, 2016). Furthermore, this displaced population has a large
youth population, with 54.9% under the age of 18 (UNHCR, 2018). It is further estimated that
95% of children with disabilities in the region are excluded from primary school (Peters, 2009;
Human Rights Watch, 2018). The situation in Palestine of a long-​term military occupation of the
West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1967 has led to long-​term political violence, displacement, the
destruction of livelihoods, disability and extreme poverty and lack of sustainable infrastructure
(Giacaman, 2021). There is a strong disability movement which has achieved important successes,
for example, the establishment of the Disability Law in Palestine in 1999. Like Lebanon, Jordan
also has had large refugee influxes with over 800,000 Palestinian refugees and more recently Syrian
refugees coupled with high rates of unemployment and economic crisis. Disability is considerably
higher in refugee populations. Government statistics in 2019 showed that only 1.9% of all children
in primary schools are children with disabilities, although according to the 2015 Census, over 11%
of the population over age five have disabilities (ReliefWeb, 2021). The political and economic
situations in all three countries have been further exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Those
with disabilities suffered even further systematic discrimination and exclusion from public trans-
port barriers, access to health services and education and social isolation.
This chapter will first explore the contested understandings of disability in the region, followed
by a critical analysis of key international and national disability policies. The lived experiences of
children will then be situated within these contexts, in order to consider the state of co-​participation
of children with disabilities in education research, policy and practice. The chapter concludes by
making the case for the participation of children with disabilities and their families collaboratively
in the domain of education research, policy and practice, thereby contributing to inclusive know-
ledge production and policy development on inclusive education in the Global South.

Contested understandings of disability

Disability is part of the human condition. Its understandings have varied across time and also
across contexts. Historically, disability in the Global North was understood in religious terms
where the Christian doctrine of ‘original sin’ was invoked as an explanation for disabilities as
the result of the sins of the fathers (Scalenghe, 2019). More recently, from the nineteenth century
onwards, scientific explanations have typically utilised what is referred to as a ‘medical’ model of
disability. This model constructs disability in terms of medical deficit, in comparison to ‘optimal’
health and in need of remedial correction. Public policies based on medical models of disability
are predicated jointly on concepts of welfare benefits and remedial programmes.
However, disability in the Global South in both historical and contemporary contexts constructs
understandings of disability through a variety of frames. Linguistically, the term ‘disability’ does

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not exist in all languages, illustrating what is conceptually salient and how different cultures
organise knowledge (Sabetello, 2013). ‘Disability’ in some languages refers to both physical and
intellectual disability, whilst in others, only to intellectual disability (ibid, 2013). Scalenghe’s
historical work on disability in the Middle East illustrates that, in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, those with disabilities were included, rather than stigmatised as impaired, which she
attributes in part to Islamic theology but also educational systems based on rote memorisation and
the oral transmission of knowledge, with often blind men working as teachers (Scalenghe, 2019).
She argues that the creation of the category of disability became salient in the context of European
empire-​building in the Middle East.
The history of pathologisation, criminalisation and of those who statistically deviate from the
norm is culturally bound and historically specific. Darwinian evolutionary perspectives of dis-
ability have left a legacy in how disability has been understood. Those with intellectual disabil-
ities have been perceived, in evolutionary terms, to be of lower evolutionary status (Gelb, 2008).
Within the context of the nation-​state, a person with disabilities is defined in terms of their ‘func-
tionality’ as economic contributors to society (or lack thereof). As such, it has been argued that
people with disabilities are not conceptualised as full citizens. From the late nineteenth century
to the mid-​twentieth century in the US, eugenics was a scientifically legitimated racism which
informed a wide range of policies, from immigration to reproductive policies, where there were
forced sterilisations of those considered unfit to reproduce due to poverty, disability or mental
health (Kiwan, 2022). In the UK, the British eugenics movement was championed by an upper
middle class of the intellectually elite including doctors, scientists and lawyers mainly concerned
with the perceived problem of the urban poor. The passing of the 1913 Mental Deficiency Act
gave the power to ‘institutionalise and segregate, to limit the propagation of the feeble-​minded’
(Campbell, 2007, p.13).
Challenges to the medical model of disability came with the disability rights movement, largely
in the UK and US, beginning in the 1970s, with what has been called the social model of disability.
Disability activists argued for a distinction between ‘impairment’ and ‘disability’, where impair-
ment refers to the biomedical condition, in contrast to disability constructed in terms of barriers
in the environment, including social stigma, discrimination and inequality (Sabatello, 2013). This
movement also challenged the hegemony of the white, able-​bodied middle-​class, heterosexual
male as the ‘norm’. The disability rights movement has challenged institutionalisation, marginal-
isation and discrimination of those with disabilities, advocating for the mobilisation and participa-
tion of people with disabilities for social change.
The social model, however, has been critiqued for creating a dualism between the concepts of
‘impairment’ and ‘disability’. Yet it should be noted that there is a range of social model approaches
which vary between the UK, the US and the Nordic countries; for example, in the US, disability is
framed with reference to civil rights legislation and also aims to achieve minority group status –​as
illustrated by the US Deaf community (Sabatello, 2013). The rights model conceives of disability
arising from cultural prejudice and stigmatisation (Shakespeare, 1994). Whilst at an international
level, such as the UN, there is a commitment to liberal rights approaches, these frameworks have
been critiqued as individualistic with a legalistic framing, and particularly in the Global South
due to a lack of resources there is a significant gap between policy and its implementation in
practice. In addition, it is further argued that such approaches do not enable critique of power
relations causing such exclusion (Russell, 2002). In contrast, the ‘radical’ social model of dis­
ability constructs disability as an outcome of capitalism emerging at the time of the industrial revo-
lution (Gleeson, 1997). Another approach is the human development model of disability utilising
Sen’s capabilities approach, where disability is understood in terms of functioning; this approach

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 Dina Kiwan

has garnered support in the Global South in such contexts as Palestine for example. In Sen’s
model, people’s capabilities in order to lead a good life are not only based on economics but the
quality of their lives in terms of opportunities and achievements, for example, good health and
positive relationships with others (Sen, 1999).
Dominant understandings of disability largely come from knowledge production in the Global
North, despite the majority of people with disabilities living in the Global South. Critical dis-
ability studies have challenged this, highlighting how eugenics principles also underpinned
rationalisations of empire, where imperialists claimed racial superiority over other ‘races’ with
perceived lower intellectual capacities (Kiwan, 2022). Disability in the particularity of contexts of
conflict has been relatively underexamined. Puar’s (2017) The Right to Maim is a key contribution
to theorising the biopolitics of debility, disability and capacity, where she argues that ‘debilita-
tion and the production of disability are in fact biopolitical ends unto themselves’ (p. xviii). She
critiques the individualised liberal conceptualisation of disability, arguing that most of the world’s
disability statistically comes from colonial violence, war and occupation. Examined in the context
of Palestine, she emphasises the concept of debility as part of everyday life where the population
is controlled through maiming rather than killing, posing as a humanitarian form of allowing life.
As such, this challenges the Global North discourse of championing disability rights, given that
the Global North is responsible for the production of disability globally through imperial violence,
climate change, pollution, war and occupation.
Childhood studies is also contributing to the understanding of disabled children’s lives, and
a new sub-​field is emerging, with a new theoretical and methodological approach (Curran &
Runswick-​Cole, 2014). It foregrounds childhood as opposed to disability as impairment, thus
challenging notions of ‘morm’ and methodologically champions participatory approaches to
hearing first-​hand from children’s accounts of their lives (ibid, 2014). This approach is under-
pinned by childhood studies’ methodological approach of studies ‘with’ children as opposed to
studies ‘on’ children, championed by Priscilla Anderson’s work. Wells (2009) further argues that
new childhood studies approaches recognise and embrace intersectionalities between gender,
age and ethnicity. However, disability studies has critiqued childhood studies for historically
excluding disabled children within its scope. Curran and Runswick-​Cole (2014) propose that
the bringing together of these fields creates important opportunities for the study of disabled
children’s lives.

International and national disability policies

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCPRD), adopted by
the United Nations (UN) in 2006, represents a landmark in that it was the first human rights treaty
developed by people with disabilities –​embodying the slogan of disability activists –​‘nothing
about us without us’ (Series, 2020). Although other international conventions have been framed
universally including the rights of people with disabilities, it was argued that the rights of people
with disabilities were overlooked, and disability was largely understood in terms of a medical
model of disability. Kanter (2015) argues further that people with disabilities were not only invis­
ible but were seen as less than human exemplified by the European Convention on Human Rights
(ECHR) deciding against the prohibition of the sterilisation of people with disabilities as many
European states had such eugenic policies.
The UN had already developed conventions for specific groups, including women, children
and migrant workers in the 1970s, 1980s and in 1990, respectively. It was within this context
that disability-​led organisations and activists campaigned for a specific disability Convention in

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the late 1990s, arguing that the lives of people with disabilities had not improved with the more
universal human rights conventions (Series, 2020). The CRPD entered into force in May 2008,
being the fastest developed UN treaty; yet its most significant feature is the methodological pro-
cess of its development, referred to as a ‘paradigm shift’ in approaches to disability and human
rights (e.g. Kanter, 2006–​2007; Lawson, 2006–​2007). This paradigm shift refers to both the par­­
ticipative process of the Convention’s development, as well as representing a conceptual shift
in the understanding of disability from one where disability was conceptualised in terms of an
individual’s medical deficit to one where societal barriers and attitudes to disability result in dis-
crimination –​challenging dominant models of human-​ness and citizenship. This paradigm shift
places the responsibility on society to remove those barriers, which is referred to as the social
model of disability. The CRPD is the culmination of decades of contestation of the dominant
medical model understanding of disability. This participative model where disability activists and
groups directly contributed to the development of the CRPD was substantively a different model
of law-​making compared to the development processes of the other UN conventions (Series,
2020). Whilst the CPRD is largely perceived to correspond to the social model of disability, it
is argued that it also combines aspects of the right to development and the capabilities model
(Stein, 2007).
The CRPD states its aims as ‘to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment
of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote
their inherent dignity’ (UN, 2006, Article 1). Whilst the CRPD does not establish new rights,
it emphasises the legal duties and responsibilities of States to ensure equal rights for people
with disabilities. It does, however, have articles on accessibility and living independently and
has a framework for implementation and monitoring requiring, for example, that States collect
statistical data to ensure empirically informed policy development (Series, 2020). Article 4(3)
requires states to ‘closely consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities, including
children with disabilities, through their representative organizations’. Article 24 addresses the
rights to education for children with disabilities, making the State responsible for ensuring
‘an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning’. It goes on to delineate that
children with disabilities are not excluded from free and compulsory primary or secondary
education, that it is accessible, of quality and that reasonable accommodations and support
are provided. Access to tertiary education is also highlighted. There is also a reference to the
employment of teachers with disabilities and that professional development training for inclu-
sive education be provided.
In the Middle East, there has been an increasing focus on disability with the years 2004–​2013
being designated as the Decade of Disability Rights in the region. However, there are no reliable
statistics across the region, given under-​reporting (SIDA, 2014). The WHO estimates that globally
disability rates are around 15%, which leads to the demographic prediction of 30 million people
with a disability in the region facing discrimination in multiple domains of their lived experiences
daily (World Health Organisation, 2011). The model of disability in the region largely follows a
medical one.
Jordan was one of the first countries to ratify the CRPD in 2008 and is also one of the few
countries in the region to have had a disability policy since 1993, drawing on rights-​based and
social models of disability (Attia, 2021). There was a royal commission in 2006 which drafted
the national strategy, and it established the Higher Council for Persons with Disabilities as an
independent body in 2007. The most recent national law on disability was passed in 2017. It has
been reported, however, that due to government under-​resourcing, various ministries do not have
the funds to implement and carry out the necessary programmes of work (Human Rights Watch

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(HRW, 2019). Whilst Jordan has an inclusive education policy, HRW highlighted that there was
no allocated budget for inclusive education, and only 0.4% of the overall budget for the Ministry
of Education was allocated to ‘special education’, which refers to the education of children with
disabilities in separate educational institutions (ibid, 2019). In 2018, the Committee on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities recommended the development of a new national strategy and action
plan with the allocation of specific resources.
There is an Education Strategic Plan (2018–​2022) which refers to the inclusion of children
with special education needs, and the ten-​year Strategy for Inclusive Education refers explicitly
to the implementation of inclusive education as the responsibility of the Ministry of Education
(UNESCO, 2021). The ten-​year strategy aims to increase the number of children with disabil­
ities in school, increase accessibility, introduce inclusive education pedagogy, develop curricula
and ensure professional teacher development in the area of inclusive education (ibid, 2021). It is
estimated that up to 95% of children with disabilities continue to be excluded from education, with
even fewer refugee children with disabilities going to school, especially those in refugee camps
(Institute of Development Studies, 2020). In part, this can be explained by the fact that disability
continues to be highly stigmatised by the public, with disability often framed as God’s will, and
there is a tendency to medicate (Attia, 2021). Disability rights are also gendered, with fewer oppor­
tunities for women and girls with disabilities than for men and boys with disabilities (ibid, 2021).
Lebanon has not yet ratified the CRPD, which advocates the right to free education in preschool
and primary stages (Kiwan, 2019). It is one of the few countries in the world not to have ratified it
and the only one in the Arab region. However, the Lebanese government passed a national law in
2000 (Law 220/​2000), focusing on the rights of persons with disabilities. Using rights-​based lan-
guage, it calls upon the government to adopt inclusive policies, including the provision for those
with special educational needs and advocating for the introduction of measures to ensure equal
access for all those with disabilities in education (ibid, 2019). According to UNESCO (2013), Law
220/​2000 is considered to be a major political achievement for people with disabilities, being the
most progressive and comprehensive piece of legislation pertaining to disability in the Middle East
region, the culmination of many years of civil society advocacy, and it is positive in its comprehen-
sive coverage of many aspects of the lived daily experiences of people with disabilities, and the
responsibility that government holds for the removal of barriers to integration and discrimination
(Kiwan, 2019). This discourse of the responsibility of the State to remove barriers is underpinned
by the social model of disability, locating the responsibility in the environment as opposed to the
individual, although it has struggled with its implementation. However, the conceptualisation of
disability in national Lebanese law is based on a medical model of disability, where the deficit is
located in the person, rather than arising from environmental barriers:

[A]‌person whose capacity to perform one or more vital functions, independently secure his
personal existential needs, participate in social activities on an equal basis with others, and
live a personal and social life that is normal by existing social standards, is reduced or non-​
existent because of a partial or complete, permanent or temporary, bodily, sensory or intel-
lectual functional loss or incapacity, that is the outcome of a congenital or acquired illness or
from a pathological condition that has been prolonged beyond normal medical expectations.
(Law 220/​2000 2000)

Lebanon’s national disability law makes incumbent on the State the provision of education and
that educational institutions be physically accessible. However, these requirements only apply to
public schools, in a context where approximately 70% of schools in Lebanon are private schools,

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which can legally exclude students. In addition, there is a gap between policy and practice, with a
lack of enforcement or monitoring of the national disability law in public schools (Kiwan, 2019).
In Palestine, the profile of disability rights arose in the context of the first Palestinian Uprising
(Intifada) in 1988. Up until this point, a charitable model dominated, where those with disabilities
were typically cared for along with orphans and the poor (Giacaman, 2021). People with physical
disabilities began to organise themselves, however made little political gains until in the context
of political action against Israeli military rule, as large numbers of young adults and children had
become disabled as a result of Israeli army violence. The conception of disability underwent a
paradigm shift from a stigmatised individual medical problem to one of a conception of political
heroism (ibid, 2021). The establishment of the General Union of Disabled People in 1992 led to
the establishment of the first Disability Law in 1999. However, its implementation was delayed,
and it has also been critiqued for conceptualising disability in medical and charitable terms. The
Palestinian Authority became a signatory to the CRPD in 2014. The national disability law was
adopted in 1999; however, implementation has stalled due to a lack of infrastructure and resources,
exacerbated by occupation and the Covid-​19 pandemic.
It is estimated that 38.9% of the population are children between 0 and 14, with approximately
15% of primary school-​aged children having disabilities and 20% of all people with disabilities
in Palestine are children (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 2017). There is a national stra­
tegic education plan overseen by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education which includes
a national policy for inclusive education, this aims at removing attitudinal, resource and envir-
onmental barriers to access to education (World Bank, 2022). UNICEF and UNESCO support
inclusive education, and there are also a range of NGOs and INGOs supporting inclusive edu-
cation. However, the inclusion of children with disabilities remains low, with the International
Commission for Human Rights noting that students with disabilities account for only 0.3% of the
school population. The situation in Gaza is more severe, as a result of the occupation and blockade,
with all Palestinian children having limited access to education, despite international humanitarian
law, with the human right to education being violated. Schools are affected by the electricity crisis,
overcrowding, shift systems and the digital gap that arose within the context of the global pan-
demic. In addition, large numbers of children have been killed or disabled according to the United
Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) (2022).

Children’s lived experiences

As noted in the introduction, it is expected that rates of disability will increase, and there is evi-
dence to suggest that there will also be more children with disabilities in the Global South (Singal
et al., 2018). Whilst disability is the most significant factor accounting for children not going to
school (World Bank, 2007), children’s lived experiences are compounded by a range of intersecting
variables including poverty, gender, transport costs and medical costs. In this context, the UN
Sustainable Development Goals consisting of 17 interlinked global targets aim towards achieving
a better future for everyone. Article 4 –​relating to education –​and Article 10 –​relating to the reduc-
tion of inequalities –​are particularly pertinent in addressing the challenges facing children with
disabilities and their access to quality education. This intersectoral lived experience of disability
cutting across health, education, leisure, transport and culture, to name but a few dimensions,
highlights the importance of understanding children’s contextualised lived experiences of dis-
ability and the recognition of this as valuable knowledge for policymaking and practice.
This section draws on the lived experiences of children with disabilities during the Covid-​19
pandemic in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, based on original empirical data collected in 2020/​

397
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2021 with young people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities. In Jordan,
research on the impact of Covid-​19 on young people with disabilities aged 15–​19 showed
that they felt particularly affected by the pandemic. Many young people with disabilities were
excluded from education even before the pandemic, and this was exacerbated during the pan-
demic. Young people expressed their distress that they would not return to school, as well as
distress of reduced mobility and having to stay at home; furthermore, with classes going online,
up to 16% of families did not have internet access, with this skewed by socioeconomic class
and disability (Shuayb & Doueiry, 2021a). In addition, there was a lack of specialised online
resources for those with visual and hearing impairments, and all young people felt that they did
not have the same access to either face-​to-​face or remote learning (ibid, 2021). In some cases,
it would involve the whole family dedicating time to support online learning. Young people
expressed increased anxiety about the future, and with families who had lost their jobs, they
expressed worries about their livelihoods and having enough to eat. Parents of young children
also concurred with the views of young people that online education was inaccessible and that the
lockdown had negative impacts on their children’s social development. Children also expressed
the view that they preferred being in school, rather than being taught by parents. Research com-
paring different regions across Jordan highlights the differential lived experience of young people
with disabilities in terms of their access to education and participation in social events and sports.
Whilst young people report relatively positive educational experiences in the capital, Amman,
those living in rural areas and the refugee camps reported more negative experiences (Odeh et al.
2021). However, girls with disabilities expressed their worry that they may not be allowed to con­
tinue with their education if they did not perform well, causing a lot of stress. Girls also talked of
their fear of their physical and sexual vulnerability, whilst boys with disabilities reported violence
from other non-​disabled boys.
Children living in Lebanon have endured multiple and intersecting crises including civil war
over the last few decades, and more recently, the Syrian refugee crisis, a severe economic crisis
since 2018, the explosion at the Beirut Port in 2020, as well as the Covid-​19 pandemic. The
Beirut Port blast killed 200 people, injured 6,500 and displaced over 300,000 people, destroyed
and damaged schools and resulted in a spike in Covid-​19 cases (Shuayb & Doueiry, 2021b).
Children have faced prolonged lockdowns with learning at home, although online learning has
been severely challenged by ongoing electricity cuts, high internet costs and inaccessibility of
materials for children with disabilities. Furthermore, children with disabilities who attend spe-
cial institutions have not been able to access healthcare and food supplements usually provided
through these institutions (Human Rights Watch, 2020). Regarding the rollout of the Covid-​19
vaccination, no priorities were given to people with disabilities. Additionally, there were docu-
mentation requirements for online registration to receive the vaccine which resulted in the exclu-
sion of undocumented refugees, including children born to Syrian refugee mothers without birth
certificates (Shuayb & Doueiry, 2021b). The National Covid-​19 Vaccine Committee did not
include any representation of people with disabilities, which led to disability-​led organisations and
disability activists calling for their inclusion in the vaccine plan.
Interviews with children and their parents indicated that they both were experiencing high
levels of stress arising from the compounding of the economic crisis, electricity cuts, problems
with accessing services and fear of the future. Parents reported that their children with disabil-
ities experienced this more acutely. Young people talked about being depressed, feeling isolated
and restless. Frustration was expressed with the fact that even when the government consulted
with young people with disabilities, there was no follow-​up and no action was taken. Most young
people and their parents perceived that they were excluded from online learning, with their needs

398
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not taken into account. Young people also missed interpersonal relationships with others and with
their teachers and expressed that their parents could not always provide them with the support
that they needed or that they prioritised supporting non-​disabled siblings (Shuayb & Doueiry,
2021b). With regards to vaccination, parents and young people with disabilities experienced a
lack of accessible information, and the inaccessibility of the online vaccination platform for
various types of disabilities as well as the older generation being less familiar with the digital
process; young people expressed helplessness and frustration at this continual exclusion (ibid,
2021b).
Mitwalli et al. (2022) describe the ‘triple captivity’ of people with disabilities in Palestine,
referring to the occupation, the Covid-​19 pandemic, as well as exclusion based on their disabil-
ities. Mothers and their children with disabilities shared their experiences of stigmatisation and
negative public perceptions as dominant even before the pandemic, with children experiencing
bullying, mocking and public aggression. Some mothers and girls talked of the difficulties in
getting married, even for their non-​disabled siblings. Some did express, however, that attitudes
were improving over time.
In the educational context, students with disabilities highlighted their experiences of not being
integrated within educational institutions, and experiencing bullying or mistreatment by peers
and sometimes by teachers who would verbally abuse them. Young people also discussed how
the pandemic had exacerbated challenges, including their mobility, access to basic services and
their sense of well-​being, with many reporting feeling isolated, anxious and depressed. Children
missed going to activities such as going to the park, swimming or clubs. Children and young
people experienced frequent internet connection challenges and were not familiar with online
platforms, so they reported a poor educational experience, with many students not attending the
remote learning sessions. This arose in families with several children with not enough devices for
all, with priority going to older children and children without disabilities. They also talked about
the largest effect of the pandemic being the economic challenges facing the population as a whole,
with people with disabilities being the most affected. They also experienced less governmental
support due to the tightening of requirements to receive financial support and delays in receiving
these benefits. In some extreme cases, young people talked of ‘no food at home’ (Mitwalli et al.,
2022). Finally, a number of young people identified the occupation as bringing the most sig­
nificant challenge to their daily lives, especially those living in refugee camps who experienced
direct Israeli violence even during the pandemic. Others reported mistreatment at checkpoints and
experiences of being mocked as a person with a disability or the fear of being shot for those who
are deaf, given their knowledge of incidents where deaf people who did respond to soldiers at a
checkpoint have been shot in the past (Mitwalli et al., 2022).

Participation in research, policy and practice

There is a sizeable and growing literature on the role of marginalised groups in policymaking,
which has been prominent the health promotion field and has extended to the field of education.
Consultation with children has become more common, informed by the rights entailed in the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, which provide a framework for a rights-​based approach
to participation in policymaking (Byrne and Lundy, 2019). This ‘consultation’ or ‘participation’
ranges from more minimal ‘tokenistic’ consultation to more substantive involvement in policy
development. Theoretically informed by political theories of justice, these approaches recognise
that societal institutions reflect power relations, and therefore, marginalised groups must become
involved within these structures to challenge existing agendas and conceptual understandings (e.g.

399
 Dina Kiwan

Young, 1990). In addition, politics of knowledge production debates highlight how some know­
ledge holds more power, based on whose knowledge it is and the form it takes. It is argued that
knowledge from lived experience must be recognised as an important source of knowledge. The
CRPD has enabled civil society and notably disabled persons organisations (DPO) and disability
activists to participate in policy-​making. The development of the CPRD involved over 400 NGOs,
many led by people with disabilities. There was an emphasis on the lived experiences of people
with disabilities, with the International Disability Caucus, which is a coalition of more than 70
national DPOs from around the world (Love et al., 2017). Participation by people with disabilities
is considered central to both policymaking and monitoring processes in the CPRD, as stated in the
Preamble: ‘Persons with disabilities should have the opportunity to be actively involved in deci-
sion making processes about policies and programs, including those directly concerning them’ and
in Article 34 (3) which states that ‘due consideration’ be given to persons with disabilities being
included in the monitoring (UN, 2006).
However, people with disabilities are typically neither consulted in policy development
processes, either nationally or internationally, nor involved substantively in research or prac-
tice, and the involvement of children and children with disabilities in policymaking is even
lower. This was illustrated in the context of the global Covid-​19 pandemic, where people
with disabilities were not considered in most planning processes and their needs were de-​
prioritised, leading to systematic exclusion and a disproportionate negative impact (Kubenz &
Kiwan, 2021). UNICEF (2022) has called on States to ensure that children with disabilities are
consulted in policymaking processes that affect them. The lived experiences of children with
disabilities provide granular contextual knowledge spanning multiple and intersecting sectors
of their lives, providing critically important information needed for inclusive and effective
policymaking. Such input is also critical in contributing to the formulation of research agendas
and implementing policy into practice. In the Middle East region, particularly in contexts of
conflict, the participation of children with disabilities in contributing to policymaking is rela-
tively absent. However, increasingly collaborative research with children and young people
with disabilities in the region (e.g. MacKenzie et al. 2020; Ashbee and Guldberg; 2018; Odeh
et al. 2021) illustrates co-​construction of research agendas with potential for impact on policy
and practice in the region.

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 30
EXPLAINING VARIATION
IN COMPLIANCE WITH ANTI-​
FGM AND CHILD MARRIAGE
LAW IN BURKINA FASO
Josephine Wouango and Susan L. Ostermann

Introduction
According to UNICEF (2018), 650 million women and girls alive today are married as minors. An
estimated 200 million girls and women in 30 countries have undergone female genital mutilation
(“FGM”) and 30 million under-​15 girls are at risk of the procedure (UNICEF, 2016a). The United
Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”) 3 and 5 have targeted both practices for elim-
ination. They are also closely interconnected on the ground. Burkina Faso is one of only three
countries (Guinea and Mali) where CM and FGM overlap (UNICEF, 2021).
In Burkina Faso, the government has responded to the UN’s commitment to end FGM and child
marriage (CM) by adopting legal instruments that prohibit both practices. This has involved the
ratification of international and regional laws, as well as national-​level legislation. Burkina Faso’s
anti-​FGM and anti-​CM policy flows from (1) SDG objectives 3 and 5; (2) Axis 2 of the National
Economic and Social Development Plan (PNDES) of Burkina Faso; (3) the national strategic plan
for the elimination of FGM in Burkina Faso (2016–​2020); and (4) the national strategy for the
prevention and elimination of FGM (2016–​2025) and a three-​year national action plan (2016–​
2018). Interestingly and somewhat unusually, Burkina Faso has used national laws, translated into
national action plans, to actually criminalise both practices, using the UN’s logic, which finds that
FGM and CM have serious health, social and psychological consequences, mainly for girls and
women (UNICEF, 2021). This approach legitimises the ban on these practices.
Still, FGM and CM continue. A report by the National Institute of Statistics and Demography
of Burkina Faso (NISD, 2019) compares the FGM and CM prevalence through a secondary ana­
lysis of the Health and Demography data from the Continuous Multisectoral Survey 1[(Enquête
Multisectorielle Continue—​EMC] conducted in 2015. The results show that FGM and CM exist
in all communities and regions within Burkina Faso. FGM prevalence among women aged 15–​
49 years was 67.6% in 2015 against 75.8% in 2010, whereas among girls, aged 0–​14, it was 11.3%
in 2015 and 13.3% in 2010. With respect to CM, little has changed, however. The rate of 20–​24-​
year-​old women who entered into their first union before 18 was 51.3% in 2015 and 51.6% in
2010. More generally, 53% of women were married before 18 and 10% before 15 (NISD, 2019:9).
Unfortunately, due to self-​reporting and other biases, these data are unreliable.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-36 403

 Josephine Wouango and Susan L. Ostermann

This chapter explores whether and how law has contributed to the reduction of both harmful
practices, finding, ultimately, that variation in compliance with anti-​FGM and anti-​CM law can
be explained by variation in target population legal knowledge, as well as by attitudes towards
the law and legal implementation strategies. To get to these findings, we employed qualita-
tive and quantitative approaches in three communities from the Haut-​Bassin and the Boucle
du Mouhoun Regions, 2 of 13 of Burkina’s administrative regions. Burkina Faso implemented
anti-​FGM law through a multi-​faceted approach combining fear-​based tactics and facilitative
approaches. Interestingly, under this approach, state actors not customarily associated with com-
pliance, like community health workers, help foster compliance. CM law, on the other hand,
lacks both effective enforcement and a coordinated effort to address the practice. CM law and
its implementation have not resolved the conflict between formal law and culture. Our findings
indicate that compliance with anti-​FGM law is more widespread than compliance with anti-​CM
law. This suggests that, when faced with legal pluralism, the use of formal law to regulate a cul-
tural practice is likely to be more effective if facilitative approaches complement formal law.
Burkina Faso’s experience has implications for policy and future programmes on FGM and CM.
Indeed, the UNFPA (2017) was right to recognise that Burkina’s systematic and effective imple­
mentation of FGM/​C law using a mix of programmes, policies and political will offers lessons
for other countries.
In this chapter, we first present the legal process leading to FGM and CM criminalisation in
Burkina Faso before describing variation in compliance with both laws and explaining some of
the factors underpinning variation. We end with implications for policy and future programmes
drawing on Burkina Faso’s experience.

Law and Practice in Burkina Faso

Laws prohibiting harmful practices such as FGM and CM are common policy responses to what
is largely seen as a human rights challenge. Very few FGM and/​or CM-​practising countries are
thought to offer strongly institutionalised regulatory environments, however. Thus, it is an open
question whether law can be used to foster FGM and C abandonment. This is particularly true
because, as discussed below, even states with strongly institutionalised regulatory environments
struggle to determine who actually continues FGM and CM practice. To explore whether it is law
itself, its implementation or other societal or cultural factors that influence FGM and CM abandon-
ment, we consider Burkina Faso, where FGM and CM are both illegal. In this section, we outline
anti-​FGM and CM legal frameworks.

Anti-​FGM Law
Burkina Faso’s anti-​FGM legal framework is informed by international and regional human rights
provisions. Its constitution requires that all signed and ratified international human rights treaties
be automatically incorporated into the domestic legal system (28TooMany, 2018).
Prior to the adoption of specific anti-​FGM law, existing national laws related to equal rights,
child protection, health and physical integrity were used to combat FGM. Burkina’s 1991
Constitution1 provides for “equal rights of all citizens” (Article 1), the “protection of physical
integrity” (Article 2), the promotion of “the rights of the child” (Article 24) and “the right to
health” (Article 26). The Family Code (National Assembly, 1989)2 states the purpose of par­
ental authority as being “to ensure the child’s safety, health, full development and morality”
(Article 510).

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On November 13, 1996, Burkina Faso passed anti-​FGM Law No. 043/​96/​ADP as an amendment
to the Penal Code (National Assembly, 1996). The 1996 law stood until 2018, when Burkina Faso
revised it and embedded it in the new penal Code. Articles 513-​7 to 513-​9 of Section 2 address
FGM and provide basic prison sentences (one to ten years) and fines (500,000–​3,000,000 Francs
CFA [845–​5060 USD]). If a girl dies after cutting, the penal code provides for prison terms ranging
from 11 to 21 years and for fines of 1,000,000–​5,000,000 francs CFA (1687–​8432 USD). Article
513-​9 was added to discourage public support for FGM/​C:

The penalty shall be imprisonment for a term of one to five years and a fine of two hundred
fifty-​thousand (250,000) to one million (1,000,000) CFA francs [422-​1687 USD], anyone
through his public speech, comment or writing, encourages female genital mutilation.
(Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Civil Promotion, 2018)

In addition, Burkina Faso has a National Strategy for the Elimination of FGM/​C (2016–​2020).
Since the 1996 law and its 2018 revision, the state in Burkina Faso has made FGM elimination a
national priority (CNLPE, 2016b).

FGM Practice
FGM prevalence in Burkina Faso has historically been high (87% among those aged 45–​49 years
as of 2015) but in decline since 1985 (UNFPA, 2018). National statistics suggest a decline among
women aged 15–​49 years (75.6% in 2010 to 67.6% in 2015) and girls aged 0–​14 years (13% in
2010 to 11% in 2015). Still, in 2015, it was estimated that FGM prevalence was 42%, in 2015,
among those aged 15–​19 years (UNFPA, 2018).
Demographic and Health Survey (“DHS”) data has traditionally been used to measure FGM
prevalence in Burkina, particularly the 1997/​1998, 2003 and 2010 DHS surveys. Though the latest
DHSIV 2010 and the 2015 multisectoral survey (EMC) provide data on girls aged 0–​14, others
focus more on women aged 15–​49 (NISD, 2012, 2015).
According to a recent study of the legal frameworks associated with FGM in West and Central
Africa, with special attention to Burkina Faso, the country was one of the first to criminalise
the practice and the government’s implementation is “exemplary and unique” (UNFPA, 2018).
Since its passage in 1996, the law punishes cutters as well as anyone who knows of the cutting
and fails to report it to the authorities (CNLPE, 2016a, 2016b). A recent study by Crisman et al.
(2016:33) explained that while there is evidence of a recent decline in the FGM rate in Burkina
Faso, enforcement of the law should be done in conjunction with other strategies.

Anti-​CM Law
As mentioned above, CM constitutes a human rights violation and has been made illegal in Burkina
Faso. A whole host of different pieces of legislation support the government’s anti-​CM stance:

− Article 23 of the constitution and Article 234 and 240 of the Code of Persons and the Family
(“CPF”) recognises that men and women must freely and consciously consent to marriage.
− CPF Article 238 stipulates that “marriage can only be contracted between a man over 20 years
of age and a woman over 17 years of age unless the civil court grants an age waiver for ser-
ious reasons.” CNLPE (2015:21) states that, while the code prohibits CM, an exemption may
be granted to a man who is at least 18 years old to marry a woman who is at least 15.

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− Article 376 of the Penal Code prohibits CM and provides sanctions, including imprisonment of
six months to two years, for anyone who forces another to marry. If the victim is a minor, the
penalty is imprisonment for one to three years. The penalty is highest if the victim is a minor
girl under 13 (CNLPE, 2015:21).

In addition, Burkina Faso has a National Strategic Plan to Promote the Elimination of Child
Marriage (2016–​2020)3 and two operational action plans were implemented from 2016 to 2018
and from 2019 to 2020.4 The vision of this national strategy is “to make Burkina Faso, by 2025,
a country where child marriage in all its forms is eliminated” (6). It is important to note here that
the implication of this normative stance, as expressed by way of national law, is that development
necessarily involves a move away from traditional practices and customary law. It follows that,
in order to comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the
Rights and Welfare of the Child, the national strategy defines CM as “any union involving a girl
or boy who has not reached the legal age of 18,” an age that puts the law in direct conflict with
traditional practices. It should perhaps not be surprising, then, that despite these prohibitions, CM
continues in a variety of different contexts. For instance, CM is higher in rural areas and among
uneducated girls: the proportion of married girls aged 15–​17 is very high in the Sahel (51.3%),
Southwest (24.7%) and East (23.5%) according to Burkina Faso DHS 2010 (CNLPE, 2015:14).
It is important to note that a small number of boys are also affected by CM. Of the early/​forced
marriage cases handled by social work services from 2009 to 2013, 6325 were girls, but 860 were
boys (Opcit: 15).

CM Practice
In Burkina Faso, CM is closely linked to traditions/​customs described by NISD (2019:35) and
the CNLPE (2015:17). Research shows that CM in Burkina affects girls’ education (dropping out
of school or non-​enrolment), girls’ economic autonomy (reduction), gender inequality, domestic
violence and health (UNICEF, 2021). According to Burkina Faso’s National Strategy document
(9) on CM, the practice is fostered by: (1) the existence of a legal vacuum with regard to cus-
tomary and religious marriage; (2) the low commitment of decision-​makers to finance structural
policies for the protection and promotion of girls and boys; and (3) the weak commitment of
decision-​makers to finance structural policies for the protection and promotion of rights more
generally.
It should perhaps not be surprising then that EDS statistics show that CM prevalence barely
declined from 2010 to 2015. The 2015 survey shows that 51.3% of women, ages 20–​24, were
married before 18, as compared to 51.6% in 2010. With respect to gender, 51.3% of the girls
surveyed had married before 18, compared to 1.6% of boys. The median age at first marriage
among 20–​24-​year-​olds remained stable over the 2010–​2015 period at 17. Analysis of secondary
data reveals that: “Girls in rural areas, without education, living in very poor households, and in the
Sahel, North Central, and Eastern regions were most at risk of child marriage” (NISD, 2019:37).
Other studies (UNICEF, 2016b; Girls Not Brides, 2019) and a recent analysis by UNICEF
(2021:8) confirm that the girls most at risk of CM tend to be from the poorest households and rural
areas. UNICEF also points out that there is variation in social change with respect to FGM and
CM: “Burkina Faso shows no change in the prevalence of child marriage across generations, but
FGM has become less common” (UNICEF, 2021:18).

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Given these relatively grim statistics, it is important to ask: what explains the variation in citi-
zens’ compliance with anti-​FGM and anti-​CM legislation? Also, what motivates compliance with
these laws? Only by answering these questions can we learn and come up with better policies and
practices.

Methodology
To examine anti-​FGM and CM legal efficacy in Burkina Faso, we employ qualitative and quantita-
tive approaches in three communities from the Haut-​Bassin and the Boucle du Mouhoun Regions,
2 of 13 administrative regions in Burkina Faso that lie along the border with Mali. Though the
design of this data collection effort was based upon a cross-​border design, comparing commu-
nities along the Burkina Faso–​Mali border, this chapter only presents results for Burkina Faso.
Data collection involved (1) a large-​N survey to investigate the moral, social, religious and fear-​
based motivations people have for obeying the law; (2) key informant interviews with community
gatekeepers, government workers (such as health officials, social workers and teachers) and law
enforcement officials (such as magistrates and prefects);5 and (3) focus group discussions with adult
men and women from selected communities to assess their reasons for continuing or abandoning
FGM and CM. Given the sensitivity of the subject, we used hypothetical scenarios and vignettes in
the KII and FGD guides. For each study site, we worked with research assistants from the targeted
community to tailor vignettes for local relevance and then further refined them after pre-​testing.
Quantitative survey participants included over 18 men and women, with a total sample of 1209
individuals (605 men and 604). Focus group discussion participants fell into four groups: 18–​34-​
year-​old men, 35+​year-​old men, 18–​34-​year-​old women and 35+​-​year-​old women. Four FGDs,
with six to seven participants each, were conducted in each of the three villages. We recruited
participants through community facilitators to ensure diversity and inclusion, completing 30 KIIs
and 12 FGDs, in total.
Informed consent for the interviews and survey was obtained from all participants who signed
(or fingerprinted) the form when they agreed to participate, indicating that they understood the
aim of the research and willingly agreed to participate. All participants also received a copy of the
consent form for their records. The research proceeded with ethical approval from the Population
Council Institutional Review Board, the Burkina Faso Ministry of Health’s Research Ethics
Committee and the Mali Ministry of Health’s Research Ethics Committee.

Compliance with Anti-​FGM and Anti-​CM Law

The socio-​legal compliance literature suggests that in addition to fear (Tittle, 1977; Friedman,
1975), a felt sense of duty (Scholz & Pinney, 1995; May, 2005) and social licence pressures
(Kagan, Thornton & Gunningham, 2003) motivate compliance with the law. There are then a
whole host of different conditions under which fear, duty and social licence pressures are likely
to impact compliance. This section describes the state of compliance with anti-​FGM and CM law
in Burkina.

Compliance with Anti-​FGM Law

An important prerequisite of compliance, when the state is attempting to shift behaviour from
social norms to legal ones, is legal knowledge. If the state does not inform target populations about
legal requirements, they cannot consciously comply.

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In assessing respondents’ FGM legal knowledge, we found that the vast majority of quantita-
tive respondents think that FGM is illegal in Burkina Faso (87%). These results are consistent with
previous studies (CNLPE, 2016a; NISD, 2019). Radio was the main source of legal information
for both quantitative and qualitative respondents. Knowledge is merely a prerequisite for compli-
ance, however. Once members of target populations are aware of legal requirements, compliance
motivation becomes important.
Perhaps, because of widespread legal knowledge and some enforcement, persistent practitioners
of FGM have now largely gone underground in Burkina Faso (CNLPE, 2016a). This makes it dif­
ficult to assess the practice by way of self-​reporting. Thus, for the quantitative survey, we utilised
a list experiment to estimate the planned future prevalence of FGM. List experiments can elicit
truthful responses to sensitive questions. The context of this study allowed us to gain a more
accurate estimate of persistent FGM practice in Burkina than other methods could provide.
List experiments require that the survey sample be randomly divided into two sub-​samples,
with respondents in one sub-​sample being read a list of not very sensitive activities and then asked
to count how many of the items are true for them. The other sub-​sample is then provided with the
same list of activities, plus an extra activity related to the sensitive issue under study.
In our case, respondents were asked to report the total number of activities they planned for
“the future.” “Circumcise my daughter or granddaughter” was listed in the experimental/​treatment
condition, but not in the control. This allowed us to construct an estimate of planned FGM/​C
“prevalence” by computing the difference in the total counts between the treatment group and the
control group, expressed as a fraction of the total number of individuals in the treatment group.
Indicated in Table 30.1, the above-​described procedure and analysis resulted in an estimated
“planned prevalence” of 14%.
All three sites have a relatively low “planned prevalence” estimate, especially as compared
to past prevalence rates, suggesting that the law in Burkina Faso may have affected future
FGM plans.
Despite accurate legal knowledge and indications of FGM behaviour change, the practice does
persist, secretly. Below, we quantitatively assess legal compliance motivation in general, and with
FGM law in particular, so as to provide clues regarding how remaining FGM participants and
practitioners may be persuaded to change their behaviour.

Table 30.1 Estimation of planned future FGM/​C prevalence using list experiment in Burkina Faso

Treatment group (T) Control group (C)

Mean Total Mean Total (Ct) T-​Test Pr (T>C) Prevalence

(%) estimate
(95% CI) (Tt) (95% CI) (Tt –​Ct)/​nt
Burkina 2.8 (2.7, 3.0) 856 2.7 (2.6, 2.8) 815 1.3 0.20 13.5
Paired Communes
Faramana 2.8 (2.5, 3.0) 281 2.7 (2.5, 2.8) 269 0.6 0.53 11.8
Koloko 2.9 (2.7, 3.1) 291 2.7 (2.5, 2.9) 266 1.3 0.19 24.8
Tansila 2.8 (2.6, 3.1) 284 2.8 (2.6, 3.0) 280 0.3 0.79 4.0
Notes:
1. Prevalence was estimated as the difference between the total number of activities by the treatment group
and the control group expressed as a fraction of the total number of respondents in the treatment group.
2. nt is the number of individuals in the treatment group.

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When asked about their motivation to obey the law in general, 54.4% of respondents reported
their motivation flows from a sense of legal obligation and from believing others behave simi-
larly. When respondents were asked what they thought motivated others to obey customary law,
fear of social sanctions (ancestors, gods etc.) was reported by 33% of respondents, while respect
for the law was mentioned by 27%, and this is approximately equivalent to what motivated the
respondents individually to obey customary law. As with legal disobedience, when there is a con-
flict between statutory law and religion/​customs, only 28% of respondents said non-​compliance
with statutory law would be permissible if it contradicts their religion/​customs, while 60% of
respondents said the same for religion/​custom.
In terms of compliance with FGM law, 14% of respondents stated that they would practise FGM
even if everyone else in their community stopped and 15% stated that the practice should continue.
This result is consistent with those from the list experiment (with a projected future prevalence
rate of 14%). The majority of respondents (83%), however, support FGM abandonment, as long
as everyone does so. Meanwhile, 84% of respondents stated they would NOT continue FGM if
everyone in their community abandoned the practice. This reinforces the importance of social
norms in determining FGM behaviour (Mackie, 2017). Importantly, the practice seems to be in
decline. Crisman et al. (2016) provide evidence of a recent decline in FGM in Burkina Faso since
its criminalisation, although the results vary across regions, possibly due to differences in enforce-
ment, media access and the pace of community acceptance. UNFPA (2017) reviewed various
interventions globally and concluded that in Burkina there is evidence of a substantial drop in the
likelihood of girls being cut since the passage of the law due to its holistic approach: “The scholars
estimated that legal measures have prevented nearly a quarter of a million girls and women from
being cut in the past 10 years” (UNFPA, 2017:45).
We covered the same topic with qualitative participants (KII and FGD) via vignette and the
results confirm support for abandonment despite resistance from some families and the persistence
of underground cutting (cutting young girls, conducting FGM in secret during the rainy season or
cross-​border FGM). FGD respondents indicated that abandonment is motivated mainly by fear of
legal sanctions and fear of health consequences.

As I said, because of the law many people are afraid to do it officially [the cutting], those
who continue to cut really do it underground. They don’t do it openly.
(Female, FGD 18–​34, Koloko)

We were told that an uncut woman has complications during childbirth compared to a woman
who is cut. That’s what people used to say when FGM was practised, but now [laughter],
now we no longer practise it here but our daughters who are cut have no problems during
childbirth; on the contrary, they give birth more easily […] FGM itself causes certain
diseases that can affect women’s reproductive health.
(Male, FGD 35+​, Tansila)

The criminalisation of FGM in Burkina Faso has seemingly led to different outcomes than in
other contexts. Boyden (2012) concluded that legislative intervention in Ethiopia without due
regard for context and local nuance “resulted in the transformation, rather than the elimination,
of FGM, the exchange of one type of risk for another, or even increased risk to girls.” In a sep-
arate study, Boyden et al (2012) showed that the perceived efficacy of female early marriage and
genital modification in Ethiopia manifests in continued resistance to reform and unintended dele-
terious consequences when the socio-​cultural/​economic context and the rationale underlying these

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practices are insufficiently considered. Relatedly, Camilotti (2016) analysed DHS data and found
that law enforcement was counterproductive: it led to a lower cutting age. Cetorelli et al. (2020)
compared FGM trends in Mauritania (with a 2005 FGM law) and Mali (with no FGM law) and
concluded that there was no cross-​border variation in FGM. Meanwhile, laws can incite resistance
or drive the practice underground, as has happened in Senegal (Shell-​Duncan et al., 2013) and
Ghana (Ako and Akweongo, 2009; Dowuona-​Hammond et al., 2020); it can also lead to the med­­
icalisation of FGM as in Egypt (Rasheed, Abd-​Ellah & Yousef, 2011)
So, why the positive outcome in Burkina Faso? Overall, our data suggest that there are three
major reasons for large-​scale compliance with anti-​FGM law in Burkina, while a minority secretly
continues the practice.
The first is enforcement, including proceedings organised through mobile community courts
(“audiences foraines” in French). These courts require judges to go into practising communi-
ties to publicly punish cutters and accomplices. Their goal is to: (1) raise awareness of FGM
consequences; (2) explain why the practice is banned; and (3) sanction those who contravene
the law. There is media coverage of all public hearings, even in remote areas, pairing punish-
ment with awareness-​raising. Convictions have resulted in imprisonment and fines for cutters and
accomplices.
The second is the government’s innovative, multi-​pronged implementation strategy involving: a
free telephone line to report cases that are then dealt with by SP/​CNLPE-​managed security forces;
effective lobbying and advocacy by high-​level community and religious leaders;6 training for
judicial actors, security agents and health workers; community patrols by security forces; close
partnerships with national and local media that cover community court hearings and broadcast
national anti-​FGM activities and messaging in French and local languages; translation of FGM
law into the four main local languages and distribution through local organisations; public aban-
donment commitments from former cutters; and the CNLPE’s leading role in coordinating all the
actions in partnership with many stakeholders.
Jirovsky (2014) confirms that Burkina Faso’s multi-​pronged strategy increased abandonment in
Bobo-​Dioulasso. Similarly, Crisman et al. (2016) estimate that Burkina’s 1996 anti-​FGM law and
related efforts led to a 30% reduction in cutting risk. Other studies confirm this encouraging finding
(CNLPE, 2016a; UNFPA, 2018). Overall, FGM criminalisation in Burkina, which accounts for
local context and engages a variety of actors in a coordinated manner, including strategic allies like
the supreme chiefs of different ethnic groups and religious leaders, has been successful.
The third is fear of health consequences and health worker influence. Burkina Faso’s FGM
abandonment messaging has mainly focused on the health consequences of the practice and health
workers are trained to act as key players in remote areas. They play an important role in abandon-
ment through information and influence. FGD participants suggest that community health workers
are important information conduits, providing information about FGM/​C law while also discour-
aging cutting because of health consequences, as illustrated below.

I learned with the health workers who told us not to do it anymore because the law bans
cutting the girls. They even arrest people for that.
(Female, FGD 35+​, Faramana)

The doctors [health workers] said on the radio and on the TV that we should not cut the
girls anymore.
(Male, FGD 35+​, Tansila)

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Given the trust that exists between health workers and the communities they serve, it should not be
surprising that health workers appear to influence abandonment decisions. For some they provide
inspiration, for others they convey the fear that those continuing the practice should feel about
potential health and legal consequences if a cut girl is harmed and taken to a far-​away hospital
where the state’s coercive apparatus is more active.7 Statements made by FGD participants from
all three villages bear this out:

It is the fear of getting in trouble with the authorities. Because if you do it [the cutting] and it
goes wrong, you are obliged to take the girl to the hospital. The health workers will question
you in order to understand and, in turn, they will go and denounce you.
If there are complications, they’ll take her to the hospital and there the doctors will ask
them what happened and denounce them.
We do not do it anymore because the doctors told us not to.

In summary, FGD data support the list experiment’s projection of decreased FGM practice in
Burkina Faso. Data from health workers, who are in a position to know whether a person is cut or
not, further support this conclusion. Health workers from two of the villages confirmed that they
deliver babies for young women who are uncut, as illustrated below.

Given your position here, at the health centre, do you really think that people have stopped
the practice of FGM/​C?
Yes! When I say yes, it is because I receive many women in my health centre, and I can
say that people have stopped the practice of FGM a lot. Because most of the cases we
see are really women who may already have more than six children, and if we take their
ages and go back in time, we will find that the practice has already been done a long time
ago. But with the younger girls we meet today, we really feel that there are many who
have not been cut. So, I can say that with this comparison already, the practice has really
decreased.
(Male, KII, Tansila)

Taken collectively, Burkina Faso’s experience with community health workers as information
providers and influencers suggests that we should take seriously the role that a wide variety of
state representatives—​not just the police, the courts, the bureaucracy etc—​play when it comes to
thinking about state capacity.
FGM continuance, however, is motivated by a fear of social isolation/​ marginalisation.
Respondents listed cultural reasons (or customs) as one of the main justifications for continued
practice. Many respondents said that cutting is their culture/​tradition and that some continue to
do so, even underground, because they believe their culture should be maintained. Regardless of
gender, those who still support FGM are convinced that they are doing the right thing.

We were born to find this practice, so we do it until now and we haven’t stopped it.
Since it is a practice of our ancestors, we only have to conform to it and perpetuate this
tradition.

Interestingly, only a few participants in Burkina Faso linked religion to FGM practice and, when
they did, mainly to Islam.

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Compliance with Anti-​CM Law

Both quantitative and qualitative respondents were asked about common disputes in their com-
munity. Among quantitative respondents, disputes over land (47%) were reported most frequently,
followed by conflicts between breeders and farmers (27%). Nine percent of respondents cited
conflicts relating to culture, traditions and customs, while 3% reported ethnic conflicts.
Qualitative findings focused on different types of conflicts, however. CM and women’s abduc-
tion were cited as the second-​and third-​most common dispute types in the qualitative data. These
data also reveal that CM is widespread in all three study communities and practised by the three
major ethnic groups equally (Bobo, Senoufo and Bwaba) as a common way that couples are
formed. Child and early marriage can be arranged (parents marry the girl off without her consent),
forced (the girl is kidnapped by a man/​boy without her or her parent’s consent) or wanted (a girl
flees with her boyfriend, sometimes to avoid a different and usually arranged CM). The Senoufo
community even has a word, “Kosseguê,” to describe this practice: a woman who is married has
to send her first girl child back to her parent’s village to be married there. We illustrate each CM
variety below to further inform the reader.
Kossegué as arranged marriage:

They say that in the Sénoufo communities, they practise the Kossegué. What is the Kossegué?
It means that when you take a woman into a family, if that woman gives birth to a girl, the
girl has to go back to her mother’s family to get married. However, our laws do not recognise
that practice. So, as a result, there is a problem between the law and their culture. Often it is
difficult for them to understand. When you tell them that a girl who is not 18 years old is a
minor, someone who has not been to school cannot understand that. He/​she says: “no as soon
as you see the girl with breasts, well it’s (laughs). So, often it makes it difficult to solve cases”.
(Male, KII, Koloko)

Wanted early marriage:

This is a variety of early marriages. The young person meets during the demonstrations in
the different villages. The young man and the girl consult each other next door. You’ll find
that it’s a girl engaged to another young man. So, if they have agreed with the girl, he comes
to take the girl and then go away with her somewhere else. There is a problem there, because
the man who engaged the girl had been working in the fields for his in-​laws for three years,
and someone else is coming to take her to go away. That’s the problem.
(Male, KII, Faramana)

Kidnapping and abduction: Men will sometimes unexpectedly abduct a girl who may or may not
be promised to them in marriage. This is said to happen regularly within respondent communities
as explained below.

The conflicts that are common in our community are land conflicts and women’s conflicts;
someone can come and take someone else’s wife or girl, and this can create problems.
(Male, KII, Tansila)

Our Social Action department is mostly asked to intervene for cases relating to the abduc-
tion of women and girls.
(Male, KII, Faramana)

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When qualitative respondents were asked whether, in their opinion and to the best of their know-
ledge, CM is legal and whether they had a legal obligation to comply with anti-​CM law, the
majority possessed accurate legal knowledge: that only girls over 18 years old can marry. As one
respondent put it, “In our country, the government has made a law and it is fixed at 18 years.”
Respondents were also aware of reliable information sources on CM-​illegality. They reported that
they could seek information through the Ministry of Family’s “Social Affairs Service,” which is
community-​based, as well as through the media and education.
When asked, “In your community, where do people learn that 18 years is the legal age of
marriage?” respondents stated as follows:

If you go to the social action department, you will have more information. You will know
the age and also the details of the marriage…It can also be learned in the hospital from the
doctors.
(FGD, Men 18–​34, Tansila)

The government has passed a law against early marriage, and said that it has a negative
impact on the girl. So, for the girl it is 18 years and the boy 20 years.
(FGD, Women 18–​34, Tansila)

Through the sensitization in the media and moreover nowadays there are many people that
are schooled which has allowed that many people to be aware.
(FGD, Women 35+​, Tansila)

There are projects that come up at any time to talk about it. There are our children too who
are in school, they too do it in class.
(FGD, Men 35+​, Faramana)

These data suggest relatively widespread legal knowledge and reliable sources of legal infor-
mation. However, in terms of observed behaviours, the results explicitly reveal widespread
non-​compliance with anti-​CM law. In particular, our data suggest that the law on the min-
imum marriage age was not important to marriage decision-​making. A girl’s corpulence, men-
struation and breast development are indicators parents look for when deciding on a girl’s
marriage, not age. Thus, our data reveal that the conflict between formal and customary law
is regularly resolved in favour of the latter, with anti-​CM law compliance being low and the
practice being open and widespread in all study communities. Respondents suggest three major
reasons for this.
The first is perceptions regarding the reasonability of the legal marriage age. We asked FGD
participants about the typical marriage age for girls in their communities and most reported that
this was 14 or 15 years old. Some participants reported awareness that the legal marriage age is 18
but indicated that few people respected this age, as illustrated below.

As No 4 said, girls can get married at 15 years of age and this is the position
of our ethnic group. But according to the government’s decision, in our country
marriage must start at 18 years of age.
No. 7: As they said, there is no age limit for us. Because in our country, a girl
can start seeing men at 15 years old and some don’t even reach 16 and they give

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birth… .Also, according to the religion, from the age of 15, a girl is given in
marriage; some people bring the girl elsewhere so that she can be raised and not
know men until she is married. Often, where the girl is taken to be educated, she
runs away before her marriage. In our community here, age is not a problem.
(FGD, Men 18–​34, Koloko)

No. 6: It is said that in the community, a girl must marry at the age of 15 because
if she does not marry at that age, it is not good for the father and mother because
it is a sin.
No.3: I will contradict No 6. The government measure is 18 years. But our law is
that if the girl reaches 15 years of age and there is a perfect agreement and that
this union will not be a source of conflict that could lead you to the government,
if she reaches 15 years of age, she can get married.
(FGD, Women 35+​, Koloko)

The second is linked with the reasons for CM itself: (1) CM is traditional/​customary, such as with
the practise of “Kossoguê”; (2) CM helps maintain the parents’ honour (by allaying fears about
pregnancy and virginity-​loss); (3) socio-​economic factors dictate that CM is the only viable option;
(4) CM occupies girls who are not in school, due to non-​enrolment or dropping out; and (5) love
marriage (in some cases to escape forced CM). The below quotes are illustrative of these factors.

Researcher: You said that even at 12 or 13 years old a girl can be given to marriage?
No. 5: According to me a girl can get married at 13 years old and have chil-
dren… . I said that it doesn’t matter the age as long as she sees her period.
Why do many people marry in the customary way? Even in the villages, parents
are surprised by the behaviour of their children who, while you consider your
daughter as a child, you will find out that she is pregnant. This is the main reason
why some parents give their daughters to early marriage for fear that they will
get pregnant in the family home. … Nowadays, many girls get pregnant before the
age of 18.
No. 2: The 18 years old, it is on the side of the law, otherwise, the Muslim reli-
gion has not determined an age of marriage. There are four criteria for the girl
and three criteria for the man. If these four criteria are met in the girl, she will be
married. What are those criteria? When she sees her menstrual periods that we
call “menstruation”, that’s one of them. The second one is what? If she dreams
that she is having sex with a man, that is another criterion. What is the other one?
If she has hair in her private area. That’s another criterion.
(FGD, Men, 35+​, Faramana)

No.4: 18 years old is a law of the government and a white man’s story. Otherwise,
in terms of Islam, a girl does not even reach 18 before being married. As soon as
a girl sees her period, the Muslim religion authorises the marriage. […] Islam
talks about a girl who grew up at the age of fifteen.
No. 6: Girls get married from 15 to 16 years old because they are the ones
who rush.
(FGD, Men 18–​34, Koloko)

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 Variation in Compliance with Anti-FGM and Child Marriage Law

No. 7: Sometimes, it is the girls who are used to giving themselves away in marriage
from the age of 14 to 15. Some of them are not even worth it because they run away
with the boys (a participant’s voice: that’s really it). As for the parents, we give the girl
away after 15 years of age and it is in case a suitor comes along, otherwise, the law
that prevails in this matter in our country is 18 years.
(FGD, Women 35+​, Tansila)

Respondents’ attitudes reflect a conflict between statutory and customary law with respect to CM.
Participant responses reflect openness to marriage for under-​18 girls, suggesting that respondents
are generally inclined to comply with customary law and Islamic rules more particularly. The
data suggest that non-​compliance with anti-​CM law in the context of legal pluralism reflects alle-
giance to customary or religious authorities and rules. According to the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights (2016), many African countries have recognised customary law as part of
their legal order to the extent that it is compatible with their constitution, international human
rights standards or both. With CM, codified law and customary law are in tension. The “age indi-
cator” and the rights-​based approach that guide civil law on CM contradict customary law, which
utilises pragmatic physiological development indicators to determine when a child can be married.
Though legal pluralism can involve formal and customary law complementing one another, this
is impossible in Burkina Faso, and internationally, regarding CM. In addition, some girls employ
CM to avoid forced early marriage by “running away with a boy.” This “love CM” or “chosen
CM” is a way for adolescent girls to exercise agency through resistance to forced CM, but it too
creates a tension between the rights-​based approach (the right of the girl to make the decision) and
the formal law (banning under-​18 marriage). It also demonstrates the complexity of girls’ agency
and roles in marital decision-​making.
The third is low levels of law enforcement (of the Code of Persons and Family and the Penal
Code) against practitioners. Unlike FGM, which is highly prosecuted, law enforcement related
to CM at our study sites can be summarised as follows: “if no one complains, there will be no
enforcement of the law.” As a prefect responsible for the civil court at the community level
explained:

…As I said, there are younger girls that are kidnapped here (by a man) and the parents
themselves agree to give them to marriage. In this situation we are powerless because we
can’t take responsibility for ourselves. I can’t get up and go to a wedding at the mosque and
see that the girl is underage and say that I don’t agree.

As stated in the National Strategy on Child Marriage (Ministry of Family, Women and National
Solidarity, 2015), there is “a legal vacuum with regard to customary and religious marriage,” and
these are more common than civil marriages. Even though Article 376 of the Penal Code prohibits
CM and allows the imprisonment of anyone who forces a person to marry, enforcement is limited
with regard to customary/​religious marriages (of children and adults). This is because these forms
of marriage, representing the majority of marriages, are not recognised by the law. Indeed, to merit
sanction with respect to Article 3988 of the Penal Code, a CM must qualify as kidnapping, rape or
sequestration (Ministry of Family, Women and National Solidarity, 2015:21). The same document
states that religious and customary institutions do not comply with the Code of Persons and Family
regarding the minimum marriage age, as CM is often used to reinforce ties between different fam-
ilies. A quote from another prefect corroborates this fact.

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 Josephine Wouango and Susan L. Ostermann

The law has been voted on but it can only be effectively enforced if people come to celebrate
the marriage officially here, hence the law can be applied because we are going to assess
the age of the girl and the boy. Otherwise, if someone takes the girl and stays with her at
home, how will the law be applied to him? I may even not know if no one comes to complain.

For many years there were attempts to modify the Code of Persons and Family in order to facilitate
authority over religious/​customary marriage, but the process remains pending. Given the sensi-
tivity of the issue, it seems likely that code modification may not come to fruition any time soon.
Relatedly, we also asked our KII and FGD participants what would happen to parents who
facilitate CM. Almost universally our respondents reported that these parents need not fear: usu-
ally nothing happens to them (so long as there are no complaints to the police or the prefecture).
In the rare case of a complaint, parents are summoned to the Ministry of Social Action office in
their locality if there is no resolution, then to the gendarmerie, and, if still no resolution, to the
children’s judge. The whole process is more about sensitising parents than punishing them, as it is
with anti-​FGM law enforcement. And people do approach the civil courts to complain when they
do not accept a girl’s marriage. The complainants might be a girl’s parents, brothers or teachers/​
professors (if she is enrolled in school). The below quotes highlight how respondents see this issue.

Sometimes, you will see that if the girl has not reached the age of 18 and it has been decided
to give her in marriage, she summons the parents to the social action.
(FGD, Men 18–​34, Koloko)

As far as this law is concerned, if you get a school girl married who is underage and the
matter has reached the level of the authorities, you will be sent to prison.
(FGD, Women 35+​, Koloko)

A law does exist in this matter but it is the people who go to the law and not the other way
around, otherwise, even if the girl is not a schoolgirl, it is enough that her parents oppose
this marriage and that they go to complain, the law will apply.
(FGD, Men 35+​, Faramana)

This third reason demonstrates that the implementation of CM law is scarce. Civil servants
responsible for enforcing the law (the police/​gendarmerie, the prefect) rely on complaints to drive
their own action. As a consequence, CM is still a widespread social and cultural practice in the
study sites despite the enactment of law and the implementation of policies aimed at its eradica-
tion, as well as various information campaigns about the negative consequences of CM. It also
demonstrates, when considered in contrast to the anti-​FGM case above, that when customary law
and practice openly contradict national civil law, the formula may not work in all cases. Context
still matters. Thus, experimentation with different approaches may be required before the state
finds an effective strategy.

A Case for Improving the Effectiveness of Formal Law?

This chapter reveals that anti-​FGM law compliance is more widespread than that of anti-​CM
law. Variation in compliance with closely related banned cultural practices can be explained by
variations in the target population’s legal knowledge, attitudes towards the law and legal imple-
mentation strategies. Burkina Faso’s implementation involved a multi-​faceted approach combining

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fear-​based and facilitative approaches. Interestingly, state actors not customarily associated with
compliance, like community health workers, helped foster anti-​FGM compliance. In contrast, CM
law implementation lacks both effective enforcement and a coordinated effort to address the prac-
tice. It should not be surprising, then, with little fear among those facilitating the practice that CM
continues openly in our study sites. Burkina’s anti-​FGM success suggests that implementation
approaches that use multiple strategies and are well-​matched with the country’s contexts are crit-
ical to compliance. This conclusion has implications for policy and practice.
The first of these implications is that implementing formal law in the context of legal pluralism
poses many challenges. To address this with regard to FGM, Burkina’s government developed
strategies to persuade powerful and influential religious and community leaders to encourage
abandonment among their followers. These stakeholders joined the normative stance of the rights-​
based approach that guided the government’s commitment to combat FGM. They disseminated the
message that neither “culture” nor religion encourages FGM. The open expression of this position
provided support to those enforcing statutory law. Going forward, policymakers should remember
that compliance with laws banning harmful practices can vary and sometimes people obey one
law and defy another. Policymakers should search for strategies that complement enforcement and
foster abandonment. For instance, with regard to FGM, community health workers are in a pos-
ition to know whether women and girls are still being cut and can, potentially, relay observational
data to key stakeholders and convince those still practising to change their behaviour.
A second implication is that there are many paths to compliance and contextual “fit” may
help determine success. Many respondents comply with the law when it agrees with their own
consciences, not because of fear of enforcement. Hence, a strictly punitive approach may not
effectively reduce CM. A more facilitative approach, involving diverse strategies and actors, and
adapted to on-​the-​ground realities, might be more effective.
A third implication is that the use of formal law to regulate a cultural practice presents an
implementation challenge: how to resolve conflicts between formal law and culture/​religion? The
success of particular implementation strategies is not entirely state-​dependent, as demonstrated
with FGM, in which formal law complemented other facilitative approaches: ones that were
locally grounded and involved cultural/​traditional gatekeepers. Those looking to encourage CM
abandonment should consider experimenting with aspects of Burkina’s facilitative FGM strategy
to discover effective anti-​CM techniques.
Finally, there is much to learn from Burkina Faso’s experience combating two closely connected
practices. Burkina’s success and remaining challenges highlight how difficult it can be to use
formal law to regulate cultural practices.

Notes
1 French version: www.wipo.int/​edocs/​lexd​ocs/​laws/​fr/​bf/​bf01​7fr.pdf, consulted 10/​07/​2021.
2 French version: http://​jafb​ase.fr/​doc​Afri​que/​Burk​ina/​Le_​code_​des​_​per​sonn​es_​e​t_​de​_​la_​fami​lle.pdf,
consulted 10/​07/​2021.
3 A new five-​year National Strategic Plan was recently adopted for 2022–​2026 with the goal to
“accelerate the elimination of FGM in Burkina Faso” (Ministry of Family, Women and National
Solidarity, 2022).
4 Since the creation of the National Council to Combat the Practice of Excision (CNLPE) in 1991,
three action plans covering the periods 1992–​1995, 1999–​2003 and 2009–​2013 were developed and
implemented by government authorities in collaboration with civil society and with the financial support
of various technical partners (UNICEF, UNFPA, Danemark etc.).
5 They were identified with an eye towards diversity of role within the community.

417
 Josephine Wouango and Susan L. Ostermann

6 For example, the Moro Naaba in Ouagadougou who is the supreme king of the Mossi people in Burkina
Faso is a champion for abandoning FGM/​C.
7 This is evidence that fear-​based tactics do work to some degree in Burkina Faso, which uses both
fear-​based tactics and facilitative approaches. We do not argue that fear is wholly ineffective, just
that Burkina Faso has adopted a multi-​pronged approach leading to increased actual or intended
abandonment.
8
Is punished by five to ten years of imprisonment, whoever by violence, threats or fraud abducts or
causes to be abducted a minor or drags him or her away or causes him or her to be dragged away,
diverted or moved from the places where he or she was placed by those to whose authority or direction
he or she was subjected.

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 31
A CRITICAL REFLECTION
ON GHANA’S CHILDHOOD,
CHILD RIGHTS, AND CHILD
LABOUR GOVERNANCE
MODALITIES
A case study of abolitionist discourses and
practices on children’s work in the fishing sector

Sam Okyere, Nana K. Agyeman, and Bernard Koomson

Introduction
This chapter critically interrogates the influence of dominant international child rights discourses,
and practices of child rights legislation in Ghana. The chapter is based on the findings of a study of
the Ghana police and an American-​based non-​governmental organisation (NGO) raiding and for-
cibly removing children from villages in the belief that these youngsters are victims of trafficking
and enslavement. This controversial practice is justified as being in consonance with accepted
Ghanaian childhood and child rights laws and expectations. The chapter problematises this
defence with the argument that these legal standards and expectations themselves do not reflect
autochthonous Ghanaian beliefs on childhood and child rights. Instead, the country’s current child
rights legislative landscape and the raiding of indigenous communities reflect Western political
hegemony. Above all, the raiding of villages and other oppressive practices reflect a wider pursuit
of neoliberal norms across the globe.
The last two decades have seen a growing number of NGOs and activists working towards the
elimination of children’s work in fishing within Ghanaian coastal, island, and riverine communi-
ties. Some of these actors present their work not just in terms of child labour, but as an attempt
to end child trafficking and child slavery in the specified communities (IJM, 2016). They argue
that owing to poverty, sheer ignorance and other factors, some Ghanaian parents and guardians
sell their children outright or collude in their trafficking and enslavement for fishing on the Lake
Volta (IJM, 2016; FTS, 2020). These assertions have been criticised as distortions of the com­­
plexities surrounding children’s work in these communities (Koomson and Abdulai, 2021) or
exaggerated presentation of a few extreme cases as the norm (Okyere, 2017). Nonetheless, the

420 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-37

 A Critical Reflection on Ghana’s Childhood

claims about widespread child trafficking and enslavement continue to dominate the discussion,
with ramifications for the target communities and the country as a whole.
At the national level, Ghana’s position on assessments such as the United States Trafficking
in Persons (TIP) rankings has suffered with the continued dissemination of child trafficking and
enslavement claims. In 2015 and 2016, it received a Tier 2 Watch List ranking, as a country failing
to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking (United States Department
of State, 2015, 2016). This rating came with a warning of sanctions by the US State Department
if Ghana dropped further in the TIP rankings in 2017 (Akwei, 2016). Faced with the prospect
of losing at least $140 million annual US government aid and another $498 million from the
Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact from such sanctions, Ghanaian governments
have taken various remedial steps. One of these is the adoption of measures and rejuvenation of
laws criminalising children’s involvement in any fishing activity that occurs beyond the shores of
a lake, river, or sea. Another is the intensification of cooperation between government agencies and
anti-​trafficking NGOs to address the problem. This is the context within which the Ghana Police
Service’s Anti Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) and an American NGO have been raiding villages
on Lake Volta, supposedly to rescue child victims of trafficking and slavery in these communities.
As discussed elsewhere (Okyere, Agyeman and Saboro, 2021), residents of these communi­
ties challenge these accusations and, in turn, accuse the raiding groups of carrying out violent
assault, destruction of property, child abduction, and other rights violations against them. This
notwithstanding, the police and NGO have persisted with their ‘rescue missions’, as they term
the raids. They present this action and the removal of children as a moral imperative to rescue
enslaved and trafficked children, in line with Ghanaian child labour and child trafficking laws and
aspirations. The chapter critically interrogates this position through a critical assessment of the
wider Ghanaian child rights governance and practice landscape. It shows that, as with other coun-
tries in the Global South, Ghana faces intense pressure to harmonise her laws with international
standards that largely reflect the ideals of Western societies and donor partners. Consequently,
the child rights landscape is abstracted from autochthonous notions of childhood and rights, with
challenges to implementing them meaningfully. An outcome of this disjuncture are interventions
that are especially threatening to subaltern populations whose lives do not conform to the neo-
liberal ideals inherent in such laws.
In what follows, the chapter first provides context by discussing the research on the raids and
delves into how members of these communities conceive childhood and work, and their responses
to the raids. This is followed by an analysis of how, since the 1970s, Western NGOs and humani-
tarian activities have evolved from providing help to include the spreading of neoliberal values. It
then proceeds with an examination of the influence of such values and other Western-​centric norms
on Ghanaian child-​centric legislation. The chapter concludes that a nuanced, socio-​culturally sen-
sitive approach to any perceived child rights violations is needed. This begins with making clear
the Western neoliberal rationalities on childhood and development that presently pervade child
rights laws and practices in Ghana.

Research context and methodology

This chapter benefits from research carried out in four remote island communities Gasoekope,
Akakpo, Anakokpo, and Kpala, located on Ghana’s Volta Lake. The lake was created between
1961 and 1965 when 3,000 square kilometres of land were flooded to make way for the Akosombo
hydroelectric dam. Residents of impacted areas who were mainly subsistence fisherfolks migrated
to areas in coastal Ghana where they could continue their work. Following the dam’s construction,

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 Sam Okyere, Nana K. Agyeman, and Bernard Koomson

some returned to settle on the dozens of islands that had emerged on the lake to take advantage
of the abundant fishes now flourishing in the warm waters. Every aspect of life on the islands
revolves around the lake. It is the residents’ primary source of income, their marketplace, social
and recreational venue, and highway to neighbouring islands. With no viable alternative employ-
ment or livelihood opportunities, being able to fish, farm, or subsist independently is highly desir-
able in these communities. Self-​sufficiency and mastery of these activities are also bound up with
notions of honour and prestige to the extent that during the fieldwork adults lacking these skills
were derided even if they had other income sources.
Consequently, parents introduce their children to fishing and other lake-​based chores as soon
as they are able to swim and also based on their maturity, gender, and experience. Under elders’
guidance, boys are normally required to keep an eye on the canoe during fishing trips and assist
with mending, casting, and retrieving nets. Typically, girls are involved in the processing and sale
of the catch. These childhood socialisation norms are also seen as apprenticeships or informal
educational opportunities intended to improve their children’s future prospects. Similar beliefs are
held by people residing in coastal areas of the country (Koomson et al, 2021). It is not uncommon
for the islanders’ relatives and acquaintances who remained in the coastal areas following their
displacement in the 1960s to send their children back to the islands for such training. Some coastal
youth also self-​organise trips to the islands to earn income by working with fishermen. These
movements and children’s involvement in fishing generally have become very contentious in the
last two decades, following Ghana’s adoption of the Palermo Protocol. In contrast to the islanders’
views, the dozens of NGOs promoting the implementation of the Palermo Protocol and its
associated Human Trafficking Act of Ghana mainly view these activities as outright child exploit-
ation, trafficking, and enslavement with ‘raids’ being deployed as one of their remedial measures.
A primary purpose of this study, which was carried out in 2018, was to critically interrogate this
response. Although there were frequent media reports of anti-​trafficking raids by the police and
NGOs, there had been no scholarly study of it hitherto this project. Indeed, this remains the sole
academic research study of the practice to date. A second motivation of the study was to under-
stand the circumstances of children’s work on the islands and the ensuing raids from the islanders’
perspectives, for probably the first time, rather than those of the NGOs. As we have discussed
elsewhere (Okyere, Agyeman and Saboro, 2021), the current understanding of this issue largely
reflects the perspectives of anti-​trafficking NGOs, police, and actors involved in or supportive of
the raids. A Google search using the terms ‘children’s work on Lake Volta’ presents a simplistic
‘single story’ in which anti-​trafficking NGOs, the media, police, and others present the islanders
and coastal dwellers as malicious child traffickers, enslavers, and exploiters or people who seem-
ingly have no regard for their children’s welfare or best interests. In contrast, these actors cast
themselves in the frame of saviours, rescuers, and agents whose’ motives and actions are unques-
tionably benevolent or beyond reproach.
As we have argued elsewhere, this disparity in information and reporting reflects the margin-
alisation of the islanders (Okyere, Agyeman and Saboro, 2021). The four research communities
have experienced widespread deprivation over the past ten years as a result of dwindling fish
stocks, deforestation, and climate change. This is made worse by their pronounced exclusion from
government social welfare, infrastructure, and development programmes because of their remote
location. At the time of the fieldwork, none of the four islands had access to electricity, public
transportation, hospitals, potable water, or other necessary facilities and services. Thus, the study’s
interest in investigating the issues from the perspectives of the islanders was an effort to present
a more comprehensive understanding of the issues and a recognition of their marginalised status.
To this end, while police and anti-​trafficking NGOs describe their operations as ‘rescue missions’,

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we use the terms ‘raids’ and ‘child kidnapping’ to reflect the communities’ descriptions of these
activities.
We collected data using a qualitative sequential multi-​method research design. This was in
recognition of the fact that careful, systematic use of multiple methods produces distinct but com-
plementary data that would offer a more comprehensive understanding. The first data collection
stage involved a community-​wide meeting on Gasoekope and focus group discussions on Akakpo,
Anakpokpo, and Kpala islands. The purpose of these group discussions was to help refine the
research focus and identify issues for further exploration in one-​on-​one interviews. We subsequently
conducted 18 in-​depth, qualitative interviews with families whose children were taken during
the raids and also with the islanders’ traditional authorities and elected political representatives.
We also conducted five interviews with staff of anti-​trafficking NGOs to explore their views on
the islanders’ rationalisation of children’s work in their communities and the ensuing police and
NGO raids.

The dissonance between indigenous Ghanaian childhood notions

and the legal frameworks: field experience
To analyse the data, we followed the systematic process provided by Braun and Clarke (2013).
Numerous themes emerged from the analysis, some of which have already been presented else-
where (Okyere, Agyeman and Saboro, 2021). For this reason and word count limitations, this
section focuses mainly on findings pertinent to the interconnections between the raiding of islands
and pursuit of neoliberal norms in Ghana’s child rights practices. In this regard, the most prom-
inent theme was a dissonance between indigenous Ghanaian understandings of childhood and
those enshrined in the country’s laws. This disjuncture became obvious in our discussions of the
raids with the islanders, as shown in the following point by Efo, whose son was taken during
the raids.
Efo tried to prevent the ‘capture of his son’ (as he put it) by the NGO and police by drawing
their attention to normative indigenous Ghanaian childhood constructions. But these were com-
pletely rebuffed, as he told us:

they were trying to capture my son because they said he did not look old enough to be on the
lake. My son is 15 years! Everyone here knows that someone who is a 15-​year-​old is not too
young to work on the lake. How could they not know this? I asked them this question, but
the policeman was getting angry and told me to follow their orders if I didn’t want trouble
angry. He said my son was not 18, and I was breaking the law. What law was this?. Who
made this law?! I don’t agree with this law!.

Efo’s position was roundly applauded by everyone at the community-​wide discussion, numbering
at least 80 people. It clearly showed the communities’ rejection of the legal position, being
advanced by the NGO and police, that 18 is necessarily the most appropriate age for entry into
work on a lake. The strength of their opinions on this subject raised questions about whose values,
norms, and standards were reflected in the laws. Evidently, they were not those of indigenous
Ghanaians such as the participants of this research. Such tensions arising from the application
of Western-​centric laws on childhood and children’s work which are based on chronological age
alone have been widely discussed in the childhood studies literature (Twum-​Danso, 2016; Abebe
and Ofosu-​Kusi, 2016; Koomson and Abdulai, 2021). In these communities where births are
not always formally registered and people’s knowledge of chronological age can be woolly, this

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 Sam Okyere, Nana K. Agyeman, and Bernard Koomson

framework presents challenges even for its advocates, as shown in Akwasi’s account of how his
younger sibling was taken away:

Akwasi: They said my brother looked too young to be on the lake.

Interviewer: did they know his age?
Akwasi: No, but I told them myself because he was not too young. Our grandfather, with
whom we live, is not very sure but from what he’s told us, I believe I am 17 and
my younger brother is 16.
Interviewer: Why did they not take you too, since you are 17?
Akwasi: I didn’t tell them my age because I was afraid they will take me too! Also, I am
bigger, so I think they assumed I was over 18 and didn’t ask me. They were only
interested in my brother because he is smaller than his age. But he is fit and
strong , and we go to catch fish together most times.

It was evident that despite their professed belief in the legal frameworks, the police and NGOs
targeted people based primarily on their stature or morphological features. Their strategy was a
repudiation of child rights interventions based purely on chronological age. It implicitly lent cre-
dence to the islanders’ repeated position that decisions on maturity, capacity, and competence for
engagement in work on the lake should include lived experience, among other factors. This was
made clear by the numerous instances in the field where we found that even though the islanders
were familiar with the chronological age framing and used it in talking about their ages, they did
not necessarily consider it as a valid marker for determining maturity or competence for work
and other socio-​economic activities. This idea was reiterated by Abu, leader of Akakpo village
who problematised the exclusive focus on chronological age in determining a person’s suitability
to work. As he explained, his community gradually introduces children to fishing based on their
development and competence or ‘when they are ready’ instead of relying only on their ages:

I have six children and I also raised three of my sister’s children who were sent to live with
me here. I taught all of them how to work on the lake, and they are also teaching their chil-
dren now. That’s how we take care of ourselves here. We take our time to teach them when
they are ready and not just because of how old they are. Nothing has happened to any child
in this village since our forefathers’ time. Those people [NGO and police] came here to tell
us that is wrong, even though they don’t know how we live here, and they refuse to under-
stand. They took three of my grandchildren away. I am in deep pain.

Clearly, there is a massive gulf not only between what the NGO and police consider hazardous
for children and the islanders’ beliefs and practices on the same, but also between normative
constructions and ideas on ‘proper’ childhood and child-​rearing practices. The tendency by devel-
opment actors to assume that their views are unquestionably superior and thus disregard autoch-
thonous child-​rearing practices and their underlying rationales can undermine the efficacy and
impact of interventions (Clark-​Kazak, 2009).

Western NGOs as agents for the promotion of neoliberalism and other

Western values under the ‘New Policy Agenda’
Critical analysis of the role of Western NGOs in poor countries such as Ghana shows that behind
their stated altruistic, benevolent objectives lie questions about Western imperialism, control, and

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 A Critical Reflection on Ghana’s Childhood

hegemony. Western-​derived ‘NGOs’, ‘voluntary’ ‘civil society’ or ‘non-​profit’ organisations have

long operated within the colonial logic of seeking to ‘modernise’, ‘civilise’, or ‘develop’ so-​called
undeveloped societies since their rise to prominence after World War II. It is for this reason that
some describe the broader field of international development and its key actors as ‘trojan horses’
for the advancement of Western dominance and neoliberalism (Wright, 2012: 123). Initially,
humanitarian relief from Western governments and NGOs was accessible, to varying degrees,
to all countries in distress regardless of their governance structure and friendliness or otherwise
to Western donor nations (Fox, 2002, Poulton and Harris, 1988). However, there was a marked
change within the Western foreign aid policy and NGO arena from the mid-​1970s onwards when,
inspired by the Cold War, the USA, made political conditionality more central to its foreign aid
and humanitarianism agendas.
This measure is variously referred to as the ‘new policy agenda (NPA)’ (Edwards and Hume,
1996: 7); ‘new political conditionality’ (Uvin and Biagoti, 1996) or the ‘new development
agenda’ (Wallace, 1997). Given the USA’s immense political influence and status as the leading
provider of international humanitarian assistance, the NPA was eventually emulated by other
Western countries. There are two key aspects to it. First, through legislation such as the US
Foreign Assistance Act 1975, US government-​funded assistance was prohibited to countries or
governments deemed to be consistent violators of internationally recognised human rights. The
second aspect of the NPA involved increased funding and political support for Western NGOs
for two reasons. First, as ‘third sector’ actors (first and second being government and business
or for-​profit private sectors), NGOs are often viewed as agents seemingly with no political
agendas or axes to grind. Thus, Western governments felt that in comparison to governmental
agencies and departments, NGOs were better placed for forming authentic partnerships in target
countries with their messages also more likely to be accepted (Edwards and Hume, 1998: 7,
Fowler, 1998).
The second motivation for enhanced NGO support under the NPA follows the classic neo-
liberal market logic that the private sector is a more cost-​effective vehicle for delivering services
than governmental agencies. With their largely not-​for-​profit ethos and experience of experi-
ence in delivering education, healthcare, and relief packages in poor countries, NGOs were
seen as an even more attractive prospect for efficiency savings (Edwards and Hume, 1998: 7).
These two core assumptions underpinning the elevation of NGOs role under the NPA have
been challenged by some scholars. For example, Fowler (1998) and Brett (1993: 269) have cast
doubts on whether the nature of partnerships created by Western NGOs with partners in poor
countries is authentic and equal. Similarly, Edwards and Hume (1998: 6) suggest that the belief
in NGOs’ accountability and effectiveness appears to rest more ‘on ideological grounds rather
than empirical verification’. These criticisms notwithstanding, the last 40 years have witnessed
remarkable empowerment of Western NGOs and their global partners under the auspices of
the NPA.
This support is not without strings attached. There is an expectation from Western governments
and donors that NGOs and their partners would in turn advance Western values, cultures, good
governance, and other political goals through their work (Fowler, 1998; Crawford, 2001: 12).
A key part of these goals is neoliberalism and neoliberal standards, which also emerged concur-
rently with the NPA in the 1980s. Indeed, the marketised belief in NGOs as suitable agents for
efficiency savings was linked to this development. We define neoliberalism in this chapter as a
social, economic and political governance model which advocates for privatisation and individu-
alism in place of state or public responsibility for society. In agreement with Brown (2011: 37),
neoliberalism transcends a push for market deregulation and upending of public ownership,

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 Sam Okyere, Nana K. Agyeman, and Bernard Koomson

state-​sponsored welfare, and redistribution policies. It also involves extending and disseminating
market values to everything; the remaking of all social institutions, values, ideologies, cultures,
and people based on market rationality and criteria.
Families and family relationships are also included, for which reason Western child rights advo-
cacy on children’s right to survival, development to their fullest potential, and others enshrined in
the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) follow and affirm neoliberal standards (Iblawoh,
2007; Imani, 2008). The promotion of education, health, social welfare, and other child rights
carries an expectation that this will prepare children for a future workforce or transform them
into subjects fit for neoliberal economic goals. Their messages favour the construction of ‘proper’
childhoods and family relations that are modelled on the neoliberal logic of individualism. The
child is thus presented as a vulnerable agent in need of parental, and societal support on the one
hand and as a sovereign, private agent abstracted from any family, social, or cultural context on the
other (Boyle and Kim, 2009: 456; Koomson et al, 2021a,b).

A critical assessment of Ghana’s childhood, child work, and

child rights governance landscapes
The ability of Western NGOs’ to shape policy formulation and implementation at both the inter-
national and national levels was further bolstered by the US State Department’s reliance on NGO
reports for the TIP rankings (Heiss and Kelly, 2017). Countries with relatively limited global
political power face immense pressure to cooperate with NGOs or assimilate their policies and
practices because an unfavourable report by an NGO has adverse implications for the country’s
TIP ranking (Heiss and Kelly, 2017: 106). An area where such cooperation is expected is imple-
mentation of international conventions such as the United Nations CRC (UNCRC) and the
International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) child labour instruments. As widely discussed in the
critical childhood studies literature, these conventions are largely derived from and dominated
by Western interests and ideals (Kehily, 2015; Twum-​Danso, 2016; Abebe, 2019; Koomson and
Abdulai, 2021). Thus, Western NGOs’ pressure on Ghana to adopt and assimilate her child rights
governance and practice with ‘international standards’ is a fig leaf for compliance with Western
ideology, actors, and hegemony (Lawrance, 2010).
The Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560) brought together laws relating to children’s welfare
and protection against harm/​abuse, thereby serving as the unified reference underlining subse-
quent child protection policies. Thus, for the first time within Ghana’s legal framework, laws on
children’s welfare and protection, which were previously scattered throughout several statutes,
were brought together into one single document that embodied all legal issues relating to children
(Woll, 2000; Twum-​Danso, 2008). Consequently, the Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560) emerged as
the major legal derivative of the UNCRC, upholding children’s rights against any form of activity
and practice considered detrimental to their physical and psychosocial well-​being. It also becomes
the influential document informing the jurisprudence of subsequent legislations such as Juvenile
Justice Act, 2003 (Act 653); the Gender and Children Policy (2002); the Early Childhood Care
and Development Policy; the Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694). The Children’s Act (1998)
largely follows the UNCRC and its underpinning Western-​influenced chronological or calendar
age construction of childhood. Section 1 of the Children’s Act for instance mirrors the defin-
ition of a child in the UNCRC as persons below 18 years. This definition largely rejects indi-
genous Ghanaian childhood constructions and practices. Traditionally, all Ghanaian ethnic groups
define childhood and adulthood through rites of passage, biological maturity (such as facial hair

426
 A Critical Reflection on Ghana’s Childhood

growth for males and female menstruation), and other means. Thus, there is a discord between still
prevalent traditional notions of childhood and those enshrined in the country’s laws (Laird, 2002,
Windborne 2006).
The prominence of Western-​derived NGOs, donor governments and actors in the direction of
Ghana’s children’s rights policymaking and advocacy landscape cannot be overstated, especially
in regulatory activities on children’s work. The National Plan of Action (NPA) for the Elimination
of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, Ghana’s blueprint for eliminating child labour draws inspir-
ation from the Children’s Act and is heavily reliant on funding and technical guidance from the
US Department of Labour, the World Cocoa Foundation, the International Cocoa Initiative,
Free the Slaves, International Justice Mission, the European Union, and other Western agents.
The associated Hazardous Activities Framework (HAF), which provides a list of activities to
be targeted for elimination as the worst forms of child labour, was also at the instigation of the
ILO (ILO/​IPEC, 2003) rather than a local initiative. The HAF is ostensibly produced in consult­
ation with stakeholders, including people in fishing, farming, mining, and other communities
where children’s work is targeted for elimination. However, these consultations are arguably
tokenistic or symbolic, since foreign dictates tend to trump resolutions that emerge from local
consultations. In the most recent HAF (2016) residents of cocoa-​growing areas recommended
that the national minimum age for light work be reduced from 13 years to 12 years. However,
this was rejected as being non-​compliant with Ghana’s compliance with foreign expectations.
Another area where Western-​derived standards have trumped autochthonous Ghanaian child
constructions is governance of children’s involvement in work that is deemed hazardous. In
agreement with ILO Convention No 182, the chronological age framework is once again set as the
exclusive determinant of hazardous work, defined as work that poses a danger to the health, safety,
and morals of a person, such as:

(a) going to sea; (b) mining and quarrying; (c) porterage of heavy loads; (d) manufacturing
industries where chemicals are produced or used; (e) work in places where machines are
used; and (f) work in places such as bars, hotels, and places of entertainment where a person
may be exposed to immoral behaviour.

Section 87 (2) of the Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560) further prohibits the engagement of under-​18s
in exploitative labour defined in line with ILO Convention No 182 as work that deprives a child of
their health, education, or development.
Ghana’s adherence to Western-​derived ‘global standards’ is also evident in the country’s
wholesale adoption of the Palermo Protocol (United Nations, 2000) through the Ghana Human
Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694). The Ghana Human Trafficking Act (Act 694) defines human
trafficking per the Palermo Protocol as:

the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, trading or receipt of persons for the
purpose of exploitation within and across national borders by (a) the use of threats, force or
other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, the abuse of power or exploitation of
the vulnerability, or (b) Giving or receiving payments and benefits to achieve consent.

By so doing, the country replicates what O’Connell Davidson (2013) describes as one of the
Palermo Protocol’s definitional problems. Instead of an actual definition of exploitation, a list of
examples is offered:

427
 Sam Okyere, Nana K. Agyeman, and Bernard Koomson

Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the induced prostitution or

other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to
slavery, servitude, or the removal of organs.

An area where the Ghana Human Trafficking Act (Act 694) attempts to become more attuned to
indigenous Ghanaian childhood and child socialisation norms is its focus on the phenomenon of
‘placement’ in Section 1 (3) which stipulates that

Placement for sale, bonded placement, temporary placement, placement as service where
exploitation by someone else is the motivating factor shall also constitute trafficking.

Lawmakers were probably aware of the risk that the above could be misconstrued and lead to the
wholesale delegitimising of the practice of child placement or fostering, which is an important
and virtuous aspect of the Ghanaian traditional welfare system. The spirit behind this law per
conversations with legislators was to prevent abuse of the traditional child placement or fostering
practice that is in fact endorsed by the Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560) (IOM, 2017). Thus, in
Section 42 of the Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Section 42), they specified that the targeted forms
of placement are ‘bonded placement’ for offsetting debts; ‘temporary placement’ for a limited
period of exploitation; and ‘placement as a service’ for exploitative purposes where economic
activities of the child are not remunerated.
The dominance of Western neoliberal ideals in the Ghanaian child rights landscape has effaced
this nuance. As earlier mentioned, the neoliberal logic of free market capitalism and individualism
over state-​provided welfare and controls operates across all social and cultural institutions as well.
A notable aspect of this is promotion of the two-​parent-​led nuclear family as the optimal or legit-
imate family model and also for children’s upbringing (Cooper, 2017).
This is in stark contrast to the indigenous Ghanaian belief in the extended family system, within
which there is no anomaly per se with the placement and upbringing of children with extended
family relatives. Yet within the neoliberal Western family logic, child placement in Ghana is
often constructed as undeniable evidence of child trafficking; especially where this involves work
(Berlan, 2004; Koomson et al, 2021). Kassa and Abebe (2014) advance a similar argument that
mainstream child right discourses and policies misconstrue informal child fostering and relocation
practices as problematic and illegal, leading to interventions that criminalise childhood and family
poverty. Added to this complication is the fact that in keeping with the Palermo Protocol, Section
1 (4) of the Ghana Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694) ignores children’s agency or voice.

Where children are trafficked, consent of the child or his/​her parents or guardians cannot
be used as a defence in prosecution under this Act, regardless of whether or not there is
evidence of abuse of power, fraud or deception on the part of the trafficker or whether the
vulnerability of the child was taken advantage of.

The phrase ‘even if there is no evidence’ coupled with the confusion around child placement means
that the threshold to establish an offence of child trafficking is very low. Media reports, academic
research, and other sources demonstrate that Ghanaian children and youth, especially adolescents,
independently move or migrate for work for various reasons (Koomson et al, 2021). Sometimes
they are accompanied by older siblings, friends, or parents. Siblings, parents, and other adults
found working with children under such situations have been arrested as child traffickers in what
can be considered an overzealous application of the law (Koomson et al, 2021).

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 A Critical Reflection on Ghana’s Childhood

Such overzealousness, if not outright misinterpretation and application of the law, also rests
on the fact that the HAF prohibits children’s involvement in any fishing-​related activity that
takes place beyond the shores of a lake. Thus, in most Western countries, an adult fishing with a
child in the middle of a lake is typically not considered deviant. However, under pressure from
Western NGOs and donors to conform to supposed ‘international standards’, the same scenario
and other childhood socialisation practices that are not inherently problematic are paradoxically
criminalised as child trafficking in Ghana. This situation has become most threatening to indi-
genous communities and rural areas where the introduction of children to work and other activities
on the water remains essential to subsistence, recreation, future prospects, and everyday life. Our
research findings, discussed in the next section, underscore this problem.

Conclusions
The chapter’s core argument is that Ghanaian child rights legislation and practices are diver-
gent from indigenous, traditional notions of childhood and children’s work in the country. It has
demonstrated this point through the findings of a study of child trafficking abolitionist raids in
riverine and island communities by the police and anti-​trafficking NGOs. While the police, NGOs,
and other advocates of the raids claim to be working within Ghana’s child rights legislative frame-
work, the chapter’s analysis shows that these are not necessarily ‘Ghanaian’ per se. Instead, they
are primarily the outcome of Western-​centric normative ideals on childhood and children’s work
that largely delegitimise indigenous Ghanaian childhood and child socialisation processes. These
policies and their associated raids and child kidnapping implementation strategies are also largely
rooted within the empowerment of NGOs under the NPA to promote Western neoliberal norms and
values through their work in poorer parts of the world.
It is instructive to note that the practice of raids and child kidnapping as a child trafficking
combative measure in Ghana often involves American-​based and funded NGOs. Their influential
role is linked to the wider issue of Western hegemony in international rights and development
agendas and instruments such as the CRC, ILO Conventions 138 and 182, the Palermo Protocol,
and others. The current status of Ghana’s child rights legislative landscape and the state’s role in
raiding indigenous communities at the instigation of foreign NGOs signify the country’s relative
powerlessness. The situation implies that the drive for relatively less powerful countries to adopt
and implement various anti-​trafficking policies and practices is not on their own terms but through
pressure and oversight by Western governments or Western derived or funded NGOs and other
actors (Chuang, 2006). It is not surprising that although there is a global consensus to combat child
trafficking and protect children, policies and laws face implementation challenges.
Katz (2004: 12) makes a similar observation on the ways in which children’s lives and prospects
are moulded by socio-​political and economic forces rooted in global economic restructuring. This
chapter shows that children residing in remote indigenous communities are not shielded from these
developments either and may arguably face a greater threat from it due to the unchecked power
wielded over them by NGOs and state security apparatus. The neoliberal humanitarian defence of
raiding the islands to rescue and rehabilitate allegedly trafficked and enslaved children is rejected
by the islanders. This reflects the frameworks of ‘resistance’, ‘resilience’, and ‘reworking’ with
which Katz (2004) urges us to consider not only pathology and weakness in the lives of children
and communities facing adversity but to also see the everyday practices of agency which they
apply in response to such adversities and oppressive forces. Rightly, the limits of such agency and
resistance are also acknowledged given the vast power differentials and the scale of the struggle
(Katz, 2004, Hughes et al, 2022; Apostolopoulou et al, 2022).

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 Sam Okyere, Nana K. Agyeman, and Bernard Koomson

In this light the most likely prospect for change in direction rests with the NGOs and police.
The paradox is that many of the organisations involved in the raids are genuinely interested in the
advancement of children’s rights and could produce immense progress through respectful dialogue
and collaboration with the communities to develop more effective interventions. However, their
relatively powerful position has led to an unquestioned belief in the rightness of their guiding
policies, conceptions, and practices such as the raids. Their unshakeable belief that chronological
age is the sole acceptable basis for determining a person’s maturity and capacity is an example.
Another is the delegitimisation of the role of traditional fosterage and extended family system in
child upbringing, among other Western neoliberal rationalities which inform the raids. The reluc-
tance to question these guiding beliefs is also because of the knock-​on effect on other positions
such as education.
The indigenous communities’ informal education which includes training in fishing and live-
lihood skills is in part presented as ‘useless’, child abuse, or exploitation because it produces
subjects deemed unfit for neoliberal economic goals. Being able to subsist independently as the
islanders have done for many decades through informal education is this contrary to the market
rationality underpinning the work of anti-​trafficking NGOs. Our conclusion is that a nuanced,
socio-​culturally sensitive approach to any perceived child rights violations is needed. The ongoing
raids and forced removal of children produce the same, if not worse, rights violations as those
ostensibly being tackled by the police and NGO. The first step towards such socio-​culturally sen-
sitive approach lies in making clear the Western neoliberal rationalities on childhood and develop-
ment that presently pervade child rights laws and practices in Ghana and elsewhere as this chapter
has demonstrated.

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 SECTION 6

Childhood and Social Reproduction

 32
SECTION INTRODUCTION
Tatek Abebe

The six chapters in this section bring together analyses of how education, learning, socialisa-
tion, gender, and generational relations and reskilling play out in the lives of children and young
people in diverse spatial and temporal settings. Offering a generational lens through which they
study the question of social reproduction, the chapters explore the role of development in recon-
figuring social relations and how children and young people shape these relations. This includes
the ways in which gendered labour and hierarchies are reproduced through (lack of) access to
land (Gunjan Wadhwa), how early childhood education policy affects the experiences of pas-
toralist children (John Ng’asike), the learning trajectories of agro-​pastoral young people and
the tension engendered by the Education for All initiative that solely focuses on their schooling
(Sabrina Maurus), children’s role in the acquisition and management of water resources (Martina
A. Caretta and Bronwyn Hayward), how globalisation is transforming generational relationships
and family life (Itzel Aceves-​Azuara, Barbara Itzel, Rogoff and Cotuc, and Marta Navichoc
Cotuc), as well as how reskilling projects connect to young women’s aspirations for employ-
ment as they navigate insecure futures in the informal economy (Sarada Balagopalan and Ketaki
Prabha).
These contributions bring to the fore diverse theoretical and empirical perspectives on the
ways and spaces children and young people socialise, learn, labour, care, and interact. They
demonstrate the multiple and sometimes hidden contexts in which social reproduction unfolds,
revealing how historical transformations, local livelihoods, and national and international pol-
icies on education, work, and skill development coalesce with traditions, norms, and realities
of children, families, and their communities. Whereas a focus on global development processes
underpins the chapters, one cross-​cutting theme is a rupture in learning because of the decoup-
ling of the young from the local livelihoods and ecological contexts made evident in how edu-
cation systems either ignore history or seek to chart a future that is not predicated on their life
aspirations and realities.
The main subjects of research the chapters report on vary from young children to adolescents
to young women on the cusp of adulthood, from families and communities to analyses of how
children’s roles and positions change across multiple generation contexts. Some chapters combine
ethnographic field research with document analysis, as exemplified by the study on the discursive

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-39 435

 Tatek Abebe

construction of patriarchy, gender, and othering by Wadhwa and of the national and international
policies of reskilling by Balagopalan and Prabha (both in India). Others such as Ng’asike draw
on qualitative research on young children in rural Kenya, whereas Maurus’ research is based on
ethnographic fieldwork with young people and their families and communities in rural Ethiopia.
Aceves-​Azuara, Rogoff, and Cotuc, on the other hand, draw on a longitudinal study (over three
decades) of how globalisation has altered/​reduced practices of Convivencia/​ Togetherness in
Guatemala. This chapter is nearly twice as long as the others in this section, owing to the import-
ance of documenting both the methodology of the research and its findings in different periods,
along with an analysis of processes of social transformation in the intervening periods. Despite
these variations, however, all the chapters pursue an integrative approach, building on empirical
work in specific geographies and temporal frames to generate contextual, conceptual, and analyt-
ical perspectives concerning childhood, youth, and social reproduction.
How development reconfigures social reproduction and generational relations is a central topic
in childhood studies, especially in research that situates childhood in broader processes of socio-
cultural transformation (Huijsmans et al. 2014; Wells 2015; Ansell 2017; for more recent research
on the social reproduction of aspirations in the context of development, see Huijsmans et al. 2021).
Although the role of children in social reproduction is now widely recognised, our knowledge is
rather limited to the ways children contribute to social reproduction or how development affects
or impacts children’s lives. Huijsmans et al. (2014) call for a relational approach to examine the
connection between development and children’s everyday lives in what he calls ‘generationing
development’ –​to look at the centrality of children in social reproduction and explore how their
relationship with society ‘shapes and is shaped by the changing terms of social reproduction brought
about by development’ (p. 163). Social reproduction refers to the material and social practices
through which people reproduce themselves on a daily and generational basis, including the means
of production and the labour power with which they work (Katz 2004). It encompasses not only
the activities, attitudes, affects and relationships that go directly into making and sustaining life
itself but also the discursive practices that enable the reproduction of social formation over time
(Wells 2015). Social reproduction is fundamental to the functioning of any society, and the produc­
tion of continuity and change through both immanent and intentional processes, with implications
for experiences of growing up, and how we study childhood (Ansell 2014).
Analysis of social reproduction in this section features how colonialism and capitalism reproduce
particular forms of exclusion and gender relations, as well as in the ways globalisation engenders
generational change, reconfiguring intergenerational relationships and familial practices of child-​
rearing and community conviviality. Social reproduction also concerns early childhood education
and care, schooling, and the production of visions of the future. The intractable questions around
education and social reproduction, apparent in the tensions between the socialisation and educa-
tion of children in particular local livelihoods, cultural and ecological contexts, and how national
and formal education policies miss out on these children’s realities, are typical cases in point.
Some chapters scrutinise entrepreneurship programmes and reskilling young people for employ-
ment in informal economies that are deemed vital as strategies for skill formation and to sustain
societies over time.
The ecological context in which water is stored, harvested, and utilised and children’s labour
contribution to fulfilling water demand is key for the daily reproduction of families. As social
reproduction is about the ‘stuff of life’ –​the things that make life possible including food, housing,
and knowledge –​the crisis in access to life-​sustaining resources such as water is a crisis of social
reproduction. The World Bank-​backed neoliberal policies on water service delivery, for example,
emphasised ‘cost-​sharing’, forcing households into paying costly fees; making essential resources

436
 Section Introduction

for social reproduction scarce as the capitalist market model is insensitive to the plight of the
poor. Moreover, in development discourses, water is seen as a resource for which there is compe-
tition, and its scarcity is often framed as a security concern or a site of geopolitical struggle. Yet,
through water, multiple actors of development interact and, as the chapter by Caretta and Hayward
reveals, children are involved in water justice concerns. They do so not only by fetching water for
domestic use and conservation of water in the face of environmental change but also by commu-
nity organising to deal with climate change-​induced water shortages. Water mediates relationships
of local communities, and the daily negotiations children undergo for access to water are integral
to the gendered reproduction of labour. However, this relational aspect of water –​how water is a
site of community, gender, and generational interactions as well as a resource that brings together
different stakeholders of development –​is an ignored aspect of debates around social reproduc-
tion. Using the children’s rights framework and the Sustainable Development Goal 6 for water
and sanitation; Caretta and Bronwyn consider not only the role of children in strengthening the
participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management but also how
communities and institutions can support children’s participation in decision making as it relates
to water, against the backdrop of the current climate and ecological crisis that disproportionately
affects global south regions.
Ng’asike problematises early childhood education policies for Turkana pastoralist communi-
ties, arguing that the formal curriculum replicates best practices based on Euro-​American models
of child development. Historicising the Kenyan government’s embrace of this model has catalysed
the entrenchment of Western knowledge in early childhood programmes, despite the uniqueness of
pastoralist communities’ livelihood practices, child socialisation, intergenerational relationships,
and ideologies of child development. Indigenous Turkana cultures’ child socialisation practices
include learning to fit into the social world of adults as responsible and respectful individuals.
Central to this are rituals, beliefs, and taboos surrounding the spiritual environment of children in
which early childhood care and education are seen as processual and developmental. Adults and
children appear to be guided by the same curriculum even though the tasks are segregated by age
or gender. Ng’asike argues that care and child-​rearing practices could be enriched if they incorp-
orate local caregiving practices, intergenerational family learning, sibling care, and nurturance of
children, as well as play and learning in play spaces of the homesteads.
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among Hamar agro-​pastoral communities in Ethiopia’s
southwestern periphery, Maurus discusses the livelihood contexts and the role of the young
within that, highlighting the imperatives of learning beyond schools. Her chapter is couched in
the growing expectations from and frustrations with schooling the Education for All programme
has espoused but also how the political pressure to send all children to school created a higher
workload for women in some households. Recognising the competing interests between the gov-
ernment and agro-​pastoralists, some school-​educated youth become intermediaries, navigating
multiple tensions and dilemmas in negotiating the relationships with their relatives and the govern-
ment and their various interests concerning the education and future of agro-​pastoralist children.
Post-​schooling, according to Maurus, includes (1) looking beyond universal schooling’s ideology
to its practice; (2) considering education outside schools and specifically the political, ecological,
economic, and social environments in which people make a living and educate their children; and
(3) integrating the perspectives of children and parents into the design and implementation of
educational programmes. Like Ng’asike, Maurus’ chapter highlights how social change generates
new ways of social organisation that affect the practices around the transmission of life skills but
also how that ties to the lives of families and communities in which these young people are an
integral part.

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Another central theme that intersects the above two chapters is how children in agro-​pastoral
communities acquire complex knowledge of livestock management and their reproductive patterns.
Herders learn from an early age about their surrounding environment, acquiring the knowledge
needed for sustaining cattle such as dietary and forage intake capacity, treatment and branding
of livestock, water exploration, and related activities. Whereas these skills generally accord with
the child’s maturity and gendered expectations and are central to the livelihood strategies of com-
munities under pressing ecological contexts, they rarely are the topic of learning in schools that
increasingly demand children’s time and presence. This tension between what children learn in
schools and what they are likely to need for their future livelihoods represents a classical site of
social struggle (Katz 1991).
Lancy’s (2012) notion of the ‘chore curriculum’ draws attention to the informal learning
that emerges as children interact, fit in, and emulate those of older generations, with children
developing cognitive and sensorimotor capacity, the division of labour within the family, and the
nature of the tasks (chores) they perform. The chore curriculum underscores how labour during
childhood, as opposed to being detrimental to a child’s physical and emotional development, is/​
could be a site of learning and education (Bourdillion 2017).
Learning in socio-​historical and cultural contexts outside formal schools is consistent with
the paradigm of learning by observing and pitching in and through community endeavours
(Paradise and Rogoff 2009). Aceves-​Azuara, Rogoff, and Cotuc document mothers’ explanations
for changes in the communal lives of children, their socialisation, and learning within the family
in San Pedro la Laguna, Guatemala. Their data consists of interviews with 30 Mayan mothers of
young children, about the changes they have seen since their childhood, how parents socialise
culturally competent children, and the ways their children learn and participate in Convivencia/​
Togetherness. The chapter contrasts data regarding the mothers from when they were the age
of their children, exploring their childrearing experiences, practices, and changes in childhood
across generations as well as accounting for those changes. This longitudinal study offers a
valuable analysis of the continuities and changes of the experiences of childhood and growing
up, especially how the increase in children’s participation in formal schooling and exposure to
digital technologies have transformed the meaning, social values, and experience of childhood.
The constellations of changes in Convivencia/​Togetherness related to globalisation further
result in Mayan mothers having less time and availability to engage with their children than in
previous generations and seeing their roles as cultivation of children as students. The dramatic
increase in the role of technology and the decrease in children’s participation in household activ-
ities due to schooling have also led to a decline in collective participation in everyday family
endeavours.
The topic of reskilling and gendered affective labour is discussed by Balagopalan and Prabha’s
research on young Indian women affected by the pervasive reality of poor-​quality schooling,
jobless economic growth, and soaring unemployment. Analysing the lack of training of youth
in employable skills and closing the ‘skill gaps’ through which global and national policies have
sought to reconcile multiple anxieties around economic productivity and future employment; their
chapter foregrounds how existing policies of development with its gendered, casteist, classist,
and ableist underpinnings continue to mark this more recent landscape of skilling. Discursively
constructed as a means through which limited schooling can acquire economic value to both indi-
viduals and national economies, and as a strategy to ‘harness’ India’s ‘demographic dividend’,
developing skilling infrastructures for the newly (‘re’/​‘up’) skilled underpins the assertions to
create working populations, although for youth this process bodes a kind of formal inclusion in a
population otherwise ‘surplus’. Through mapping out some of the key contradictions that mark its

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working out, Balagopalan and Prabha show how shifts in the conceptualisation and implementa-
tion of reskilling programmes disclose an inability and the deliberate unwillingness of the state to
engage with these contradictions, including young people’s resistance to being trained for future
employment in low-​wage and stigmatised jobs in the informal economy.
In studying youth’s involvement in urban informal economies, the risk is often to con-
sider them either as liberal autonomous agents or as ‘overdetermined victims’ (Durham 2004).
Durham’s idea of youth as a ‘social shifter’ overcomes such dichotomy as it allows us to examine
both individual youth labour trajectories and the history and processes of the social categorisation
that map out programmes of youth entrepreneurship and skill development. For Hampton (2023),
youth reskilling programmes are sites of brokerage whereby, on the one hand, state bureaucrats
recruit participants to be upskilled and, on the other hand, participants use the teleology implied
by their new ‘papers’ as a moral resource to make claims on the state –​with implications for their
inclusion.
The dissonance that Balagopalan and Prabha articulate in urban India is historicised by
Wadhwa whose chapter examines the exclusion of young Adivasi women from having access to
land and meaningful education. Her chapter draws on research on the connection between land,
work, education, and religion in the reproduction of young Adivasi women’s lives in the context
of ongoing civil unrest. More specifically, it illuminates the gendered implications of the deploy-
ment of dominant policy and legal discourses concerning the work and livelihood practices of
the Adivasi community over time. Historically, the Adivasis (or the Scheduled Tribes) have been
othered internally by the colonial and post-​independence Indian state through multiple regula-
tory discourses. Wadhwa demonstrates how the selective utilisation of discourses produces the
Adivasis as Other particularly in their local village context, impacting young people’s lives and
their everyday navigations of work and education. Gender remains a significant axis of difference
and hierarchy, not only in the discussions surrounding access to means of sustenance but also in
how questions of spatial control and the reproduction of patriarchy/​hierarchy mediate gendered
relations.
Taken together, the chapters in this section advance four sets of ideas. First, they tease out the
tension between the socialisation of children in everyday life and through livelihood activities on
the one hand and, on the other, what the school system educates or prepares children to become
thereby reconfiguring their future. This tension is reminiscent of the fact that schooling is but one
form of knowledge acquisition and transmission that is historically rooted in particular cultures,
ideologies, and practices of development. The adoption of schooling as the panacea to the multifa-
ceted challenges societies face worldwide also conceals that it is the mechanism for perpetuating
social and economic inequalities.
Second, the chapters contribute insights into how childhood and children are integral to
processes of development and change affecting multiple generations, highlighting why children
should be seen as part of wider generational interdependencies. The quotidian working of devel-
opment is such that it brings into the mix all people across the generational spectrum: infants,
children, youth, adults, and the very elderly are embedded in, affect, and are affected by devel-
opment (Ansell 2014). This point is evident in and justifies the solicitation and inclusion of
chapters that focus on not just children per se but also young adults, mothers, and community
members. Approaching childhood in this way enables us to move beyond looking at children’s
lives in a siloed manner as well as to connect more fully to social reproduction through the lens of
intergenerationality, life course, and generational relationships. It highlights the conceptual value
of shifting attention from actors to relationships, from agency to structure, and from studying chil-
dren to understanding broader processes of social and economic change (Ansell 2014). A further

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methodological implication is whether children themselves should be decentred in favour of

an analysis of generational relations and interdependencies (Ansell 2014; Spyrou 2018). Such
a relational lens suggests moving beyond how children are affected by or respond to develop-
ment to examine the very process of social change within which their lives are deeply embedded
(Huijsmans et al. 2014; Punch 2020).
Third, and linked to the above, is that the chapters disentangle –​analytically and empirically –​
how community, gender, and generational relations are reproduced through development. They do
so through reframing education, work, learning, socialisation, child-​rearing practices, livelihoods,
resource management, and skill formation not just as sites of social reproduction but as holding
potentials for social transformation.
Finally, the chapters bring to the fore insights for rethinking development policies. For
Ng’asike, indigenous knowledge plays a key role in the design and revision of educational pol-
icies for pastoralist children, and in making learning play-​based and connected to the local envir-
onment. Maurus’ policy takeaway includes recognising the diverse ways in which young people
learn both in schools and outside of it strategies for improved social mobility after formal schools
and programmes for participatory schooling and learning processes that affirm the diversity of
livelihood contexts. This connects to Caretta and Hayward’s conclusion that children are agents
of change in decision-​making about water security in ways that can model more inclusive engage-
ment for sustainable development by all ages. Whereas considerations of intergenerationality and
intergenerational relationships concerning children’s learning and family life are central in the
chapter by Itzel, Rogoff, and Cotuc, for Wadhwa, historicising and contextualising the regula-
tion of gendered reproductive labour is crucial to addressing young women’s structural exclusion.
Balagopalan and Prabha’s work, on the other hand, suggests the need to enhance alternative and
meaningful livelihoods when the environment in which young women come of age no longer
grants them the means to earn a living.

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 33
GENDERED NAVIGATIONS
OF SPACE, WORK AND
EDUCATION IN YOUNG ADIVASI
LIVES IN INDIA
Gunjan Wadhwa

Introduction
This chapter explores the historical construction of the Adivasi identity by tracing its connection to
the pronouncements of the colonial rule, the British Raj and the reproduction of those enactments
by the Indian state. I do this by examining the law, policy and practice of the colonial and the
Indian state with regard to the demarcation of land, people and their work. The chapter examines
these dominant discursive strains with specific reference to the land and work of the Adivasi Gond
community. I illustrate how the colonial boundaries and demarcations around land and spatial
location have been sustained and rearticulated in the context of the young Adivasis. Integral to
this analysis is the identification of gender and age as key axes of distinction through which the
othering, marginalisation, control and regulation of young Adivasi Gond women is secured and
enacted.
This chapter begins with an introduction to the context of historical marginalisation, exclu-
sion and subordination of the Adivasis in India by foregrounding the demarcation of land and
people. I examine the entanglement of Adivasi identities with land, forests and Scheduled Areas,
by drawing on the concept of governmentality (Foucault, 1977, 1978). Here, I also bring in a spa­­
tial lens to attend to the socio-​legal construction of space/​place and the subjects within it (Massey,
1994; Mamdani, 2001; Mahmood, 2009b), along with signalling the articulations of gender norms
through age and childhood. I then turn to engage with empirical data excerpts to illustrate the
selective deployment of land, work, space and education to regulate young women’s lives and its
implications for the hierarchical social and gender relations instituted in the context of the Adivasi
Gond community. This section examines and exemplifies the gendered dimensions of spatial con-
trol, its consequences for work and livelihood practices of young Adivasi Gond women, their
mobility/​movement in the local context and their access to education. Alongside, it explores the
strategic utilisation of space by the young women themselves to conform to and resist their dom-
inant framing.
The study on which the chapter draws took place through an ethnographic case study approach,
semi-​structured in-​depth interviews and focus groups discussions with both the Adivasi and

442 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-40

 Space, Work and Education in Young Adivasi Lives

non-​Adivasi groups in a local village community in Maharashtra, policy review, observations

and a researcher diary (see Wadhwa, 2019, 2021c for more detail). The analysis is framed by
poststructural theorisations of data, informed by postcolonial and feminist literature, as indicated
above in relation to the concepts used in the chapter.
This chapter investigates how the Adivasis have been positioned historically, in spatial and
geographical terms, in the policy as well as local community context. More specifically, my aim in
this chapter is to draw attention to the ongoing contestation of space of the Adivasis, as some of the
earliest state enactments, both colonial and current, hold spatial dimensions. It is this interlocking
of identity of the people with the land and its mediation through gender by the young Adivasi
Gond women that is explored in this chapter.

Land, identities and governmentality

Land and geographical location were significant in the separation of the ‘Orient’ from Europe.
The idea of Europe as ‘West’ worked through the conception of a geographical ‘outside’ that
presupposed the imagining of a space, ‘coherent and subvertible for locating the West’ (Asad,
2003, p. 14). In the Indian context, the colonial separation of the Indian subcontinent from Europe
produced a binary between the geographical East and the West. Unequal power relations and
a hierarchical distinction underpinned this spatial separation, firmly positioning the West as
civilisationally superior and more powerful.
While land and location were strategically deployed in binarised and deficit ways in the con-
struction of hierarchised distinction between India and Britain, it provided a justification for the
ownership of land in the ‘uncivilised Orient’ under the pretext of a ‘civilising mission’. Bringing
more territory under its control was profitable for the East India Company (EIC) both economic-
ally and politically, for its establishment as an administrating authority (Chandra, 2009; Mamdani,
2012). For this purpose, it became necessary to ascertain agriculture as a stable activity, as it aided
the fixing and collection of land revenue at a permanent amount to sustain the installation and
functioning of the colonial state.
The land revenue systems of the colonial regime constituted the instruments of governmentality
to control and discipline the population in India. Sundar (1997) elaborates that the sedentarisation
of agriculture was assumed to be built on the ‘Victorian’ notion of the honest toiler, permanent
cultivator and wage labourer. It relied on the privileging of agriculture as a settled activity and
cultivator as a settled being (Nilsen, 2019). The emphasis on settled life assisted re-​shaping of
subjectivities of the population and its participation in the ‘formal’ economy and ‘developmental’
project of the state through its systems of taxation. In actuality, permanent settlement meant more
and easier collection of revenue for the colonial rulers (Chandra, 2009; Chemmencheri, 2015),
bringing people into a subordinate relationship with the state.
Simultaneously, hilly and forested regions were categorised as Scheduled by the Scheduled
Districts Act XVI, 1874. Forests and pastureland used for other subsistence activities were to be
brought under agriculture or prevented from any other use (Xaxa, 1999a, 1999b). The legal cat­­
egory of Scheduled was utilised to imply deficit, a lack of agriculture, absence of settled life and
development. Like the hierarchical separation of the East and the West, Scheduled Areas were
created to reflect an abnormality as well as difference in comparison to the other areas in the
country that were under cultivation.
The Scheduling and demarcation of land marked a shift in the local economies of people who
practised different occupations at different times (Xaxa, 1999a, 1999b). For the Adivasis, who
were living in the forests, working as pastoralists and practising shared-​cropping, non-​use of

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 Gunjan Wadhwa

land or bringing it under cultivation meant a reduction of their mobility and bargaining power as
workers, loss of non-​agrarian economic opportunities and increased pressure on their land (Xaxa,
2004; Banerjee, 2016). This curtailment around land and work carried gendered consequences for
social relations of the Adivasis which are examined in this chapter.
The legal demarcation of land has been entangled with the identity of people inhabiting the
Scheduled Areas. If land was Scheduled and excluded from normal administration to bring
about its development, people living in the area, their work and livelihood have been marked as
Backward, Primitive and in need of protection (Rycroft & Dasgupta, 2011; Wadhwa, 2021a). The
physical and legal separation of land and work became a strategy not only to name and categorise
people in that land, but also to bring more territory under state control, often under the guise
of development. It instated rigid and hierarchical socio-​spatial relations of power and control,
pointing to what Massey (1994) calls ‘double articulation’:

if places are conceptualised in this way, and if their definition is amplified to take account of
the construction of the subjects within them, which are part and parcel of what it is to talk
about place, then the identity of place is a double articulation.
(p. 8)

Over time, the legal category of Scheduled has come to be associated with ‘backward areas’ and
‘primitive people’ and been solidified through the legal and policy discourses of the colonial and
independent Indian state (Wadhwa, 2019). The postindependence Indian state has reaffirmed the
Scheduling through the Indian Constitution, also to guarantee rights and protection of groups
marked as Scheduled (Bhengra et al., 1999; Ambagudia, 2011). However, most of the regions
categorised as such are those classified by the colonial state, vesting power in the Governor to
make reports for the ‘good government’ and administration of Scheduled Areas and extending
executive power of the Union to these areas, much like the Scheduled Districts Act of the colonial
regime.

Land and social relations

Organisation and distribution of population in India by the colonial state enabled constitution of
subjects, ‘acted as factors of segregation and social hierarchisation’ and distributed ‘the living in
the domain of value and utility’ (Foucault, 1978, p. 144). The hierarchical social relations between
the coloniser and colonised produced boundaries around land, such as for agriculture, along with
binding people in particular ways.
The binding of people was furthered by the ‘creation’ and insertion of permanent intermedi-
aries of landlords (Rycroft & Dasgupta, 2011). To bring hilly, pasture and forested land that was
otherwise inaccessible, under settled agriculture, policies were designed to encourage migration
of ‘outsiders’ to settle as landlords through free grants of land and remissions in land revenue
(Sundar, 1997). A distinction of ‘settlers’, who acted as landlords, from those already settled in and
‘indigenous’ to these inaccessible areas thereby strengthened claims to an indigenous or Adivasi
identity in India (Xaxa, 1999a, 1999b).
Boundaries around land sedimented social relations in terms of caste hierarchies, through
land revenue policies, population surveys and the Census (O’Hanlon, 2012; Banerjee, 2016).
People were identified and compelled to self-​identify in terms of caste, the differences of which
were codified through policy and law (Bayly, 1999; Banerjee, 2016). It consolidated the power
of the scribal, ritual and commercial ‘elites’ such as the landlords who were given and claimed

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 Space, Work and Education in Young Adivasi Lives

superior social status (O’Hanlon, 2012). Such strict identification of population and codification of
differences constituted a significant dimension of control around space and social relations which
are of interest for the context of this chapter.
While the postindependence Indian state initiated land reforms, abolished colonial land rev-
enue systems and curtailed powers of the landlords and landholding classes, it brought the tenants
and cultivators into direct contact with itself (Sinha, 1989; Shah, 2010, Nilsen, 2019). At the
same time, the land reforms did not drastically alter the powers of the landlords as convoluted
bureaucratic systems were put into place for applying for land rights, which benefitted existing
landowners (see Sinha, 1989; Shah, 2010, 2013 and Nilsen, 2019 for more detail). In any case,
these systems recognised individual applications for land ownership and joint, common and com-
munal ownership of land, more prevalent among the Adivasis, continued to be negated (Ramnath,
2008, 2015).
More recently, the Forest Rights Act and Land Acquisition Act continue to dilute the right to
common ownership of land, along with other significant customary rights of the peasant, while
privileging state authority as the landlord and owner of common land, along with individual appli-
cation for land and forest rights (Ramnath, 2008, 2015; Nielsen & Nilsen, 2015). The civilising
mission of the colonial regime has been steadily replaced by the development projects of the
Indian state which has galvanised its activities in areas of the Adivasis for extraction of rich min-
eral reserves (Padel and Das, 2010; Wadhwa, 2019). The takeover of Adivasi land by the Indian
state, purportedly for development, reverberates the dispossession of the Adivasis in the colo-
nial rule.
Central to the delineation of land and spatial location have been the discourse of modernity
and development which have aided and maintained the production of hierarchical socio-​economic
relations and difference. O’Hanlon (2012) contends that ‘the major processes of colonial modernity
for India lay in sedentarisation, the growth of a new agrarian social order in which caste hierarchies
seemed more rigid and more widely applied’ (p. 133). These discourses are actualised through the
insertion of particular labels as binaries (Scheduled, Backward, Primitive, Excluded) that do not
simply imply difference but are imbued with value, hierarchy and subordination (Bhambra, 2007;
Hanson et al., 2018). In context of remote, rural and forested areas of the Adivasis, the categories
of segregation installed continue to be based on people’s association with and confinement to a
spatial location and work which remain highly gendered. The institution of socio-​spatial control
of young Adivasi lives and its regulation through age and gender is crucial to the exploration of
this chapter.

Articulations of gender
Before moving to the analysis of data excerpts, I signal the articulation of gender norms through
age and how this links with the gendered navigations of space, work and education by young
Adivasi Gond women in the context of this study. This articulation also outlines my theoretical
framing, as informed by poststructuralist, postcolonial and feminist perspectives, by taking the
construction of gender as a case for illustrating this conceptualisation.

The body gains meaning within discourse only in the context of power relations…sexu-
ality is to produce sex as an artificial concept which extends and disguises power relations
responsible for its genesis.
(Foucault, 1978 as cited in Butler, 1990, pp. 124–​125)

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 Gunjan Wadhwa

Implied in the above quote is the construction of sex as a normative ideal, constituted within dis-
course, through relations of power and working in the service of (hetero)sexuality (Foucault, 1978;
Butler, 1990). Foucault (1978) contends that the normative or discursive ideals of sex and gender
work to order, group and hierarchise bodies ‘on basis of artificial unity…and enabled to use this
fictitious unity as a causal principle’ (p. 154). As such, a woman’s body is ordered ‘wholly in terms
of functions of reproduction and keeping it in constant agitations through the effects of that very
function’ (Foucault, 1978, p. 153). Moreover, the social regulation of sex and gender relations
takes place through the institutional regime of (hetero) sexuality, further maintained and stabilised
through marriage and its associated moralities (Butler, 1993; Mouffe, 1993). This understanding
of gender is significant to my interests in this chapter as I examine the gendering of work done by
the Adivasis, its specific effects on the positioning of Adivasi women and how it maps out to the
social, domestic and reproductive labour carried out by young women.
As discussed in the previous section, caste and religion were crucial in the installation of uneven
social relations and control over land in India. Within this view, gender was deployed to institute
and justify the colonial ‘civilising mission’ on grounds of oppression of Indian women through
religious and caste-​based practices and their assumed confinement to the home (Chatterjee, 1989;
Mahmood, 2009a). Furthermore, deficit depictions of the ‘subaltern native child’ in need of pro­
tection and development by colonial intervention compounded this view of inferiority and back-
wardness of the colonised (Balagopalan, 2002, 2014; Hanson et al., 2018).
‘Western’ education, through formal schooling, was introduced to ‘modernise’ and ‘develop’
the colonised population which further inscribed and reified gender norms sustained by a logic of
morality and age-​based differentiation (Crossouard & Dunne, 2021; Crossouard et al., 2022). This
was done by bringing in a work-​education divide that placed education over work and emphasised
a linear trajectory, from formal schooling as a child to particular kinds of (paid) work as an adult
(Abebe & Bessell, 2011; Farrugia, 2018; Dunne et al., 2021). While the work-​education binary
suited the capitalist imperial interests of preparing a workforce and eventually a market for British
goods (Chandra, 2009; Adzahlie-​Mensah & Dunne, 2018), it did not correspond to the lives and
subjectivities of children and young people within the colonised contexts (Balagopalan, 2014;
Farrugia, 2014, 2018; Hanson et al., 2018). Instead, it worked to systematically separate, and
disparage, their work contributions and learning of labour from the colonial education project
(Balagopalan, 2014), particularly impacting and invisiblising women’s domestic and reproductive
labour (Crossouard et al., 2022).
The construction of India as civilisationally inferior prompted the Indian nationalist leaders to
resist this view and envision the country as morally superior to the West, inverting the hierarchised
colonial distinction. Chatterjee (1989) suggests that a dichotomy of material–​spiritual or inner
(home)–​outer (world) was produced to oppose the colonial ruler’s singular emphasis on the
‘material’ and the outer, reason and mind. The ideal of a respectable Indian woman, who entered
the outside world through particular kinds of waged work and education while retaining her highly
regarded place within the home, was put into effect to maintain India’s spiritual character and
reflect a distinction from the materiality of the Western world (Chatterjee, 1989). With respect
to my concerns in this chapter, the imagining of the nation as spiritually better was achieved
through the regulation of gender relations and tying of women to the domestic, the private and the
home which had consequences for the social positioning of the Adivasis, their work and livelihood
practices.
The demarcation around home and outside was an extension of the boundary surrounding land
and work, wherein specific areas were marked as Scheduled and work labelled as pre-​agricultural.
Along with the labelling of land and work in deficit terms, the segregation of population took

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 Space, Work and Education in Young Adivasi Lives

place through control over women’s bodies and imposition of strict gender norms and age-​related
moralities with respect to their exclusion from particular (public) spaces, including education. It
held serious implications for young Adivasi women who worked both within and outside the home
and in occupations like forestry work that were systematically denigrated by the colonial and the
Indian state, and detached from education, to gain control over land and resources. Not only were
the Adivasi women subordinated on account of their gender, age and ethnic belongings, but they
were also socially excluded based on their domestic work and livelihood practices.
In the context of this study, understandings of childhood as framed by the colonial logic of ‘lack’
and development, guided by a ‘transition’ narrative, wherein young girls and boys are assumed
to be progressing to adulthood to join work after finishing formal schooling, did not hold. Instead
of being disconnected from their everyday life and surroundings, the lives of children and young
people were firmly embedded within community relations and intergenerational dynamics, con-
tinuously mediated by gender and questions of socio-​spatial control.

(En)Gendering land, work and mobility

We (young women) do most of the work, collecting firewood and fodder from the forest,
cooking, cleaning, washing, animal grazing, working in farms, everything. Sometimes
brothers and fathers help too, but we do everything. They (men) go out to work in the farms.
(Focus group with young Adivasi women in 15–​18 age-​groups)

Women work alongside men in the farms, doing the same work, but they get paid 70 (Indian)
Rupees (INR) a day, or at the maximum 100 INR, while men receive 150–​200 Rupees. It
is strange but maybe because women can work less than men or cannot do more laborious
work or go out, so they get paid less.
(Alpa Bai, 30, Adivasi, Interview)

Implicit in the above excerpts is the identification of young women’s work contributions in the
local village community as comprising ‘everything’, whether it was the work in forests, in farms
or within the household. In our focus group discussions and interview conversations about work,
young Adivasi Gond women repeatedly mentioned doing ‘everything’ with a presupposition that
it did not require further explanation. At the same time, it was particular kinds of work, such as
collection of firewood for cooking, fodder for feeding animals and domestic work that was unpaid
but kept the household and the local economy alive, which was carried out by young women. More
specifically, it was young Adivasi girls who, often referring to themselves as women, combined
‘childcare, domestic duties and regular low-​status employment for small domestic chores’, as
‘well-​paid agricultural work was unavailable’ (Locke, 1999, p. 249). In this context, while young
women did most of the work in the village, their domestic and reproductive labour was kept unpaid
and used to exclude them from relatively better-​paid employment.
On the other hand, the work done by men, while also not clearly described, was denoted simply
as going ‘out’ to work in farms. An artificial separation of men’s and women’s work upheld a false
public–​private binary and further relegated the young Adivasi Gond women to the private. This
had impacts on the curtailment of their mobility and complicated the understandings of childhood
in this context which necessitated taking into consideration their work. In any case, the Adivasis
were restricted through work and way of life that were assumed to be natural and unique to them
(Shah, 2010; Wadhwa, 2019, 2021a, 2021b). Within this confinement, it was the young Adivasi

447
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Gond women who were further entrapped and hierarchically placed in a subordinate position
through deficit construction of their work contributions.
For older women, who worked alongside men, disparate constructions of the ‘same work’
circulated. Working alongside men and doing the same work are otherwise assumed to be eman-
cipatory, portraying ease of movement and mobility for women as well as gender equality in
prevalent discourses of modernity and development (Mcrobbie, 1978; Xaxa, 2004; Farrugia,
2018). However, here, the hierarchical positioning of women reinforced by difference in payments
strongly signalled their entrenchment within a given division of labour, in a socially instituted and
regulated gender regime, and with their work subject to depictions of being ‘less laborious’ and
more to do with the ‘private’ (Agarwal, 1999; Farrugia, 2018).
The interlacing of identity of the Adivasi Gond women with certain kinds of work as well as
with the ‘private’ was further elaborated in the excerpts below:

It is risky to do this kind of work (household surveys and village meetings with NGO) alone.
We need a companion. There are only three women in the entire programme (NGO project)
–​one is a core team member, the other two are young volunteers. There were 5–​6 young
women (under-​18) before, but they left… Women are not supposed to go out and do this
kind of work (going door to door, working odd hours, travelling) … Then there is the fear of
men, those kinds of men, they drink and do bad things.
(Raina, 27, Female, NGO worker, Interview)

Only men go to the chicken-​market (komdi bazar) and to some of these shops you want to
go to. They do bad things there, drink, chew tobacco. We (women) cannot go there, and you
should not either.
(Neera Bai, 29, non-​Adivasi, cook in neighbourhood school, Interview)

In the village and neighbouring area, I can only go to certain shops and places which are not
solely frequented by men. The young Adivasi female research participants advise me not to
risk it by visiting some shops and send a male research participant for me when I need to
buy something.
(Researcher Diary, January 2016)

The restricted movement and mobility of women and their confinement within the ‘private’ was
further exemplified in the above extracts. As a young NGO worker, Raina described her work as
risky owing to its public characterisation. She requested for a companion during her field visits to
different villages, except her own where she said she knew people and could rely on her know-
ledge of local contacts and area. The separation of the work done by men and women and its asso-
ciation with public and private, respectively, made Raina’s work for an NGO risky.
At the same time, while Raina could continue this work, women younger than her and below
18 years of age were compelled to leave for concerns of personal safety. This meant that while
young Adivasi Gond women could be in the ‘outside’ world, it was only for limited kinds
of work and livelihood in farms and forests that helped sustain the household and the local
economy and could be circumscribed through a deficit in payments. Going out for other kinds of
work, or simply frequenting shops and markets, was bounded by stricter codes. For instance, my
interactions with the young Adivasi Gond female research participants influenced my movement
in the area and indicated a regulatory gender regime at work, as reflected in the researcher diary
extract.

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 Space, Work and Education in Young Adivasi Lives

The above checks on women’s movement were in contrast with the descriptions of men as
going out, drinking alcohol, chewing tobacco and doing ‘bad things’. It connected to the notion of
‘differentiated mobility’:

For it does seem that mobility, and control over mobility, both reflects and reinforces power.
It is not simply a question of unequal distribution, that some people move more than others,
and that some have more control than others. It is that the mobility and control of some
groups can actively weaken other people. Differential mobility can weaken the leverage of
the already weak.
(Massey, 1994, p. 150)

Historically, the Adivasis had been bounded through work and a way of life which was nega-
tively associated with alcohol and tobacco consumption. However, it was a gendered control
and constraint, as it restricted the mobility of the Adivasi women, more so the younger women,
compared to the Adivasi men. Access to certain places was ensnared with differential mobility
and power relations, which were historically and spatially constituted through gender, with the
division and solidification of inner/​home (private) and outside/​world (public) (Chatterjee, 1989).
This gendering of spaces further translated into socio-​spatial control over identity (Massey, 1994,
2005) and, for the young Adivasi Gond women, subordinate social positioning in relation to men
as well as other social groups in the local community.

Gender and education

The differential mobility and movement of young Adivasi Gond women in their village commu-
nity was not only effected through the othering, control and regulation of their work and livelihood
practices, but also impacted their everyday navigations of education which is otherwise considered
central to the experiences of childhood:

There was never any transport to go to school, so I used to take the privately-​run cars when
those were available. Then one day my father accompanied me, and we could not find any-
thing (to go to school). He got worried and asked me not to go from then on.
(Pari, 16, Focus group with young Adivasi women in 15–​18 years age-​groups)

There are only Arts subjects that we can opt for in our area, no Science subjects. We live in
a small village that is why our options are limited. We can study Science, I wanted to study
Science, I was good at it, but I would have had to travel a long distance to go to the Block for
those options. It is risky to go alone, and parents do not allow you to cover a long distance
if you are young. Now I am studying Political Science, I do not like it or understand it, but
it was the only option I had.
(Reema, 19, Adivasi, college student, Interview)

Wearing jeans is not an option here, even when our school uniform is washed, we prefer
wearing proper clothes and not jeans and t-​shirt. Men wear it but not us. But some of us get
together to get short length kurtis stitched that are longer than a t-​shirt but shorter than a
kurta and wear these with jeans.
(Sneha, 17, focus group with young Adivasi women in 15–​18 age groups)

449
 Gunjan Wadhwa

The excerpts above further substantiate the effects of ‘differentiated mobility’ on the educational
access of young Adivasi Gond women. The restraints on their movement, as compared to men, in
the village influenced how they could go to school, what they could wear and what subjects they
could study. While Pari’s travel to school was impeded due to the lack of public transport and her
father’s concerns about sending her to school alone, Reema’s ‘choice’ of subjects in school was
determined by the distance to school.
The risk, mentioned earlier by Raina in carrying out her NGO work and compelling younger
women to leave work, was restated by Pari and Reema with regard to their education. The con-
trol over mobility of women was exercised by men, such as fathers, or other family/​community
members and pointed to the ‘naturalised and reified notions of gender that support masculine
hegemony and heterosexist power’ (Butler, 1990, p. 46). As such, the systematic undermining and
strategic diminishing of rural lives and livelihoods was particularly disadvantageous for the young
Adivasi Gond women as it limited them to specific work, education and clothing ‘options’ as well
as spatial locations.
This policing of gender norms was intensified by enforcing associated moralities, maintained
through the implementation of dress codes for women. Like the regulation of their work and
access to spaces including schools, surveillance around dress deepened the divide between men
and women. For Sneha, wearing of jeans was an option only for men and not women as it did
not qualify as ‘proper’ clothing for women who had salwar kameez as their school uniform. Not
adhering to the dress codes implied difficulties in going ‘out’, raised questions about young girls’
experiences of childhood, and further presented the complexities of being a ‘child’ in this context.
Within the international development discourse, the separation of work from education is
crucial to the definitions of childhood, along with the assumed primacy of formal schooling in
children’s lives (Dunne et al., 2021). However, for young Adivasi Gond girls and women, going
to school was fraught with additional risks and required careful navigation of the public–​private
binary. Blurring this divide meant inventive management of the (domestic) work responsibilities,
strategic choice of subjects and nearby schools, along with ‘proper’ clothing.
As pointed out by Sneha, young Adivasi women got together to find ways of subverting the
gender norms by finding an in-​between such as short length kurti to wear with jeans instead of
t-​shirts and salwar kameez. This somehow enabled going out and going to school, not wearing
the school uniform, and wearing jeans, all of which was otherwise governed by stern moral codes
dictated by gender relations and spatial segregation.
As such, while being and continuing in education compelled careful negotiations of space and
everyday life, education was also utilised as a site of possibility by young Adivasi Gond women to
defy the established logics of morality and dominant gender norms:

In one of the streets leading to the village, there is a small shop selling stationery goods.
During the daytime when I walk past it, there is often small groups of young women from
the village. They show me the pens and pencils they have to buy for schoolwork or things
for some event or project in the village. Only recently, after five months in the village, two
of my research participants who I also met at the shop mentioned that it was an ‘assembly
point’ for young women to buy gudaku (tobacco). It is 5 rupees per box, and they contribute
the money to buy one box every week and share it. They show me the box and teach me how
to use it, on the toothbrush in the morning so no one can find out. But they tell me not to do
it, it is a ‘bad thing’ they say.
(Researcher Diary, April 2016)

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 Space, Work and Education in Young Adivasi Lives

The gendering of space and its delineation into public and private in the context of young Adivasi
women did not go uncontested, as implicit in the above extract from the researcher diary. As
examined previously in this chapter, only men were thought to frequent certain shops in the village
and engage in doing ‘bad things’ such as drink alcohol and chew tobacco. These shops were
located at the main street and main road of the village.
However, the stationery shop was comparatively smaller and located inside one of the less busy
streets. It was less visible compared to the shops that men frequented, almost disguised to provide
stationery goods for school, and so offered a safe semi-​public space for assembly to the young
Adivasi women. Linking closely to the idea of ‘collective assemblies’, the meeting point of the
shop symbolised relations of support and alliances among those who are deemed disposable and
precarious (Butler, 2015, 2016). Their cautious assembly and meticulous planning to buy and use
tobacco was suggestive of the inadequacies and blurring of the public–​private separation that was
introduced to regulate young women.
The utilisation of the stationery shop by the young Adivasi Gond women to buy tobacco
illustrated the resignification of their othering and abjection, their discursive confinement to the
private, and the association of public and of ‘bad things’ with men. Young Adivasi women select-
ively and strategically used the public/​private dichotomy, by selecting a place in-​between this
binary, to resist and resignify their marginalisation (Butler et al., 2016). Additionally, the invisi­
bility of the shop was used to disrupt the dominance of heterosexist and patriarchal gender norms,
specifically with respect to the uneven socio-​spatial relations. To this end, Neh’s comments below
offered another narrative of possibility:

I want to continue working and studying, become something, take care of my parents and
brother and then get married. My mother’s father came home with a rishta (match), but I did
not like him. He works in a factory. It is not a stable job. What if he is removed? If I don’t
continue to work in the farm and forest, and study, how will he take care of me? Girls here,
we want to study Science and want to be doctors, but we will still be doing other work...
But we want semi-​English or English (medium of instruction) education for our class 11 and
12... Our parents might be a different and older generation, but they give us the strength to
work and study.
(Neh, 19, female, Adivasi, Focus group with young
Adivasi women in 18–​21 years)

The linking of the Adivasis with particular land, work and labour positions them as Scheduled,
Backward, Tribal and in deficit within the dominant national and local community discourses. While
Neh betrayed a normative gender dynamic, her comments offered a counter to the modernising
logic of paid employment by pointing to the ‘stability’ associated with work in farm and forests
and the instability of a ‘modern’ factory job. Neh’s comments illustrated the inadequacy of the
development discourse in her context. Rather her comments acknowledged the coexistence of
multiple subjectivities and troubled the binaries that haunt modernising, development discourses.
Identifying herself as a young Adivasi Gond woman, Neh highlighted the gendered aspects of
education and its need to accommodate the work contributions of Adivasi women in the village.
For her, the demands of girls to study science and be doctors were not inconsistent with their other
work at home and in the village. This exposed the binaries installed through the modernist concep-
tualisation and developmental logics of certain types of work and their constructed incompatibility
with ‘traditional’ works, such as those done by the young Adivasi Gond women.

451
 Gunjan Wadhwa

And finally, Neh’s comments above pointed to the embodiment of the dominant develop-
ment discourse and a reciting of their deficit positioning within it. However, while embodying
the discursive norms that produce and regulate the Adivasis, Neh subverts and contests these
norms through her association of strength with the parents constructed as ‘different and older
generation’. Similarly, her demands for both work and (Science) education, with English or semi-​
English as a medium of instruction in school implied both a form of subjectivation and of agency,
resistance and resignification. Neh’s demands, along with those of the other young Adivasi Gond
women, reverberated the reworking of the socio-​spatial relations within their local community
context.

Conclusion
This chapter was based on recent empirical research on the discursive production of Adivasi
identities through land, work, education and religion in an area of civil unrest in India. More
specifically, it highlighted the gendered implications of the deployment of dominant policy and
legal discourses with respect to the work and livelihood practices of the Adivasi Gond com-
munity. Historically, the Adivasis (or the Scheduled Tribes) have been othered internally by
the colonial and postindependence Indian state through multiple regulatory discourses. In this
chapter, I illustrated how the selective utilisation of these discourses impacted young people’s
lives and their everyday navigations of work and education. Within this othering and navigation,
I illuminated the ways in which gender remains a significant axis of difference and hierarchy. The
chapter foregrounded how the discussions surrounding land, work and education are mediated by
questions of spatial control and production of hierarchical power relations in relation to gender.
It attended to the consequences in terms of regulation of young women’s lives within their local
community context.
This chapter traced the installation of hierarchical social relations through land and agricul-
ture by the colonial regime and its reinforcement by the postindependence Indian state. It then
turned to investigate the hierarchies produced through the Scheduling and demarcation of land
and its entwinement with the identity of the people living in those areas. Extending this discus-
sion, I elaborated the physical separation of land and people by drawing on the conceptualisa-
tion of space as socially constructed and constituted through historical social relations of power
(Massey, 1994, 2005). Here, I also signalled the theoretical framing of this study by bringing out
the articulations of gender norms through age and understandings of childhood through education
and development discourse.
Engaging with empirical data excerpts, I foregrounded the gendered implications of
the deployment of the dominant discourses in the local context of the Gond Adivasis and
its impacts on the everyday navigations of work and education by the young Adivasi Gond
women. The chapter pointed to the discursive confinement of the Adivasis to particular kinds
of work and exposed the subordination of young Adivasi women within this confinement.
Related to the discussion surrounding work, the chapter drew attention to the ways in which
spatial control, through a public–​private separation, was instated to restrain the everyday lives
of young Adivasi Gond women and determine their access to work and education. Nonetheless,
the seemingly rigid and hierarchical socio-​spatial relations of power and control were not left
uncontested by the young women who strategically reworked their othering and subordination
to demand a reworking of the unequal socio-​spatial relations in their local village community
context.

452
 Space, Work and Education in Young Adivasi Lives

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 34
‘SKILLING’ EDUCATED YOUTH
FOR INSECURE EMPLOYMENT
IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY
Sarada Balagopalan and Ketaki Prabha

Introduction
While international children’s rights discourse has often prioritized schooling as that which has the
potential to meaningfully align each child’s right to protection, provision and participation, parallel
concerns around national and global productivity have often constructed this learning of cognitive
and non-​cognitive skills as an economic investment. With most of the world’s children having
now gained access to elementary schooling, given the ‘success’ of global efforts around Education
for All (EFA), these earlier considerations around schooling as that which contributes to the cre-
ation of human capital now appear to have shifted to a growing concern around youth skilling
(Brewer 2004). This is because the ‘success’ of the EFA coexists with an increased recognition
that young people are leaving or being pushed out of schools without the knowledge and skills
they need to be employed or to “lead the life they value as an educated person” (Dejaeghere et al.
2016, p. 457). As an expanding demographic in the majority world, youth populations, whether
apprehensively referred to as the ‘youth bulge’ or euphemistically constructed as the ‘demographic
dividend’, experience multiple anxieties around soaring unemployment across various national
contexts where iniquitous schooling, jobless economic growth and the growing demand for jobs
are pervasive.
These set of circumstances have helped produce ‘skilling’ within more contemporary discourses
as “the key mechanism through which education acquires economic value, both to individuals and
society” (Rolleston and James 2011, p. 3). Skilling is thus an effort to build upon the gains made
by the democratization of elementary schooling in the majority world while also working with the
recognition that poor-​quality of education has failed to adequately equip youth for future employ-
ment and desired productivity. This is reflected in the EFA global monitoring report (GMR), 2012,
which outlined a focus on skills development as key to expanding opportunities for marginalized
groups and this urgency to ‘upskill’ a youthful labor force has become a critical element in the
post-​2015 international education and development policy agendas (Rolleston and James 2011).
Efforts to attend more purposefully to linkages between schooling and employment are evident
in the following brief statement on why skilling should be introduced at the secondary education
level in sub-​Saharan Africa (SSA):

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-41 455

 Sarada Balagopalan and Ketaki Prabha

Considering that few youth in SSA complete their secondary education and that access to
tertiary education in SSA is generally <10%, the secondary education level is the most crit-
ical level for skills development. This is the level at which the majority of youth can quickly
be introduced to a trade before their premature exit out of the education system.
(Gondwe et al. 2011, p. 14)

Broadly speaking ‘skills development’ or ‘skilling’ is the most recent shorthand for an existing
array of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programs that have existed
for several decades in countries in the global north. These training programs had earlier been
employed as a common strategy to resettle youth in post-​conflict settings in majority world
contexts (Specht 2005), but the post-​2010 proliferation of these programs made more direct
linkages between schooling and employment. This chapter engages current discourses on
skilling and development at two levels: while the first section provides a broad, critical, over-
view of this terrain, the second section focuses on the tensions and contradictions that mark its
working out in India. The first section briefly plots the rise of skilling discourses within global
policy setting, discusses the human capital approach that underlay its assumptions and includes
a focus on current academic and policy research that attempts to rework skilling through a cap-
abilities approach. The second section of this chapter focuses on the working out of skilling in
India. It maps the reasons and efforts of the Indian government to introduce skilling into sec-
ondary schools and discusses the assumptions underlying skilling curriculum and the working
out of these programs within a highly gendered and caste-​based society where manual work is
largely stigmatized. In attending to skilling on multiple scales, this chapter offers an account
of skilling as a biopolitical apparatus that works to discipline bodies and regulate aspirations
of marginalized youth as ‘targets of intervention’ (Murphy 2017). Its messy working out in the
Indian context is particularly poignant as the explosion of these new skilling courses appears
to hold out the possibility of transition to dignified forms of employment in contexts where
social networks are limited. However, as qualitative research on one of these schooled programs
discloses, these children’s engagement with skilling complexly combines hopefulness with
savvy critique. The question that ties together both sections of this chapter is how current epis-
temologies of skilling –​which view youth as ‘targets’ of developmental interventions –​attempt
to conceive and shape youth subjectivities. In addition, this chapter asks to what extent we
might decenter this framing by including the complexities and contradictions that mark youth
experiences with education, skilling and the informal economy.

Skilling Development –​A Broad Overview

Recent global interest in skilling became apparent in 2009 when UNESCO United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) together with the Organisation for Economic
Co-​operation and Development (OECD), the International Labour Organization, the World Bank
and the European Training Foundation established the Inter-​agency Group on TVET (IAG-​TVET).
Following this UNESCO developed a TVET Strategy for 2010–​2015 which focused on three areas
including conceptual clarification and the improvement of national monitoring and evaluation
capacities, offering policy advice and acting as a clearinghouse. In addition, in 2012 the Third
International Conference on the TVET and the parallel publication of the World Report on TVET
pivoted around skilling as “the best investment a country could make” (Tang 2011, p. 7).
Underlying this particular framing of skilling is a dominant human capital approach that not
only assumes that learning can be reduced to a set of knowledge and skills but that these skills will

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automatically translate into employment (King 2012). Skilling is thus linked directly to ‘devel­
opmental’ concerns narrowly conceived in terms of economic gains resulting from increased
employment and productivity. These ‘productivist’ assumptions have been traced to an older
model of TVET tied to “the big push model of development of the 1960s through which a Western
view of development permeated the rest of the world” (McGrath 2012, p. 624). Pointing to the
particular historical and economic trajectory of vocational education in the global north, McGrath
et al. (2015) draws attention to TVET programs being based on two fundamental assumptions: the
first of these is that training in vocational education will lead to increased productivity or what is
referred to as ‘training for growth’ and second, the assumption that increased skills will lead to
employability, i.e. skills for work.
In majority world contexts, however, where efforts to universalize primary schooling have
mostly resulted in segregated and deeply iniquitous and poor-​quality schooling for first-​generation
school-​attendees, the increased calls for schools to teach skills have often resulted in large-​scale
government-​driven programs (Levesque 2011). These programs most often tend to focus on the
teaching of ‘vocational skills’ and tend to pay less attention to the transition to employment and
livelihoods. Aid agencies, increasingly focused on global efforts around ‘aid harmonisation’, are
closely aligned on the need to reform skilling programs in light of poor-​quality basic education
(King 2011). Despite national level policies on skilling, the continued dominance of an ‘inter­
national tool kit’, produced as a result of international policies and funding, has set in place a
‘public management approach’ to skilling that prioritizes (at the national level) governance
structures, qualifications frameworks, quality assurance regimes and public–​private partnerships
(McGrath 2011). Scholars have attempted to critically analyze why the national governments con­
tinue to be deeply invested in skills training and how this has moved in the direction of more
market-​based solutions as states increasingly engage in public–​private partnerships to expand the
geographic reach, increase the number of occupations and increase the efficiency between training
and employment (Allais 2012). Efforts to institutionalize national qualifications frameworks to
quantify, qualify and compare skilling qualifications have been a major challenge as this has often
tended to further bureaucratize and therefore dictate, rather than respond to, the ways in which
skilling courses have to be structured and assessed. Moreover, concerns about the efficacy of
traditional vocational training programs in contexts, where cultures of apprenticeship and training
vastly differ (King 2011) and distinct economic challenges persist (Tang 2011), have prompted
scholars to emphasize the urgent need to reframe the links between skilling and ‘development’
beyond national anxieties around youth employability and economic productivity (McGrath
et al. 2023).
The need to reframe skilling as an ‘inclusive’ learning opportunity –​that centers the linkages
between skills and employment while also foregrounding the concerns of marginalized populations
in the majority world (King 2011; McGrath 2012) –​has emerged out of a recognition of skilling’s
alignment with neoliberal educational agendas. Reflected in skilling’s individuated approach to
social mobility, which emphasizes personal responsibility and initiative without a parallel recog-
nition of the unequal schooling infrastructure and the exploitative informal employment for which
they are being ‘skilled’, this privatization of inequality has produced a disjunct between skilling
programs and broader ecological and communitarian concerns. To counter these neoliberal ten-
dencies and rethink the role of skilling and development beyond its narrow economic logics, some
scholars (McGrath et al. 2020) have utilized instead a ‘human capability approach’. Focused on
the well-​being and dignity of persons with an aim to remove the substantial unfreedoms that limit
“what a person is able to do or be” (Sen 2005, p. 153), these researchers have argued for skilling to
be more closely aligned to efforts to reimagine development that places ‘humanity at the center’.

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 Sarada Balagopalan and Ketaki Prabha

Skilling has been constructed as playing a key role in linking human capital with human capability
and allows youth to live a life of value:

A connection exists between human capital and human capability in that human capital
focuses on the agency of human beings in relation to their ability to augment productive
processes and human capability focuses on the agency of people to live the life that they
have reason to value. While the two approaches are intimately connected, as both refer to
aspects of being human, human capital and employability refer to only those aspects utilized
in production and as such exist as a narrower concept to human capabilities which include
all aspects necessary for human fulfilment.
(Powell 2011, p. 19)

By drawing a distinction between a more narrow and economistic framing of humanity as human
capital and the more expansive ‘agency of people to live the life they have reason to value’, these
scholars collectively argue for skilling to foreground issues of dignity and well-​being (McGrath
et al. 2020).
Building on this, Simon McGrath and Shoko Yamada (2023), have more recently argued for
reworking skilling to include two newer approaches which they refer to as the “constructivist
account of skills” and the “post-​political economy of skills” (p.1, 2023). Arguing for the need
to build an understanding of skills based on the realities and voices of workers and employers,
their move is directed at how skilling systems reproduce existing hierarchies at the macro level
thus tying skilling with broader development and political economy debates. These approaches
attempt to move skilling beyond its ‘narrow economism’ in an effort to amplify concerns, from the
ground up, around accessibility and quality in addition to linking these to broader environmental
concerns and developmental concerns of the community. In the case of vocational education and
training in South Africa, some scholars have utilized the capability approach to argue, for the
importance of a ‘capability to choose’ and a ‘capability to aspire’ (Powell 2011), while others have
adopted Freirean approach to research and pedagogy to share young peoples lived experiences
with schooling and employment (Balwanz et al. 2016).
This leveraging of development discourses around ‘capability’ and related approaches appears
at one level to move skilling away from a top-​down approach and emphasize instead the emotional
and social dimensions contained in the learning of skills, dimensions that exceed development’s
focus on human capital. Focused on the competencies that these programs impart -​including
communicating and problem solving –​the attempt is to frame these competencies as required for
both work and leisure. This expanded framing of skilling in terms of socialization and empower-
ment constructs skills imparted as a set of ‘inclusive’ rather than ‘elitist’ skills whose value is not
directly linked to employment and economic growth (Levesque 2011, p. 17). However, several
feminist and Marxist scholars have debunked this learning of socio-​emotional skills and related
gendered attempts to aestheticize appearance as that which is increasingly tied to enterprising
forms of selfhood that neoliberalism embeds (Fraser 2017; Ouellette 2017).
This critique leaves open the question around whether this ‘inclusive’ framing of skills cur-
riculum has aided in further expanding the regulatory reach of its logics, but now within a more
benign discourse of empowering communities. Existing efforts to highlight the ‘taxonomy of skills’
that skilling programs impart have done little to displace the widespread notion that the sector is
primarily for those unable to academically succeed as well as afford formal education. This nega-
tive perception around skilling which exists in several countries in the majority world is not only
exacerbated by poor skilling infrastructures and limited resources but also the stigma attached to

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the trades taught. Research from Ghana (Gale 2011) discusses how the gendered working out of
skilling often resulted in jobs that absorbed a high percentage of young women trainees –​like hair
and beauty courses –​also being associated with sex work. Relatedly, scholars have also critiqued
how constructing skills training as an isolated exercise aids in concealing its more ambiguous
working out in contexts where social and economic insecurities dominate. This often produces
vocational education and skills development policies as easily co-​opted within paradigms of ‘self-​
help’, ‘employability’ and ‘labour market flexibility’ that work against achieving improved levels
of both education and skills (Allais 2012).
By opening up skilling to more closely study the processes and socio-​contextual specificities
that frame young people’s transitions into employment, more recent research has helped highlight
more emic perspectives on skilling to foreground the critical role played by social reproduction.
If we understand social reproduction as processes in which the intense daily and generational
reproductive labor of families and communities sustain and reproduce this ‘skilled worker’, then
the reality of young peoples’ experiences and transitions from school to work appear to rely on
two distinct aspects of social reproduction. First, given that theorizations on social reproduction
understand the ‘laborer’ as produced within the family and other kin-​based settings (Bhattacharya
2017), the focus on skills training to produce labor power/​commodities is seldom separable from
the, unrecognized and undervalued, social relations that reproduce youth as labor. For example,
in her study on young women and skilling in Mumbai, Balagopalan (2022) discusses how they
discuss their dependence on family and kin as that which helps sustain their recent entry and
immersion in wage work. Second, these informal kin-​based networks are often not counted within
the productive assets that facilitate the employment of youth as skilled labor. However, these
relationalities appear to play a key role in facilitating young peoples’ entry into skilled work. For
example, in their study of Tanzanian youth, Dejaeghere et al. (2016) go beyond cognitive and non-​
cognitive skills to focus instead on the critical role that ‘social relations’ play in supporting young
people’s education and employment. They state that while cognitive learning is an insufficient indi-
cator, the existing conceptualization of non-​cognitive skills, such as self-​esteem and discipline, are
more than often framed as individuated and psychological attributes. Their study, based on three
years of in-​depth qualitative interviews with secondary-​age students, found how social relations
exercise a critical role, “for marginalized youth to view themselves and be viewed by others as an
educated person who has value and can contribute to society” (p. 457). While social capital and
social relations have strong overlaps, these researchers are keen to include within ‘social relations’
an expanded understanding of, “affiliation, care, and imagining alternative futures that are fostered
through relationships with others and that mitigate inequalities and power differences” (p. 459).
This framing exceeds definitions of social capital as a resource gained through relationships
with others and aligns more with Social Reproduction Theory’s (SRT) view of relations that
produce commodities and relations that produce labor as part of a systemic totality of capitalism.
This theorizing brings together class exploitation in the formal economy together with gendered,
raced and casteist oppression. This entanglement has shaped academic research critical of the
‘aspirational’ discourses that often frame policy-​oriented framing of skilling discourses with these
researchers working instead to disclose the situated, gendered and classed working out of these
programs (Chea et al. 2018; Desai 2020; Maithreyi 2019; Woronov 2016). These studies help
foreground the complex ways in which skilling is rendered desirable and how youth rely on the
broader realm of social reproduction and its relational networks to not only navigate, but also help
reduce educational, social and economic inequalities, in their attempts to translate their know-
ledge and skills into employment and increased well-​being. In the second section of this chapter,
we focus more on the tension between aspirations and social reproduction in the Indian context.

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These qualitative studies focused on the experiences of youth contrast sharply against skilling’s
prioritizing of programmatic and policy success in terms of more narrowly conceived indices
of measurement. Discussing the international policy turn toward ‘governing by numbers’ or the
increasing reliance on statistics, and the parallel prioritizing ‘evidence-​based’ practices of ‘what
works’, McGrath and Lugg (2012) explore the broader methodological and epistemological
challenges that produce tensions between policy discourse and academic research on skilling.
Characterizing much of international policy setting as ‘policy borrowing’ rather than ‘policy
learning’, they foreground the need to attend more closely to complex national and regional spaces
in which practice, policy and research are enacted. Their arguments for research, “that use a var-
iety of methods, and should not forget the importance of listening to the hitherto silenced voices
of learners” (p. 14), resonate with several other researchers who argue for the need to reframe the
effectiveness of these programs through a focus on “the real circumstances in which they are run”
(Pieck 2011). Based in Mexico, Pieck’s research focused on the extent to which vocational courses
benefitted recipients and a key finding of their study was that these courses seldom mark the end
of an individual’s academic trajectory. Rather, they found that persons who had access to lower
levels of the job market through vocational training often sought more academic and technical
qualifications after having navigated existing work opportunities.
From the above brief discussion of a few key issues that complicate current skilling ecologies
in majority world countries, the extent to which a capability approach meaningfully addresses
existing economic and social inequalities remains ambiguous. It appears that the ways in which
the future well-​being of youth is being linked to modifications in curriculum and employment
opportunities do less to address larger structural constraints of working in the informal economy
and is instead aimed at inserting them further within its logics by repurposing these trades as both
modern and aspirational. In short, these attempts to rework skilling toward a broader and more
equity-​driven idea of development, masks, rather than addresses, several key tensions that con-
tinue to mark this landscape. These include firstly the prevailing perceptions around skilling and
the curricular anxieties that vocational and liberal education historically index; second, the broader
informalization of employment and attendant exploitation of marginal populations; and lastly how
optics of measurement set in place by international actors and national governments, rely on macro
data that is less interested in the experiences of marginalized youth and their communities. SRT’s
focus on capitalist societies as those in which paid employment subsists with unpaid domestic
labor as part of the same socio-​economic process expansively opens up our critical capacities to
explore neoliberalism’s increasing divestment from public goods. This divestment from social
reproduction coexists with the state and international actors redefining emancipation for youth,
and especially young girls, in market-​terms through skilling.
All of the contradictions and complexities that mark the working out of skilling in majority
world countries are heightened in the Indian context where existing inequalities and hierarchies
of caste, gender and geography get consolidated, and legitimized, through the large scale attempts
to govern the school to work transitions of youth. Though India has had rapid economic growth
and is viewed as an emerging economy, high levels of poverty, inequality and inequity in the
provision of education, infrastructure and healthcare continue to remain major challenges for the
country.
With 59% of the population between the ages of 15 and 54 years, India’s ‘demographic dividend’
effectively works out to around 12–​13 million youth leaving school each year in search of voca-
tional training and employment (Wessels and Pilz 2018). There are currently around 9,583 schools
offering vocational courses with more than 1 million students (ibid.). This small number helps
draw our attention to the discrepancy between India’s ambitious policy-​setting around –​including

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a 2009 policy that hoped to reach 50% of the target population by 2022 –​and the reality of the
working out of these skilling efforts. However, with the percentage of the population with any
form of vocational training remaining less than 3% in 2018 (Pilz et al. 2021), India serves as an
important, and not necessarily unique, context in which the working out of skilling within sec-
ondary schools disclose some of the key tensions flagged above.

The Working out of Skilling in the Indian Context

India’s demographic dividend, or the potential economic growth offered by its young working-​age
population, has come to centrally occupy the conversation around skill development in the country.
With one of the youngest populations in the world the country is expected to comprise a third of
the world’s working-​age population by 2030 (British Council 2016). Children and youth in India
have thus come to be positioned in policy imagination dually as the future workforce and drivers
of economic development, and on the flipside, as a potential ‘demographic nightmare’ of mass
unemployment (King 2012). The vast skilling ecosystem, which aims to impart appropriate skills
and increase employability, views young learners as a ‘target’ population to be instrumentalized
toward economic productivity.
Within this human capital approach toward youth, the skills ecosystem since 2009 has seen a
‘paradigm shift’, beginning with the introduction of a national policy on skill development and the
subsequent setting up of a Ministry for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, along with a host
of programs to coordinate skill development efforts. This new paradigm sought to remedy some of
the shortcomings of earlier schemes for vocational education, such as poor linkages with the labor
market and the lack of vertical and lateral mobility within these educational streams (Ministry
of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship [MSDE] 2015). These were identified as causes for
lowered preference among students to opt for vocational education, as compared to general and
academic streams. Some of the key shifts within newer programs have been the enlisting of the
private sector, an emphasis on entrepreneurial innovation and soft skills, and the introduction of
standardized qualification frameworks. A market-​driven approach is expected to address what was
identified as a longstanding mismatch between skills supply and industrial demand in earlier voca-
tional training systems and provide students with efficient mechanisms to acquire certification and
move across levels of learning in different vocations (World Bank 2008).
Although the policy envisages a revamping of infrastructure toward the goal of increased
formal wage employment (MSDE 2015), it has been argued that in tandem with the objective of
the Skill India Mission to facilitate global capital investment, skill development schemes ultim-
ately only serve to generate a supply of flexible labor for the growing urban service economy in
India, as well as for contexts of aging population in Global North countries (Sadgopal 2016; Saraf
2016; Ruthven 2018). This is perhaps more clearly evidenced by the Sector Skill Councils, autono­­
mous organizations currently with over 600 corporate representatives, that determine demand
requirements, and hence occupational job roles and course content.
This paradigm shift toward market-​based solutions is in accord with larger trends of state dis-
investment in education over the last three decades. Following the IMF (International Monetary
Fund)-​World Bank-​led structural adjustment program in the 1980s, there has been a systematic
dismantling of public educational systems in India (Sadgopal 2016, Nambissan 2014). Though
accounting for 72% of all schools in India, public schools are now largely accessed only by children
from the most socio-​economically marginalized families (Balagopalan 2019). At the same time,
there has been a massive proliferation of private schooling of disparate quality, including low-​fee
schools advocated as a business-​oriented fix to quality education for the poor (Nambissan 2014).

461
 Sarada Balagopalan and Ketaki Prabha

The resulting stratified educational landscape is one that reflects existing socio-​economic hier-
archies of class, caste, religion and regional difference. It is critical to consider skilling initiatives
against this backdrop, since it is this uneven educational terrain which structures school-​to-​work
trajectories of children and youth, and in particular of educationally underserved children and
youth who comprise the ‘target group’ of skill programs (Sharma 2011; Kumar 2011; King 2012).
The precursor to these new skills, ecosystem was a separate set of higher education institutes
since post-​independence, such as Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and polytechnics, and since
the 1980s, provisioning of vocational training courses in higher secondary schools (equivalent
to grades 11–​12). Even in its initial conceptualization, it aimed to divert a section of students
into vocational instruction, away from academic courses, in order to reduce the burden on higher
education institutions (Ministry of Human Resource and Development [MHRD] 2014; Kumar
2011). Under the new skilling paradigm vocational courses have been introduced in earlier grades,
namely grades 9 and 10, as,

there is a significant drop-​out of students after completion of Class 10 [...] These children
and a certain percentage of children enrolling in Class 11 who have aptitude for vocational
courses [...] constitute the target group under the scheme of vocational education at sec-
ondary level.
(MHRD 2014, p. 5)

In other words, students who are compelled to exit formal education are to be streamlined into
alternative vocational pathways even sooner than was the case in the past. The ‘low-​skill’ occu-
pational roles offered by newer skilling programs are in the lower rungs of sectors such as hos-
pitality, security, retail, beauty and wellness and transportation, in the expanding urban service
economy.
The streamlining of poorer students with low educational attainment levels into ‘low value-​
added’ or ‘zero-​value added’ service sector jobs in the informal sector as a solution to the problem
of unemployment has been characterized by Radhika Saraf (2016) as a ‘this or nothing bait’
of vocational education (p. 17). Put differently, informal and insecure employment with low
wages, to be acquired through vocational training programs, are being put forth as better than
no employment at all. Saraf observes how this serves as an attempt to resolve the ‘paradox’ of
the inability of the country’s agriculture and manufacturing sectors to absorb more labor. This
inability, when combined with poor quality schooling, has meant that the modernization and
expansion of India’s skilling infrastructure effectively aids in regulating the insertion of India’s
poorly and inadequately schooled youth population into a highly insecure, low wage and exploit-
ative informal service sector. In systemically diverting children with low educational attainment
to informal employment rather than investing in higher education for them, skilling programs
targeting socio-​economically marginalized children reproduce patterns of informality in the ser-
vice sector economy.
More recently, several scholars have noted how the new skilling paradigm does not adequately
attend to existing mechanisms of work-​based training and labor market entry in the informal
economy in the country (King 2012; Sundar 2018; Brown and De Neve 2023). Government
estimates suggesting that only 2% of India’s entering workforce is formally skilled, and another
8% non-​formally skilled, invisibilize the ‘shadow training system’ that persists in India’s informal
economy, within which over 90% of the workforce is employed (King 2012, p. 668). While stat­
istical tools in combination with standardized frameworks of skilling work to produce discourses

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of youth as (un)skilled, they simultaneously erase diverse cultural, geographic and epistemic
frameworks of learning (King 2012; Sadgopal 2016) and overlook how processes of skill acqui­­
sition and trajectories of employment are embedded in social relations (Brown and De Neve
2023). In agriculture for instance, the learning of skills continues to be community-​based and
intergenerationally transmitted (Brown 2022; Iyer and Rao 2022), whereas in the garment industry
in South India, workers acquire relevant skills through on-​the-​job self-​directed learning and
opportunities for mobility, which in turn are mediated by age, mobility, caste, class and gendered
location (Carswell and De Neve 2023). This literature offers a compelling critique of skilling’s
limitations in addressing both learning of skills and its key objective of employment and centers
existing mechanisms of the social reproduction of labor and life as a challenge to the skilling
paradigm’s human capital approach. At the same time, it does not consider the contradictions
entailed by formal skill-​based education for a large majority of children, for whom exclusion from
formal education results in early entry to work in order to supplement meager family incomes and
secure relevant skills for subsistence and precarious futures (Balagopalan 2008).
Against this context of inequality, vocational education does not offer much by way of bridging
existing disparities in access, or ensuring continued education for those who drop out of formal
education. This is in stark disconnect with the reality of student aspirations. Maithreyi et al. (2019)
illustrate in their study on vocational education in government schools in Bangalore, India how
students in grades 9 and 10 consistently expressed a desire to pursue higher education, even
when faced with severe financial constraints. Their choices to opt for vocational subjects were
often, paradoxically, a means to overcome their precarious relationship with schooling. Students
viewed vocational courses as being ‘easy subjects’ to pass in exams in order to make it to the
next grade, or as ‘back-​up’ options in case they were pushed to exit the schooling system. As has
been noted for marginalized social groups in India, it is often the historical denial of schooling
to these populations that shapes their expectations and desire to inhabit schools as spaces of aca-
demic learning (Balagopalan 2014). While seeking this out, students simultaneously demonstrated
a nuanced understanding of the scope and limits of policies targeted at them, negotiating these in
situated ways to improve their future prospects. Alongside attention to existing social reproduction
of skilling pathways then, it is pertinent to examine how these trajectories are punctuated by, and
mediated through, newer discourses of youthful skilled subjectivities.

Caste–​Class Mobility and Aspiration

The historically low enrollments in vocational courses, as a government report itself notes, stems
from the stigma that is built into the entire structure of vocational education in the country, since it
is by design intended for academically and socially disadvantaged children (MSDE 2016, p. 30).
The reimagining of work-​based education in recent times however remains restricted to questions
of professional mobility within vocational and technical pathways, not attending to how these
streams have historically been marked by caste-​based associations of manual work, making it an
undesirable avenue of learning to pursue (Kumar 2011).
The formalized division between manual and mental learning can be traced to policies of the
colonial administration since the late 19th century. In efforts to modernize industrial production
in the empire, scientific intervention was sought to be introduced within existing traditional trades
and crafts. The resulting educational interventions by the British, accommodating the native elite
and preserving their caste privilege, led to the setting up of tiered institutions that separated theor-
etical and academic education from the technical and manual training of craftspeople and artisans
(Kapoor 2018, Subramanian 2019). Within this model, ‘intellectual’ domains such as literature,

463
 Sarada Balagopalan and Ketaki Prabha

sciences and mathematics were reserved for university spaces, accessible only to the Brahmins,
while technical and industrial institutes, district schools and night workshops were intended for
artisanal castes (Sunandan 2023; Kapoor 2018). Technical education policy in the early 19th cen­­
tury faced much of the challenges of today’s vocational training initiatives in regard to the upper
caste distaste for manual forms of learning, and the institutional streamlining of children from
artisanal caste groups and the working classes into solely practical training in spite of their desire
for literary and science education (Kumar 2018).
The separation of mental and intellectual forms of learning from practical, work-​based or
manual learning that persists into contemporary educational set ups continues to be strongly
marked by caste-​based connotations of the latter’s inferior status. Given this history, it is per-
haps unsurprising that there also continues to be a lack of preference among school students
to opt for vocational education streams. Although circumventing the naming of caste, skilling
policy recognizes the enduring lack of status associated with vocational education. In addition
to the aforementioned market-​oriented solutions, policy and program documents employ strat-
egies to position vocational courses as modern and desirable, with the making of skill programs
‘aspirational’ listed as a key objective (MSDE 2015), and the introduction of ‘soft skills’ as a
key curricular strategy to achieve self-​development. The National Education Policy of 2020,
which aims to expose 50% of all learner to vocational education by 2025, positions integrated
learning of a variety of academic, professional, vocational, technical and soft skills as essen-
tial to the development of “well-​rounded individuals that possess critical 21st century capaci-
ties” (MHRD 2020, p. 36). A more recent YuWaah framework, a multi-​stakeholder project with
UNICEF, also articulates skill development as a contemporary strategy relevant to the 21st cen-
tury, that connects children to aspirational opportunities and productive lives. The future-​oriented
language of a concerted network of international aid organizations, governmental bodies, indus-
trial representatives and private training providers suggest an association of skilled productivity
with aspirational modernity, which is to be achieved through lessons on soft skills that culti-
vate behavior and comportment appropriate to modern jobs in urban economies (Nambiar 2013;
Gooptu 2018). At the level of curriculum, however, the selection of occupational roles under
vocational education appears to reinstate enduring caste-​based divisions, through an inordinate
emphasis on the imparting of manual skills over intellectual ones, for job roles such as auto-
mobile service technicians and hospital general duty assistants in the lowest tiers of a growing
service economy (Maithreyi et al. 2019; Roychowdhury and Upadhya 2020). Repackaging these
within an articulation of aspiration and modernity, vocational education programs attempt to
generate a desire for these tracks of education, while eliding their socio-​historical indexing of
privilege and status. Further, in seeking to align individual student aspirations with ‘modern’
skills of neoliberal self-​development and enterprise, these programs mask the structural nature of
inequitable educational opportunity (Nambiar 2013).

Engendering Aspiration
Structurally working to uphold caste–​class capital then, the same skilling ecosystem contra-
dictorily embeds new modalities of aspirational mobilities in relation to the urban service
economy. Characterized by insecure working conditions, jobs such as those in retail, beauty
or IT sectors have also engendered new patterns of migration and employment intertwined
with desires for urban, consumption-​oriented lifestyles (Roychowdhury and Upadhya 2020).
These desires are also instituted through skilling curriculum, and life skills and soft skills in
particular, that require students to learn aspirational ways of being. For instance, Desai (2020)

464
 ‘Skilling’ Educated Youth for Insecure Employment

notes how life skills programs for girls position neoliberal femininities as aspirational for non-​
elite girls in India and cultivates these at the level of affective dispositions, such assertiveness
and constraint. These behavioral attributes traverse across the productive as well as repro-
ductive laboring lives of girls. Importantly however, even expansive understandings of skills
beyond the logic of productive human capital put forth models of aspiration that not only
reflect values of neoliberal enterprise, but also reproduce middle-​class and gendered cultures
(Desai 2020, Maithreyi 2021). Skilling toward entrepreneurial self-​development, predicated
on caste, class and gender norms, strives to regulate not just the productive sphere of work,
but also the private, reproductive realm of children’s lives where aspirational modes of being
a ‘skilled’ worker are constituted.
The emergence of aspirational subjectivities however are not wholly determined by policy dis-
course and are mediated through the very networks of social interactions, relations and cultures
which are sought to be governed (Huijsman et al. 2020). Maithreyi (2021) notes in the case of life
skill programs for socio-​economically marginalized students deemed to be ‘at risk’, children used
these as opportunities to position themselves as ‘better educated’ within their communities and
further used this identity to take on mentorship roles for other children. Cognizant of the lack of
relevance of these skills to their lives, they selectively appropriate their usefulness in materially
and socially relevant ways. Demonstrating the uneven and even contradictory translation of policy
processes on the ground, such instances elucidate the social relations through which children nego-
tiate programs that narrowly target them as subjects of intervention.
Indeed, the aspirational content of educational projects such as skilling is undergirded not
just by the precarity of neoliberal regimes, but also the possibilities of hopeful futures contained
within them (Mathew and Lukose 2020). While drawing on, and reproducing relations of caste,
class and gender, skilling regimes might also hold out the potential to rework these relations
in positive ways. Savitha Suresh Babu (2020) offers a case in point in her research on per­
sonality training camps run by Dalit activists. Rather than impart individualized life skills of
confidence divorced from social caste-​locations, the skilling pedagogy of these camps drew on
socio-​political histories of, and struggles against caste-​based oppression to make visible the
persistence of structural caste-​based inequalities in contemporary times. These camps imagined
self-​making toward self-​respect as both an act of social justice and a tool of employment gen-
eration. This “production of a new grammar of worth” (Babu, 2020, p. 747) exceeds neoliberal
influence or middle-​class normativity that typically frame skilling discourse, signaling ways
in which skilling curriculum might be alternatively mobilized by young people and educators
toward transformative identities.

Conclusion
Crafting young people into the laboring bodies required for capitalist demands is not new, and
yet the values attached to skilling youth embed particular national anxieties tied to maximizing
increased educational attainment within post-​compulsory education contexts. Skilling programs
often embed a recognition of the uneven quality and access to schooling and often design
programs that emphasize a combination of cognitive, social and emotional as well as technical
skills. As a critical component in the current imagination of global youth and development dis-
course, skilling continues to be dominated by a human capital approach which assumes firstly,
that training is about transmitting a set of knowledge and skills, and second, that these knowledge
and skills will translate into employment. However, the links between skilling, national product-
ivity, social mobility and poverty alleviation are neither automatic nor simple. As discussed in

465
 Sarada Balagopalan and Ketaki Prabha

this chapter’s focus on India, the pedagogic reworking of skilling programs to incorporate more
modern, aspirational and caste-​neutral language does little in terms of fundamentally changing
existing stigmatization of manual work. Rather the no-​job growth which has attenuated the formal
labor market and made it increasingly impossible for the large majority of youthful populations to
be employed. This has meant that youth often navigate this new landscape with an awareness of
the limited opportunities for mobility these occupations offer while relying on social networks to
help them gain jobs as well as sustain their presence within these. This expanded framing not only
exceeds human capital-​oriented development frameworks but also understandings of social capital
as a resource gained through relationships with others. Instead it aligns more with SRT’s view of
relations that produce commodities and relations that produce labor as part of a systemic totality of
capitalism. This theorizing brings together class exploitation in the formal economy together with
gendered, raced and casteist oppression. The discussion of these entanglements within the Indian
context highlights how aspirational subjectivities get mediated through, and thus effectively repro-
duce, existing socio-​cultural hierarchies and related axis of precarity. However, research on how
Dalit activists have reimagined personality training to include socio-​political histories of struggles
against caste-​based oppression and the persistence of structural caste-​based inequalities in con-
temporary times to produce ‘a new grammar of worth’ helps highlight how skilling is also being
reworked by marginal populations. This transformative reworking of personality development
indicates that the regulatory effects of skilling need to be framed as less totalizing and more as
a process whose working out is negotiated, and can be shaped at times, by children, youth and
educators. While policy discourses on skilling, despite their focus on the empowerment of com-
munities, effectively reproduce hierarchies of caste, class and gender, historically informed and
politically inflected pedagogies of skilling can disrupt long standing patterns of social reproduc-
tion and transformatively rework its logics of human capital.

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 35
MOTHERS’ REFLECTIONS
ON GENERATIONAL CHANGES
IN CHILDHOOD IN A
MAYAN TOWN
Globalization Challenges to
Convivencia/​Togetherness

Itzel Aceves-​Azuara, Barbara Rogoff, and Marta Navichoc Cotuc

Introduction
This chapter challenges “chronocentric” views of child development by examining how children’s
and families’ everyday lives have changed across generations in an Indigenous community that has
experienced rapid changes associated with globalization. We examine Guatemalan Mayan mothers’
views of the dramatic changes in childhood in their town, associated with globalization, since
their own childhoods 30 years before when their families had participated in previous research by
Rogoff and her colleagues. Globalization is related to many changes in the everyday lives of chil-
dren and their families worldwide (e.g., Chiu & Yan-​YeeKwan, 2016; Giddens, 2002; Greenfield,
2016; Rogoff, 2003, 2011; Rogoff & Aceves-​Azuara, in prep; Rogoff et al., 2014). In many parts
of the world, schooling and digital technologies have increased, family size has decreased, and
parents are more likely to work outside their homes (Gielen & Kim, 2018; Trask, 2010).
We argue that globalization has decreased family and community togetherness –​convivencia,
in Mexican and Guatemalan Spanish –​ based on the mothers’ comments regarding changes in
family size, mothers’ work, and children’s community roles, technology use, and helpfulness. In
introducing this chapter, we examine the concept of convivencia, an organic form of togetherness,
mutual supportiveness, and harmonious shared activity (as the term is used in parts of Mexico and
Guatemala), which we contend is a central cultural value in many Indigenous communities of the
Americas. Then, we review evidence that convivencia is an important aspect of children’s learning
in many Indigenous-​heritage families, emphasizing inclusiveness, community-​mindedness, and
collaboration. Then we summarize research suggesting a decrease in convivencia as families
experience globalizing changes such as Western schooling.
Then after briefly summarizing globalization changes in this Mayan town across recent
generations, we turn to the mothers’ opinions of changes in childhood and family life that have

470 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-42

 Mothers’ Reflections on Generational Changes in Childhood

occurred since their own childhood. We describe their perspectives regarding a few changes that
they welcome and a number of changes that give them concern about “today’s” child and family
life. To conclude, we contextualize the changes in the constellations of family practices that
the mothers report related to convivencia, togetherness. We call attention to the role of Western
schooling and ideas of parents as cultivators of children as students, as a context in which families
are shifting interaction practices and convivencia. We finish by examining how convivencia could
be fostered at the same time as families and communities adopt some valued changes associated
with globalization.

Convivencia/​Togetherness Is a Central Value of Many Indigenous

Families of the Americas
Convivencia –​togetherness –​is an everyday concept in family and community life in many
Indigenous communities of the Americas. This concept refers to being together with full presence,
seeing each other often, engaging in frequent conversations, enjoying interdependence, and rec-
ognizing the sharedness of life. Engaging in group activities is often preferred to solitary work, as
people perform most of their daily activities alongside others of multiple generations (e.g., Bolin,
2006; Briggs, 1970; Thomas, 1958). “Even activities for which only one person is necessary are
usually done in the company of another” (Philips, 1983). Convivencia contributes to making the
community “alive,” interconnected, in mutual support and warmth –​a space in which relations
flourish (Note that valuing convivencia does not preclude conflict!).
Similar community-​minded concepts have received attention in the study of Indigenous
Knowledge Systems. Community-​minded relations “are the place of sharing life through everyday
acts … where each person can, metaphorically speaking, ‘become complete.’ Community is
‘that place that Indians talk about,’ the place through which Indian people express their highest
thought” (Cajete, 2000, p. 86). Murray (2017) refers to a similar concept among Mapuche
Indigenous women of Chile, cariño, caring for each other –​both in the emotional and the instru-
mental sense of caring. Families often gather to foster cariño, strengthening their ties by being
present and aware of each other’s needs and sharing life as responsible contributors to a system
of interdependence.
Relationality and comunalidad are cornerstones of Indigenous cosmovisions (e.g., Battiste,
2002; Cajete, 2015; Chandler, 2013; Martínez Luna, 2010; Teuton et al., 2012; Urrieta, 2013).
Harmony, trust, responsibility, care, and compassion are values that communities foster in mutual
and respectful relations among humans and other living beings (Barnhardt & Kawagley, 2005;
Lamphere, 1977; Medin & Bang, 2014; Paoli, 2003; Thomas, 1958). We see these important values
as the basis of convivencia in everyday life and especially in children’s opportunities to learn.

Convivencia Is Central in Children’s Lives in Indigenous

Communities of the Americas
Convivencia is a central aspect of learning in many Indigenous communities of the Americas,
according to the theoretical model of Learning by Observing and Pitching In to family and com-
munity endeavors (LOPI, Rogoff, 2014; Rogoff & Mejia-​Arauz, 2022). Three defining features of
LOPI emphasize convivencia: inclusiveness, community-​mindedness, and collaboration.
Inclusiveness. Facet 1 of the LOPI model emphasizes that all ages engage together in shared
endeavors, with everyone included. Children’s lives are mutually bound together in the social
and productive lives of their families and communities, from the earliest years (Chamoux, 1992;

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 Itzel Aceves-Azuara, Barbara Rogoff, and Marta Navichoc Cotuc

Figure 35.1 These families engage in everyday convivencia at the lakeshore. They are ancestors of the
mothers that we interviewed, from about the time (1941) of our interviewees’ great-​
grandmothers. Some of the children help their mothers wash clothes, bathe themselves or
smaller children, and play together as their mothers share local news. (Photo: Ben and Lois
Paul, Luisa Magarian.)

Coppens & Rogoff, 2021; Rogoff & Coppens, in press; Figure 35.1). For example, babies may
spend much of their day on their caregiver’s backs during everyday activities and sleep together
with family members at night (de León, 2000; Morelli et al., 1992). Older children often are
included as contributors to family work and goals and community events (Alcalá et al., 2014;
Coppens et al., 2014, 2016; Gaskins, 2000; Gutiérrez et al., 2015; Mejía-​Arauz et al., 2015; Paoli,
2003; Taft, 2019; Urrieta, 2013).
Community-​mindedness. Facet 2 of LOPI emphasizes that people contribute to shared goals
for a sense of community-​mindedness, belonging, and contributing to getting things done together
(Gaskins, 2020; Rogoff & Mejía-​Arauz, 2022). For example, a Mexican-​heritage mother explained
with pride that her toddler helps at home and is learning to see himself as part of the family endeavor:

Well, my son wants to learn, wants to, I don’t know, already entered into the family, like “We
ought to all do this for us.” It is something good. Like, to enter the circle of “Let’s all do this
all together. I think it’s good.”
(This clip can be viewed at https://​videoh​all.com/​p/​1676)

Collaboration. Facet 3 of LOPI describes people’s ways of working together as a collaboration,

with everyone taking the initiative to support the group’s goals (Rogoff, 2014; Rogoff & Mejía-​
Arauz, 2022). When working together in small groups, people from Indigenous communities of
the Americas have been noted to collaborate more than people from highly schooled communities
(Alcalá et al., 2018; Correa-​Chávez et al., 2016; Ellis & Gauvain, 1992; Mejía Arauz et al., 2007;
Paradise & deHaan, 2009; Ruvalcaba & Rogoff, 2022). In several studies, Mayan mothers and

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small children seemed to prioritize convivencia, working together inclusively to explore novel
objects or solve a puzzle (Chavajay & Rogoff, 2002; Dayton et al., 2022). In discussing young
children’s help at home, Californian Mexican-​heritage mothers prioritized the collaborative inclu-
sion of even the youngest children, even though this was often less efficient (Rogoff & Coppens,
in press).

Convivencia/​Togetherness Might Be Changing with Globalization

Changes in globalization related to convivencia are suggested by studies with contemporary
Indigenous-​heritage families with minimal Western schooling, who may resemble Indigenous
families of the Americas from previous generations (López et al., 2010; Silva et al., 2010). Indirect
evidence suggesting historical change across generations comes from findings that children from
Indigenous Mexican-​heritage communities with minimal schooling were likely to help in house-
hold work and family businesses on their own initiative, whereas children whose families had
extensive experience with Western schooling seldom did (Alcalá et al., 2014, 2018; Coppens
et al., 2014, 2016; Mejía-​Arauz et al., 2013; see also https://​videoh​all.com/​p/​1318). In many com­­­­
munities, the older generation bemoans some of the changes that come with globalization, such
as threats to convivencia, family life, and the overall organization of the community (Bertely-​
Busquets, 2010).

Globalization Changes across Generations in San Pedro

We asked 30 mothers from a Mayan town on Lake Atitlán in Guatemala –​San Pedro la Laguna –​to
reflect on changes since their childhoods. Before reporting their views, we describe some of the
changes across these generations that are associated with globalization in San Pedro.
It is important to recognize that the changes of the past three decades follow striking changes of
the three decades before that –​and of centuries before (Rogoff, 2011; Rogoff et al., 2005). Indeed
the changes across centuries for the town of San Pedro have been dramatic –​in population, spir-
ituality, family size and organization, transportation, media use, language, medical practices, and
so on. For example, before the birth of the mothers we interviewed, the availability of vaccinations
had already dramatically decreased the rate of infant mortality (from about a third of the births of
their own mothers’ generation). At the same time, the high infant mortality of prior generations
was itself a product of globalization –​many of the diseases that took the lives of children were
brought from Europe during centuries of colonization.
Globalization in San Pedro is a long and convoluted process related to contact and dominance
from people of other places. Religious changes have occurred across centuries, from the impos-
ition of Catholicism and the uptake of Evangelical Protestant religions about a century ago. Some
families practice Mayan spirituality. Most mothers in our study were Catholic (67%), 30% were
Protestant, and one reported no religious affiliation –​almost exactly the same proportions as their
mothers’ generation.
San Pedro has had a dramatic population increase during the lifetimes of the mothers (related,
in part, to the availability of vaccines from the previous generation). In 1990, San Pedro had
about 8000 inhabitants (Rogoff et al., 1993), and by 2020, the town had grown to about 12,000
inhabitants (INEG, 2022), although some local people calculate 18,000 (Oertling, 2021).
Following the increase in children’s survival rates, the birth rate decreased rapidly over the
past generation or two, accompanying population pressures (related to decreases in the amount
of land per person), increased expense and decreased help of children (related to increases in

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 Itzel Aceves-Azuara, Barbara Rogoff, and Marta Navichoc Cotuc

Western schooling), and increased knowledge of and access to Western methods of birth control.
The average family decreased from 3.6 children per family for the mothers’ mothers’ generation,
in the late 1980s, to only 1.3 in 2019 for the mothers’ own generation (Rogoff & Aceves-​Azuara,
in prep.
People of San Pedro have experienced greater contact with other locations and people in the
last three decades. Access in and out of town before the 1970s was by boats that only arrived twice
a week or periodic buses that lumbered over rocky mountain roads (Rogoff et al., 1993; Rogoff,
2011). By the 1990s, boats connected the town many times per day with other towns around the
lake (Rogoff et al., 1993). By 2020, many vehicles carried people in and out of town on paved
roads that connected San Pedro with large cities. In addition, many foreigners now come to San
Pedro for tourism, missionizing, or to use drugs; some have settled in San Pedro for months or
years and opened restaurants and hotels. Also, many extended families have a family member
who has migrated to a large city for work, studies, or marriage (in Guatemala, the US, or Europe).
However, most people remain in the same town across generations, and those who move away
often remain in close contact with family in San Pedro.
Occupations in 1990 were primarily agricultural for men (on their own land or in day labor for
others) and weaving and embroidery for women (Rogoff et al., 2005); the children were often pre­
sent (Morelli et al., 2003). The mothers we visited had occupations such as artisan, vendor, nurse,
teacher, receptionist, business owner, homemaker, and bank teller. Like their parents, girls now
seldom weave and boys rarely spend time in agriculture; instead, they spend much of their time in
school, doing homework, or in child-​focused activities managed by adults (Rogoff, 2011; Rogoff
et al., 2005).
Schooling in San Pedro has increased in the last decades. The mothers of the previous gener-
ation averaged only 2.8 grades of schooling, and only 60% of them went to school at all. All the
mothers we visited went to school, and 80% of them finished high school or went further, aver-
aging 13 grades completed. Many of the mothers we visited had achieved a professional degree;
a third (32%) of them had training as school teachers (however, unemployment of teachers and
other professionals is high).
The traditional language of San Pedro is Mayan (Tz’utujil), and most people also speak Spanish
(Rogoff et al., 2005). Some now speak English and many encourage children to learn it. In
interviews 30 years ago, all mothers spoke Maya Tz’utujil, whereas during our recent interviews,
13% of the mothers spoke only Spanish and 13% spoke a combination of Tz’utujil and Spanish
(the remaining 74% spoke Tz’utujil). The changes for the children are dramatic –​23% of the
mothers reported that their children only speak Spanish and do not understand Tz’utujil (except
for a few words) and 47% of the mothers reported that their children speak mostly Spanish –​they
understand Tz’utujil but do not speak it. Only 30% of the mothers reported that the children under-
stand and speak Tz’utujil (and they also speak Spanish; none of the children speak Tz’utujil only).
In everyday conversations, Mayan people in San Pedro often discuss changes such as these.
Despite the many globalization changes, the Mayan people of San Pedro still generally identify pri-
marily with their town, as “Pedranos” or “Pedranas,” and secondarily as Indigenous people. Later
generations sometimes also identify as Mayans, especially those who have attended university.

The Visits to Mothers’ Homes, with Questions about Changes

The 30 mothers were all part of families who had participated in research conducted 30 years
previously by the second author, Barbara Rogoff and Christine Mosier (Mosier & Rogoff, 2003).
Barbara (of European American heritage) had maintained some contact with these and other San

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Pedro families over the years and has participated in the town for over four decades with visits
every year or two, including founding the town library and helping found a learning center. She
is known to the families. Marta Navichoc Cotuc (Tz’utujil Maya) has collaborated with Barbara
for over four decades, including serving as a research assistant in the study 30 years prior. Itzel
Aceves-​Azuara (a Mexican national) was a doctoral student working with Barbara at the time of
the interviews; she had visited San Pedro four times over a period of four years.
We three recruited the mothers first by visiting the families that had taken part 30 years before.
We brought them a photo and a video from the study 30 years before, chatted about what the
family members were doing now, and told them we were interested in seeing how family life had
changed across those years. This preliminary visit yielded information about the children and
grandchildren of those families, which we used to contact the mothers in this study.
For the interviews, Itzel and Marta visited the mothers in their homes between November 2019
and March 2020. Marta explained,

Barbara and her student Itzel from the University of California Santa Cruz would like to do
the same study that Christine and Barbara did 30 years ago with your [mother/​relative] and
her children. They would like to know how children play and they would like to ask you
about the everyday life of children these days.

All the mothers consented, most of them expressing enthusiasm to participate, and many jumped
right into describing changes that they have noticed, before being specifically asked.
Most (21) of the 30 interviews included an accompanying mother invited by the target
mother –​a close relative who often exchanged childcare with the target mother. We included
the accompanying mothers because we needed to videotape families with both a 1-​year-​old and
a 3–​6-​year-​old for a related study with most of the same families, and the decrease in number of
children made it so that few families had two children of both ages (Rogoff & Aceves-​Azuara,
in prep). If anything, in the interviews the presence of two closely related mothers enhanced the
extent of the mothers’ commentaries. The interviewed mothers were mostly in their 20s and 30s,
and all had at least one child between one and six. If two mothers were present, we count them as
one case, in what follows. The mothers’ young children (and sometimes other family members)
were present.
The interview consisted of a friendly 1-​hour family visit with a semi-​structured conversation
with mothers. The first part of the interview was modeled on the procedure conducted 30 years
before (Mosier & Rogoff, 2003). Marta conducted this first part of the interviews as before,
supported by Itzel who operated the video camera and provided occasional reminders about
topics. Marta asked about family background and children’s everyday life and routines –​the
child’s caregiving and social network, how the children help around the house, the children’s
socialization for proper behavior, the families’ media and technology use, the languages the fam-
ilies speak, the families’ contact with other cultural communities, children’s participation in com-
munity events and parents’ work, and the mother’s hopes for the children’s futures. During the
conversation, novel objects were presented, and the mothers were asked to help their toddlers
operate the objects.
To investigate the mothers’ reflections on changes in childhood, the last part of the visit included
questions that were not in the study done 30 years before. Marta casually asked the mothers their
views regarding changes in childhood in their town over their lives, “Now, to finish –​ some
questions about families these days and families from before, when you were a child… . Children
today, do they act differently in the family than the children from before?” Most mothers jumped

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 Itzel Aceves-Azuara, Barbara Rogoff, and Marta Navichoc Cotuc

right into offering their reflections, based on their observations of their own children, extended
family, and wide opportunities to view family life in this compact town. People frequently see each
other in the market or the streets, and extended families usually visit at least once a week (though
less than before when families often lived in conjoined households with relatives).
Marta prompted the mothers with questions based on the following topics, if they were not
spontaneously addressed by the mothers.

When you were a child, did you help without your mother asking you? And the children today, is
it the same or not?
When you were a child, did you learn to work just by watching or listening? What about chil-
dren today?
When you were a child, did children contribute to adult conversations? How is it now?
Do children today bother adult conversations more or less than before?
Today’s moms –​how do they treat their children differently than moms before?
Before, people collaborated by working with each other to build their houses, does this continue
now? Why?
How was life better for children before? How is life better for children now?

For the analysis of the videotaped responses, Marta orally translated from Tz’utujil to Spanish
and Itzel transcribed. Barbara (who understands some Tz’utujil and is used to San Pedro Spanish)
resolved some ambiguous statements and checked the transcriptions. We examined the fre-
quency of key ideas ethnographically, using the Spanish versions of the mothers’ statements. The
next sections present the mothers’ views of changes in San Pedro’s childhoods since their own
childhoods.

Background: Is Life Better for Children Now or Was It Better Before?

The main thrust of our interviews was on ways that children’s lives have changed, not whether
children’s lives are better now or were better before. However, almost half (47%) of the 30
mothers offered judgments of whether children’s lives are better or worse now than when they
were children. An equal proportion of these mothers said children’s lives now are better (36%)
and children’s lives now are worse (36%). Another 28% mentioned that life for children is cur-
rently better in some aspects but worse in others; no one said life was the same for children now
as before. Of the 53% of mothers who did not directly offer an opinion on whether children’s lives
were better or worse, many reported ways that children’s lives were better before.
The few mothers (5 out of 30) who said that children’s lives are better now focused on more
access to money and availability of foods from stores (rather than food that the families grew
themselves), like this mother,

Everything is better now; everything is possible –​for example, my son’s breakfast –​

cornflakes, milk, or pancakes. Life today is much better for us. It used to be difficult to earn
money. When we asked my mom for something to eat, she said: “there’s a tortilla, there’s a
little coffee.”

A few mothers mentioned suffering from scarcity as children.

The mothers who stated that children’s lives were better before and the mothers who did not
address this directly had many reasons for this view. In the rest of the analysis of the mothers’

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views, we report their opinions regarding why children’s lives were better before, whether or not
they directly claimed that children’s lives were better before.

Mothers’ Views of Changes in Children’s Lives across a

Generation in a Mayan Town
Many of the mothers’ views and the changes that they commented on suggested to us that there
was more convivencia, togetherness, in the family and community when they were growing up
than now. This key theme seems to us to undergird the mothers’ views of how children’s lives
were better before. Three mothers (10%) referred explicitly to a loss of convivencia; for example,
“Before it was better, because of the convivencia we created among us all. I would say that relations
were more pleasant, more trusting.” Most of the rest of the mothers referred to this general idea
indirectly.
Our discussion of the mothers’ views is organized first with regard to changes related to
convivencia in community relations, and then with regard to children’s participation in commu-
nity life. Next, we discuss other changes that suggest that convivencia has decreased: children’s
time and proximity with their mothers and children’s opportunities to be with other children have
decreased. Children now seem to contribute less to convivencia –​the mothers report that children
now are more likely to be involved in solitary activities with technologies, less likely to spontan-
eously help at home and to learn by observing, and more often disrupt family harmony than in
previous generations.

Convivencia in Community Organization –​Reciprocity and

Harmony versus Money
Some mothers (13%) reported a concern that the exchange of money has replaced community
reciprocal cooperation systems in the overall community organization. A mother explained that
people in town used to return favors with their time and energy,

For example, if you don’t have corn, if you have beans, you exchange beans with the person
who has corn; we had that tradition. In San Pedro, people before did not take money for
mint, cilantro, or onion because the belief was that if you did, your crops would get burned,
so it was exchanged for corn.

Another mother commented that neighbors and extended family used to help each other when
someone was building a house.

What I saw before with my parents, we engaged in a lot of convivencia. When people built
a house…, everyone arrived when a building was going up. People helped each other; when
a house was being built, everyone helped, without pay. But you see now, when is anyone
going to say: “I’m going to help you with your house”? –​now you always have to go call
someone, you have to pay their day’s wage so that they come to help you. But before, it
wasn’t like that, sometimes it was reciprocal –​with tomato, or onion, what one had, one
gave. But nowadays they don’t do that anymore. Everything changed; now everything is
about money.

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The mothers generally agreed that there is less community reciprocity in helping each other con-
struct houses nowadays than in the previous generations, with explanations like this mother:

Before there was mutual help, one goes and later, when one needs it, others come too. It
wasn’t paid; it was like, a thank you. People went with someone here, with another there.
Among everyone there was collaboration, because before, money was not used; people were
paying with their time.

Several mothers (17%) connected a loss of convivencia with greater materialism and purchased
goods. They said that families were previously happy with less materialistic goods, “the families
were happier with their few things, what they had” and some related this explicitly to having more
group harmony before. One mother shares her story:

For example, when I grew up, there were no fancy houses, and with my parents, we lived
poorly. They never bought us a cell phone, only toy objects made of clay, that’s what dad
bought us, nor did we have dolls. My grandfather went to the forest to work; he used to make
us dolls out of wood or sticks. They never bought us a doll, but we grew up happy; we never
fought. With dad and mom, we never complained about not having things; no, everyone was
calm. …Yes, what I saw and felt is that we had a convivencia… . But children nowadays,
even though one gives them everything, it’s a big change in what they do… it is not good
what we are doing with them.

Another mother reported that even babies are now focused on commercial goods.

There is a lot of change, before there was no Gerber, there was no formula milk. Before,
everything was natural. Now everything is money and money. When someone gives my
baby a tortilla, he doesn’t like it; he throws it away. He just wants Gerber.

Many (40%) of the mothers also connected the commercialism with a decrease in commu-
nity convivencia with the natural world. For example, this mother reminds a relative about the
old days,

The change is tremendous, because of technology, which has made a lot of changes in the
lives of the children. Because do you remember when we grew up? Do you remember that
we used to play under the coffee groves cutting leaves? That was a great game for us, but the
children of today spend all day with the TV, on the phone, on the computer.

This mother spoke of Nature providing for people, “The ancestors from before used to receive
corn, a lot of corn, beans. That is the wealth of before.” Another mother commented on the loss of
respect and connection with the lake and the Earth that families used to show with Mayan spiritual
and protective gestures and prayer:

Before, when people arrived at the beach, they took the water and kissed it. But now, we
take the kids, we get in the water, and we never say, “God, take care of us.” The danger is
there, but we no longer do it. Before, people kissed Mother Earth, now nothing. Yes, there
is a lot of change.

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Convivencia in Children’s Participation in Community Life

In the past, children used to have greater engagement in the broader community. They were
often away from their parents’ direct supervision, joining other children to play, running
errands, or conveying messages (Rogoff, 1990, 2011). People knew each other better
throughout town, and adults or older children would be likely to help if a child away from
home needed something.
Children’s locations in the current generation are more restricted and more supervised by
mothers than before. Almost all (80%) of the mothers said that they don’t let their 3–​6-​year-​
old children go out on the street by themselves and not even with a responsible older sibling or
cousin.
Some mothers (23%) mentioned that they are afraid of dangers for their children so they are
less likely to allow them to go outside, “It makes me afraid to let the children go out alone.”
Mothers’ precautions are often based on dangers that have emerged in these decades. As of five
decades ago, groups of children played in the streets with only an occasional horse or a stray dog
to beware of. Now, cars, motorcycles, and small motor vehicles constantly fill the streets just out-
side the family homes; pedestrians have to walk in the streets, trying to dodge vehicles (sometimes
unsuccessfully). Now, 13% of the mothers said that they worry about traffic (“We hardly let them
go out, because this road is very dangerous”), and 7% worry about drug and gang activity brought
by the influx of foreigners. For example,

Ah, there is a lot of difference, because before… . We would go out to play. Before it was
more peaceful, we would go out, we would come back, my mom fed us. And everything’s
fine. Instead, now, one does not let the children go out, because of many things that are
happening in life, there is a lot of danger. With my children, I am very cautious, because
they are very active, anything can happen; many small taxis go by, and [there are] many
motorcycles on the road.

The children’s lives outside the home seem to be more restricted to child-​focused activities
with groups of peers, in limited convivencia with the broader, intergenerational community. Most
(53%) of the mothers reported that their children participate in activities that are specially created
for children and run by adults in organized, structured instructional spaces out of school (such
as children’s choir, sports, and dance or music lessons). Few mothers reported that their children
participated in multigenerational community activities, such as helping with parents’ work (10%
helped with crops or running a market stall) or joining in community multigenerational activities.

Convivencia with Parents –​Mothers Are Less Available and

Their Roles Are Changed
In a number of families, mothers have less time and availability to engage with their children (and
thus less convivencia) than in previous generations. A major change is that now, many mothers
work outside the home. Mothers in previous generations spent most of their time at home, avail-
able to their children (see Figure 35.2).
Now 40% of the current generation work outside the home for most of the day in workplaces
that discourage children’s presence (Rogoff & Aceves-​Azuara, in prep). In our interviews, 13%
of the mothers talked about spending less time and having less time and energy to attend to their
children due to work and returning home tired, such as this mother,

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Figure 35.2 In San Pedro, in 1941, mothers’ work was generally at home, in the company of their children
and other relatives. This mother is preparing threads for the loom to weave clothes for the
family, while several of her children watch her and entertain themselves together. She keeps an
eye on the children, and her older daughter (Marta’s mother) tends to a baby. (Photo: Lois and
Ben Paul, Luisa Magarian.)

We neglect children a lot. We think we are working to give them the best, but we are also
neglecting them. Yes, because sometimes I work all day, and they haven’t seen me, it’s very
tiring.

In addition to the increase in mothers’ unavailability to their children during the workday, mothers
seem to have become less available to their children due to changes in mother–​child proximity
in sleeping and seating arrangements. According to Rogoff and Aceves-​Azuara (in prep), in the
1990s most mothers and 3–​5-​year-​olds slept in the same room, often in the same bed. However, by
2019–​2020, a third of mothers and their 3–​5-​year-​olds slept in different rooms.
The seating arrangements in the current generation have also become more distant, due to the
now-​widespread use of large chairs and couches. Formerly, mothers often sat or kneeled on a
mat on the floor, throughout the day, interacting with their children while weaving, sewing, and
chatting with other relatives, as in Figure 35.2. During Rogoff’s interviews three to four decades
ago, the toddlers and the 3–​5-​year-​olds mostly stayed next to the mother, touching or leaning on
her (Rogoff et al., 1993). The routine seating arrangement now distances people –​in chairs or
couches –​and might contribute to reduced convivencia more generally.

Convivencia among Children –​Children Have Fewer Siblings and

Cousins to Engage with
One of the most notable changes in childhood in San Pedro is the decrease in the number of
siblings and cousins, which reduces children’s opportunities for convivencia in the family and

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neighborhood. In prior decades, children’s interactions with other children were primarily with
their siblings and cousins, often of different ages (Rogoff et al., 2010). Children now have few
opportunities for child caregiving, play, and work with siblings and cousins because family size
is so dramatically reduced. Now, children generally have no siblings or only one, and correspond-
ingly few cousins.
When we asked mothers why they thought there was a decrease in the number of children, some
referred to more access to birth control (17%). Others mentioned that there is less help taking care
of children, with fewer older siblings, and grandmothers also working away from home. Some
mothers mentioned that they are having fewer children because they do not want the children to
sufrir (suffer; 27%) or for increased expenses (related to globalization) to deprive the children of
food, medicine, schooling, land for their eventual families, or everyday needs (23%). This mother
explained,

It’s because of the economy.... Because before, people spent less, and the value of money
was greater. So, children nowadays suffer because we parents get paid very little and we
can’t support our children.
Her sister-​in-​law chimed in: As my sister-​in-​law says, my mother always told us when
we went to the fields to bring home herbs, they aren’t purchased. Or when we went to the
beach, we found crabs to eat. Now because everything is fertilizer and chemicals, it is very
expensive. Not before, as everything was natural. We parents now have to think carefully
about how many children we are going to create.

Some mothers specifically attributed the decision to have fewer children to problems related to
globalization causing degradation of the environment and reduced ability to provide one’s chil-
dren with the land and resources for their futures. There is less land for children to inherit now
(due to population increases and families in dire straits selling their children’s land inheritance to
foreigners) and buying land is expensive, so some mothers noted that the decrease in family size is
influenced by concern that children would have no place to live when they are grown.

I think it’s due to the change –​we’re talking about the social, economic, environmental con-
text. So, we cannot bring forth the children and expose them to such an exhausting world,
speaking of the environment. And everything is now so expensive that one, I mean, what
are you going to leave them? So, one has to think well, and I think that’s what accounts for
family planning. In other words, I mean, if I’m going to have a baby, to give it the best. As
far as I can, right? Also, our parents, in the way it was before, didn’t have to think so much:
What land do I leave them? But the world is so globalized, you have to figure out how to
work it out for them.

Children Contribute Less to Convivencia –​They Engage Alone

with Technologies
Most of the mothers (53%) indicated concerns about the dramatic increase in the role of tech-
nology in children’s lives since they were children. In the late 1990s, the use of technology
mostly consisted of watching television or listening to the radio, but by 2020, almost all of the
22 families interviewed by Rogoff and Aceves-​Azuara (in prep) used smartphones for entertain-
ment and communication. Some families also used computers for those purposes and nearly half
also used the internet to search for information. Almost all of their 3–​6-​year-​olds and 1-​year-​olds

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used a smartphone on a regular basis, usually to watch cartoons or children’s shows or to play
video games.
Several mothers reported a loss of convivencia connected to the increased use of technology:

For me, the children from before engaged together in convivencia more. The children of
before, we always played with toys, but the change now, I think technology has changed
us, they engage in convivencia less, because they remain more with technology. Because
the children before played soccer in the street, or other games, but now each one is alone.
Technology has affected them a lot because they no longer have convivencia with everyone.
Before, children engaged together in convivencia a lot. It was better because they were
more unified. It has advantages and disadvantages, but that has influenced them. Technology
separated them.
With us it was different, we lived here with my mother and with our cousins next door.
In those days we played, the fun was at home with the toys we used to have, the experiences
we had together. We played tag, we played kitchen, we played at being dad and mom. …
The telephone thing –​it is too big, the addiction that has been created. …My seven-​year-​old
nephew is very addicted to the tablet. And that’s what we don’t want, because what he wants
now is to play alone with the tablet and not play with his cousins or with his neighbors.

Children Contribute Less to Convivencia –​They Don’t Help with

Work at Home as Much
We see a decrease in children’s participation in household activities as a decrease in family
convivencia during collective participation in everyday family endeavors. Children’s participation
in household work was very common in San Pedro in previous generations (Rogoff, 2011; Rogoff
et al., 1993). When we asked about children’s help in the current study, 63% of the mothers stated
that when they were children, they helped without being asked or just with a slight suggestion. In
contrast, 57% of mothers told us that children nowadays need to be asked to help. Some mothers
complained that now even when children are asked, they don’t help,

I would go close to my mom, and I would watch. But sometimes she did tell me, “Look mija,
watch, so you know what to do in the future”. Children today, you have to tell them, call
them, over and over and they even get angry.
My mother asked me to help her and I went. Children today don’t want to do anything,
now people don’t even ask them.

Some mothers explained that children do not help because they have more homework: 13% of the
mothers said that children spend their out-​of-​school time in school-​related activities.

We did everything before. The children of today, not anymore. We tell them to, but they
always say that they have work [homework], that they have to do this or that. They don’t
want to.

A few mothers blamed children’s lack of helping on parents not teaching children to work or not
providing them with enough opportunities to contribute, “We [parents] are to blame because we
pamper them a lot, we don’t give them work.” This mother connected parents not teaching children
to work with the role of schooling:

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Yes, with me, with my mom, when she started to make tortillas, she called us all. “Come,
come make tortillas with me.” She always told us. The children of today don’t do anything
anymore, people don’t teach them. Just to study. Just studying.

Although mothers that we interviewed mostly focused on the decrease in children’s help at home,
23% of the mothers stated that children still help with household work. We also observed helpful-
ness during our visits. For example, a 6-​year-​old was taking care of a toddler while the mother was
engaged in the interview. Our impression is that although children are not helping at home as much
now as 30 years ago, they nonetheless are offering more help than what is commonly observed in
European American middle-​class communities.
When we asked about changes in whether children learn how to help by observing, most of the
mothers (67%) said that they learned by observing when they were children. Many of the mothers
(30%) said that children now are not good at learning to work just by observing or listening; they
said that they have to teach the children explicitly how to perform a task for them to learn. “I
learned to make tortillas just by watching, my mom never taught me how to make them. Children
have to be taught now, to tell them step by step or they don’t understand.” However, 30% reported
that children still are good at learning by observing.

Children Contribute Less to Convivencia –​They More Often

Disrupt Family Harmony
Almost all mothers commented on children being more disruptive in the group’s dynamic, which
we see as harming convivencia. Most (60%) of the mothers mentioned that children from the
current generation are more disobedient, that they respond in a non-​respectful way, that they don’t
listen to their elders as often, and that they are less likely to notice and greet people, “They don’t
care about anything but themselves.” Most of them addressed this by saying that children from the
current generation show less respeto. Here are examples:

Now children talk back. Maybe because the culture changed … I think it was better before.
We were very respectful and one could serve, be useful. So back then they would talk to us
about respeto. Although we were children, we understood that we needed to be respectful.
But now, it is no longer like that, now nobody explains to them about respeto.
My mother-​in-​law says that everything today is different than before. For example,
in the past all the families would gather, but now everyone is on their own, and the chil-
dren do not greet people, everything is different …In the past when an older person or
an elder would walk by, one had to greet them. Instead, now, there is so much schooling,
the students do not greet people. They even push the older people in the street. That’s
why it’s different.

Another way that mothers noted children’s increase in disruptiveness is their claim that children
now interrupt or meddle in adult conversations, according to 63% of the mothers. According to a
few mothers (10%), children from the current generation seem more hyperactive now and ask many
questions, as opposed to being calm and observant. However, some mothers (27%) commented
with appreciation that children nowadays contribute in positive ways to family conversations, by
being more outspoken. Some said that they encourage children to express their opinions, although
they themselves did not speak in adult conversations (but sometimes they listened) when they were
children.

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A few mothers (13%) said that children from the current generation demand that their
preferences be met. According to a few mothers, children before were more appreciative of what
their parents gave them.

There is a lot of difference. In the past, what you gave children was enough, we appreciated
everything. But now, I see it with my daughter, I buy her something and she says “I don’t
want this, I want that.” A child today has preferences. In the past, even if we got something
used, we were thankful. We were content with what our parents gave us.

Some (20%) of the mothers attributed the increase in children’s disruptiveness to shortcomings
in parenting. They said that parents now do not teach children respeto and do not pay as much
attention to children as the parents from the past. For example,

In the town, we no longer give much attention to the children. We are more attached to other
things that are happening. That’s why we don’t give much attention to the children. We have
lost the attention to children.
There are parents that just hand children a cellphone, or whatever [to distract them]. They
are no longer concerned.
Children nowadays are very rebellious, they no longer mind, because maybe there is a
lack of communication, we do not explain [things] to them.

In the remainder of this article, we first consider the constellation of changes that the mothers
described and our interpretation of these changes as a decrease in convivencia in children’s lives.
We then discuss the likelihood that along with the changes that suggest a reduction in convivencia,
the mothers’ comments suggest that they may be shifting their ideas about parents’ roles from
guidance and accompaniment to prepping children for school. Finally, we make the case that
even with what appears to be a decrease in convivencia, it remains an important value and prac-
tice. We explore inspiring efforts in Indigenous communities to vitalize the convivencia of their
communities.

A Constellation of Changes, Suggesting a Reduction of Convivencia in

Children’s Lives
The mothers’ reflections indicate that children have fewer opportunities to participate in family
and community life with people of different ages as well as their peers; on this basis we argue that
children now have fewer opportunities to engage in convivencia outside and within their families,
compared with 30 years before. This idea is supported by many of the changes reported by the
mothers, which amount to a whole “constellation” of changes (Rogoff et al., 2014).
We believe that it would be misleading to tell the story of the changes in children’s lives in this
town if the changes were treated as separate “variables.” These globalization changes all inter-
relate, mutually constituted (Rogoff, 2003) in a pattern that we believe fits with an overall reduc­
tion in convivencia in children’s lives. Key aspects of the constellation of changes are:

• The mothers’ statements suggest “less convivencia among the broader community and
extended family.” Many mothers reported that children now have reduced involvement in the
everyday activities of the community and extended family, and less involvement with the nat-
ural world. Some mothers mentioned that before, families reciprocally helped each other, and

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a few connected the loss of convivencia with greater materialism. Almost all mothers reported
that they don’t let their children go outside to play or do errands, even if accompanied by a
responsible older sibling or cousin. In addition, the reduction in the use of the Mayan Tz’utujil
language is likely to reduce children’s intergenerational involvement with grandparents or
great-​grandparents who mostly speak Tz’utujil.
• It appears that at home there is “less convivencia with parents.” In several ways, there is a
greater physical distance between parents and children. Houses have more rooms, and for a
third of the families, the sleeping arrangements for the 3–​6-​year-​olds have shifted from sleeping
in the same room with their mothers to having a separate room for children. In addition, almost
all families now use furniture that separates people as they sit. Also, many mothers from the
current generation are less available to their children than mothers from previous decades, due
to working outside the home in places that don’t allow children’s presence, reducing opportun-
ities for mother–​child convivencia.
• The mothers’ accounts suggest that “children engage less in convivencia with other children”
when compared with previous generations. The dramatic reduction over 30 years in the number
of children per family –​from an average of 3.6 children per mother to 1.3 in the later gener-
ation –​reduces opportunities to play with siblings and cousins, which used to be frequent. Most
children now had no siblings and few cousins, and they less often lived next to each other. The
reduction in the number of children also reduces the chances of children taking care of another
child, or having a child caregiver.
• More than half of the mothers raised concerns about children’s widespread smartphone and
TV use, noting that “children’s time is now more occupied with solitary activities,” rather than
engaging in convivencia with others.
• The mothers’ comments about their children’s involvement in family activities suggest that
“children contribute less to convivencia” and may show less community-​minded awareness of
others. According to more than half of the mothers, children are less likely to offer voluntary
help with household work; the mothers reported needing to remind children of what is needed.
Mothers often noted that the children pay less attention to what their mothers are doing; they
need more explanation to know how to help. Some mothers said that the decrease in children’s
helpfulness at home might be because they have a lot of homework or school-​related work.
Most of the mothers also indicated that children from the current generation are more likely
to interrupt conversations, less likely to notice and greet people, more demanding, and that,
overall, they show less respeto than before. These reported tendencies of the children may stem
from other changes in family and community life and also contribute to what seems to be a
decrease in convivencia more generally.

In San Pedro, individuals and single families did not decide to change their way of living,
nor were these changes based on decisions by the community. Instead, the changes comprise a
dynamic process in which the whole context transformed, mutually constituted by small and large
changes across the generations in San Pedro and worldwide. The small momentary decisions by
individuals and generations, to follow a particular course of action (such as to use birth control,
purchase a couch, or do today’s homework), add up to cultural change, along with the changing
circumstances of the broader world such as CAFTA and laws requiring school attendance (Rogoff,
2003, 2011).
The aspects of children’s lives that have changed over the past three decades form a coherent
constellation of changes. There is not one “active ingredient” (or even five; Gutiérrez & Rogoff,
2003; Rogoff & Angelillo, 2002) that has created the changing childhoods in this town. However,

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there is one aspect of the constellation that the mothers seldom mentioned as a source of change,
but we believe it to be an important feature of the constellation: widespread, extensive Western
schooling.

Behind the Scenes of a Reduction in Convivencia: Schooling

It is interesting that the mothers almost never connected the changes in children’s lives to the
increase in schooling. However, we are convinced that schooling has played an important role
for several generations in the constellation of changes in San Pedro children’s lives. Western
schooling was introduced by Spanish priests centuries ago and has been increasingly enforced
publicly over the past century by the national government (Rogoff, 2011). As recently as
1936, very few children attended at all –​parents sometimes sent their lazy children in the
hopes that the teachers would shape them up; third grade was the highest grade available in
town. In 1953, about half of the children attended school, but few went beyond first or second
grade; at that time, schooling in San Pedro extended to sixth grade. By the generation of the
mothers of the mothers that we interviewed, most (60%) had attended school, with a wide
range of grades completed and an average of 2.8 grades. In turn, the mothers we interviewed
averaged quite extensive schooling –​13 grades completed –​and all had gone through at least
sixth grade.
We speculate that the mothers of the current generation now take schooling for granted, given
that all of them had attended school for more than six years. They may now simply assume that
childhood is organized around schooling (as is common in other communities with generations of
schooling; Rogoff, 2003), so they do not comment on its role. When Barbara spoke with parents
from four decades before, they often commented on Western schooling as a key change since their
own childhoods. Now, everyday conversations are more about which school children attend and
what degrees they are seeking.
We argue that schooling has played and is playing a major role in the changes in children’s
lives and convivencia in several ways, over several generations. Clearly, school attendance leaves
less time and opportunity for family convivencia. Convivencia is based on co-​presence. Before,
Indigenous children of the Americas tended to spend their time embedded in the activities of their
families and communities (Chamoux, 1992; Gaskins, 1999; Morelli et al., 2003; Philips, 1983;
Rogoff, 2011). Now, in communities like San Pedro, children attend school for at least a third
of their time (and do homework during out-​of-​school hours), separated from mature activities.
This shift from inclusion to segregation of children in community life has been more generally
connected with the rise of compulsory mass schooling, worldwide (Ariès, 1962; Liebel, 2020;
Rogoff, 2003). We emphasize that in many Indigenous communities, although time spent in school
and school-​related activities has reduced spaces for family convivencia, children are still often
included in family and community endeavors (Alcalá et al., 2020, 2021).
In addition, widespread practices of schooling foster forms of individuality that are at odds
with practices connected with convivencia. Often, children are sorted and compared with same-​
age peers (such as by grading). Teachers often require children to work independently (Rogoff,
2003; Whiting & Whiting, 1975). Teachers may put children in competition against each other,
such as by asking students to answer questions publicly and praising or correcting them in front
of their classmates, a practice that conflicts with the practices of some Mexican and Indigenous
communities that instead encourage children’s mutual support and avoidance of trying to stand
out (Lipka, 1998).

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Schooling’s common emphasis on competition and individuality is associated with less collab-
oration and mutual involvement, which are definitive of convivencia. A number of studies show
children from some communities where schooling is prevalent to be more competitive, and less
likely to collaborate, than people in communities that have not been organized around schooling
for generations (Graves & Graves, 1983; Madsen & Shapira, 1970; Shapira & Madsen, 1969;
Thomas, 1975). The sophisticated fluid collaboration often shown by children from Indigenous-​
heritage families with minimal schooling is seldom seen among children from several highly
schooled backgrounds, including children from families with extensive Western schooling in
Indigenous-​heritage communities (Alcalá et al., 2018; Chavajay, 2006; Chavajay & Rogoff, 2002;
Correa-​Chávez et al., 2016; Mejía Arauz et al., 2007; Ruvalcaba & Rogoff, 2022).
We believe that, in addition, children’s experiences with school practices and values are carried
into the next generation as students grow up and become parents. This seems to show up among
some mothers in our study who gave indications that they now see the role of parents as preparing
children for schooling.

Parents Treating Children as Students To Be Cultivated

In this section, we argue that globalization changes, especially the emphasis on Western schooling,
have contributed to changes in ideas and practices regarding children and how parents are supposed
to foster their children’s development. In previous generations in San Pedro, children’s lives were
largely organized around their inclusion and contributions to the work and social lives of their fam-
ilies and community, in the process of LOPI to family and community endeavors (Rogoff, 2011;
Rogoff & Mejía-​Arauz, 2022).
Many of the mothers we interviewed now seem to see their childrearing role as cultivation of
children as students, to prepare them for schooling, in the type of “concerted cultivation parenting”
that has been observed among many highly schooled US parents who arrange a rigid, organized
agenda full of school-​related out-​of-​school activities (Kremer-​Sadlik, 2013; Lareau, 2003). In our
visits to the homes, we observed some school-​focused practices, including children playing with
toys designed to promote early math and literacy skills and mothers showing their toddlers videos
focused on numbers, shapes, colors, and letters. A few mothers had enrolled their 3–​6-​year-​olds in
extracurricular math or reading classes. The interviews from 30 years before indicated few such
activities arranged by the mothers’ own mothers, and observations made three decades ago by
Morelli et al. (2003) also noted that children were seldom involved in scholastic interactions with
adults.
In an echo of middle-​class parents’ efforts to provide “quality time,” some of the Pedrana
mothers play a different role with their children than their mothers did –​playing with them –​a shift
that some of them related to occupations outside the home that exclude children. Mothers in the
1990s often laughed with embarrassment when asked if they played with their toddlers and young
children; this was time for them to get work done (Rogoff et al., 1993). Play was the role of other
family members, especially other children and an occasional uncle. Now fully 80% of the mothers
we interviewed reported that they play with their toddlers. Some of the mothers explained that
they feel sorry for their child because they spend the day away and the child does not have child
playmates (just a babysitter); these mothers feel like they should devote special time to the child
when they get home (“I play with her because she is all alone, so she won’t feel alone”).
The mothers’ increase in play with their children might seem like an increase in convivencia;
however, it is our impression that many mothers engage not as casual, playful playmates but in

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didactic ways that control the play. This is in line with international efforts to get mothers to pre-
pare children for school by teaching them during play. A few mothers reported that they play with
their toddlers because it is important for their “development,” such as this mother,

We know this stage for her is very important, because everything she learns now, it’s
what she will do someday, (…) My greatest support in this situation is my sister who
is a preschool teacher. So, she tells me, according to her age, what it is that I have to
teach her.

Such a shift in emphasis to cultivating children has been observed among highly schooled
“Cosmopolitan” Mexican families, where most of the 6–​ 8-​year-​
old children were heavily
scheduled with after-​school classes and activities (Alcalá et al., 2014). Most of the Cosmopolitan
mothers reported being in charge of organizing their children’s time –​even their time for unstruc-
tured play. They reported, “There is a lot of pressure from our culture to engage children in as
many classes as we can” (p. 108).
In contrast, Indigenous-​heritage children from the same region had greater liberty to plan
and organize their after-​school time than the children from Cosmopolitan families (Alcalá
et al., 2014). Almost all of their mothers reported that the children planned their own activ­
ities, including helping with household work, play, doing homework, and visiting relatives and
friends. They had greater autonomy to move around their neighborhood for play or running
errands; most of their mothers reported that the children “spent plenty of time” in play that was
organized among children.
This freedom of movement, time to play freely, and initiative in helping and doing homework
were rare among the Cosmopolitan children, whose time and activities were closely managed by
their parents. Almost all of the Cosmopolitan mothers reported that they had to supervise their
children to make sure they did their homework, even having to sit with them to get the home-
work done.

Sometimes he takes like four hours on me, doing his homework, he sits, he gets up… I have
everything ready for him there, like, he has a drawer where he has all the colored pencils,
scissors, pencils, everything he needs so he doesn’t have excuses like “well, I’m going to
get a pencil, now I’m going to get my eraser.” … He gets distracted on me and delays a lot
in doing his homework.
(Alcalá et al., 2014, p. 109)

The cultivation approach to parenting seems to reduce children’s opportunities for initiative,
planning, and worthwhile contributions to the family, at the same time as adding more work for
parents in organizing their children’s time and activities. Unlike engagement in convivencia, the
cultivation approach often creates conflict between parents and children, as parents try to control
children’s activities and children may resist.
Convivencia is distinct from “quality time” in its openness to multiple relationships with
different family and community members, its openness to children taking initiative (rather than
being led or controlled by adults), and in the mutuality of shared endeavors. In contrast with the
idea of quality time as leisure or instruction, in convivencia, people get everyday things done at the
same time as enjoying each other’s company and providing casual learning opportunities for chil-
dren, in a longstanding way of educating children in the process of getting everyday things done.

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 Mothers’ Reflections on Generational Changes in Childhood

Convivencia in Changing Worlds

The idea that the changes in childhood in this Mayan town add up to a decrease in children’s
opportunities for convivencia –​ togetherness –​ fits with observations of a decrease in inclusive
family collaboration across two generations. In a study with many of the same families as the
mothers that we interviewed, the prior generation of mothers and their two small children spent
most of their time in an inclusive form of collaboration, with all three people mutually involved as
they explored novel objects (Rogoff & Aceves-​Azuara, in prep). In the same situation, the mothers
that we interviewed and two small children (from the same families 30 years later) spent much less
time engaged in such inclusive collaboration. Instead their time was mostly spent with two people
engaged together and one left out. The interactions had generally shifted from mutual engagement
in small groups to dyadic engagement, in this way coming to resemble observations of middle-​
class European American families in the same situation (Dayton et al., 2022; Rogoff, 2003).
Although the changes that mothers reported in our interviews, as well as Rogoff and Aceves-​
Azuara’s observations of inclusive collaboration, seem to indicate a change in the direction of
middle-​class family and community life, there are still important differences in the values and
practices of the families. For example, the families observed by Rogoff and Aceves-​Azuara
maintained harmonious interactions, unlike the frequently conflictual relations among middle-​
class European American families in the same situation (Dayton et al., 2022). And although the
mothers told us that their children are less likely now to help spontaneously, research in other
Indigenous-​heritage communities (reviewed above) shows that children in many such communi-
ties still often pitch in to help without being asked, unlike children in middle-​class communities.
Although opportunities for convivencia seem to have decreased across these two generations, it
appears that convivencia remains an important value and practice. Cultural change is not linear
(Rogoff, 2003).
Indeed, globalization does not imply that more traditional Indigenous values and practices must
be discarded in order to take part in some of the changes of globalization that are valued in com-
munities like San Pedro. In conclusion, we suggest that a goal for the people of San Pedro and for
the world is to find ways to keep valued practices vital while adopting or adapting “new” practices
(Dayton & Rogoff, 2013; Rogoff, 2003; Rosado-​May et al., 2020).
It is clear that globalizing practices like schooling are valued among many Indigenous families
in Latin America. Along with teaching literacy, parents see it as a tool for social mobility and to
combat discrimination (Correa-​Chávez et al., 2016; Schmelkes, 2004). In addition, the idea that
children should spend some out-​of-​school time in school-​related practices or scholastic play has
become more prevalent in some Indigenous communities (Magazine & Ramirez-​Sanchez, 2007).
However, some of the changes of globalization conflict with community values, and this
is a source of concern in some Indigenous communities (e.g., Corona, 2011; Lewis, 1953;
Paradise & Robles, 2016; Rogoff, 2011). For example, Mazahua parents have expressed that
“too much teaching” could get in the way of learning, by distracting and demotivating children
(de Haan, 1999). Many Indigenous-​heritage parents in Latin America claim that schools need
to better serve their communities’ needs (Maldonado Alvarado, 2002; Paradise & Robles, 2016;
Rockwell, 2004).
How can the constellation of changes associated with globalization be adapted to promote
changes that are valued and simultaneously avoid losses of valued practices like convivencia? In
the near future, we plan to consult with families that we interviewed and San Pedro town leaders
to summarize findings from the interviews and observations, and to invite conversations across
families and local groups regarding changes in valued practices related to globalization.

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 Itzel Aceves-Azuara, Barbara Rogoff, and Marta Navichoc Cotuc

One possibility for fostering convivencia is to shift schooling to promote convivencia, inclu-
sive collaboration, and learning with the purpose (e.g., Cámara et al., 2004; Marin & Bang,
2018; Rogoff et al., 2001; Sartorello, 2021). An impressive model is that of intercultural edu­­­
cation at the Universidad Intercultural Maya de Quintana Roo, where students, professors,
and community members collaborate in education that successfully integrates the knowledge
and ways of learning of Yucatec Maya communities and of Western institutions (Rosado-​May
et al., 2020).
We also find inspiration in observations of situations that are organized in Indigenous commu-
nities to support children’s participation in community life. Parents and elders concerned about
children’s lack of inclusion in community life have offered alternative opportunities for children
to learn about their culture and traditions and to promote wellbeing. For example, Oaxacan chil-
dren in the US who were part of a traditional Indigenous band reported feelings of communality
(Casanova et al., 2021). Convivencia in the community as well as with the natural world has been
promoted by Indigenous people in the US and Canada during activities such as sharing trad-
itional stories, going together on nature walks, or creating traditional art (Elliott-​Groves et al.,
2019; Marin & Bang, 2018; Marin et al., 2020). Tepoztecan youth reported that spending time and
working with others towards a community goal –​environmental activism –​gave them a sense of
community and purpose (Corona & Pérez, 2007). For many Indigenous American families and
communities, the togetherness of convivencia might be “both the goal and source for learning”
(Dayton et al., 2022).
Indigenous communities have a long history of preserving important cultural values and
practices while adapting to colonizing forces by innovating ways of combining practices from
different communities (Chandler, 2013; Dayton & Rogoff, 2013; Rosado-​May et al., 2020). The
values and practices of convivencia are an important resource not only for Indigenous families and
communities but also for humanity worldwide.

Authors Note
We are deeply indebted to the mothers who shared their views with us, and their mothers who
also did so, decades ago. The first two authors are also grateful for the friendship and opportunity
to participate in the town of San Pedro la Laguna, Guatemala, and for the insights this partici-
pation has offered us. We appreciate the comments of Margarita Azmitia, Su-​hua Wang, José
Carlos López Chávez, Elisa Azuara García, and Jaime Aceves García on drafts of this chapter. The
research reported here was supported by the UCSC Foundation Professorship in Psychology (BR),
UC MEXUS-​CONACYT (IAA), the SEP (IAA), the Spencer Foundation (IAA), and the NewGen
Learning Research Consortium at UCSC (IAA).

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 36
CHILDREN AS AGENTS
OF CHANGE TO REACH
THE WATER SECURITY
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
GOAL IN THE CLIMATE CRISIS
Martina Angela Caretta and Bronwyn Hayward

Introduction
Water security is defined as

the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of accept-

able quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-​being, and socio-​economic devel-
opment, for ensuring protection against water-​borne pollution and water-​related disasters,
and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability.
(UN-​Water, n.d.)

Ensuring access to water and sanitation for all is outlined in Sustainable Development Goal target
6.1 ‘By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for
all’. However, reaching SDG 6 remains an illusion when UNICEF estimates that worldwide 2.2
billion people lack access to safe drinking water and that 700 children under the age of 5 years
die every day from diarrhoeal diseases due to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene. Moreover, 3
billion people worldwide, including hundreds of millions of school-​going children, still do not
have access to handwashing facilities with soap (UNICEF, 2021). This situation has been further
worsened by the COVID-​19 pandemic where the access to clean water for handwashing became
paramount in WHO campaigns against the spread of this virus. Water insecurity is also exacerbated
by pollution and lack of infrastructure investment. These challenges become ticking bombs in the
context of urbanization and population growth with experiences of water insecurity projected to
increase from one third of urban populations in 2016 to half the global urban populations in 2050
(He et al., 2021). Importantly climate change is an added crucial stressor to this already high-​risk
situation.
Water insecurity is in fact one of the chief manifestations of climate change. The hydrological
cycle has been irreversibly altered by anthropogenic climate change in the form of increased

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-43 495

 Martina Angela Caretta and Bronwyn Hayward

water-​induced disasters including floods and droughts, but also through glacier melting and sea
level rise (Douville et al., 2021). These changes drive freshwater ecosystem loss and degrad­
ation (Ramsar Convention, 2018), decreases in agricultural productivity and increases in water-​
borne disease outbreaks (Levy et al., 2018). The impact of climate extremes is water insecurity
for hundreds of millions of people every year, particularly in resource-​poor contexts, whether in
the Global South and/​or in the Global North (Greve et al., 2018). These impacts are projected
to worsen in the future, particularly for children in marginalized communities. It is indeed
marginalized populations such as Indigenous Peoples, the poor, women and children that are
often the worst affected by climate-​induced water disasters (Savo et al., 2016). Therefore, cli­
mate change has already, and will further, heighten water insecurity, threatening the possibility of
ensuring children’s basic rights as stated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child (24, 2 9c):
States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take
appropriate measures:… (c) To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the
framework of primary health care, through, inter alia, the application of readily available
technology and through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking-​water,
taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution.
(UNCRC, 1990)
Climate extremes, as we show in this chapter, undermine water and sanitation goals of SDG 6
and will negatively affect children’s well-​being, challenging their stated rights to health, care and
clean drinking water.
Against this backdrop of the unfolding climate crisis, we examine children’s rights to partici-
pate and capacity to exercise agency in decision-​making as it relates to water. We show that chil-
dren can be agents of change and consider how ways in which children have begun to organize
around water security can also model more inclusive community engagement for sustainable
development for all ages. The focus of this chapter is especially timely given the urgency of taking
into account children’s needs and agency as a question of intergenerational justice, particularly
vis-​à-​vis climate change (Sanson and Burke, 2020). We suggest that involving children as agents
of change in decision-​making on water security can serve as a model for more inclusive engage-
ment for sustainable development by all ages.
This chapter is divided into three main sections. We start this chapter by outlining how climate
change-​induced water insecurity impacts children’s health and well-​being. We then move to con-
sider how children’s water security and human rights can be ensured. Finally, we look ahead and
discuss how these two issues are crucially interconnected under the current climate crisis.
The impacts of climate change-​induced water security on children
Understanding how climate change is going to impact children is a crucial question which
has received increasing attention in the last few years given the numbers of children it affects.
UNICEF (2021) estimates that children in over 80 countries ‘live in areas with high or extremely
high water vulnerability’. The water security for all study (UNICEF, 2021) estimates that Eastern
and Southern Africa ‘has the highest proportion of children living in such areas, with more than
half of children –​58 per cent –​facing difficulty accessing sufficient water every day’ (UNICEF,
2021). In West and Central Africa, the estimate is 31 per cent, in South Asia 25 per cent and the
Middle East 23 per cent. South Asia is home to the largest number of children in total living in
areas of high or extremely high water vulnerability –​more than 155 million children (UNICEF,
2021). Most children worldwide live in the Global South and are dependent on agricultural

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 Children as Agents of Change in the Climate Crisis

livelihoods and, hence, substantially prone to climate change impacts. Indigenous children,
given Indigenous Peoples’ marginalization and lack of financial and educational resources, face
particularly high risk for climate change-​induced malnutrition (Riojas-​Rodriguez et al., 2018;
Ahdoot and Pachecho, 2015).
Climate change-​induced hydrological changes manifestations are multifaceted. The majority
of the world population will experience climate change through these changes, particularly
water-​induced disasters such as floods and droughts. Precipitation patterns will shift spatially
and temporally, making weather extremes and variability more frequent (Oppenheimer and
Anttila-​Hughes, 2016). For example, the intensity of tropical cyclones is likely to increase as
a result of climate change (Kistin et al., 2010; Hanna and Oliva, 2016). These, in turn, will
facilitate the spread of infectious and parasitic diseases such as cholera (Hanna and Oliva,
2016). Floods have been associated with stunting, measured as lower height and weight
(Kousky, 2016). Droughts in the Andes, for instance, are and will increasingly be due to the
melting of glaciers, expected to disappear before the 2050s, estimated to put in peril the live-
lihood of 77 million people in the region (Kistin et al., 2010). Rising sea level is threatening
entire nations through erosion and salt-​water intrusion which, when coupled with storm surges
caused by intensifying tropical cyclones, will force youth to migrate elsewhere (Oppenheimer
and Anttila-​Hughes, 2016).
Climate impacts, moreover, do not happen in isolation. Hydrological changes, coupled with
population growth, will heighten crop productivity requirements, causing an additional demand
for water, an already scarce resource (Kistin et al., 2010). Poverty adds complexity to these intri­
cate climate–​societal interactions, particularly if one’s livelihood is dependent on natural resources
through agriculture, the sector using the biggest share of water (Oppenheimer and Anttila-​Hughes,
2016). Rainfed crop production will particularly be at risk of failure as will industrial and
power generation systems depending on hydro-​power. Moreover, urbanization and consequent
pollution will in turn heighten the requirement for clean water distribution (Oppenheimer and
Anttila-​Hughes, 2016). Additionally, when it comes to children’s circumstances, their families’
livelihoods, and the status of their communities, especially in environmentally fragile contexts, are
often characterized by environmental degradation, pollution and lack of waste management that
exacerbates their vulnerability to climate change.
Given these challenges, children who are born in 2020 are estimated to be two to seven times
more likely to be exposed to climate-​related storms and other hazards than cohorts born in the
1960s (Thiery et al., 2021). The worsening of exposure is particularly evident when considering
the increase of heat waves and climate change-​induced water disasters such as typhoons, river
floods and droughts, particularly in a higher than 2°C scenario. Those that are 55 in 2020 will be
impacted by unprecedented heat waves and crop failures, but the population aged 0–​40 in 2020
will also be faced with unprecedented impacts in relation to floods and droughts above 1.5°C
increase. These impacts are unequally distributed across the globe. Overall, 10 per cent of 2020
newborns reside in high-​income countries, while 18 per cent live in low-​income ones. The number
is reversed for the population above 60. Importantly, life expectancy will be negatively affected
by this increased exposure, particularly in regions most affected with, for instance, 205 million
children in Sub-​Saharan Africa born between 2015 and 2020 expected to experience a 5.4–​5.9
increase in extreme event exposure (Thiery et al., 2021). Exposure can be manifested through cli­
mate change-​induced direct or indirect impacts on children. For instance, the increase in extreme
weather events can lead to wounds and physical trauma, while also causing the destruction of edu-
cational infrastructure with indirect effects on children’s well-​being and mental stability (Ahdoot
and Pachecho, 2015; Kousky, 2016).

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Direct impacts
Children are more susceptible to climate change. Given their immature physiological metabolic
development, they are at higher risk of disease and injury from exposure to increased heat stress,
and decreased quantity or quality of water (Andoot and Pacecho, 2015). Additionally, many
children’s dependence on caregivers makes them more vulnerable to the physical and mental
effects of climate change when this hinders their caregivers’ ability to provide for them (Ahdoot
and Pachecho, 2015; Kousky, 2016).
In terms of direct impacts, deaths due to floods are expected to be much higher in low-​income
countries than in high-​income ones (Hanna and Oliva, 2016). Notably, diarrhoea is one of the
first causes of child mortality globally with 1.6 million deaths/​year in children below 5. This is
expected to worsen due to climate change as droughts, heavy precipitation and floods, which
are associated with gastrointestinal diseases, will increase in frequency (Kistin et al., 2010).
Additionally, deaths due to environmental extreme disasters, and lower quality and missing infra-
structure, will be substantially higher in low-​income countries than in high-​income ones. This,
given the much younger population of those countries, will inevitably involve large numbers
of child casualties. Droughts, on the other hand, with associated wind storms and wildfires are
responsible for worsening air quality leading to higher mortality rates due to heart and respiratory
diseases (Hanna and Oliva, 2016).

Indirect impacts
Indirectly children’s health is affected by disruptions in yields caused by climate change-​induced
droughts or floods. Lack of access to food leads to malnutrition, which, whether temporary or
long term, is particularly deleterious for children as it can result in stunting, i.e. their physical and
mental development is stopped or slowed down, with long-​term health effects also through their
adulthood (Ahdoot and Pachecho, 2015; Hanna and Oliva, 2016; Kousky, 2016). Longstanding
loss of agricultural production, especially in subsistence-​based economies, can bring about dis-
placement, political instability and eventually conflict, which disrupt education and parental
support with longstanding psychological consequences for children (Ahdoot and Pachecho, 2015;
Kousky, 2016).
When parents lose their income source, this can put at risk food provision and schooling
for children and worsen parents’ health with fallbacks in terms of their caregiving capacities.
Additionally, lack of financial resources can hinder reinvestment in future income generating
activities with long-​term consequences for the whole family status and well-​being (Hanna and
Oliva, 2016; Kousky, 2016). Due to income loss, parents might decide to engage their children
also in remunerated work to support the family’s income, putting education on the back burner and
reducing the opportunities for a higher-​paid job later in life (Kousky, 2016). And if one child needs
to be chosen over the others as funds are not sufficient to send everyone to school, then girls stay
back home as their education is not as valued as boys (Sanson et al., 2019).
The destruction of health care facilities can lead to the escalation of minor health issues or fatal
consequences for major urgent ones (Kousky, 2016). Likewise, the loss of educational services
due to climate-​induced water disasters can prove particularly hard to solve in countries lacking
financial resources with severe effects for children (Hanna and Oliva, 2016). Along these lines,
the disintegration of aesthetic and cultural heritage due to climate change, as in the case of small
island states or high altitude communities, will have irreparable educational and development
consequences for children’s future (Oppenheimer and Anttila-​Hughes, 2016).

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Disasters have also been linked to high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with
lasting effects, particularly hurricanes such as Katrina and bushfires in Australia (Ahdoot and
Pachecho, 2015; Kousky, 2016; Peek, 2008). For instance, if newborns and toddlers are separated
by their caregivers due to a disaster, they also experience difficulties in communicating to be
reunified (Kousky, 2016). Mental stress in the form of climate anxiety has also become common
among youth in the Global North who experience a mix of fear, sadness and anger at the prospect
of the planet that adults are going to leave them behind with. Because of how overwhelming the
gravity of climate change is, some children and adolescents tend to become paralysed and hence
disengage with the problem (Sanson et al., 2019).

Water access as a children’s rights issue

Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) requires State
parties to ensure that children who are capable of forming their own views not only have the ‘right
to express those views freely’ but that their views are given ‘due weight in accordance with the age
and maturity of the child’. Since the 1970s there have been increasing efforts to involve children in
projects for caring for the environment and their communities (Hart, Fisher and Kimiagar, 2014).
However, as Hart and colleagues argue these efforts tend to be ad hoc, and short term, involving
small groups of children in specific activities.
How children can be involved in environmental decision-​making has been an ongoing debate
in the United Nations since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in
Rio de Janeiro. The debate about what constitutes effective environmental education is a question
that has been closely related to this debate (Scott and Vare, 2020). As Chawla (2002) points out,
effective education for the sustainability of the environment has three facets: education about the
environment (information), education in the environment (time spent out of doors, living and
working in the community and neighbourhood) and education for the environment (learning how
to act effectively).
Today, in the context of a changing climate, there is growing recognition that all children,
particularly those from the most vulnerable and marginalized communities, have the right to be
involved in sustainability decision-​making in deeper, more systemic ways over the long term.
Hart, Fisher and Kimiagar (2014) advocate an approach to children’s participation in decision-​
making that encourages four elements; first, education for citizen participation through schools,
to support children’s capabilities to exercise agency. Second, they call for political recognition of
children’s rights to engage as members of local communities. Third, they advocate for opportun-
ities for children to collaborate and network with others across communities, and fourth, they call
for more systematic evaluation of authentic child participation (Hart, Fisher, and Kimiagar, 2014).
In examining children’s engagement in water planning, we use Hart et al.’s (2014) principles to
examine the strengths and limits of current approaches to engage children as agents of sustainable
change in water management and in the promotion of sanitation.
Turning first to examine how children’s engagement in water management can be achieved
through education, we find that while many programmes have been orientated towards children’s
participation in citizen science projects (where children work as lay observers), fewer education
schemes have aimed to systematically develop children’s capacity and skills to participate in water
decision making. For example, in the United Kingdom since the 1970s, there have been a number
of educational initiatives aimed at schools and ‘learning about the natural environment’ as part
of Key Stage 2 of the National Curriculum (House, 1996). While these studies seek to enhance
children’s understanding of hydrological cycles and environmental pressures, these learning

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opportunities fall short of building the capacities children need to engage as citizens to effect
change in complex environmental decision-​making contexts (Hayward, 2021). By contrast how­­
ever, an educational project in São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro Brazil, offers insights into ways that
young people can learn to build on their own capabilities to engage as citizens in the everyday
experiences of decision-​making about local water–​energy–​food nexus pressures. By working with
professional researchers as peer mentors, children in this programme learned to build skills for
more ‘nuanced analysis of the logistical, technical, social and political contexts’ in which water
nexus decisions to help them to identify corruption and consider effective water decision-​making
strategies in challenging local contexts (Kraftl et al., 2019).
Second, children can be effective agents of change, when they are recognized as rights-​bearing
members of local communities. However, recognizing the rights of local communities, let alone
children to participate in local decision-​making can be extremely challenging. UN Human Rights
Council Resolution 34/​16 has called for a child rights-​based approach to implementing the sustain-
able development goals yet the Sustainable Development Goal 6 itself makes no specific mention
of children in any of its indicators, including the indicator for strengthening local public participa-
tion in decision making, despite children bearing the brunt of many of the world’s water insecurity
challenges. Systematic reviews of literature have highlighted the way that recognizing children’s
rights to participate in decision-​making can be advanced by institutional frameworks and charters
including UNROC and by national, regional and local frameworks that set out conditions for enab-
ling children’s participation (Fenton-​Glynn, 2019; Jiménez et al., 2019). Because water decisions
are questions of power, and the rights to control, allocate and manage access to water, having clear
legal frameworks that recognize human rights to water is crucial to wider conversations about eco-
logically sound and transformative development (Sultana, 2018; Neto and Camkin, 2020).
However, children’s rights remain largely ‘invisible’ in decision-​making frameworks about
water, particularly when it comes to crucial national decisions about how water is accessed and
financed (Türkelli, 2021). In contrast to the absence of recognition of children’s rights in legal
frameworks at the national level, many local government and customary law approaches to
water and wetland management have enabled opportunities for children and the needs of future
generations to be considered in decision-​making for use and guardianship of water (Pyke et al.,
2018; Datta, 2018b). For example, in Christchurch New Zealand, following extensive earthquakes
in 2010 and 2011, provision was made by the local city council for children to be actively consulted
in planning the regeneration of a local river, following the large-​scale clearance of housing and in
evaluating the outcome of those plans (NZ Commission for Children, 2017). Similarly Indigenous
approaches to decision-​making that incorporate storytelling and community reflection provide
opportunities for children to join with families and elders in conversations about wider issues of
water sovereignty, stewardship and community ethics frameworks ‘based on respect, reciprocity,
responsibility to the community’ (Datta, 2018a, p. 38).
Third, we turn to consider examples of effective advocacy for children’s opportunities to col-
laborate and network with others across communities. Building alliances with like-​minded groups
and organizations can be a source of vital support for any community seeking to effect environ-
mentally just and sustainable changes in water management (Shah et al., 2021). Opportunities
to build alliances and learn from other organizations are particularly important for children. For
example, the importance of children’s networking and collaboration across communities to achieve
advances in water security is highlighted by Sylvester (2020) who documents the work of youth in
Hojancha County in Costa Rica to restore a river basin facing prolonged drought. The river basin
restoration project was led by community youth but started via an international collaboration with
the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and national institutions including the Tropical

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Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center who provided training for youth as leaders
in rural development. Sylvester (2020) argues that developing networks and partnerships was
essential for information sharing, enabling children to acquire resources and technical expertise to
advance their efforts. The dramatic expansion of youth-​led school strike movements globally has
further highlighted the value of children’s centred action, forging alliances and connections inter-
nationally, to increase the impact and effect of children’s advocacy (Hayward, 2021).
Lastly, children can be supported as agents of change for water security and sustainable devel-
opment by involving them in decision-​making practices and in the evaluation of decision-​making
outcomes. Hart (1992) argued that children’s participation experiences in decision-​making can
range from ‘tokenistic’ opportunities to ‘decorate’ adult decision processes through to meaningful
opportunities for partnership and child empowerment. Lundy (2018) cautions, however, that we
need to evaluate participation carefully because on occasion even participatory experiences, which
may appear tokenistic, have surprising impacts on capacity building, encouraging children to rec-
ognize their citizenship skills, and to build their confidence and understanding of their rights,
even while they recognize that ‘little account has been taken of their views’ in a particular deci-
sion. Many assessments of children’s opportunities to exercise agency in sustainable decision
making focus on providing opportunities for children to be heard in decision-​making without
necessarily paying attention to the cultural context of decision-​making following up and acting on
their concerns and priorities over time (Abebe, 2019). Furthermore, as Smith (2008) argues, when
children’s participation in community water planning is evaluated, their participation is often
romanticized, and the challenges of engaging youth voices in complex community negotiations
are simplified. An evaluation of children’s participation in a community development programme
in the high hill villages of Nawalparasi in the Mahabharat Mountains, Nepal, has stressed the value
of children’s club and peer mentors to significantly strengthen the role that children can play as
agents of change over time (Johnson, 2017). These findings suggest that evaluating the experience
of child participation in sustainable decision-​making needs to consider the impact of participation
on the long-​term capacity for citizen action, beyond whether immediate project objectives are
achieved (Hayward, 2012).

Looking ahead: children’s participation in water management

under the climate crisis
Climate change, as shown in this chapter, is an inequality multiplier for children in different soci-
eties, between generations, across the life course. Approximately 85 per cent of the world’s chil-
dren live in low-​and middle-​income countries which have been and are projected to be worse
impacted by climate change (Sanson et al., 2019).
A systematic approach to supporting the rights of the child to participate in decision making
is even more important where children lack resources either within their family, city or state or to
counteract, cope and adapt to climate change impacts threatening their family’s livelihood. Many
children, particularly children in low-​income contexts, risk facing long-​term deprivation and des-
cent into a spiral of loss and decreasing resources. By contrast, some children, particularly those
from wealthier nations, can generally hope to rely on a national safety net or on a more substantial
base of family financial resources to recover from any shock experienced due to climate change
(UNICEF, 2015; Sanson and Burke, 2020). Social support including income support is a vital but
poorly recognized form of infrastructure that enables children’s access to water. However, regard-
less of the major significance of income level in reducing vulnerability to climate change, it is
literally vital for all signatories of the Paris Accord not to surpass at 1.5°C temperature increase

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in comparison to preindustrial times in order to reduce climate change impacts, and all children’s
exposure to risk beyond 1.5°C will be unprecedented (Thiery et al., 2021).
When reading this chapter, it is also important to bear in mind that existing literature linking
water insecurity with climate change and children’s well-​being is still limited as most published
research focuses on how children can be affected by climate change-​induced water insecurity
rather than presenting analysis of the rights of children to water (Pink, 2021) or cases documenting
ways children can participate in water-​related decision-​making (Rhue, 2021). This is an important
evidence gap that needs to be filled in order to inform policymakers of actions, human rights
frameworks and financial efforts that are required to prevent children’s well-​being deteriorating
further under the current climate crisis.
In this chapter, we have shown that children can be agents of change and can help advance the
vision of SDG 6 even in the context of the current climate crisis. This can be done by advancing
children’s participation in community water decision-​making in more systemic ways over the
long term focusing particularly on enabling children´s participation to water decision-​making. We
have argued, after Hart et al (1992), that a systematic approach to supporting children as agents of
change would encourage four elements: first, education for citizen participation through schools
to support children’s capabilities to exercise agency; second, political recognition of children’s
rights to engage as members of local communities; third, opportunities for children to collaborate
and network with others across communities; and fourth, ongoing evaluation of authentic child
participation overtime with opportunities to iteratively learn from these processes in ways that can
also support and strengthen the participation of children’s wider local communities in water man-
agement and sanitation management.
This approach is crucial given that UNICEF (2021) estimates that globally, 1 in 5 children do
not have enough water to meet everyday needs, with ‘more than 1.42 billion people, including
450 million children, living in areas of “high, or extremely high, water vulnerability” ’. The whole
concept of sustainability is grounded on the idea that we can leave behind a world with the same
quantity and quality of resources as we have experienced. Climate change, as we have shown in
this chapter, represents a major challenge for the attainment of any sustainable development goal
and places children’s futures at risk. Children, who are too rarely considered when impacts and
solutions are discussed, must be consulted given that their physical and mental development is
gravely threatened by climate change with substantial ramifications for their adulthood.

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 37
EARLY CHILDHOOD
EDUCATION IN TURKANA
PASTORALIST COMMUNITIES
OF KENYA
John Teria Ng’askie

Introduction
This chapter discusses knowledge of child development in Turkana pastoralist communities with a
focus on the everyday cultural lifestyles of families and children. It responds to emerging concerns
about the impact and relevance of global discourses of early childhood development to com-
munities across the African continent (Nsamenang, 2008; Pence and Nsamenang, 2008). In par­­
ticular, it examines the concern that research informing early childhood development has roots in
Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic societies [WEIRD] (Lansford et al., 2019).
Observation of children’s lives in families and at early childhood education (ECE) institutions in
Turkana pastoralist communities suggests that teachers are not capable of pedagogically incorpor-
ating approaches of childrearing of the parents to the learning in ECE settings. For example, this
research shows that, for the most part, the learning of Turkana children at home occurs indirectly
through observation of others. Direct learning from the instruction of others may also occur within
the social network of family members, parents, grandparents, kinship, siblings, relatives, and other
caregivers. This research has also established that play is one of the main mediums through which
children learn, through their replication in play of their observations of family household chores
(Ng’asike, 2015). The Turkana emphasize the importance of children learning cultural values,
moral and social responsibilities, developing autonomy and resilience, and yet being obedient.
This study is grounded in the theoretical framework that childhood is a cultural construction
(Cannella & Kincheloe, 2002; Dahlberg, Moss & Pence, 1999; Nsamenang, 2008; Bernhard,
1995; Pence, 2011) and, as a result, there is no universal child and therefore no single model
of child development. We should see children in the eye of the culture of the communities they
belong to (Lansford et al., 2019). Research in child development in Africa by Super and Harkness
(1986, 2002) established that cultural context is paramount when theorizing knowledge of child
development. Super and Harkness argued that child development in African families must take
into account the physical and social settings of the child’s daily life, the customs and practices of
childrearing of the families, and the psychology of the caretakers, particularly parenting ethno-​
theories of child development. The problem is the belief in the dominant narrative that theories of
child development in the majority world are inferior to the global discourse (Monaghan, 2012).

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-44 505

 John Teria Ng’askie

This chapter explores Turkana culture’s child-​rearing practices with a view to argue that they
should inform ECE curriculum and pedagogy.

Methodology and Context of the Turkana Pastoralist Communities

This chapter presents qualitative research on the learning environment of Turkana pastoralist
children at home, at play, and at preschool. The methodological framework has drawn inspir-
ation from participatory value-​based action-​oriented research (Lavi, 2021; Kjørholt, Matafwali
& Mofu, 2019,) and grounded theory (Okwamy, 2016). The study involved participating in and
observing everyday social and livelihood activities of children and families, visits to ECE centers,
interviews, and informal conversations with parents, teachers, and education officials. The research
began with a project on reading improvement in early childhood in Turkana County in 2016. The
project initially covered six schools in rural communities at the periphery of Lodwar (the major
urban town that is the headquarters of government in Turkana County). However, the project has
since extended to include other rural communities across Turkana. The project is continuing with
mentorship support to 12 teachers and about 200 preschool children to improve reading skills
using mother tongue reading instruction. The study is a record of fieldwork in Turkana with early
childhood children that involved developing stories in their mother tongue with parents, teachers,
and children. The focus of the study is on children between 0 and 6 years. The research questions
were as follows: (1) How do Turkana families educate their children? (2) What skills are important
for children in Turkana pastoralist communities? (3) In what ways do pastoralists’ child-​rearing
practices inform learning instruction in preschool classrooms?
The Turkana pastoralists’ communities of Kenya derive their livelihoods from the rearing of
livestock, for example, goats, camels, donkeys, sheep, and cattle (Wulifan, Dordah & Sumankuuro,
2022; Oluoch, Whitney, Termote & Ecol, 2022; Marianna, 2010; Ng’asike, 2010). Although there
are changes in the lifestyles of urban pastoralists, the people remain largely poor depending on
government relief, humanitarian support, and working relatives for day-​to-​day survival. The
Turkana are among the poorest communities in Kenya with an absolute poverty rate of 79.4 per-
cent (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics [KNBS], 2021).
Historically there has been marginalization in national resource distribution by both the
pre-​colonial and postcolonial governments of the Turkana pastoralist communities resulting in
endemic poverty in the area (Wulifan, Dordah & Sumankuuro, 2022; Marianna, 2010). Due to low
government economic investment in Turkana, the churches, NGOs, and civil society organizations
have been involved in the provision of humanitarian assistance including in education. Despite
their poverty, the Turkana desire to educate their children like all other communities in Kenya
(Ng’asike, 2019). With limited family socioeconomic resources, Turkana children struggle to stay
and complete school even though dropout rates are very high. Cultural parenting styles conflict
with teachers’ modes of teaching which creates confusion in the manner in which children engage
with teachers toward formal education (Dyer, 2006; Krätli, 2001; Ng’asike, 2019). Children prefer
warm free play learning environments, which preschools do not encourage due to regulated class-
room instruction focused on syllabus coverage.

Children Play and Learning in Pastoralist Communities:

The Household Environment
Turkana children spend most of their time playing independently around homesteads, alternating
these activities with doing family household chores. Young children, under about 3 years old, play

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around their busy mothers or play in the company of their siblings. Children have the freedom
to choose how they play depending on their ages. The older ones may choose to play outside the
house by themselves while the younger ones may remain indoors to play around their parents.
The parents do not feel any pressure to monitor their children. The mother is usually busy with
household chores and will be happy if the child is away playing. Children are not required to
listen to what adults are discussing. There may be the perception of laissez-​faire or nonresponsive
parenting. However, closer observation showed that these parents are intuitively able to follow
their children’s activities even when it looks like the children are always by themselves. Turkana
parenting styles nurture autonomy and independence in child growth and development. As long
as children are within the family and the community environment, they are safe. Children are
appreciated when they say or do something useful or demonstrate a new skill; for example, when a
young child says a few words correctly, fetches something when requested, or helps in performing
a task when asked to, they may receive some encouraging words.
A network of family members, visitors, neighbors and siblings all contribute to the child’s
growth as the child moves from one adult to another receiving verbal encouragement, praise,
sharing an activity, and participating in chores for the family. Adults may ask children for favors,
for example, to share food or to go for an errand. Generosity is a very important social attribute
and adults gauge their children by asking, ‘Is the child generous or mean?’ Whether children will
respond to adults sensibly or not does not matter, learning is a work in progress.
Figure 37.1 is a photo of a 3-​year-​old child playing by herself near a homestead. This girl was
doing pretend play. She plays the role of her mother cooking for the child. Her toy baby was lying
next to her on a rag collected from the old clothes at home. The setting was the kitchen where
imitation of every word the mother usually says when doing her kitchen chores was taking place.

Figure 37.1 Three-​year-​old child playing by herself near a farm at Kakuma in Turkana.

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Everything that the child has been observing from her mother at the kitchen was included in her
play. For example, the words, the actions, the utensils, the people, relatives, and siblings were
imaginatively present in the child’s pretend play. She did not have to use bought toys or materials
from elsewhere for play or for learning. The girl made all her play collections by herself. Further,
there was an assurance that the environment was safe. The community was her protector. She
knew her mother was around even though she was busy with her chores.

Children at the playgrounds: During play, all children of mixed ages are together but working on
different tasks appropriate to their ages. Young children accompanying older children or siblings
at play give them safety and the opportunity to start learning early. What the younger children
need is company but activities for play are determined according to their ages and sometimes boys
and girls can play the same activities. Boys tend to play rigorous games like chasing and football,
while girls tend to play hopping activities with strings. Anything can be a toy for example strings,
pebbles, sticks, stones, sand, and trees and even children’s bodies can be play objects. Children
play in any open space at the homestead or at the pathway. After school, children continue to play
on their way home especially if they have had a meal at school (see Figure 37.2).
Adults pay little attention to children’s play areas as long as they are safe. What is important
for adults is that play keeps children away to create room for them to concentrate on their work.
Play is also a way of keeping children occupied and out of idleness. Turkana parents believe that
play is an activity children engage in when they escape from household chores. Parents wish that
children are occupied with family livelihood activities instead of playing. However, children will
always find time to escape to play since livelihood activities do not happen all the time. Even in the
middle of livelihood chores, children will always find time to play in the middle of the household
assignment. The herders can play and forget they are herding livestock and in the process lose the
livestock attracting punishment from parents. The advantage is that the environment is available
for children to discover other opportunities for learning.

Children at the Preschools: At the preschool children, encounter a rigid environment under the
control of teachers. Children sit on the bare floor in most rural preschools. The classrooms are
overcrowded. The relaxed adult environment at home ends immediately. How children learn at
home is very different from school life. Teachers are largely in control, and children have to con-
form. Children spend much of their time indoors receiving instruction from teachers. Reciting
the letters of the alphabet and numerals from the chalkboard takes the larger part of classroom
instruction. Finally, the children go home with homework. On their way, children forget they have
homework as soon as play takes their time. Parents do not monitor their children’s schoolwork.
Figure 37.3 shows a child leading the rest in reciting letters of the alphabet in a preschool classroom.
After school, children remain in their playing grounds to continue playing until late in the day.
According to the parents, school, like play, removes children from family chores. Children will be
happy to go to school because they know that after school they can have time to play without their
parents noticing. Sometimes children do not finish all school hours. Instead, they will use part of
the school time in their playgrounds.

Pastoralists Parent’s Relationships with Schools: In the villages, parents pay little attention
to preschools. Parents continue with their livelihood activities as children walk to preschools
by themselves. Parents care little about what children are learning and have no connection to
children’s school life. Parents prefer children to be doing household livelihood chores. However,
when food is available in school, parents will be happy to send children to school. Parents consider

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Figure 37.2 Children playing at a pathway.

schools to be feeding centers for their children. Interaction between teachers and the community is
minimal. Teachers do not think parents can contribute much to the learning of children unless they
are requesting firewood or water for preparing children’s meals. Teachers work with publishers
from Nairobi to acquire learning materials and textbooks. Reading materials do not have relevance
to the pastoralist lifestyles, as the authors are the elites from the dominant communities of
Kenya. Even though children can create their play materials, education officials prefer purchased
materials.

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Figure 37.3 An overcrowded preschool class at Lokichar in Turkana.

Teachers must cover the syllabus despite congestion in classrooms even with the lack of
learning materials. According to teachers and education officials, children must attend preschools.
Enrollment, attendance, and examination performance are the focus of education officials.
Academic demands to cover the syllabus prevent any effort for innovations and creative ideas to
encourage learning using local resources. The quality of learning and availability of the infrastruc-
ture to support children is not a concern. All children must go through a state curriculum designed
in Nairobi, the capital city. A state curriculum aims to build national cohesion and integration.
Communities are not involved in the curriculum implementation because they will interfere with
the formal official goals of the school.

Early Childhood Education Policy in Kenya

ECE policy in Kenya has developed since the 1940s with the establishment of infant schools
in Kenya’s urban centers for children of Europeans and Asians. In the 1950s, nurseries were
introduced to communities as daycare centers to support children of families involved in the
fighting in the colonial liberation wars (Ng’asike, 2018; Prochner & Kabiru, 2008). The daycare
rehabilitation centers later become daycare nurseries or preschools under the management of local
authorities, churches, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
Through the effort of the Bernard Van Leer Foundation (BVLF), formal engagement toward
a public policy for pre-​primary education in Kenya began in the early 1970s with the estab-
lishment of preschool education project at the Kenya Institute of Education (Jepkemboi &
Korir, 2019; Harris, 2012), known today as the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.

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The preschool education project had four specific objectives: training supervisors; developing
a teacher-​training program; devising a model nursery school curriculum; and training nur-
sery school teachers (Harris, 2012). In 1979, the Gachathi Commission’s report recommended
that all preschool education policy functions be domiciled at the Department of Education.
Following this recommendation, the presidential circular No.1 of 1980 directed that the
Ministry of Education take over the management of pre-​ primary education (Kipkorir &
Njenga, 1993). This directive marked the start of formal ECE policy in Kenya, resulting in the
expansion of ECE across communities. The National Center for Early Childhood Education
and the District Centers for Early Childhood Education were established at the national level
and at the grassroots respectively to steward the management of ECE across the communities
(Harris, 2012).
UNESCO on the recommendation of the Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005 mobilized stakeholders
to develop Kenya’s ECD Policy Framework (Republic of Kenya [RoK], 2005). Among the key
highlights of the policy are the requirements of a 1:25 teacher–​child ratio and a classroom of a
minimum size of 8 by 8 meters. However, these requirements have become a tall order to achieve
in rural communities, especially the teacher–​child ratio.
Kenya promulgated a new national constitution in 2010, which placed the management and
implementation of ECE policy to the County Governments (Kenya Law Reform, 2010). To offer
support to the Counties UNICEF in consultation with MoE, Development Partners and other
key stakeholders developed the Pre-​Primary Education Policy (MoE, 2017). The policy outlines
guidelines for service delivery for children 4–​5 years in pre-​primary education, programs for
parents, caregivers, teachers, support staff, managers, training institutions, National and County
Governments, state and non-​state actors, and local communities.
The Senate of Kenya through the County Early Childhood Education Bill (Republic of Kenya
[RoK], 2018a,b) operationalized the constitutional degree. Among the highlights of the Bill were
the provision for free and compulsory ECE in public education centers. According to the Bill, a
parent or guardian who fails to take a child to preschool will be committing an offense, which can
result in a conviction or a fine not exceeding 10,000 Kenya shillings.
In 2018, Kenya overhauled her education curriculum to a Competency-​Based Curriculum
(CBC) (Republic of Kenya [RoK], 2018a,b) with emphasis on skills and competencies. The goal
of CBC is to produce holistic individuals with competencies, values, knowledge, and skills neces-
sary to succeed in a highly competitive world. The curriculum will stimulate the minds, hearts,
and souls of learners and not stuff them with abstract rote memorization of facts and figures for
examination purposes.
In the CBC education framework, ECE is a two-​year program in which children ages 4–​5 will
go through a curriculum covering five thematic areas: language activities, mathematical activities,
environmental activities, psychomotor and creative activities, and religious education activities.
However, the curriculum is silent on socio-​emotional domains of child development. CBC does
not have direct education goals for pastoralist children’s education. Still, because of the strong
parental involvement in the curriculum activities of the children, the pastoralists’ families may
find a place to participate in the learning of their children in the new education system. In addition,
CBC has roots in the theoretical framework of Vygotsky’s sociocultural historical theory, which
recognizes households’ funds of knowledge as the tools, and cultural capital for experiences essen-
tial for the foundation of learning (González, Moll, & Amanti, 2005; Vygotsky, 1978). In this way,
CBC will be culturally responsive.

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Impacts of Global and National Policy Narratives on

Early Childhood Education in Turkana
In Kenya, ECE is one script prescribed in the global and regional narratives binding nations to
ensure commitments to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children, the African
Charter, the Millennium Development Goals, and the attainment of Education For All (Penn, 2012,
Jaramillo & Mingat, 2008). At the Dakar World Conference on Education For All, African coun­
tries committed to expanding and improving early childhood care and education, especially to
reaching vulnerable and marginalized children (World Education Forum, 2000). However, the
challenge is that Africa’s aspirations do not drive the implementation of ECE across the continent.
Instead, ECE policies in Africa are largely under the influence of funding organizations such as
the World Bank and related multinational agencies. Consequently, across Africa, the ECE curric-
ulum and policies are a narration of one script with a bias to Western ideologies. As a result, the
uniqueness and the diversity of African countries’ cultural contexts are disregarded.
Although the Senate of Kenya Bill is a step in the right direction in ECE development, partici-
pation of the local communities in the creation of the Bill might be problematic. Communities in
rural areas of Kenya including the Turkana pastoralist communities may not be aware of the exist-
ence of such a Bill. They may not even be aware that it is against the law to keep preschool-​aged
children at home. Interactions with pastoralist families in Turkana show that policy and practice
are often mismatched as far as ECE implementation in rural areas is concerned. For instance,
during my research in Turkana, I met members of the Board of Management (BoM) of one of
the primary schools and I asked the committee of nine parents why a nearby preschool has low
attendance. The answer from one of the parents is narrated below:

We are not aware there were fewer children in the preschool. For us, we thought it was the
responsibility of the teachers to ensure children are in school. Nobody told us there were
no children in the school. There are many children in the village and we thought they were
coming to school.
(BoM Committee member)

I further went on to ask these parents why they are not visiting the preschool to help teachers teach
their Mother Tongue (Ngaturkana) to the children. A similar response from one of the parents
representing the committee was as follows:

We are not aware we could visit the preschool to teach the children. If teachers told us we
were to participate in storytelling in our mother tongue that would have been very good.
We could teach children our cultural values because this is the knowledge that is good for
our children. We tell stories to children at night when they are free from school. We thought
education belongs to the teachers and, therefore, we did not want to interfere with teachers’
education. We thought education belongs to the teachers and we have no responsibility for
what children learn in school.

I asked the parents of another community why their children are at home, yet there is a preschool
built close by that has very few children. One parent answered:

We will not allow our children to go to learn in a preschool where no food has been provided
for the children. Our children should be with us here even if they are hungry. We cannot
allow them to learn hungry, away from us.

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In one of the villages, the preschool is incomplete. In addition, there is no preschool teacher
although there is a primary school teacher who is teaching both the preschool and grade 1 children
together. The majority of early childhood centers in rural pastoralist areas lack teachers. Children
mainly come to preschools to get a meal when food is available. The provision of meals to preschool
children is one of the functions besides curriculum implementation that the County Government of
Turkana has committed to in the ECE policy framework. Consequently, the County Government
has a budget provision for feeding programs. However, food supply to the pre-​primary centers
has been unpredictable due to poor planning and misappropriation. Yet the provision for school
feeding programs is critical in maintaining the enrolment of learners in schools due to poverty,
harsh desert terrains and persisting droughts in pastoralist areas. Due to inconsistencies in the
provision of meals to pre-​primary children, there have been serious challenges in enrolment as
children have continued to drop out of school due to hunger.
The underfunding of service delivery for ECE policy impacts negatively to the participation
of children and families in pre-​primary education in Turkana County. Interviews with parents in
Turkana convey the message that national policies and laws on ECE are merely rhetoric (Penn,
2019). For instance, it will be a social justice issue to punish a parent for not taking a child to a
preschool that lacks basic amenities such as food, water, healthcare, and classrooms. One can write
policies in documents in silos and people can meet in conferences away in urban towns, discussing
the dominant narratives of ECE where the beneficiaries are only the creators and not the clients.

Turkana Children’s Pastoralist Lifestyles and Family Livelihoods

In pastoralist communities, children learn skills required for competency in livestock herding.
These skills include milking, herding, slaughtering, extracting blood from a stock, skinning,
feeding young goats, breeding, etc. The children of livestock herders learn very early complex
knowledge of stock reproductive patterns, dietary and forage intake capacity, treatment, branding
of livestock, water exploration, and related forms of livelihood survival activities (Marianna,
2010; Ng’asike, 2010). To ensure livestock are secure, children learn to identify a family stock by
studying the bone structure, mastering the sounds of stock, and tracking a lost stock by studying
footprints. Goats’ intestines predict weather patterns, climate change, and knowledge of the envir-
onment. The competence of the children is assessed in terms of the child’s ability to take herds to
appropriate water sources, grazing pastures, and securing the stock from predators.
Pastoralist children’s livestock skills in many aspects are congruent with the sciences curric-
ulum. For example, knowledge of animal husbandry, environment, plants, soil, weather, climate,
math, zoology, and botany are concepts embedded in science and environment studies. However,
there is no attempt in schools to connect school curriculum instruction with the everyday lives
of children. González, Moll and Amanti (2005) research provides the theoretical framework that
connects households’ funds of knowledge to children’s classroom instruction. Opportunities to use
local and culturally relevant, everyday livelihoods of families do not inform learning in preschools
(Ng’asike, 2019).

Children’s Play and Learning in Pastoralist Communities

Play is an important medium of learning for pastoralist children. It may be argued that play is the
‘school’ through which pastoralist children practice and learn livelihood tasks observed at home
and in the community. Observation of children at the households confirms that as long as there is,
an open playing ground or a dry riverbed close by, children in nomadic pastoralist communities

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will play even at night under moonlight and can extend their play to long hours in the night
(Ng’asike, 2022, 2015). The safety of children is the community, true to the saying; ‘it takes a
village to bring up the child’ (Swadener, Kabiru & Njenga, 1995).
Turkana children do not need commercial toys for play that schools appear to prioritize. Children
from different cultures are capable of using and adapting natural and fabricated objects from
within their living environment for play (Ng’asike, 2022; Prinsloo & Wilson, 2017; Samuelsson
& Carlsson, 2008). Turkana children collect and use anything thrown out in the environment, for
example, rugs, tins, strings, sticks, bottles, stones, trees, leaves, and polythene papers to create
and construct footballs, play fields, goalposts, houses, etc. Children can also play with themselves
acting as play objects. For example, a child can be a goalpost, a marker, and so on. These children
are never short of play materials, what children require is security, a safe environment, and appre-
ciation from adults on the importance of play to children’s development. Observations established
that the playing fields are the streets, the pathways, open spaces, and open fields. There are no
age limits as each age group will always find its play task and play materials constructed from the
immediate community environment. Sibling rearing finds its place in play as older children pro-
vide care and security for younger siblings (Ng’asike, 2022). Play allows child-​to-​child learning
to complement learning that mothers cannot provide directly. As soon as the child begins to be
mobile, the tendency is always to get out and play away from the family.

Skills and Knowledge of Pastoralist Children Acquired from

Early Childhood Years
The parenting styles of the Turkana pastoralist communities endeavor to bring up children who
will conform to the beliefs, customs, morals, and cultural values of the families (Ng’asike, 2019,
2017, 2014; Krätli, 2001). Children acquire these attributes indirectly through observation and
by participating in the livelihood and everyday activities of the families. For example, a cultural
definition of competency is a child’s ability to herd livestock. Walter Rodney (1972) argued that
in pre-​colonial Africa, education had relevance and functionality. This education grew from and
responded to the specific African environment. In short, it was a useful education.
A lot of learning of Turkana children takes place at the playgrounds and around homesteads
where children through play practice everyday life skills (Krätli, 2001; Ng’asike, 2019).
However, according to research carried out in Ghana (Kabay, Wolf, & Yoshikawa, 2017), the
majority of urban parents believe that play is a waste of children’s learning time. According to
these parents, preschools should limit children’s play to break time so that play should not interfere
with learning. In Kenya, the attitude of parents toward play and learning follows the same trend
demonstrated by parents in Ghana. The practice all over Africa is to prioritize a learning environ-
ment that is teacher-​directed over child-​centered play-​based learning that is likely to be responsive
to the learning needs of pastoralist children. As a result, pastoralist children are observed sitting for
long hours, learning skills prescribed in the syllabus mainly focusing on reciting number numerals
and letters of the alphabet. Learning in preschools is a boot camp of drills where you must learn
or you are condemned to be a failure. Children are punished for being inattentive and for not com-
pleting homework. The mode of feedback is through examinations. According to Paulo Freire
(1972), formal education has been about ‘banking’ knowledge and asking students to regurgitate
it during exams. Schools only care about attendance, enrollment, performance, discipline, and
conformity to the teachers. These schools care less about human relationships, character, and the
safety of the learning environment. Teachers will not have time to listen to children, as they view
children as only recipients of knowledge (Serpell, 1996).

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At home, learning starts as soon as the child begins to crawl and when in the company of older
siblings and other children. Education policy in Kenya requires that children start pre-​primary
at ages 4–​5. In pastoralist communities, 1-​to-​2-​year-​old children are carried at the back of their
older siblings to preschools. In addition, a child at 4 years old has already participated in livestock
herding including milking a goat, and taking care of the kids of goats and play has been a part of
the child’s development from birth. The irony is that schools might not treat pastoralist children
as knowledgeable. Schools fail to build from the knowledge and the cultural capital children bring
from home. In many circumstances, children get bored when skills learned at school do not inspire
them. I hope that CBC is expected to bring a paradigm shift as pastoralists’ everyday activities of
children may be integrated into the curriculum instruction in early childhood centers.
Failure of education officials to recognize that there is value in cultural traditions, lifestyles
of the livestock herders, and parenting rearing practices in education is contributing largely to
the cause of poor performance and dropouts of pastoralist children from the education system
(Ng’asike, 2019). On the contrary, the attitude of the education officials in Kenya is to blame
the cultural lifestyles of the communities for the failures and dropouts of children. Lavi (2021)
studying child-​rearing practices of the Nayaka pastoralist community in India established that
these communities face similar challenges where education officials ignore the fact that methods
of instruction including skills learned in early childhood centers do not match parental expectations
including parental styles of childrearing. The rigidity of the schools to adapt traditional indigenous
communities’ ways of learning and instruction is a major hindrance to children’s education in pas-
toralist communities (Lavi, 2021; Ng’asike, 2019). The system of education sees the cultures of
indigenous peoples as retrogressive and a hindrance to education. Governments and NGOs may
wish that these ‘retrogressive cultures’ are eliminated through modern education (Lavi, 2021).
With devolution, counties are implementing policies in ECE but without a stronger connection
to the families and communities. Compounded with weak investment in ECE, are the parents who
believe that education belongs to the teachers. The law regulating the implementation of ECE did
not take into consideration the everyday life experiences of the pastoralists’ parents. Hence, the
enforcement of the law is problematic when the government has not provided adequate resources
to ensure the quality of services that will guarantee children attend ECE centers. Shortages of
teachers, lack of classrooms, lack of materials for learning, and, most critically, inconsistency in
the feeding program present major hurdles in the enforcement of ECE laws and regulations.
The implementation of CBC will ensure that the learning of language, mathematics, environ-
mental sciences, psychomotor activities, and creativity and religious education of the ECE cur-
riculum content connect with the everyday lives of Turkana children, including their knowledge
of the environment and of animal husbandry. Turkana pastoralists’ children are knowledgeable
about animal anatomy, adaptation to environment and climate change, the cultivation of plants,
the management of soil, and weather systems. The research showed that there are similarities
between the formal school curriculum and pastoralists’ everyday lifestyle activities; the challenge
is in the instructional strategies of teachers in the schools that fail to incorporate the knowledge
of pastoralists in classroom instruction (Ng’asike, 2010). Instead, classroom instruction is based
on the assumption that knowledge is the monopoly of the teachers and the Ministry of Education.

Conclusion
This chapter has shown how Turkana families educate their children, what skills are important
for children in Turkana pastoralist communities and the mismatch in learning styles of children
in households and pre-​primary schools. The research shows that parental goals of childrearing

515
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may not match the goals of the curriculum. Pastoralists’ families have their own views about what
children’s social and educational trajectories should be. There is a significant difference in how
children learn at home and how they learn at school. Turkana culture of learning is embedded in
the family, including siblings, grandparents, and parents, which is the foundation for home educa-
tion that children carry with them when they enter preschool. However, at school, the child misses
an opportunity for social relations as he or she now depends on one adult who is the teacher.
Parenting ethno-​theories point to the fact that parental child-​rearing goals and practices direct
children’s development differently in different cultures. The values that parents prioritize deter-
mine the content that structures child–​parent relations and how they should relate to their teachers
in schools. Observations of Turkana pastoralists’ lifestyles and child-​rearing practices affirm
the theoretical underpinning that childhood is culturally constructed and that there are many
childhoods as there are many cultures. Context, the physical and social settings of the child’s daily
life, the customs and practices of childrearing of the families, and parenting ethno-​theories of child
development are important in informing how children learn in indigenous pastoralist communities.

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 38
FROM POST-​D EVELOPMENT
TO POST-​S CHOOLING
Rethinking Educational Pathways with
Agro-​Pastoralists in Southwest Ethiopia

Sabrina Maurus

Introduction
In the 1990s, a new critique of the concept of development emerged, around the same time that
‘Western’-​style schooling entered a new phase of expansion with the United Nations’ ‘Education for
All’ program aiming to increase school enrollment among children worldwide. Post-​development
theory went so far as to imagine a world without ideas of development, but the idea of schooling
escaped fundamental criticism despite their deep entanglement. The great number of unemployed
youths whose school education has not provided them the better life it promised and the violent
conflict that erupted around the implementation of compulsory schooling in the southwestern per-
iphery of Ethiopia demonstrate the need for a critical look at the practice of compulsory schooling.
Among agro-​pastoralists in Hamar District in southwest Ethiopia, only a minority of children
attend school and an attempt to implement compulsory schooling provoked a violent conflict
between government forces and agro-​pastoralists in 2014/​15. While (inter)national development
and education policies demand that every child attend school, in Hamar District, both parents
and children make this decision. Children who do not attend public schools are educated through
their participation in the agro-​pastoralist household economy and learn to make a living primarily
through cattle and goat herding and slash-​and-​burn cultivation of maize and sorghum. Decisions
for and against schooling –​about which parents, children, and (inter)national development pol-
icies hold varying opinions –​contradict the universal claim of ‘Schooling for All’ and show how
schooling is a contested social good.
This chapter draws on 19 months of ethnographic fieldwork between 2012 and 2015 that
I carried out for my doctoral dissertation and during which I witnessed this violent conflict breakout.
Analyzing practices of education and schooling among agro-​pastoralists on the periphery of the
Ethiopian state, I discuss how compulsory schooling affects children’s lives in contested ways.
Children from agro-​pastoralist households make active decisions about their education, including
running away from home to live in student hostels and attend schools in town –​but also leaving
school and returning to their families. Both these practices affect not only their own life paths but
also their agro-​pastoralist households and the wider society.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-45 519

 Sabrina Maurus

The case of the conflict about compulsory schooling in Hamar District poses questions about
the nexus between development and education. Discussing universal claims and individual
decisions for schooling, I argue for (1) looking beyond universal schooling’s ideology to its prac-
tice; (2) considering education outside schools and specifically the political, ecological, economic,
and social environments in which people make a living and educate their children; and (3) inte-
grating the perspectives of children and parents into the design and implementation of educational
programs. These three points apply to educational policy not only among agro-​pastoralists but also
in general. However, the violent conflict over the imposition of compulsory schooling in Hamar
District and the phenomenon of unemployment among the school-​educated stress the importance
of connecting the concepts of post-​development and post-​schooling in order to create sustainable
forms of education for children with backgrounds in diverse livelihoods.

Paradoxical Nexus between Development and Education

Post-​development theorists have criticized the notion of ‘development’ and its Eurocentric bias
that supposes a model of progress in which all countries follow a single linear path. Most devel-
opment theories make the ‘West’ their standard, regarding the ‘rest’ of the world as ‘underdevel-
oped’ and therefore in ‘need’ of interventions. This worldview devalues non-​‘Western’ countries
and ways of life and justifies imposing ‘Western’ norms. In contrast, post-​development scholars
(Escobar, 2011; Ferguson, 1990; Ziai, 2007) reject this paradigm and consider alternatives to
development interventions –​which often fail to decrease inequality and do not improve the lives
of the majority of the poor –​to take into account a pluralistic world. However, the linear and uni-
form idea of worldwide development remains very persistent in spite of this critique (Ziai, 2015).
The expansion of ‘Western’-​style schooling has received barely any criticism as such but has
become a ‘global good’ in development discourse (Maurus, 2019). It is premised on the notion
of human capital, which predicts that investments in education will result in economic benefits.
Paradoxically, this theory has not needed to show results in order to persist (Ansell, 2017a: 115).
The universal promotion of ‘Western’-​style schooling makes it appear the ‘one and only’ way to
success in life, as well as a motor for economic development and a universal solution to social
and economic problems. The idea that promoting ‘Western’-​style schooling will end poverty still
guides international development policies, despite a growing phenomenon of unemployed school-​
educated youths.
Most people and institutions around the world have internalized the aspiration that ‘Western’-​
style schooling leads to development and blame governments when school-​educated youths
cannot find employment. In some countries, these youth have engaged in revolutions, such as the
Arab Spring or the revolutions in Ethiopia and Sudan to demand a new politics that addresses their
precarious situation (Abebe, 2020; Honwana, 2019). But despite this criticism, objections to the
expansion of schooling itself are rare.
Shortly before the UN’s 2015 target date for its development goal ‘Education for All’, how-
ever, an attempt to enroll all Hamar children –​particularly girls –​was met with violent resistance.
While school-​educated government officials wanted to enroll every child in the district to fulfill the
development goal, most agro-​pastoralist parents refused to enroll all of their children in school –​
although they agreed to send some –​ and many new classrooms remained empty. As the conflict
escalated, some rural schools were temporarily closed and others destroyed; some schoolchildren
and youths were beaten up; and some civil servants and pastoralists even killed. In addition to com-
pulsory schooling, particularly for girls, other points of conflict included a prohibition on hunting
and grazing in Mago National Park and a disarmament campaign (see also Yitbarek, 2020).

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This conflict in Hamar District, which received little media attention in Ethiopia and abroad,
constitutes a relatively intense example of how rural children grow up in an area of tension. Rural
communities have an interest in educating children to support local economies, while ‘Western’-​
style schooling tends to produce urban laborers and middle-​class citizens who no longer depend on
subsistence-​oriented rural economies (Maurus, 2016). These two competing modes of education
exist not in isolation but in relation to each other. Different visions of the future are negotiated
through decisions about children’s education. Looking beyond the grand narrative of universal
schooling for development to how educational decisions are actually made reveals how daily
practices of children’s education shape their life paths (Häberlein & Maurus, 2020) and reveals
tensions between (inter)national development goals and diverse livelihoods with which children’s
education is entangled.
In development and state discourses, a pastoralist livelihood is often regarded as ‘backward’, ‘in
need of development’, and as resistant to or failing at ‘development’ instead of as a productive and
efficient system of natural resource management in semi-​arid regions (Azarya, 1996; Khazanov &
Wink, 2001; Schlee, 2021; Schareika, 2018). Pastoralists’ livelihoods depend on the environment
and on mobility, giving them a different view of the world from states, which often invoke the goal
of development to justify turning pastoralists into sedentarized wage laborers.
The social, political, historical, economic, and ecological contexts in which universal schooling
is implemented are not homogenous. Their heterogeneity shapes the experiences of children’s
learning. Children’s multiple ways of learning also contribute to these environments and chil-
dren must navigate a contested arena of possibilities for learning where various political actors
try to use children and education for different agendas. The conflict over the education of agro-​
pastoralists’ children in Ethiopia offers an angle for a critical look at the nexus of development and
schooling and at children’s role in it, by applying insights gained from post-​development theories
to think about sustainable alternatives of post-​schooling.

Ambiguous Practices of Schooling in Hamar District, Southwest Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, compulsory schooling is funded partly by international organizations and donor
countries and implemented by the state in a context of wider infrastructure projects and national
development visions. To reach its goal of middle-​income status by 2025, the country intends to
make more intensive use of natural resources in its lowland periphery, which is mostly inhabited
by agro-​pastoralist groups. In the Lower Omo Valley in southwest Ethiopia, new large-​scale
infrastructure projects such as dams, as well as sugar and cotton plantations accompanied by
villagization projects, have created violent conflicts between the local population and govern-
ment forces (Gabbert, Galaty, Gebresenbet, & Schlee, 2021). While the development programs
claim to improve life and reduce poverty, agro-​ pastoralists sometimes experience hunger
with the destruction of the environments in which they once made their living (Stevenson &
Buffavand, 2018).
The development programs use a positive image of universal schooling to justify this resettle-
ment and sedentarization. In national development discourse, replacing animal husbandry with
industrialized agriculture is necessary for agro-​pastoralists to sedentarize, have access to schools
and health facilities, and ‘overcome backwardness’: to ‘develop’ and become ‘civilized’ and
‘modern’. This rhetoric frames schooling as a ‘door opener to modernity’ and downgrades existing
agro-​pastoralist livelihoods and their connected ways of educating children. The understanding
of schooling as a social good makes it seem unnecessary to consider how schooling is actually
provided and experienced or how it affects individual lives and households.

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Ethiopia has been characterized as a developmental state since 2005, and its implementation
of development programs has allowed citizens little room for participation. Dissident voices and
critics of the development approach have been accused of terrorism (Abebe, 2018; Clapham,
2018). In this political context, donor countries and international development organizations have
to come to terms with how their program, including financing promotion of basic services (PBS)
like schooling, may support individuals and an authoritarian regime (Oakland Institute, 2013: 18;
Woodman & Grig, 2015 [2007]). Their dilemma is how to account for the political context, mul­
tiple forms of livelihoods, and power hierarchies in order to design educational programs that will
not become tools of oppression that worsen the living conditions of the targeted population.
Contextualizing the conflict over schooling in Hamar District, I will briefly describe the edu-
cational system in this part of Ethiopia and the main lines of dispute. Although the Constitution of
the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1994) grants each nation, nationality, and people in
Ethiopia the right to education in its mother tongue, lessons at schools in South Omo Zone in first
through fourth grade are taught in the de facto national language of Amharic and the textbooks
for subsequent grades are in English. Only one among many languages spoken in South Omo
Zone,1 Amharic is rarely spoken outside of towns and government institutions, and children from
agro-​pastoralist families must learn it when they start school. However, Amharic is not taught as a
second language: the curriculum assumes that children understand it. Moreover, many teachers in
the Hamar District come from other parts of Ethiopia and often do not speak the Hamar language;
in such cases, teachers and students have difficulty communicating until they learn each other’s
languages. Furthermore, teachers’ training does not lead to fluency in English, so the English-​
language lessons challenge pupils and teachers alike. Because of this language diversity, it takes
longer to get through the curriculum than in areas with mother-​tongue education.
Due to the geographic dispersion of agro-​pastoral settlements, many primary schools are distant
from towns and lack regular transportation, making it difficult for rural schools to attract enough
teachers. Some subjects often lack teachers, leaving many schoolchildren feeling unprepared for
national exams. During my participant observation in rural schools, only two or three of six daily
lessons scheduled per day had teachers; in between, pupils stayed in the classroom, practiced
their lessons, and taught each other. Students also did not attend every day of class and sometimes
herded animals, accompanied relatives to the market, or did other chores instead. Their teachers
estimated that pupils typically attended classes in rural schools from two to three days per week.
These structural arrangements let many children pass without mastering the curriculum, leaving
them unprepared to compete with pupils and students from other regions and towns. Many chil-
dren in Hamar District left school after several years without knowing how to read or write. The
schools in town were known for better quality teaching, but the children attending them had to live
further from their families and learned less about the local environment and fewer agro-​pastoralist
skills such as herding and agriculture: instead they adapted to a more urban lifestyle.

Expectations of and Frustrations with Schooling

When Hamar parents send their children to school, they say they are ‘giving’ (ima) them to school,
not ‘sending’ them. In return for this ‘gift’, they expect the government to take care of the child and
for something to return to them in a reciprocal manner (cf. Stambach & Kwayu, 2013). However,
the organization of schools and hostels demands parental support, and schoolchildren thus often
experience these diverging expectations as neglect from both sides. Finding money, food, clothes,
school supplies, and other daily necessities is a constant worry for many pupils and students
staying in hostels in town. Some student initiatives have demanded better and regular food so they

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would not suffer from hunger and recurring sickness and could concentrate on their studies. At the
same time, schoolchildren try to please their parents and relatives. On their occasional visits home,
they want their relatives to see that something is returning to them and often bring small gifts like
coffee husks or soap so that their parents and relatives will accept their being away at school rather
than helping at home.
The exchange relationships between government, parents, and schoolchildren go in several
directions. Some parents who had sold goats to support their children in school were disappointed
when they did not learn reading, writing, and Amharic or finish school. Some children tried to
compensate for the lack of teaching. For instance, they started to make their own lists of Amharic,
English, and Hamar words and looked for tutors in town to help them learn what they felt they had
missed in school. When they still failed their national exams in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades, many
were very disappointed that their struggles and suffering in school had not led to the qualifications
required to work in the public sector.
The government officials charged with mobilizing the community to send all their children to
school also expressed frustration. Their own careers depended on success in implementing the
(inter)national development programs. These various interests in and frustrations with schooling
led various actors to experience and approach schooling differently from what the ‘Education for
All’ program expected.

Household Adaptations for Children’s Schooling

The political pressure to send all children to school and the fines for parents whose children did
not attend created a higher workload for women in some households. During my research in 2014,
I saw a male household head, his 2 wives, and their 11 children divide their household’s work and
schooling as follows: three sons of the first wife stayed in town and went to school, two of her
daughters had married and moved to their husbands’ homesteads, and one teenage daughter still
lived with her mother. The oldest son of the second wife took care of the cattle and goats, while
her second son went to the village school and lived at the homestead. Her three remaining children
were below the age of six and not yet ready for school or work.
With the household’s four sons (aged 12–​20) in school, responsibility for herding the goats
and cattle fell on a single son who had left school during the first cycle of primary school (grade
1–​4). He told me that schooling was not good for his eyes and mind. While some teachers said that
his parents had stopped him from coming to school, he and his older brothers both insisted that it
had been his own decision to drop out, not his parents’. Repeatedly, I was told that this family’s
animals were thin and ailing because there were not enough herders to care for them properly.
The cattle and goats often roamed on their own near the homestead since the single herder could
neither herd them separately nor lead them to distant pastures. The children who were at school
in town could not help with herding or farming regularly, only during vacations and sometimes
on weekends. Their mothers and the children remaining at home worked more with fewer hands,
planting larger fields of maize and sorghum in order to feed both themselves and the children in
town. Meanwhile, the teachers and government officials kept visiting to remind parents to send
every child to school.
The father, who moved back and forth between the town and his homestead, told me that he
wanted to send all his children to school. When I asked who would herd the animals and help in the
fields, he replied that the government wanted them to stop breeding cattle and working the fields
by hand. What would they eat then, I asked, and he replied, ‘If the children go to school, they’ll
work for the government and see money every month’.

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This conversation illustrates several paradoxes. First, it contradicts the public discourse that
agro-​pastoralists have no respect for schooling and are not willing to send their children there.
At the time of our conversation, however, few people could risk publicly speaking out against a
development project like schooling for all children (Schlee, 2021). Moreover, the father echoed
the government’s expectation that compulsory schooling would eventually transform people’s
livelihoods so that the children would no longer live by agro-​pastoralism but work for the govern-
ment. Government officials often said that schoolchildren could become anything if they went to
school: pilots, doctors, engineers … . Similarly, the father answered that if he sent his children to
school, they would be able to make a living as salaried civil servants.
A vision of schooling as leading to government jobs, a stable income, and ‘modernizing’ rural
livelihoods drives school campaigns around the world. This promise is an incentive for children to
go to school (Maurus, 2016). However, the narrative ignores the daily struggles of schoolchildren
and households to make a living during the time of school and afterward. Agriculture and pas-
toralism remain important alongside the possibilities of government employment and other jobs
in town but are also under pressure due to competition for land with development projects like
large-​scale agriculture and also climate change. Small-​scale agriculture and pastoralism are often
discounted when locals, the government, and (inter)national investors compete for land on the per-
iphery of the state (Li, 2014). All these factors contribute to the increase of livelihood insecurity in
the Omo Valley and affect decisions about children’s education. Sending some children to school,
who might later find government employment, helps them cope to some degree with the uncertain
future of pastoralism and agriculture but also demands that the remaining household members
work more. Sending children to the current school system is only possible to some extent without
undermining the basis of their livelihood.

Young People’s (Dis)Interest in Schooling

Young people’s own perspectives are often not considered in educational decision-​ making
(Cox, Dyer, Robinson-​Pant, & Schweisfurth, 2010) even though they affect their lives. The UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) grants children below the age of 18 ‘the right to
express [their] [...] views freely in all matters affecting the child’ with ‘the views of the child being
given due weight’. Furthermore, it states that ‘the child shall in particular be provided the oppor-
tunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child’ (Article 12).2
As there is little research concerning the opinions of children from pastoralist societies about their
educational experience, I draw on my fieldwork in southwest Ethiopia to analyze young people’s
perspectives on schooling and education.
In Hamar District, about one-​third of the school-​age population attended school in 2014, and
the rate remained below 40% in 2022. While some young people do drop out or refuse to go to
school, as in the example above, schools offer the possibility of staying in town, inspiring some
children to leave their agro-​pastoral families. Children’s decisions to attend school are possible
(even when their parents oppose it) because of government-​provided housing. Children from pas-
toralist households are most likely to have to move to town for 5th through 12th grades and student
hostels are often their only option: few can afford to rent a room or have relatives or friends to
stay with.
Students who live in hostels get a bed in a dormitory and sometimes some other necessities,
school materials, and food (but only some days). The food provided is mostly injera, a sourdough
flatbread that is the staple food in the Ethiopian highlands and eaten in lowland towns but not by
rural agro-​pastoralists. Schoolchildren lacked dairy products in town, and the spicy and sometimes

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sour food in hostels made them ill. Many students expressed their hopes for a better life once they
had endured this suffering, studied hard, and finished school. However, students often return home
because the living conditions in the hostels lead to hunger, sickness, and difficulty in learning.
Parents worry about who will look after their children in town, which is sometimes several
hundred kilometers away from their parents. From a rural perspective, towns are seen as immoral
spaces, or as ‘wild’, like the bush (Girke, 2015: 185; Lydall, 2000; Yitbarek, 2020) –​places where
it is difficult to protect children, particularly girls, who may face abduction into marriage and
unwanted pregnancy. The hostels employ staff to carry out administration but not to advise or
care for the children. Stories circulate about schoolgirls being raped and impregnated. One hostel
coordinator I interviewed wanted to meet me in a hotel that he ran on the side, and it turned out to
be a place at which young female sex workers offer their services. When agro-​pastoralist children
stay for school in hostels, they are largely on their own in establishing relationships to help them
make a living in town.
In contrast to parents’ concerns about the safety of their children in town, young people also use
the chance to move to hostels in town to become more independent from their parents. Some boys
told me how they repeatedly abandoned the herds and ran to school against the will of their fathers
or older brothers because they were interested in learning. Other schoolboys said that they had run
away to hostels after older relatives had beaten them repeatedly. These decisions to run away to
school create conflicts between children and parents and between siblings and in-​laws alongside
those between agro-​pastoralists and government officials.
Some children are excited to learn reading and writing, while others use the hostel to stay with
a lover in town or to avoid an arranged marriage. Girls often leave their families around the age
of 14–​16 after they have gotten engaged and their husbands have started to pay the bride wealth
to the girl’s family in goats and honey. Parents and brothers often come to the hostel to try to take
back their runaway daughters and sisters. However, government officials aim at keeping the girls
at the hostels to improve the female enrollment rate, strengthen the girls’ right for choosing their
own husbands, and enforce the right to schooling for all. The police make these parents agree
in writing to leave their children in school by threatening to arrest them. Many schoolgirls stop
visiting their families and stay in the hostel through the summer vacation to avoid being forced to
marry. Despite this, only a few girls from Hamar have finished high school and even those who
leave their families and start school in town as teenagers often get pregnant and drop out before
they pass their final exams or reach college or university.
Many runaway children try over the years to get back on good terms with their relatives, and
families do not always unanimously reject schooling. Some members might support them with
food and money at the same time that others pressure them (particularly girls) to marry someone
from the Hamar marriage cluster and continue the lineage with children that are considered Hamar
people. Schoolboys are also pressured to leave school to help with herding and plowing or to get
initiated and marry a girl from Hamar rather than from town. These different expectations about
education and marriage cause dilemmas for young people to decide where and how they will live
and work.
The conflicts about schooling have become more complicated since the local administration
is no longer run by settlers from highland Ethiopia but by school-​educated children of agro-​
pastoralists who became civil servants. It is now they who implement government policies like
schooling for all children and many school-​educated Hamar see it as their personal duty to support
schooling. At the same time, their agro-​pastoralist relatives pressure them to respect elders as their
superiors and the decision-​makers, and they expect their school-​educated children to be good role
models for the next generation that will not dismiss agro-​pastoralist values and customs. Through

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this position at the interface of competing interests between the government and agro-​pastoralists,
school-​educated youth become intermediaries (Maurus, 2022). They face multiple dilemmas in
negotiating the relationships with their relatives and the government and their various interests
concerning the education and future of agro-​pastoralist children.

Discussion Points for an Era of Post-​Schooling

Universal and Individual Decisions for Children’s Learning

Although the number of schools and pupils has increased globally, the quality of education has
not. Where schooling has expanded rapidly, there is often a shortage of equipment and teachers.
Schooling has both direct and indirect costs and dropout numbers are high, with many children
attending school for several years without acquiring basic reading and writing skills (Ansell,
2017b: 294–​346). Leaving school can be framed not only as a ‘failure’ but also as a conscious
decision to pursue other learning opportunities and careers such as apprenticeship and working
in agriculture, pastoralism, and the informal sector (Alber, 2012; Häberlein & Maurus, 2020).
Since the (inter)national understanding of education has been largely reduced to ‘Western’-​style
schooling, other forms of learning are excluded from statistics on ‘education’ despite their import-
ance in children’s lives.
The value of learning in the environment outside of school is particularly obvious in pas-
toralist and nomadic societies. In general, their school enrollment is lower than that of agri-
cultural and sedentarized groups (Dyer, 2006). But despite this trend, it is hard to generalize
about schooling for pastoralists and nomads as their livelihoods and degrees of mobility and
how they combine types of animal husbandry with other modes of agriculture, trade, and
various economic activities are diverse and their integration into state, religious, and educa-
tional systems differs between countries and among groups (Dyer, 2014). While many policies
try to sedentarize pastoralists and thus fit them into the national school system, few attempt
the reverse –​providing mobile public services (Schlee, 1982). However, some initiatives have
developed mobile school programs for pastoralists (Schaller & Würzle, 2021) and suggest to
the Ministry of Education among others to integrate family and distance learning, as well as
radio and media messages to include pastoralists in national education (Krätli & Dyer, 2009).
Organizing state schooling for pastoralists in remote areas is not only a practical but a polit-
ical challenge because many nomadic groups are politically marginalized within state systems
and underrepresented in national governments. Where a pastoralist livelihood and its mobility
are politically appreciated, the children can be integrated into national school systems success-
fully: for example, schooling in Mongolia is coordinated with herding seasons (Penn & Penn,
2006; Steiner-​Khamsi & Stolpe, 2005).
The political tensions and antagonisms between pastoralist livelihoods and national school
systems demand a closer look at how pastoralist children and parents actually use schools. Scott-​
Villiers et al. (2015) discuss how parents invest in the schooling of their children in northern
Kenya, only to find that they lose respect for the pastoralist way of life there; moreover, almost
all fail, making it a risky investment. Sending some children to school might help the whole
household if it qualifies children for jobs that support the family in times of need, such as during
a drought, when less land is available for pasture, or if sedentarization becomes necessary (Dyer,
2001: 320). While pastoralist parents select some children to go to school, they educate the rest, at
home, to care for their herds and wealth. Thus, children do not all receive the same education: it is
diversified to enhance the extended family’s current and future well-​being.

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As in Hamar, northern Kenyan households’ decisions to send a child to school are connected to
their livelihood strategy. They decide which member should take on which responsibility depending
on the current workload, the season, and the household’s composition, as well as their age, gender,
and health. Decisions for children’s schooling are made not only at the annual school registration
time but on a daily basis as parents and children weigh helping at home against spending the day
in school. While the herds need constant care, which is mostly the young people’s duty, farming
can be done after school, making it easier for agriculturalists’ children to attend (Klute, 1996;
Spittler, 1998).
When children participate in daily (agro-​)pastoralist life, they learn essential skills for making
a living in a way that cannot be taught in school. Meanwhile, when they are in school, they cannot
learn the physical capacities or acquire a profound knowledge of the environment and the care of
animals. Since agro-​pastoralist households depend on young people’s contributions in the present
and for the future (Maurus, 2019), parents are often selective in their decisions about schooling,
which are based on which child appears to be a promising pupil and which a promising herder.
In the case of the Harasiis (Chatty, 2006), the last nomadic group integrated into the national
school system in Oman, few children were selected to attend their new boarding school when it
opened in 1982. Chatty (2006) attributes the success of the school to the Ministry of Education
and the parents taking the time to negotiate the conditions of the children going to school, such as
their starting age (nine or ten instead of six or seven), teachers’ understanding of the nomadic way
of life, class schedules that allow pupils to regularly visit nomadic camps, an elder who supervises
pupils during school days, serving appropriate local food, sports, and group activities after lessons,
and respect for gender roles. The intensive negotiation of the conditions of children’s schooling
benefits children, parents, and the state. In this case, they succeeded in keeping the children of
nomads in school, and these later found jobs in the public service and industry without having
learned disrespect for nomadic life. However, it had never been intended that all children attend
boarding school: most, especially girls, stayed with the herds. While questions of gender equality
in education were not solved by this model, at least the nomadic livelihood is acknowledged and
the schoolchildren economically diversified the nomadic livelihood with their jobs.
This selection of children for school stands in contrast to global education and development
policies that work toward a future in which every single child goes to school. However, the uni-
versal approach to schooling neglects the different needs of multiple livelihoods. Parents and
children use education in different environments to diversify and secure their livelihoods and thus
decide for and against schooling.

Multiple Instead of Unilinear Learning Processes

The United Nations’ international development goals promote schooling as a universal ‘right’
way to educate ‘every child on earth’. Millennium Development Goal 2 seeks to achieve uni-
versal primary education by 2015,3 and Sustainable Development Goal 4 wants universal primary
and secondary education by 2030.4 These international policies aim at ‘leaving no one behind’
(UNESCO, 2016). The phrase ‘leaving behind’ illustrates an underlying idea of development that
sees those who have been to school as more ‘developed’ and ‘advanced’ than those who have not
been to school or lack secondary education and depicts the latter needing education to ‘catch up’.
This logic mirrors the concept of development and education as a unilinear and universal process
(as the dominant development paradigm often does) and overlooks many educational processes
and forms of education that happen outside ‘Western’-​style schools.

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Instead of taking the many ways of educating children in environments outside ‘Western-​
style’ schools into account, schooling and education are often used as synonyms, as shown in the
following example from a UNESCO fact sheet:

The numbers are staggering –​263 million children, adolescents and youth are excluded from
education. […] The international community cannot break yet another promise and deny
children their basic human right to education: currently 25 million children are expected to
never attend school.
(UNESCO, 2016: 16)

One only has to look at the lives of people who have not attended ‘Western’-​style schools for
it to become clear that they do not grow up lacking any kind of education. Many kinds of skills
and knowledge are learned outside school from parents, siblings, and others who have mastered
agriculture, handcrafts, or the informal economy (Lancy, Bock, & Gaskins, 2009; Spittler &
Bourdillon, 2012); in religious schools and study groups (Dilger & Schulz, 2013; Hoechner, 2018;
Ware, 2014); and in indigenous and local ways of learning through participation and observation
(Abebe & Kjorholt, 2012; Kapoor & Shizha, 2010). These multiple ways of knowing, learning,
and teaching for which there is no universal term but which often take place in organized ways
exist side by side or in competition with schooling (cf. Abidogun & Falola, 2020).
The promise of the global promotion of schooling is that ‘[e]‌ducation enables upward socio-
economic mobility and is a key to escaping poverty’.5 Yet a growing body of literature describing
a variety of contexts shows that few school-​educated youths experience upward social mobility
while a large fraction of them struggle to find the jobs to which they aspire based on their education
(Durham, 2017; Häberlein & Maurus, 2020; Jeffrey, Jeffery, & Jeffery, 2008; Mains, 2011; Martin,
Ungruhe, & Häberlein, 2016; Stambach & Hall, 2017; Steuer, Engeler, & Macamo, 2017). Many
school-​educated youths live in a state of ‘waithood’ (Honwana, 2012) as they ‘wait’ to become
‘adults’ and they have been described as a ‘generation of interns’ seeking permanent and well-​paid
employment, especially in the public sector. This often-​precarious situation suggests a reproduc-
tion of social inequality through schooling that educational systems veil rather than resolving (cf.
Bourdieu & Passeron, [1970] 1977; Camfield, 2011a; Camfield, 2011b). Thus, global education
and development policies shape young peoples’ life paths in not unidirectional but multiple ways,
which are entangled with children’s learning in specific environments in and outside schools.

Participatory Schooling and Development in Diverse Environments

In discourses of development, providing schools for children is framed as a duty of govern-
ment. As Fana Gebresenbet (2021) showed of villagization projects in South Omo, providing
schools is depicted as a form of care that the governing elite from the Ethiopian highlands give
to people in the lowlands in order to improve their way of life. ‘In discourse and practice, how-
ever, the expertise, knowledge and cultural diversity of the lowlanders are completely ignored’
(Gebresenbet, 2021: 214). Fana elaborates on the paradox the government expresses: ‘Human
rights advocates would have been the first to criticize the government should it fail to provide...
basic necessities to remote and detached social groupings’ (Government Communication Affairs
Office (GCAO, 2015: 146; in Gebresenbet, 2021: 216–​217). However, human rights groups
have criticized development organizations, such as DFID and USAID, for ignoring human rights
violations in the Omo Valley (Hurd, 2013), and international nongovernmental organizations such

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as Survival International warn about the detrimental effects of forced schooling for indigenous
groups (Woodman & Grig, 2015 [2007]).
Studies on infrastructure development in pastoralist areas of the Omo Valley conclude that
these projects help the government to increase its control over people at the periphery of the state
rather than helping them to improve their livelihoods (Gebresenbet, 2021; Regassa, Hizekiel, &
Korf, 2018; Regassa & Korf, 2018; Stevenson & Buffavand, 2018). One of the main challenges in
development processes is that local people are not consulted in the design of the projects. Günther
Schlee argues that there is ‘one magic formula that enables governments to ignore ethnic rights
completely: ‘backwardness’’ (Schlee, 2021: 67). ‘‘Backward’ people are not consulted. They are
taught. Where teaching fails, they are forced’ (Schlee, 2021: 68). Governmental officials often
justified the low school enrollment rates in agro-​pastoralist areas of Ethiopia to me, blaming
the parents’ ‘lack of awareness’ and ‘backward culture’ that rejects ‘modernity’. However, the
examples given in this chapter show that the conditions in schools and how schooling is organized
are the real reasons for the low enrollment rate in pastoralist districts across countries (Krätli &
Dyer, 2006).
To avoid more conflicts caused by the strict implementation of compulsory schooling in agro-​
pastoralist areas, the voices of various actors should be considered in negotiating and creating
schools and curricula that serve the needs of a heterogeneous population. As the empirical example
from Hamar District shows, pastoralists do not hold homogenous opinions about schooling, and
children also have various reasons for and against attending school that sometimes conflict with
the will of their parents. When designing and implementing educational programs, the voices of
children and pastoralists who have not been to school are often not heard or taken seriously, even
though they are the main target of the programs. Therefore, fathers and mothers, boys and girls,
and teachers and government officials must come together and compromise to create ways of
combining learning in and outside schools in order to develop sustainable ways of education and
livelihood practices.
Changes in the environment affect how people make a living and how and what they learn.
Cindi Katz (1991) showed that in the course of farmer’s incorporation into a large agricultural pro­
ject in Sudan, child labor increased and school enrollment decreased. Although children learned
farming skills, there was no longer a future for all of them as farmers since there was not enough
land to access for each child. This disjuncture between what children learn in their childhood and
what they can make use of in their adult lives is what Katz calls deskilling. She describes a poten-
tial for reskilling if children were to go to school. This expresses a common hope in schooling
as providing alternative livelihoods when the environment no longer grants the means to make a
living from farming and pastoralism (cf. Davidson, 2015). However, the phenomenon of school-​
educated unemployment shutters this aspiration of schooling and demonstrates the importance of
being able to use land for farming and pastoralism.
These conflicts over land show how children’s education relates to the environment and its
respective livelihood practices and vice versa. Development programs often justify changes in
agriculture and land use by access to schooling, which they see as a way to a better life. Schools
provide the language and knowledge for dealing with urban and state infrastructures and thus help
children and households to access the environment of the state. However, access to cultivable land
remains an important resource also for school-​educated youth. The implementation of compulsory
schooling can impede children to learn pastoralist and agricultural skills, which are acquired on the
job, such as physical endurance, profound knowledge of the local environment to find water and
grazing areas, and ways to treat sick animals. This knowledge is not included in school curricula

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and cannot be learned while sitting on benches in classrooms and being taught by teachers who
have been trained outside agro-​pastoralist spheres.
The ecologies of childhood are shaped by the environments in which children spend time and
learn. While schooling tries to cater for finding one’s way into an urban environment, education
in agro-​pastoralist households equips young people with skills to make a living in a semi-​arid
environment. That these two forms of education are hardly combinable but demand an either–​or
decision at some point in life creates dilemmas for young people and households, which can only
be solved when both forms of learning and living are respected and speak to each other.

Conclusion and Outlook

The individual decisions for or against schooling for young people and the collective interests that
parents pursue in deciding which of their children go to school approach the possibilities offered
by the global expansion of schooling pragmatically. This pragmatism diverges from (inter)national
development ideals of universal schooling and creates conflicts between generations and between
agro-​pastoralists and the government.
Tatek Abebe and Tanu Biswas (2021: 118) argue for rights in education instead of rights to edu­
cation, framing ‘Western schooling’ as ‘a conspirator of capitalism deeply rooted in philosophical
racism and contributing to a global epistemological loss’. They urge ‘realign[ing] the purpose of
education with the overall purpose of life on this planet’ and pursue ‘a ‘bottom-​up’ strategy for
rethinking education as community formation to incorporate complex sources of knowledge and
modes of knowing and becoming for children’ (ibid.). The conflict over schooling in Hamar shows
the complexity of creating sustainable ways of education for this planet. A community does not
hold a homogenous perspective on children’s education: some support schooling and some resist
it, and parents and children may have different interests in educational pathways. However, the
conflicts over compulsory schooling demonstrate that if attending school as it is now organized
was strictly imposed on agro-​pastoralists it would weaken the agro-​pastoralist economy without
guaranteeing an alternative way of making a living –​such as wage-​earning jobs in the formal
economy for all school-​educated children –​as the unemployment rate among school-​educated
youth is already so high.
I therefore argue to think creatively about an era of post-​schooling, in which schooling is
not abandoned but altered. Development policies that aim to improve the living conditions of
agro-​pastoralists should look beyond an unidirectional ‘Schooling for All’ approach to con-
sider the diversity of their livelihood needs and design their program in consultation with girls
and boys, as well as mothers and fathers, who sometimes have different interests in education.
Going to school is not an attractive way of learning when the conditions are harsh, the teaching
subpar, the drop-​out high, and the prospects for later employment uncertain. If agro-​pastoralist
livelihoods are to be supported, schooling should not replace education in households entirely
or be offered to all children at the same time. Therefore, new kinds of education have to be
created that enable children to access and participate in national education systems and agro-​
pastoral economies at the same time.
As long as development programs fail to acknowledge multiple livelihoods and how they are
intertwined with the environment and decisions about children’s education, the policy of compul-
sory schooling does not serve marginalized children but rather increases their insecurity. Creating
forms of education that support children and families in the peripheries of states depends on taking
into account the actual practices of schooling and its effects on local livelihoods –​as well as the

530
 From Post-Development to Post-Schooling

various standpoints of the government, girls and boys, schooled and unschooled, and the younger
and the older generations in order to come together and discuss how to combine education in the
various environments in and outside of schools to create educational pathways for a more sustain-
able future in times of a changing environment.

Acknowledgments
I am grateful to the members of the ‘Schreibwerkstatt’ of the chair of Social Anthropology at the
University of Bayreuth for comments on an earlier draft and to the editors of this volume for helpful
feedback as well as to the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bayreuth
(funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under
Germany’s Excellence Strategy –​EXC 2052/​1 –​390713894) and its Research Section Learning
for funding proofreading. Most of all, I want to thank all the people in Hamar and Ethiopia who
shared their knowledge with me. Its representation remains my responsibility.

Notes
1 In the South Omo Zone, 16 indigenous ethnic groups are officially recognized. Their oral languages
belong to the Omotic, Nilo-​Saharan, and Cushitic language groups. Amharic, the de facto national lan-
guage, is a Semitic language with a written form. Many settlers who moved from northern Ethiopia to the
south speak other mother tongues besides Amharic.
2 UNICEF (1990): Convention on the Rights of the Child. URL: www.uni​cef.org/​child-​rig​hts-​con​vent​ion/​
con​vent​ion-​text (last accessed 04.08.2022).
3 United Nations: Millennium Development Goals, www.un.org/​mill​enni​umgo​als/​educat​ion.shtml (last
accessed 03.06.2021).
4 United Nations: Department of Economic and Social Affairs: Sustainable Development, sdgs.un.org/​
goals/​goal4 (last accessed 03.06.2021).
5 United Nations: Sustainable Development Goals, www.un.org/​sus​tain​able​deve​lopm​ent/​educat​ion/​ (last
accessed 04.08.2021).

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 SECTION 7

Culture, Childhood, and Development

 39
SECTION INTRODUCTION
Karen Wells

Understanding the relationship between culture, childhood and development has largely focused
on children’s intellectual, physical and moral development and less on the development of the
societies in which they live. Even within the culture and personality school of anthropology (Mead
2001 [1928], Whiting and Whiting 1975), the cultural setting that is theorised to shape personality
is treated as a relatively stable and coherent set of practices and rituals. How changes in culture
produced through development in turn reshape childhood and impact children’s lives has been
addressed only in passing, for example by Super and Harkness (1986) in their influential frame­
work of the ‘developmental niche’ based in part on their research in Kenya. They note that the
concept of ‘intelligence’ among their participants in a rural community, which previously referred
to the child who anticipated and completed tasks that needed to be done in the household, farm or
when herding animals, is now also applied to children’s ability in school but as a separate domain
(intelligence-​at-​school and intelligence-​at-​home being different and not necessarily correlated
concepts). Similarly, Serpell found that in a rural Chewa community in eastern Zambia children’s
intelligence was construed as an ‘amalgam of cognitive alacrity and social responsibility’ (2011,
p.128). Serpell has noted that school children who are intellectually competent by indigenous cul-
tural criteria but do not meet the official criteria for progression to the next grade often attribute
their educational ‘failure’ to personal shortcomings. The most influential typology for integrating
the environment into the conceptualisation of children’s development is Bronfenbrenner’s model
of micro-​meso-​macro and exo-​systems (Bronfenbrenner 1974) which, likewise, does not theorise
the effect of change in these spheres on changes in childhood; although this has been influential
in development studies, the model is a response to the individualising tendencies of development
psychology, rather than the question of how development in these systems shapes childhood.
Culture has largely also been left out of the discourse of development, notwithstanding
UNESCO’s best efforts to have it included in the 2030 SDGs (Wiktor-​Mach 2020). Wiktor-​Mach
claims that the lability of the concept makes it difficult to operationalise into a policy agenda: is
it the way of life of a people, the creative industries or specific arenas of high cultural value? In
contrast, De Vries (2020) argues that culture is present in the SDGS in SDG 4 (quality educa­
tion –​arts education), 8 (decent work and economic growth –​creative industries), 11 (sustainable
cities and communities –​protecting heritage), 13 (climate action –​protecting heritage threatened

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-47 537

 Karen Wells

by, e.g., flooding) and 16 (peace and justice –​freedom of expression). The stark contrast between
Wiktor-​Mach and De Vries’s assessments of the place of culture in the SDGs is itself indicative of
the difficulties of defining the concept.
In including a section on culture in our handbook, we are proposing that culture is impacted
by development and that culture can be leveraged for development. Many of the other sections
in this handbook point, even if tangentially, to how culture shapes and is shaped by develop-
ment. Health and social reproduction, for example, are deeply structured by cultural norms
about what good health is and what the purpose of life is (and therefore what social repro-
duction aims to reproduce and how). Political activism is often expressed in the medium of
culture. Tatek Abebe has coined the term ‘mictivism’ to capture the use of music as a force
for political change and he and Stuart Aitken use that term to frame their analysis of Oromo
musicians who deploy an ‘aesthetic of dissent’ and use music as a powerful form of collective
mobilisation for those who feel that their views are otherwise unheard (Abebe 2021). Culture,
in the sense of ‘a way of life’ and its ‘structures of feeling’, are necessarily always present, if
not always acknowledged, in any development process or development project/​intervention.
Indeed, the turn to culture in development was motivated by a recognition that Development
projects fail when they are not grounded in and do not speak to the historically and spatially
situated cultures of the people or spaces that they claim to develop (Clammer 2012, Clammer
2015, Gardner and Lewis 2015, Harrison and Berger 2006, Harrison and Kagan 2006, Schech
and Haggis 2000).
If in the rest of the handbook the impacts of culture on development, and development on cul-
ture, are discernible, in this section, we specifically focus on the expressive arts and on language
in children’s lives. Both language and children’s expressive arts are being profoundly reshaped by
Development (interventions organised by international development actors and institutions and
the discourses that they put into circulation) and development (as a process of change, dialectic-
ally related to Development). Development, as in a process of change over time (Hart 2001, Lewis
2019) mobilised by shifts in the mode of production that come about through the actions of various
agents (firms, capital, states, NGOs), alters many aspects of people’s lives (including, definitions
of health, of a ‘good’ life, political structures, and of course economic activity) that impact on cul-
ture. As Marx famously writes in The Communist Manifesto,

Constant revolutionising of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions,

everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones.
All fixed, fast-​frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and
opinions, are swept away, all new-​formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify.
All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face
with sober senses his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.
(Marx and Engels 2008 [1848])

Culture as ‘a way of life’ is constantly subjected to change and Development actors aim to
speed up that change, remove the obstacles in its way and embed new ideas about life into new
forms of culture. The reformation of childhood is one of the targets of Development. The web
of culture that the child is born into and that they themselves shape is of central importance for
development (Read 1968, Levine 1998, Pemunta and Fubah 2015). From conception through to
transitions to adulthood, childhood is part of the deep structure of culture (Geertz 1993, Shaules
2007) and is very resistant to technical, expert or scientific interventions from cultural outsiders
(Super et al 2011). Ideas about who children are and about their capacities, vulnerabilities and

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 Section Introduction

relations to others are challenged by Development interventions especially those related to edu-
cation, health and early childhood development and education (ECDE). Often cultural norms and
dispositions that are embedded in community discourses and materialities, and are antithetical to
those circulated through Development, continue to structure childhood even whilst new norms
and dispositions are adopted (often in site-​specific ways). Mapopa M’tonga describes cultural
practices of storytelling, oral history, languages, traditions, music and art as mechanisms of ‘deep
learning’ that heighten the symbolic and affective potentials of children as they learn to become
‘expert composers, choreographers, dramatists, and poets at an early age’. He offers an aesthetic-
ally laden account of ‘how the performing arts in general, and games in particular, are related to
children’s cognitive development’ (M’tonga 2012, p.178). In this section, the contributors explore
cultural forms that sit somewhere on a continuum from the culture of everyday life or culture as a
way of life to culture as expressive arts.
The definition of culture as a ‘way of life’ comes from the influence of anthropology, espe-
cially the culture and personality school, on various efforts to democratise culture, meaning the
arts (Middleton 2020). Raymond Williams’s concept of ‘a structure of feeling’ was the totality of
attitudes, dispositions and values that existed in a community and that he felt were expressed in
the arts (Middleton 2020). It was closely related to cultural nationalism and the assumption that
‘each “national spirit” is carried by a traditional way of living that includes language, literature,
but particularly rural and oral literature, traditional dress, ways of living the land, folk ecology
and a distinctive landscape’ (Leavitt 2014 p.22). In this section, we begin with language, which
Wells and Muluneh note in their chapter is the cultural form that has been most transformed by
both the installation and development of capitalism from mercantile capitalism, through slavery,
colonisation, settler colonialism and contemporary globalisation and Development. The relation-
ship of language to culture is of great significance both for development and for childhood. The
recent re-​emergence in linguistic anthropology and cultural linguists of a modified (or, perhaps,
more accurate) version of the Sapir–​Worth hypothesis is stimulating new investigations of what
the relationship is between culture, thought and language (Leavitt 2014). Implicit in linguistic
relativity is a sense that language shapes how we conceptualise the world. The loss of indigenous
languages and/​or the relegation of vernacular languages to the representation of sociocultural life,
in contrast to the role of so-​called global languages for the representation of politics, economics
and, especially, science, leads to the dominance of ‘European’ languages in higher education.
This has significant effects not only on children’s learning but also on the conceptualisation of
Development and the dissemination and interpretation/​translation into the vernacular of devel-
opment policy.
The acquisition of their first language or languages by children is widely considered to mark
the point at which children join the symbolic order of human culture. From the perspective of
Childhood Studies, this elevation of language is more related to a lack of attention to the young
child who is immersed in cultural practices from before birth (Wells 2018, pp.100–​108), than it
is to the actual experience of the pre-​linguistic infant. Play, both imitative and constructive, may
be considered the core cultural practice and symbolic activity of the child’s life from as early as
a few weeks after birth. Whether play is dismissed by adults as a ‘childish’ activity or valued as
‘children’s work’, and even though adults also play, play is acknowledged by all cultures as a
specific domain of childhood (Wells 2021, pp.100–​118). In relation to Development, cultures of
play are important in several ways: firstly, the appropriation and instrumentalising of play both
in edutainment and in the formalisation of play in ‘right to play’ policies (Collins and Wright
2019); secondly, the impact of development on play is experienced through the transformation of
the materials of play from children’s appropriation of whatever is to hand to the consumption of

539
 Karen Wells

prefabricated toys and games (Barthes 1972, Kline 1993); thirdly, and related to the second point
is the emergence of global cultures of play, especially of digital play.
In her chapter Peace Tetteh discusses play cultures in rural West Africa, drawing on an
ethnographic study of children’s activities outside of school. She describes three main forms of
play: games play (structured by rules and often involving boards etc.); imitative play, especially by
young children copying household tasks and using discarded materials as pretend tools and earth
and water to shape objects; and construction play, mostly making toys and musical instruments. In
his chapter on video games, Lorayza insists on these being conceptualised as a form of children’s
autonomous play cultures. In doing so, he draws out the importance of games to the intersubjective
development of subjectivity. Thus, despite the contrast between digital gaming cultures and phys-
ical gaming/​making cultures, which is itself a product of development since the former depends
on specific forms of technology and access to electricity and connectivity, both chapters demon-
strate the importance of play to the development of the child as an intersubjective being. Whilst
shifts in play cultures are stimulated by development, play itself has not been directly appropriated
by Development. This contrasts to sport, another culturally shaped activity that is highly valued
by children and which has developed into its own approach to development; Itamar Dubinsky, in
his chapter in this section, suggests it can even be considered a ‘fourth pillar of development’.
However, the claims made about sport for development are generally overstated, as Dubinsky
shows. That said, specific programmes have made important changes in individual’s lives and per-
haps in gender-​exclusionary social norms, for example in enabling girls to participate in football.
The final chapter of this section is perhaps the most straightforward example of what most
people, scholars and laypeople alike would consider culture: theatre. In this chapter Marina
Henriques Coutinho, writing with Tim Prentki, offers theatre as a way to work with children in
schools and community spaces to offer ‘education as a practice of freedom’ and to insist that the
scope of human development is and must be more than supporting the expansion of economic
development for the accumulation of private profit.
This section then offers a way of thinking about how d/​Development impacts on expressive
cultures, including play, and on language. In doing so, we offer some ways in which play and
games, language and theatre can speak back to d/​Development and even provide alternative
models of development.

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 40
LANGUAGE POLICY,
DEVELOPMENT, AND
TRANSLANGUAGING IN AFRICA
Karen Wells and Girma Shimelis Muluneh

Introduction
This chapter explores the impact of global development on language policy and the emergence
of the idea of Global English and the expansion of English as the medium of instruction (MoI) in
non-​English speaking countries. It discusses shifts in language policy during the colonial period,
a vacillation between English and vernacular languages in British colonies and unwavering
support of the colonial government for French in French West Africa. It shows how and why
this policy of using a colonial language as the language of teaching and learning (LoTL) or MoI
continued into the postcolonial period, with most former British colonies continuing to use ver-
nacular languages in early grades of schooling before moving to English from upper primary.
Recently, in light of the evident failure of the expansion of school enrolment to be reflected in
increases in literacy and numeracy, governments across the continent are turning again to ver-
nacular education or mother-​tongue learning, although higher grades continue to be dominated
by English or French, especially English which is viewed as a global language. We then turn
to translanguaging as a theory of language learning that can address the apparently intractable
problem that language policy in education faces in trying to educate students in a language that
they, quite literally, do not understand but at the same time being unwilling or unable to adopt a
local language as the LoTL into upper primary, secondary school, and beyond. We describe the
theory of translanguaging and its application in a research project in Amhara region, Ethiopia,
TEMARI which led to improvements in student experience and learning outcomes. In conclusion
we argue that the highly political character of language policy in sub-​Saharan Africa means that
it is unlikely that the use of English, French, or Portuguese as the MoI from grade 4 will change
in the near future; however, some of the disastrous consequences for learning can be addressed
through acknowledging children as skilful communicators and encouraging their development
of a meta-​theory of language as communication which will support them in the development of
school English and of the learning content of the school subjects taught through this medium
(Erling et al 2021).

542 DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-48

 Language Policy, Development, and Translanguaging in Africa

Language policy during colonial rule

The term ‘global development’ is a trope with only positive connotations. However, if instead
of ‘global development’ we think of the development of global capitalism, then both the his-
tory of development, its grounding in slavery and colonialism, and the present reality of struc-
tural inequalities that are embedded in capital-​labour relations come into view. We can appreciate,
within that frame, why postdevelopment theorists remain sceptical about the promises of progress
and equality made in the name of development. Postdevelopment, and more latterly, renewed calls
for decolonisation recognise that global capitalism is not only a political economy but one that
shapes cultural life, including language. Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Decolonising the Mind was first
published in 1986, and the challenge he mounted to language policy and his analysis of the signifi-
cance of language policy in the development of colonial rule continues to resonate. Thinking about
the inaugural moment of planetary scale capitalism we can easily grasp the significance of lan-
guage in the development of early European mercantile empires and the global integration of the
world economy that followed (Yun-​Casalilla 2019). The origin stories of empire tend to focus on
the extraction of labour-​value from humans, the appropriation of land (Bhambra 2021), of animals
(Anderson 2004), and of minerals (Abad and Palma 2021) and their transformation into private
property. A legal and physical infrastructure was necessary to facilitate the global circulation of
people and of commodities, and these circulations were underpinned by physical violence, death,
and injury. These are all necessary elements to enable global development/​planetary capitalism;
but language is an equally important part of this story.
To govern and to trade, individuals, firms and imperial governments needed a mutually intelli-
gible language, or at least a language that had the status of mutual intelligibility even if in practice,
bilingualism was limited to a small circle of people and to specific fields of action (trade, govern-
ment). Even if the translation were unreliable, it really did not matter: the peasant had been told
what tax to pay and what the penalties were for not paying taxes, the name of the slave had been
recorded in a ledger, the land that had been appropriated had been marked off and measured and
the name of the owner was now inscribed in a title deed and this inscription overruled any other
claim on the land. If the person or people who had previously occupied the land, grew crops on
it, grazed animals on it or simply walked across it, wanted to contest this transfer of the land, its
transubstantiation into private capital, this would have to be done in court using the language of
the occupiers. Today,

It relies on high-​speed super-​information highways, transnational brokers and printed legal

contracts. Everything, and nothing, has changed. Capital can now be transposed at the
click of a mouse, but language is still required for the semiotic mediation of the capital so
transposed.
(O’Regan 2021, p.6, emphasis added)

While English has become a capital-​centric ‘language of note’ (O’Regan 2021, p.6), and this
development is rooted in imperial histories, vernacular languages also played a part in enabling
colonial authorities to rule. As Sean Harvey and Sarah Rivett note, speaking of the colonisation of
the Americas ‘European empires also appropriated indigenous languages as vehicles of cultural
transformation as lingua francas for imperial administration, as a foundational form of know-
ledge that allowed deeper understanding and more effective control of peoples’ (Harvey and Rivett
2017, p.449).

543
 Karen Wells and Girma Shimelis Muluneh

Nonetheless, in most of sub-​Saharan Africa, colonial education policy insisted that the MoI
must be the colonisers’ language, either from the outset or after the end of primary school. In West
Africa, in both French and English colonies, school students were ritually humiliated in various
ways if they spoke a language other than French or English at school. This practice, the symbole,
continued in some countries into the postcolonial era and has been observed as recently as 2015
(Sarr 2020, p.113 cited in Albaugh 2014, p.41). Catholic mission schools were uninterested in
translating the bible into the vernacular. In 1912, Governor-​General of French West Africa William
Ponty formalised the language policy in a decree: ‘The goal of elementary teaching is the diffusion
among the indigenous people of spoken French. The French language is the only one to be used
in schools. It is forbidden for teachers to use local speech with their students’ (cited in Albaugh
2014, p.34, emphasis in the original). In 1922, France limited missionary activity by declaring that
any new school required government permission, government-​certified teachers, a government
curriculum, and the exclusive use of French as the language of instruction (White 1996, p.11 cited
in Albaugh 2014, p.34).
In contrast, in British-​ruled African territories, Protestant missionaries were the principal
providers of school education for Africans and were committed to translating the bible into ver-
nacular languages (Paustian 2014, see also Comaroff and Comaroff 2008). This difference partly
arose from the contrasting religious ideologies of Catholics and Protestants about the relationship
between people and God, and the role of texts and priests in mediating this relationship. It had
to do so with different imperial political philosophies. For the French government, imperialism
should involve making Africans French and the French language was central to this effort. For the
British, colonial rule was not intended to make Africans British, education in the vernacular was
as useful, if not more so, than education in English for facilitating the formation of an industrial
and bureaucratic class. However, the political elite, who were to connect the British government in
the metropole to colonial rule, did need to speak English and for this reason the small numbers of
Africans who continued into secondary school were to be taught in English. Although the British
government did not want to eradicate local languages, English was nonetheless privileged. In 1882
an Education Ordinance made English the MoI in all government schools and gave grants in aid
only to those mission schools teaching in English.
In Kenya the 1925 report of the Phelps-​Stokes Commission which implemented the so-​called
dual mandate of indirect rule argued that Kenyans had ‘an inherent and inalienable right to their
mother tongues’ (Mazrui 2013, p.141) as well as a right to learn English. Mazrui contends that
this policy of providing access to English and the vernacular was ‘the linguistic philosophy that
held sway in many British colonies until the end of World War II’ (Mazrui 2013, p.141). Also
pointing to the divide between French and English colonial language policy, in her study of State-​
Building and Multilingual Education in Africa, Albaugh notes that ‘virtually all of those countries
using local languages at independence were former British colonies’ (2014, p.8). This echoes
the different colonial policies towards MoI with Britain having local languages as the LoTL in
the early years of school and English as the LoTL in late primary and France having French lan-
guage teaching throughout. An English-​only policy was revised in Ghana after the [1922] Phelps-​
Stokes commission and a decree in 1925 required the vernacular as the medium for primary school
(Albaugh 2014, p.45 citing Ofori-​Attah 2006, p.418). That said, ‘the British interest in the control
of education began late and was of relatively short duration: from the 1920s to the 1950s’ (Albaugh
2014, p.32). After World War II, in recognition of the importance of English to political power, the
demand for ‘more English’ was also being made by African nationalists in Kenya. British colonial
policy gradually expanded English MoI schools in primary schools and even in kindergarten in the

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 Language Policy, Development, and Translanguaging in Africa

urban years. This policy was continued by the government after independence, partly in recogni-
tion of parents’ demands.

Postcolonial language policy

By now these are banal facts: the languages of the Americas are English, Spanish, and Portuguese;
nearly every sub-​Saharan African country has English, French, or Portuguese as the MoI in
schools and in many other postcolonial countries a European language is at least one of the official
languages. However, the critical difference between the Americas and sub-​Saharan Africa is that
the genocide of the indigenous populations on the one hand, and the forced migration of millions
of Africans speaking multiple languages on the other, meant that the imposition of the colonisers’
language was much more total in the Americas than it has ever been in Africa. While it has been
argued that English is now an African language (Jeyifo 2018, Kachru 1998), it is nevertheless, one
that is spoken by a minority on the continent.
Despite a Eurocentric education language policy in sub-​Saharan Africa, African languages con-
tinue to flourish, in part because most children only have a few years of schooling and learn very
little of either the European ‘national’ language or the curriculum content that is supposed to be
delivered through those languages. In Senegal, in which the MoI is French, less than 50,000 people
from a population of over 14 million speak French as their first language and two-​thirds of the
population have no understanding of French at all. As Sar notes, while ‘French may be the official
language of formal schooling, local African languages continue to serve as the medium of commu-
nication within families and an essential tool in child raising’ (Sarr 2020: 103).
That said, in the knowledge that to succeed in politics or government one must speak a variety
of English or French the middle/​upper-​classes are abandoning African language(s) in their family
speech. As Kamwangamalu notes, ‘[t]‌he literature on language practices in educated families in
Anglophone (and possibly Francophone and Lusophone) Africa’s urban centers shows that chil-
dren in those families have shifted or are gradually shifting to English at the expense of their
indigenous languages’ (2019, p.117) citing several studies from across the continent. In light of
this, and the fact that English is the MoI in the former British colonies in Africa, Kamwangamaul
argues that English should be considered an African language and integrated with ‘ancestral’
African languages. Her argument is partly based on the incorporation of several linguistic features
of Bantu languages into African-​Englishes, for example indirect questions, subject copying, exten-
sion of -​ing form to stative verbs, together with idiomatic expressions in English that carry over
from indigenous cultures, especially about emotions, greetings, and friends.
Generally, the use of a European language as the LoTL in postcolonial Africa is explained
by one or more of the following justifications: to adopt any ‘local’ language to the exclusion of
other ‘local’ languages would be politically sensitive and attract charges of discrimination against
other language speakers (Kamwangamalu 2013, p.158); English, French, and Spanish are global
languages and therefore if children learn to be fluent in these languages they will be able to be
‘global citizens’; ‘local’ languages are minority languages either within the country, regionally or
globally and therefore there are insufficient resources to teach sciences, math, and even history and
literature in local languages and it would put students at a disadvantage to learn in the local lan-
guage (Trudell 2016, p.289); finally the myth that in order to learn a language effectively it must
be taught during childhood (this is subsumed into the idea that in order for development to occur
everyone should be fluent in a ‘global language’). Kamwangamalu (2013) makes the point that
even in the monolingual countries of Lesotho and Swaziland, Sesotho and siSwati, respectively,

545
 Karen Wells and Girma Shimelis Muluneh

are unlikely to be accepted by parents and children unless they become pathways to economic
opportunities, especially in government.
It is important to note that the assumption that teaching in a global language across the school
curriculum is a prerequisite to national development has been disproved in theory and in practice.
East Asian states, those that in the early 1970s were at the same level of national development
as sub-​Saharan African countries are now, teach in national/​Asian languages from elementary
through to senior high school. In European states that do not speak global languages (Germany,
Norway, Finland, Sweden), all levels of education are in the national language. While Africa’s
weak development is often ascribed to its ‘tremendous ethnolinguistic fragmentation’ (Albaugh
2014, p.4), and many minority languages in the rest of the world have disappeared, there is consid­
erable scope for African lingua francas to be used in education. Nor is Global English a factually
correct description of the varieties of English that are spoken across the ‘English-​speaking’ world.
While many of these varieties of English are mutually intelligible, the domain of intelligibility is
often quite specific; waiters and customers can discuss the menu in English but these same indi-
viduals might not be able to discuss other content, builders and their customers can agree on the
colour of paint, the height of a wall, but may not be able to discuss the politics of their respective
countries of origin.
Nonetheless, the myth that African countries with English as an official language and the MoI
in schools are ‘English-​speaking’ persists. Similarly, in Francophone Africa (the phrase itself, of
course testimony to the enduring legacy of colonialism) it is a myth that most people speak French.
For sure, a middle/​upper-​class minority do speak the national-​European language, and it is and
has been since independence a prerequisite for civil service jobs or any political role to be able
to do so. The division of the English-​speaking world into the inner circle, the outer circle and the
expanding circle disguises the extent to which most of the population in the outer circle and even
more so in the expanding circle do not speak English and only learn it in school as a school subject.

The emergence of vernacular education

Whilst at independence only 40% of states used African languages in education this has now risen
to nearly 80% (Albaugh 2014, p.1). While most African states adopted the language of the colonial
power at independence, ‘a wave of “indigenization” experiments swept across the continent in the
1970s’ (Albaugh 2014, p.62). In Zaire, The Congress of the Popular Movement for the Revolution
(Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution [M.P.R.]) recommended at its 1972 Congress that national
languages should be taught in schools at all levels, and two years later this was adopted but not
implemented (Mputubwele 2003, p.281). Similar decolonial or revolutionary language policies in
Burkina Faso, Central Africa Republic, Madagascar, Senegal, Somalia, and Togo were introduced
in the mid-​1970s. However, practice never matched rhetoric or policy; as Albaugh observes: ‘The
rise of local national language policies framed by nationalist and revolutionary rhetoric was not
enough to sustain their implementation as the medium of instruction in schools’ (Albaugh 2014,
p.64). The Derg regime also adopted a language policy underpinned by revolutionary rhetoric
when it took power in Ethiopia in 1974. Its language policy was closely aligned with the language
and nationalities policy of its international ally, the Soviet Union. Amharic and English were both
adopted as official languages, as they had been during the Haile Selassie regime. When the Derg
administration came to power in 1974, the notion of employing sub-​national languages as an edu-
cational medium was explored and planned, but it was never fully actualised.
When the EPRDF came to power in 1991 (the present Prosperity Party), it began to employ
mother tongues as the instructional languages of many ethnicities and nationalities and as a means

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 Language Policy, Development, and Translanguaging in Africa

of government communication. One of the experiments in language policy in Nigeria, which is

still widely cited as evidence of the importance of mother-​tongue teaching to successful learning
(the Ife Six-​Year Primary Project, 1970–​1976), is cited as the inspiration for the EPRDF’s mother-​
tongue teaching policy. These decisions also reflected the EPRDF’s political commitments after
the Derg regime was overthrown, and the EPRDF adopted the principles of liberal democracy and
language policy was one mechanism through which the various ethno-​nationalist parties that made
up the EPRDF were recognised in the new government.

A new cycle of vernacularisation

Albaugh argues that this more recent shift towards mother tongue education has come from
an alliance of indigenous linguists and international NGOs operating within a discourse of lin-
guistic rights, and a shift in French policy in response to evidence that children learn a foreign
language more proficiently if they first acquire literacy in their first language (Albaugh 2014, p.3).
Unsurprisingly, research consistently shows that people learn better when they are taught in a lan-
guage they understand (Brock-​Utne 2010; Carter et al 2020, Trudell 2016). In recognition of this,
a new cycle of vernacularisation has now begun although in the upper primary cycle (grades 4–​8)
students’ transition, abruptly, to a ‘foreign’ but official language. This new cycle of vernacular
education has, to some extent, been framed as pragmatic, rather than ideological, in comparison
with the 1970s wave of vernacular reforms mentioned above; a response to the abysmal outcomes
from school education in the sub-​continent. That said, epistemic or linguistic justice are also cited
as rationales for a vernacular language policy. It was in support of linguistic justice that Tanzania
adopted a Swahili LoTL in 1997, and this same ideology caused South Africa to adopt ten offi-
cial languages of which nine are African and Eritrea to adopt a multilingual language policy for
learning in elementary schools (Asfaha 2020).
Learning outcomes in sub-​Saharan Africa are lower than in any other region, for example in
South Africa, 78% of grade 4 students cannot read for meaning in English; in Ghana reading com-
prehension is low both for students taught in a local language and those taught in English, but
non-​recognition of English words is significantly higher in English than in local languages (Spaull
and Pretorius 2019). Participation in PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment)
shows that fewer than 10% of 15-​year-​olds in school in Senegal in 2018 were functionally lit-
erate in French, the LoTL (Spaull and Pretorius 2019). In Ghana, for example, grades 1–​3 are
taught in a local language, with English as the main language of instruction from primary grade
4. However, although lower primary (grades 1–​3) is taught in local languages, a minority (11 out
of 80) of Ghana’s languages are included in the list of approved languages of instruction (Carter
et al 2020). In Kenya, children are taught in an African language in grades 1–​3, with English taught
as a subject. In grade 4 students are assumed to be bilingual and teaching from grade 4 onwards
is in English. The assumption that children are sufficiently proficient in English by grade 4 is not
warranted (Kiramba 2015). Since 1983 Kiswahili has been taught in the new 8-​4-​4 model and
must be passed for a student to graduate from school. In 2015 ‘the Tanzanian government launched
a new education system that extends Kiswahili-​medium education to include four years of sec-
ondary school… Kiswahili is now the official medium of instruction from grade 1 through grade
11’ (Trudell 2016). On the other hand, in 2006, the government of Zanzibar, implementing the
recommendations of a UK-​funded research project, extended English as the LoTL from secondary
school to grade 5 of primary school for math and science. The reasoning behind this extension was
that students were not learning well in secondary school where the LoTL was in English (Brock-​
Utne 2010, p.641).

547
 Karen Wells and Girma Shimelis Muluneh

Post-​Apartheid South Africa is one of the few states in sub-​Saharan Africa, to adopt a multilin-
gual education policy. However, the legacy of Apartheid language policy on the one hand, and the
widely held (but erroneous) belief that proficiency in English will be greater if it is the language
of instruction from an early age, has mitigated against the effective implementation of this policy.
Students who otherwise are immersed in an African language or languages are formally instructed
in English in school from as early as grade 4. At the same time, in practice, children are spoken to
by their teachers in a shared (African) language since teaching in English, even if teachers have
the skills to do so, would lead to a classroom in which students are completely unable to follow the
texts or the content being taught (Desai 2001), but they are still examined in English.

Learning in a new language

Several studies show that to develop academic level of competence in a language takes many
years and depends on the level of academic proficiency in the home language (reading, writing,
listening, and speaking) as well as the additional cognitive demands of academic study (Skutnabb-​
Kangas and Toukamaa, 1976 cited in Kiramba 2015). Kiramba (2015) also cites Cummins (1979)
whose research showed that people can acquire basic interpersonal language skills in two to three
years but that academic competence requires proficiency in all four skills in L1 and takes five to six
years. Other research claims that full academic competence in a second language takes 12 years.
The transition to teaching in a European LoTL in sub-​Saharan Africa intensifies inequalities in
education. It contributes to school drop-​out and further exacerbates the gap between genders and
socio-​economic groups in school attainment. It increases the disconnect between students’ lan-
guage practices in and out of school and further limits the ability of parents to engage with their
children’s learning, which is a widely recognised pillar of school success. Teachers also often lack
confidence in their ability to teach in English. Despite this evidence base, very little attention has
been paid to language learning and second-​language acquisition for students in the Global South
(Milligan et al 2016).
As we described above, in most African countries lower primary is taught in the vernacular
and upper primary and secondary in a national language. Even in Ethiopia, which was never
colonised and in which Amharic has been the language of government for centuries, English has
been the language of secondary and tertiary education since 1941. The transition to English is
justified by its importance for political and economic development. However, the assumption that
students will be able to effectively learn from grade 7 in a language that they are not familiar with
is unwarranted.

Translanguaging
The exclusion of the vernacular from the LoTL classroom is based on a theory of languages as
contained semiotic systems, where additional language learning aims for full bilingualism and
fluent translation between two discrete languages. Sociolinguistic theories developed to explain
language practices in superdiverse urban spaces in the Global North have successfully challenged
this conceptualisation of languages through a theory of translanguaging that conceptualises
languages as semiotic resources that people draw on, as and when they need them, together with
other semiotic resources (image, gesture, objects), rather than as discrete linguistic sets. In con-
trast to a deficit model of additional language learning, which assumes that the new language is
a separate communicative package to the first language, translanguaging theorist Cen Williams,
analysing Welsh-​English speech practices in a study that is widely cited as the origin research

548
 Language Policy, Development, and Translanguaging in Africa

for translanguaging, argued that bilingual and multilingual speakers treat all their languages as
one resource using different vocabulary and syntax as appropriate. This contrasts with the con-
ceptualisation of language as discrete packages of knowledge. The theory of translanguaging is
more than a method; it contests a fundamental assumption developed in the 18th-​century age of
nationalism, that language and nation are coterminous, and that nation-​building requires a single
common language.
Research has shown the transformative dimension of translanguaging and its creative poten-
tial; contributing to a change in attitudes and beliefs and to identity development, awareness of
the social meaning of the languages one speaks and of wider social relations. Translanguaging has
been recognised as an effective pedagogical practice in bi/​multilingual education in the Global
North, especially in minority language teaching. Translanguaging developed more fully as a
theory and a method for teaching Hispanic speakers in English language classrooms in the US.
There has been limited research on how speakers manage linguistic diversity in sub-​Saharan
Africa; a region with over 2000 languages and in which people often speak two or three languages.
Research in South Africa has investigated translanguaging practices in multilingual English-​
medium classrooms where neither teachers nor students feel competent in English. This research
has identified promising strategies for using translanguaging to manage the transition of students
into EMI (English Medium of Instruction). Our own research, TEMARI/​ተማሪ,1 built on this work
by developing tools for testing a proof of concept of translanguaging in Ethiopian English LoTL
classrooms.
Translanguaging is a theory of language with a transformative aim. The prefix ‘trans’ means to
cross over, in language teaching and learning it means to fluidly move between language spaces
and language systems. In contrast to the view that a person who fully understands the syntax of
one language and has a comprehensive vocabulary in that language (L1) but does not in a second
language (L2) is an inadequate or failing bilingual, translanguaging theory encourages us to think
of language as a unified set of communicative resources. This, in turn, obviates the crushing fear
of getting the grammar ‘wrong,’ of mispronouncing unfamiliar words, or, perhaps most import-
antly in a learning environment, the fear of asking questions (in any language) and exposing
the speaker’s lack of fluency or (mis)understanding of content. Furthermore, translanguaging
encourages teachers and students to engage with their diverse ‘multiple meaning-​making systems
and subjectivities’ (Li Wei and Lin 2019, p.210). In asking us to consider language as a combined
set of communicative resources ‘new configurations of language practices and education are
generated’ and ‘the voices of Others come to the forefront’ connecting translanguaging closely to
linguistic human rights and to critical pedagogy and social justice (Li Wei and Lin 2019, p.210).
Translanguaging gives us new insights into how social structures of inequality (gender, class)
are reproduced, but also how they can be unravelled. Indeed, in the Amharic language class-
room where students and teachers may be equally hesitant about their faculty in English lan-
guage speaking and where students may be multilingual (speaking Arabic or Ge’ez, for example),
translanguaging in classroom practice can be transformed into a space for ‘co-​participation and
co-​construction of knowledge’ (Li Wei and Lin 2019, p.212) by students and teachers. In South
Africa, where the majority of translanguaging research has been conducted in the continent, it is
seen as delivering on post-​Apartheid/​majority-​rule commitments to social and linguistic justice
(Banda 2018). More recently, Kerfoo, Bello-​Nonjengele and Olayemi (2023) have argued that
translanguaging is a critical tool for delivering epistemic justice.
In recognition of the difficulties for students in learning a new language and the content
that is supposed to be taught in this language, researchers have turned to translanguaging
theory to understand how the bi/​multilingual classroom works in practice and how a systematic

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 Karen Wells and Girma Shimelis Muluneh

translanguaging pedagogy could improve student experience, learning outcomes, and language
learning. Most of that research has been done with linguistic minorities in countries where the
LoI is widely used outside of school in everyday discourse (for example Spanish-​speakers in
EMI schools in the US) and is not simply the language of government, as is the case in many
African states. There has been some research done, mainly in South Africa, on multilingual
classrooms and translanguaging. Most of that research begins from the fact that although English
is the official LoTL students in government schools are usually not able to understand English
and therefore the teacher teaches in one of the African languages that students are familiar with
(Desai 2001), typically isiXhosa or isiZulu. However, even within the translanguaging research
in South Africa, to the best of our knowledge, there has not been research that implements a
systematic translanguaging pedagogy and studies the effect of that on learning outcomes and
student experiences. A study in Uganda explored how teachers and students manage the transi-
tion to English LoI in primary grade 4 using local linguistic and other cultural resources (Abiria,
Early and Kendrick 2013). This showed how teachers necessarily interrupt the official policy of
English-​only LoI but that they do so ‘between the lines’ in a responsive but necessarily ad-​hoc
response to their students’ learning needs. Our proof-​of-​concept study provides the structure for
the implementation of a systematic and sustainable translanguaging pedagogy which uses and
develops local resources.
In addressing the question of how to improve learning outcomes and student experience in
government schools in Amhara region (and by analogy more generally in sub-​Saharan Africa),
we drew on the conceptual frameworks of translanguaging, introduced above and Vygotsky’s
sociocultural learning theory (Vygotsky 1981). We used Vygotsky’s principle of scaffolding with
experts (this can be people or objects/​texts) from concept or skill A to B in a zone of proximal
development (ZPD) to both design translanguaging classroom resources and to understand how
children themselves, drawing on community and school resources, could develop techniques using
‘expert texts’ (for example dictionaries and bilingual texts) to scaffold their learning across a ZPD
to develop new vocabulary and to understand the meta-​principles of language use. Although it
harnesses the practices that spontaneously happen in the classroom as the teacher struggles to
get students to understand them, or teachers themselves struggle to explain content in English,
translanguaging pedagogy is planned and systematic, not haphazard, or random (Garcia and Flores
2012; Probyn 2019).
In our research, many teachers commented on the fact that they already teach in the local
language even in what was nominally the English-​language classroom. This can give rise to the
perception that translanguaging is simply a new term that describes an existing practice, often
labelled ‘code-​switching.’ However, this is a misunderstanding. Firstly, code-​switching is intended
to capture shifts in speech patterns between or across same-​language speakers who adopt different
accents, use different grammatical structures, and develop new words that are appropriate to the
communicative context. The classic example of this is African American Vernacular English
(AVE). Although there is some debate amongst linguists about whether AVE is a different lan-
guage to Anglo-​American English, the dominant view is that AVE is a dialect of English compar-
able to other forms of vernacular English. In other words, all speakers are familiar with a language,
say English, but given regional and class-​based differences in language use, may shift codes within
the same language. For example, while many people use colloquialisms and vulgar words in
everyday speech in general, using such terms in a professional context would be seen as inappro-
priate, and possibly offensive. Furthermore, code-​switching is informal, and unplanned. However,
unplanned or unstructured switching between a majority language, say Amharic in Ethiopia or
Wolof in Senegal or Xhosa in South Africa and a minority language (in the context), say English

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 Language Policy, Development, and Translanguaging in Africa

or French, is also not translanguaging, although translanguaging captures more accurately than
‘code-​switching’ what is happening in such cases. In such contexts, most of the spoken commu-
nication in the classroom is done in the local/​majority language and most of the written com-
munication is provided in the global/​minority language. Consequently, there is little connection
made between concepts and content written in textbooks and on the board and the teacher’s verbal
instruction. Students, with the exception of high-​performing students, remain silent.
The TEMARI project, funded by the British Academy, was implemented over one academic
year in five schools by Partners in Education Ethiopia (PiEE), an NGO that works with the com-
munity to improve quality education through interventions including improving school infrastruc-
ture, developing teachers’ capacities, greening and gardening programmes, and school WASH.
It currently manages 20 schools in Amhara region where it encourages learner-​centred teaching.
The research aimed to test a proof of concept, that culturally relevant translanguaging resources
would have a positive impact on students’ learning outcomes in EMI subjects in grade 7 and to
contribute to the development of theories of multilingual and multimodal language learning. To
test this concept, we developed translanguaging materials with teachers and students and observed
their use in English LoTL classrooms in five selected schools (two rural, two urban, one bilingual)
over one semester. We identified, with teachers, students in each subject that is taught in English in
Amhara Regional State schools at grade 7 (English, Biology, Chemistry, Math, and Physics) to act
as translanguaging student ambassadors. These students developed translanguaging materials rele-
vant to each session, in cooperation with the teacher and brought them to the classroom. Wherever
possible, the materials they prepared were displayed on the walls so that other students could use
them in their own learning during the class. These resources were multimodal, involving drawing
as well as writing and the use of various objects to make the learning of concepts more concrete
and connect them to students’ existing funds of knowledge. The ambassadors worked closely
with teachers to produce translanguaging resources. This created new opportunities for students
to meet and interact with teachers which in turn enabled the development of a more dialogic
and democratic pedagogy. Ambassadors helped teachers to provide more attention for planning
and organising translanguaging resources ahead of the lesson and also took on the role of prac-
tising translanguaging in the classroom, for example by discussing in Amharic and then translating
into English. At the end of the semester, students in the intervention schools and a control group
of schools were tested in English and Math and qualitative interviews and focus groups were
conducted with student ambassadors, teachers and school principals.
Translanguaging, as we discussed above, involves the systematic and planned use of bilingual
or multilingual resources in the classroom. However, more than a technique for teaching emer-
gent bilinguals, translanguaging is also a radical practice, one that aims to shift the dynamics
between students and between students and teachers through encouraging an exploratory, demo-
cratic, and dialogic approach to learning and one that treats the student’s home and community as
a resource for school learning rather than antithetical to it. To achieve this integration of home-​
community and school, we felt it was important to understand more about student’s out-​of-​school
lives, their home literacy resources, and their motivation for learning. In each school we therefore
asked teachers to select six students (three girls and three boys) from grade 7 who the researcher
could conduct walking interviews and home visits with. Students were selected based on teacher
assessment of their learning achievements, with two students (one girl and one boy) being selected
from high, medium, and low attainment groups. Girma, the first author, accompanied each child
to their homes and talked with them and at least one parent in an informal and unstructured way
about their language learning and their home and community communicative resources. Although
no clear pattern emerged in these interviews and observations in relation to linguistic resources

551
 Karen Wells and Girma Shimelis Muluneh

that might account for attainment differences, these visits provided the team with a more in-​depth
understanding of students’ lives outside of school, increasing the sense of connection between
home and school and provided insight about the language resources students have in their home
and community including television, radio, newspapers, and billboards. In classroom observations,
most high-​performing students, but not all of them, used language-​learning strategies that they had
developed themselves, including translating words into Amharic in their textbooks, and writing
words in Amharic and English in their exercise books.
The qualitative and quantitative data showed significant impacts on student learning
experiences, which both teachers and students observed were more dialogic than previous
modes of teaching and learning, even though PiEE schools were already encouraged to use
student-​centred learning. Students and teachers commented on the increase in classroom
talk, the loss of fear about making mistakes, and the enthusiasm for learning that students
(ambassadors and other students) demonstrated with these new methods. The following com-
mentary is emblematic of the kinds of comments about how translanguaging impacted on class-
room dynamics and on learning:

The first [change] is that it helped them to freely express their ideas. The second one is that
since they are starting to learn every subject in English at grade seven, for instance, nat-
ural science students are learning physics, biology, chemistry, and mathematics subjects,
in the past, they did not understand [while we were teaching them]. We were only teaching
some well performing students [who could understand]. However, now, we are teaching
them after translating, students begin to practice and/​or experience English. They begin
to express their ideas using English though they are not perfect and/​or fluent. Even when
they sometimes fail to express [themselves] in English, we motivate them to express their
ideas using Amharic. In the past, when they failed to speak, we did not do anything but
continue to teach [without their involvement]. Now, we are motivating them to actively
participate, for instance, in speaking and even writing the spelling of English words on
the blackboard.
(Biology Teacher, grade 7)

In addition to developing collaboration between students and between student ambassadors and
teachers, teachers involved in TEMARI/​ተማሪ also began to collaborate with one another on how
to plan lessons and improve their teaching. This collaborative attitude seemed to be encouraged by
the attitude to learning that TEMARI/​ተማሪ promotes, one in which mistakes are seen more within
the frame of experimentation than error.
Students and teachers also commented on how the TEMARI/​ተማሪ method encouraged girls to
speak more in class and to participate actively in their own learning. Although girls were already
doing as well as boys in tests, in general, girls did not participate actively in class. Translanguaging,
including appointing girl student ambassadors, impacted positively in girls’ activity in class,
including those girls who previously had hardly spoken.
Student test results for the TEMARI/​ተማሪ intervention schools were significantly higher than
the control group. At the end of the implementation period (ten-​month/​academic year), standard
Math and English tests were administered to a selection of students from intervention and non-​
intervention schools. The tests were based on tools developed by the longitudinal research study
Young Lives and EDRI and consisted of 40 questions in each of English and Math. The total stu-
dent population in each school was divided into high, medium, and low achievers based on teacher
made assessments, and each of those was divided into male and female populations. From each

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 Language Policy, Development, and Translanguaging in Africa

strata, 30% of the students were randomly selected proportionally, resulting in a sample of 575
students (304 intervention, 271 non-​intervention; 292 female, 283 male).
We ran independent sample t-​tests on the scores for English, Maths, and combined tests that
were taken by students involved in the intervention and a control group of students from another
five Partners in Education Ethiopia schools. According to the independent sample t-​test results,
statistically significant differences are observed between intervention and non-​intervention groups
at 95% confidence interval (CI) excluding zero in combined (12.213, 15.927), English (5.676,
7.783), and Mathematics (6.318, 8.362) test result at p-​value <0.05. While no statistically sig-
nificant differences were found within intervention and non-​intervention groups based on gender,
there are strong statistically significant differences between boys in the intervention and non-​
intervention group for combined (8.627, 14.017), English (4.134, 7.071), and Mathematics (4.246,
7.193) test results as well as in girls’ scores for the combined (10.198, 15.397) English (4.700,
7.602), and Mathematics (5.243, 8.050) test scores. Congruent with the independent sample t-​test,
the logistic regression result indicated that students in the intervention group were 4.9 times (95%
CI 3.5–​7.0) more likely to pass Math than those in the non-​intervention group, 4.2 times (95% CI
3.0–​6.0) more likely to pass English, and 5.1 times (95% CI 3.6–​7.3) more likely to pass both,
assuming a pass score of 50%.
TEMARI/​ተማሪ therefore offers a highly promising strategy for improving student learning
experiences and outcomes in African schools using a European language as the LoTL with chil-
dren who have little exposure to European languages.

Conclusion
As recently as 2000, at the World Education Forum in Dakar, there was no mention of the language
issue for education. Nadine Dutcher, a linguist and World Bank consultant has commented that,

It is shocking that the international dialogue on Education for All has not confronted the
problems children face when they enter school not understanding the medium of instruction,
when they are expected to learn a new language at the same time as they are learning in and
through the new language. The basic problem is that children cannot understand what the
teacher is saying! We believe that if international planners had faced these issues on a global
scale, there would have been progress to report. However, instead of making changes that
would lead to real advancement, the international community has simply repledged itself to
the same goals, merely moving the target ahead from the year 2000 to 2015.
(Dutcher 2004, 8, emphasis in original cited in
Albaugh 2014, p.103)

The reasons why African governments have persisted in adopting a language education policy that
is so antithetical to learning are complex and multiple. NGO demands for linguistic justice, African
governments’ recognition of the importance of African languages for democratic citizenship, and
the effects on British and French foreign policy in Africa in relation to education of research that
shows that learning literacy in a first language supports subsequent learning of a foreign language
(Carter et al 2020) have all contributed to the expansion of vernacular languages of instruction in
early primary in many African states (Albaugh 2014). However, extending the vernacular language
of instruction into upper primary and secondary has not followed from the shift in early primary
schooling. The perception of English as a global language (Crystal 2012), although contested by
sociolinguists (Pennycook 2006), contributes to the belief of parents, students, and even teachers

553
 Karen Wells and Girma Shimelis Muluneh

(Kwihangana 2021) that teaching English is one of the most important tasks of school education.
Despite extensive research to the contrary there is a stubborn conviction, ‘as deeply held as it is
erroneous,’ that the sooner in the school career English is introduced, the more likely it is that
students will attain fluency. Furthermore, African languages are represented as under-​developed
and incapable of transmitting scientific knowledge and concepts (Ouane and Glanz 2011, p.21).
The variety of African languages also mitigates against the implementation of the LoLT being a
local language. Professionals and other elite groups are more likely to educate their children at
private English-​language schools, as well as speaking English at home and subscribing to English
language cable stations (Bunyi 2008); a poorly implemented English as LoLT in government
schools retains the competitive advantage of the middle classes in their access to professional jobs.
For all these reasons, it is highly unlikely that any government in the sub-​continent will adopt a
national lingua franca (e.g. Swahili in East Africa, Wolof in Senegal, Amharic in Ethiopia, and Twi
in Ghana) as the MoI in the next ten years for upper primary or secondary school. It is therefore
of critical importance that new approaches are developed that can enable children to learn in what
are, effectively, foreign language schools. Translanguaging in general and TEMARI/​ተማሪ specif-
ically offers a promising approach to developing a more dialogic and participatory classroom in
which students have the possibility of developing a bilingual identity.

Note
1 TEMARI/​ ተማሪ: Teaching and learning in English-​ medium schools: Adapting everyday language
Resources for Instruction using translanguaging theory and principles.

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 41
CHILDREN’S PLAY CULTURES
IN WEST AFRICA
Peace Mamle Tetteh

Introduction
Play is a mundane and ubiquitous phenomenon among children in all cultures. Children engage in
a variety of play at different points in time and in different spaces. The frequency and variety of
play children are engaged in are influenced by individual differences in playfulness, the cultural
perspective on the value of play, as well as other cultural and environmental factors. Despite the
ubiquity of play in children’s lives, narratives about childhood in Africa have often been focused
on deprivation, poverty, pain, and vulnerability. This chapter, in exploring play cultures, rethinks
childhoods and play cultures in West Africa.
The chapter explores the pervasive but often ignored and invisibilized, recreational, and devel-
opmental aspects of children’s lives. Situated within the broader discourse of children’s play in
sub-​Saharan Africa, I argue for the need to demonstrate the pluralities of childhoods, as well the
diverse processes that facilitate children’s development in these West African contexts.
The empirical literature on play is largely Eurocentric (Cannella, 1997; Fleer, 1996). Its origin
is traced to the late 18th and early 19th-​century Romantic depiction of the child as having the
ability to determine his or her own development (Hogan, 2010).
Play as a concept in child development continues to mostly draw on the work of Piaget (1962),
Vygotsky (1978), and Kohlberg (1958). In their influential work, Monighan-​Nourot et al. (1987)
identify the core components of the concept of play. These components are the active engage-
ment of the child, intrinsic motivation to engage in play, attention to means rather than ends,
non-​literal behaviour, and freedom from external rules (Monighan-​Nourot et al., 1987, p. 15).
This conceptualization of play agrees with Piaget’s (1962) cognitive theories that see the child as
a developing being capable of learning, developing ideas, and systematically making discoveries
about the environment around them. Some scholars have argued that this view of play does not
entirely apply to all children (Lillemyr et al., 2007). This view is also held by Nolan and Kilderry
(2010) who note that the meaning of play is not universal. Its meaning is contextual, depending on
culture, political, and socio-​economic settings.
Hence, in adding to the research on play and expanding its horizons, I explore children’s play
cultures in rural West Africa; children’s play forms and the meanings children give to play. I draw
out what, how, and who children play with as well as when and where they play to obtain a total

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-49 557

 Peace Mamle Tetteh

picture of this activity in the lives of children. Additionally, I seek to understand what motivates
children’s play and choice of activity as play.

Play and child development

Play is a major form of physical activity in the lives of children through which they learn to cope
with the world around them. For children, play can freely be chosen and personally directed and is
a fundamental part of healthy development for them. At the time of increasing prevalence of non-​
communicable diseases, such as heart diseases, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease, harnessing
opportunities to increase children’s physical activity through free play is considered more imperative
now than ever before (Dunton et al., 2020; Hall et al., 2021; Rundle et al., 2020). Health benefits, such
as prevention of chronic diseases and reduction in the risk of premature death among children, are
linked to increased levels of physical activity and play among children (Kelly et al., 2014; Tremblay
et al., 2015). Daily moderate-​to-​vigorous physical exercise through such activity as play is vital to the
physical, mental, and social well-​being of children (Ginsburg & Committee on Psychological Aspects
of Child and Family Health, 2007; Saunders et al., 2013). Specifically, it is reported that children who
are physically active tend to have better cardiovascular fitness and are less likely to be overweight
(Davison et al., 2008; Dunton et al., 2020). Outdoor activities such as playing football or ampe (a West
African jumping and clapping game) are activities that children can do with minimal to no restrictions
and from which they can derive personal satisfaction (Cordes & Ibrahim, 1999). Thus, the World
Health Organisation recommends that children should be engaged, as much as possible, in moderate-​
to-​vigorous physical activity and play outdoors, at least, for 60 minutes per day (WHO, 2019).
Besides the physical benefits, the literature is replete with evidence supporting play as an intel-
lectual and development tool for the social, emotional, and physical development of the child
(Aronstam & Braund, 2015; Foulds & Bucuvalas, 2019; Holt et al., 2015; Pyle et al., 2018; Pyle
& Danniels, 2017; Wood, 2014). This body of research shows that play is a means to help children
develop organizing and problem-​solving abilities. Further, children at play tend to engage their
faculties to meet their play goals, hence gaining cognitive skills (Barnett, 2018). Through various
kinds of play, children learn how to organize tasks, create, and maintain social relations as well as
learn to use materials in their environment.

Children and play in West Africa

Despite the benefits that play accrues to children, empirical childhood studies exploring play in
the lives of children have tended to be skewed towards children in the Global North (Twum-​
Danso Imoh, 2016). In sub-​Saharan Africa, this is evidenced in the proliferation of literature on
marginalized childhoods and children experiencing difficult lives because of the socio-​economic
context (Twum-​Danso Imoh, 2016; Ntarangwi & Massart, 2015). For example, studies on childhood
in this region have extensively covered street children (Bordonaro, 2011), child labour (Spittler &
Bourdillon, 2012), the effect of HIV/​AIDS on children (Ansell & Van Blerk, 2004), and children
in conflict (Shepler, 2014). Though the focus of these studies is legitimate because they invite crit­
ical reflections and understanding of the lives of these children, it is also important, to expand the
scope and the narrative to look at the more mundane or quotidian aspects of most children’s lives
in the Global South, which includes play (Benwell, 2009; Hollos, 2002; Punch, 2003).
Some scholars (Adjei-​Boadi et al., 2022, Kanu, 2017, Lambert et al., 2019) have postulated
that, in most African societies, children’s play is seen as a special purpose vehicle to socialize
and prepare the child for the future through observation, role play, emulation/​imitation, and

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experimentation. Similarly, Bornstein and Putnick’s (2012) descriptive study of about 127 fam­
ilies across some selected developing countries in Africa disclosed that children’s outdoor play
was the most predominant activity that children were involved in for cognitive, behavioural, com-
munication, and social skills development. In many rural African contexts, children play a critical
role in their own development and have a responsibility towards their own knowledge acquisition
(Pence & Nsamenang, 2008). Indigenous pedagogy allows participatory learning among children
as young as toddlers at home, in the community, at religious services, from peer culture, and
others in other settings (Ogunyemi & Ragpot, 2015; Pence & Nsamenang, 2008). This is often
achieved through work–​play activities, with minimal to no explicit didactic support (Fouts et al.,
2013; Marfo & Biersteker, 2010; Ogunyemi & Ragpot, 2015; Pence & Nsamenang, 2008). This
pedagogical style is underpinned by the socialization children receive from societal institutions.
Through active participation, sometimes in the form of play acts mimicking adult roles, they learn
their culture and valued social and economic activities. Nsamenang (2004) shows that through this
method of work–​play, children acquire useful economic values and societal virtues to make them
grow to be useful and responsible members of their community. According to Britto and Ulkeur
(2012), children seize the opportunity of play time and practices to harness their talents and to
learn all the competencies and values required of them through self-​constructed or guided play.
Notable among some children’s play in Africa includes the use of tools for skills development, oral
plays that speak to moral lessons, history, and war, and practical ground games which encourage
children to focus on tasks and help the overall well-​being of the child.
In indigenous practices children are seen to possess innate capacity to be agents of their own
play and learning activities through a multi-​age peer group. In this context, societal values are
imparted to them by older children who serve as peer mentors (Nsamenang, 2004; Nsamenang
& Lamb, 1995). Typically, in most African settings, children are given free-​range with some­
times adults-​led play to engage in several activities and practices (Edwards, 2000). They may
be informally guided by certain defined rules which limit the means that may be used to reach
intentional goals as well as teaching failure and success to give them the ability to assume
adults’ responsibilities in both closed and open environments (Adams et al., 2017; McClain &
Vandermaas-​Peeler, 2016). Sarti et al. (2015) noted that during the day children are allowed to
play on their own and bring all sorts of talents and specific training taught at home to the play-
ground to promote growth and development. This helps the child with routine interactions that
promote communication and linguistic skills, character formation, and social and physical skills
which in broad terms provide numeracy, literacy, critical thinking, and practical reasoning.
Play is also a medium of expression. The mode of play where children use local materials is
common (McAdam-​Crisp, 2006; Rossie, 2019). Some research in this region suggests that intelli­­
gence is not only assessed by a child’s cognitive ability or strict literacy acumen but is also based
on practical ability to craft household and play toys with locally acquired materials. For example,
Kathuria and Serpell (1998) developed the Panga Munthu or Make-​A-​Person Test, which presents
children in the context of rural Zambia with wet clay and asks them to model a person with it.
The children’s figures are then quantitatively scored for accurate representation of human physical
characteristics. Other researchers have also argued that a language-​minimized test is more suitable
for children in rural Africa (Serpell & Jere-​Folotiya, 2008).

Play in postcolonial sub-​Saharan Africa

The postcolonial societies of sub-​Saharan African countries presented a social, economic, polit-
ical, and developmental atmosphere different from what had existed prior to the contact with the

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colonial rulers. One telling legacy was the outright ‘disregard for local practices in children’s care
and development’ (Pence & Nsamenang, 2008, p. 33). For example, Pence and Nsamenang (2008)
questioned why African children’s participatory learning and sense of duty to contribute to the
family’s upkeep is interpreted as child labour. The root of stigmatization of indigenous childhood
practices is the attribution of superiority to the Western culture over other cultures particularly in
the Global South.
Again, the colonial legacy of formal Western education in the region to a large extent affected
the concept of play. The introduction of European models of early childhood programs, such as
nurseries, crèches, pre-​schools, and child development centres, now exists in all postcolonial
African contexts. However, during the colonial period these were not ubiquitous in many rural
areas but rather served mostly urban dwellers, foreigners and African elites, and some groups of
populations through missionary works (Pence & Nsamenang, 2008).
Play in the postcolonial context came to be seen as an important tool for the development
and education of young children (Phajane, 2019). This belief was spearheaded by the pub­
lication of several studies on the role of play in early childhood education (ECE) (Adu &
Ngibe, 2014; Sim & Xu, 2017; Weisberg et al., 2016). A plethora of evidence attests that early
childhood educational activities including play can contribute to a child’s physical, social,
emotional, and cognitive development (Pyle et al., 2017; Schleicher, 2016; Wood & Bennett,
1998). Consequently, ECE practitioners developed curricula that emphasizes play and the crit­
ical role it has in the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children (Adu
& Ngibe, 2014; Pence & Nsamenang, 2008; Phajane, 2019). Further, ECE practitioners and
child rights activists acknowledge that children have the right to leisure and play as well as to
other recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child. They also called for the incorp-
oration of play in the cultural life and arts pertaining to the child (Pyle et al., 2018; Pyle &
Danniels, 2017).
These subsequently motivated international development agencies, the United Nations, and
Governments of sub-​Saharan countries to support ECE as a means of giving a firm educational
foundation to young children. In Ghana, legislative instruments such as the Constitution and
Children’s Act (Act 560), as well as policy frameworks such as the Ghana Education Strategic Plan
(2018–​2030) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) guidelines for the early childhood develop-
ment and education (ECDE) policy have been passed and developed to encourage the accessibility
to quality early childhood learning experiences. Nevertheless, there is no consensus in the litera-
ture as to whether play can provide any kind of excellence in relation to real learning for children
(Phajane, 2017). Other researchers have also reiterated that play in educational settings is context
specific and socially constructed within each cultural group (Phajane, 2019). This lends the value
and benefits of play to contestations, with the leading argument that the perceived benefits shift
in relation to the values and beliefs of different cultures (Phajane, 2019; Wood & Attfield, 2005).
Thus, what play is and means to children are basically culturally constructed albeit with potential
implications for universal constructions of the concept. It is important then to explore what chil-
dren do as play and what it means to them in our effort to decolonize knowledge regarding this and
present the realities as pertains in the rural communities studied.

Study area and methodology

The multi-​sited ethnographic study this chapter draws on qualitative research in nine rural
villages, three each in northern Ghana, Togo, and Senegal. The Development and Education
in the Vernacular for Infants and Children (DEVI) project was funded by the British Academy

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(ECE190059). The aim of this project was to investigate the forms of knowledge children are
exposed to and engaged with outside of formal school spaces. The research was conceived as a
response to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.2, particularly the target of extending formal
Early Childhood Development and Education (EDCE) across the Global South. Our hypothesis
was that rich forms of learning and play that stimulated children’s cognitive development were
already available to children in rural villages and that the solution to poor school outcomes might
be to identify and augment these practices rather than to replace them with formal ECDE centres.
A research assistant (RA) lived in each of the communities identified above for a month and
interacted with community’s elders and folk and especially children. She observed, interacted,
and filmed children as they went about their daily activities and chores at home, in the farms and in
and around community open spaces. The project team visited the three villages to meet the chiefs and
elders, and to explain the project to them before the arrival of the RA. After this initial community
entry, the RA was subsequently, at the start of the fieldwork, re-​introduced to the communities by
our NGO-​partners, Afrikids in Ghana, Plan-​Togo in Togo, and the West Africa Research Centre
(WARC) in Senegal. Field officers who speak the local dialects were engaged to assist the RA in
all the villages mainly with language interpretation but also with navigating the community spaces.
One of the aims of the DEVI project was to identify local themes about how children’s cogni-
tive development is accomplished and embedded in daily practice and interaction. We sought to
explore local pedagogies and epistemologies, deployed by parents in poor communities to support
their children’s learning and education in early years. Thus, we aimed to identify empirical evidence
to influence research, policies, and practices of development –​ showing how children’s lives, in
this instance play, is crucial in vernacular education and as a connector between home and school.
Basically, we wanted to show how children learn through play and what learning occurs within and
between community, home, and school spaces. This knowledge is relevant in showcasing the fluidity
of spaces such as the connectivity and continuity between home and school for children.

Opportunities, spaces, and items for play

Spaces for play are wide-​ranging and ubiquitous as children convert every space to a space of play
be it in the fields, along the road, under trees, around households, in the blacksmiths forge, the
weaver’s workshop and the open spaces of everyday food and oil processing, and even around the
sacred shrines. It was observed that children played as they went about their assigned household
chores. Thus, young boys who had to peg sheep and goats to graze often ran around these fields as
they went about these responsibilities. At the borehole, children jumped playfully as though on a
slide as they pumped the water. As children rode bikes or pushed wheelbarrows in which they had
placed gallons of water fetched from boreholes or streams, they played. Thus, in focusing only
on the exertion of effort in these activities children engage in, there is a tendency to miss out on
the ways by which children play simultaneously as they performed their basic household tasks.
Thus, where, play is not made part of the activity, it often is built around it. Thus, in the process of
imitating adults as they weave, cook, plant and harvest crops, prepare shea butter, and fetch water
from boreholes, and engage in several other activities, children create play which they seemed to
enjoy. This finding is in tandem with findings from other studies which establish the connection
between children’s games and play and cognitive development (Mtonga, 2012).
The children were found in all these spaces at different times, doing different things alone, or with
others –​mostly siblings or other children of their household or from within their neighbourhoods.
Children’s play was observed to be spontaneous and linked to items within a particular spatial
environment. They were observed to play with sand, twigs, stones, discarded household items

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like curtain racks, empty tins, plastics and just about anything they could lay their hands on. The
making of toys was part of play moments for children. Rural areas abound with items within the
natural environment as well as what has been discarded which children convert and create toys
from for play. Thus, toy making was both a form of play and a means to produce items for play
by children in these villages. Children in all nine villages were observed to have made vehicles of
different sizes from different materials. In Togo, we saw toy vehicles made from palm fronds; in
Senegal, these were made from plastic gallons and in Ghana, from discarded sardine and tomato
tins which had been cut, flattened, and remoulded into vehicles. Children demonstrated ingenuity
in using what was available in their environment to build these toy vehicles they played with. In
some instances, however, they just improvised, using tins with strings attached to them and pulling
them along as vehicles. This spontaneity and creativity in using the environment and things within
it to entertain themselves have been found among children in many rural African contexts. In
Northern Malawi, playing with soil dolls and wire cars is more popular than watching television
(Nelson et al., 2017), and rural children in South Africa have been found to use their imagin­
ations and items from their milieu to create toys (Bartie et al., 2016). Rural children also seem to
use different play spaces, like pathways, forests, and rivers, given their proximity to these places
(Alexander et al., 2015).

Children’s play forms and development outcomes

Children in the rural communities we studied were observed to be very active and involved in a
myriad of interesting activities as play. Play, though often spontaneous, was also often deliberately
created. Some of these observed included the tying of a loaf of bread on a string tied to two poles.
Participants, often older children, were required to eat these pieces of bread off this string with
their mouth, without touching the bread at any point in time. Should the bread fall to the ground, a
participant was to pick it up only with his/​her mouth and not hands. Other younger children stood
by and watched, cheering on the participants, and goading them on to win. This was a real moment
of joy and laughter for the children.
Children also engaged in the popular game of hopscotch. They drew patterns of rectangles and
triangles on the ground and hopped and jumped across the spaces to retrieve a small object (usu-
ally a piece of stone or shea nut) tossed into the small patterns. This game though can be played
alone was often observed to be played by children in a group as they took turns to play.
Children, mostly boys, played football in the community areas under trees or along the road on
the way to school. These balls were often made from discarded plastic bags and socks. The chil-
dren wrapped the socks with strings or stringed plastic bags, rolled over again and again, and tied
until a full round solid form was obtained. The game is played in any available open space with
goal posts marked out with stones. Children also built catapults with which they hunted birds, they
built bird traps and nests, and made hooks with which they attempted fishing in little ponds during
the rainy season. In one instance, a broken-​down bench was seen to have been converted and used
as a slide.
Another common play form observed in most of the communities was tug-​of-​war. This group
play was often led by an older child. Children held onto each other’s waist as they pulled across a
drawn line on the ground. The leader of the losing team is captured and added on to the winning
team. Other competitive play observed was the filling of bottles with water fetched into the mouth
and spat into bottles to fill them up. The water fetching point and the bottle filling point are about
50 metres apart. Participants, usually three or four, move between these points as quickly as
they can as they strive to fetch the water into their mouths and fill their respective bottles. Other

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children stand by and cheer as participants go along in the competition. The person who fills up
his/​her bottle first is declared winner and hailed.
Children, mostly girls, also played jumping rope. A rope was tied to two poles. The height of
the rope is adjusted higher gradually as children take turns to jump. This increase in the height of
the rope continues until the point where no child can go above that height. Older children, espe-
cially boys, demonstrated some dexterity and skills as they jumped the rope with some acrobatic
display.
Music and cultural dances were commonly observed as part of children’s play in the three
study communities. We witnessed children’s ingenuity when a boy appeared in a group-​dance
with the two-​string lute (called the kologo) which he had created from a 5-​litre water gallon. He
had attached some strings to it that created sounds like the original instrument played in these
parts. He joins his friends as they sang and danced in a circular motion, with one or two of them
taking turns to come into the inner part of the circle to show their dexterity and skill at dancing
as the others cheered. This went on until all of them had had a chance to dance in the circle. The
dances are typically traditional, involving the rhythmic, rigorous stamping of feet to traditional
songs sung in the local dialect. Thus, through this process of performing music and dance, chil-
dren had the opportunity to learn and develop their language skills and act as producers of culture.
Children also played the call-​response game. Often, an older child or adult makes the call and chil-
dren respond to it in a poetic or musical manner. Some of these call-​response games were songs,
riddles, or counting games. The call and response often go on until someone misses a line and is
then taken out of the game, and the process begins again. This finding resonates with Mtonga’s
(2012) assertion that children’s linguistic abilities, which are innate, are practised in social situ­
ations such as in riddle contests, poetic recitations, and oral narrative performances. Further, as
children engage in ‘nonsense’ verse, praise, or bird poetry’ … and play with words and playfully
manipulate sounds of words, it leads to language development and increases and extends their
knowledge. It is also at these play spaces and during such activities and interactions that some chil-
dren discover their unique gifts and talents of singing, dancing, or playing (and, indeed, making)
a musical instrument.
Children were also observed to participate in pretend play. Some children created miniature
kitchens where they cooked imaginary food; often sand mixed with water and little stones for sale.
Other children pretended to buy this food which was served them by the ‘seller’ on broken pieces
of plastic plates, food wrappers etc. As children engaged in this form of play, they explored the
concept of money and the notion of being industrious, even if they were not aware of it. In one
village, children were observed to be using cables and discarded tins to replicate alcohol distilling
as they have observed in their community.
Children were also observed to ‘play school’ at home also through pretend play. Some chil-
dren pretended to be teachers and others, pupils. In one instance, the boy playing teacher drew
squares in the sand. The ‘pupils’ were to add sums and produce answers in figures which he
used to complete this number matrix. You could hear him correcting those who got their figure
wrong, whilst other children subtly teased those who gave wrong answers. As children engaged
in such play, as the counting rhymes or in trick games reported by Mtonga (2012), they learn to
identify different parts of the body and develop their sense of reasoning. In another instance, a
young boy is observed drawing several things such as fruits, vegetables, tables, and chairs on
the ground. He did not need a pen and paper as the sand was his writing slate-​easily erasing
what he had drawn by moving his hand across the surface of the sand and producing another
drawing. Sand games also involve attempts to make mounds and build miniature domes from
the smooth lose sand.

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Children’s play also included board games, including ludo and oware, either with a shop-​bought
board or using the ground and stones. Through this game, they practised counting, taking turns and
keeping focus. These board games were also found by Mtonga (2012) in Zambia, to help children
develop logical and mathematical skills.
It is clear from these observations and narratives that children in rural communities do not
lack playmates, items, or toys to play with, as well as spaces and opportunities to play. The
cultural context and the building patterns in these communities aided community living. The
household was typically extended, made up of grandparents and their children and grandchil-
dren. Thus, it was quite common to find several children in one household. Though playmates
were often children within one’s own households, it was also common to see children from
different homesteads gather in common areas between households, under trees, on rocks, on
shrines in homesteads to engage in different kinds of activities. Thus, children consistently had
people to play with. It was not a surprise then to find that many of the observations captured
children engaged in group play. The spaces for play are also unlimited as children demonstrated
the skill to literally convert every space into a play space if they wanted. They created play items
from any and everything and looked for every opportunity to play either alone or with others.
Children’s play was not typically based on age. Girls and boys of different ages engaged in
several forms of play together. Where the play involved some coordinated effort, older children
played alone or led it, with the younger ones cheering them on and routing for them. The only
relatively gendered games that we observed were ampe, a jumping game mostly played by girls,
and football (which was mostly played by boys). Often, these two games were played by both
genders among younger children but get more defined for girls and boys respectively, when the
children are relatively older.
Children’s play cultures as observed in these contexts speak distinctly to several African cul-
tural values. The first I seek to address is the value of community –​ the sense of sharing a social
life, interdependence, solidarity, and social harmony. Through play, children demonstrate that
‘solitariness is a pitiable condition’ (Gyekye, 1996); hence, they seek out other children to relate
and play with. As children joined and cooperated in group play, they build a team spirit, coopera-
tive tendencies, and healthy competitive attitudes.
Children’s play cultures also showcase children as producers as well as consumers of cul-
ture. Through play, cultural values, language, dances, and practices are imitated, transmitted, and
reproduced. Childrens play depicts the intergenerational contexts and interactions within these
communities, as people of different age ranges got to play. In fact, children were satisfied to
have their play taken seriously by their willingness to engage the RA and show her what they
were doing.
Thus, children in the communities we studied, though in three country settings, had relatively
parallel lives and similar play cultures. They are not in many ways different from children in other
cultures or even from those in urban areas in Africa –​because they like the latter, play. Yet, on the
other hand, they are also very different in many ways given how their play is uniquely moulded
by the socio-​cultural contexts and natural environments within which they find themselves. Thus,
it is important to look at children both through the lenses of the global and the local if we want
to obtain a true reflection of the lives and play cultures of children in Africa. Through this global/​
local lens, we come to appreciate that the absence of sophisticated playgrounds and toys in com-
munities such as those we studied do not necessarily mean the absence of a play culture. Rather,
the evidence suggests that rich forms of learning via play abound to children in rural Africa. There
is need therefore, to harness these learning and play forms to augment the ECDE program from the
global north, being implemented across the Global South to enhance vernacular learning.

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Conclusions
This chapter sought to make play, the often-​imperceptible aspect of the lives of children in West
Africa, visible. The discussion sought to point out that children in rural West Africa are like chil-
dren everywhere because they play, but different, because the opportunities for play, spaces of and
for play, play activities and forms/​nature as well as the meanings, motivations and benefits accrued
from play tend to vary and are culturally nuanced. As children produced instruments, sang, danced,
and played, they shared laughter as a cultural connection. They also showed seriousness and focus
as they made toys and demonstrated that they knew what they were about. Childrens’ play then is
embedded in the cultural identity and sense of community. The findings discussed in this chapter
are relevant for both local and global discourses on childhoods, as it presents an empirical basis
to re-​imagine and re-​construct children lives and play cultures in Africa. In sum, several oppor-
tunities for vernacular learning and play abound in rural communities in Africa, which need to be
harnessed to inform and shape children’s learning and ECE and development in response to the
SDG 4.2.

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 42
THE ROLE OF VIDEO GAMES
IN THE SOCIO-​C ULTURAL LIFE
OF CHILDREN IN PERU
Manuel Jerjes Loayza Javier
Translated by Karen Wells

Introduction
Children are subjected to numerous socialization processes. The roles and functions that they will
gradually acquire in the family and later in the school and the neighborhood are fundamental in the
structuring of their subjectivity and intersubjectivity. There is a reciprocal relationship between the
child and his or her context, where the child must develop their security for the constitution of their
sense of self and, at the same time, add his or her creativity and commitment to the social space in
which he or she is immersed with full intention; focusing on identifying with and integrating into
the social sphere. This chapter, framed by an assumption that video games may play a fundamental
role in socialization, wants to understand the consequences of playing video games for boys and
girls, and the constitution of their various roles.
This chapter focuses on the effect of the global pandemic on the extending and deepening of the
consumption of technology in the social life of children. Never before has technology and “virtual”
life been so important in the social worlds of children, youth and adults who were compelled to
keep themselves physically apart to maintain their health and life. In Latin America, a region that
does not have enough public meeting spaces and that is characterized by deep inequality, impeding
the development of the social fabric, online gaming had already demonstrated its positive impact
on strengthening the social fabric before the pandemic (Loayza, 2010). However, segregation and
discrimination in the public space did not disappear in the virtual world, unsurprisingly since the
same social actors are engaged in it (Loayza, 2012).
Starting from a series of theoretical reflections, some approaches will be suggested that allow
us to understand and value the playing of video games in the lifeworlds of boys and girls. The
chapter is centered on Peru, although many of the points it makes could be extended to other coun-
tries in the region.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-50 569

 Manuel Jerjes Loayza Javier and Karen Wells

Figure 42.1 Per capita online consumption of the ten largest consumers of online video games.
Source: Laos and Wong (2020).

The characteristics of gamers

In the last 20 years, across the globe, there has been an increase in the consumption of video
games. The use of video games can be divided into PC or computer games and console games,
principally the following three types: PlayStation 5, Xbox series X and Nintendo Switch. The
increase in the global consumption of video games has happened because of the expansion of
digital distribution from digital platforms or downloads from online stores, with the Asian market,
specifically China, experiencing the largest growth, and Japan the greatest increase in per capita
consumption (Laos and Wong, 2020).
In Peru, for example, according to the Ministry of Culture (2020), the acquisition of video
games, including downloads or online, increased from 11.9% in 2016 to 14% in 2019. The con-
sumption of video games has increased due to the expansion of their use on everyday devices like
mobile phones where users can download games from within the phone’s apps. Marisca (2014)
notes that this phenomenon has created new audiences, including those that do not necessarily
identify themselves as “gamers”.
To understand a little more about the characteristics of gamers, we have the following aspects
from a 2019 study: globally, 55% are single, 82% are working or working and studying, 68% are
employees, 53% do not have children, and 74% are in socioeconomic group B/​C (GfK, 2019). The
study makes a comparison between those who self-​identify as gamers (34%) and those who do not
(66%). The variables they use are the frequency with which they play, their experience of video
games and the knowledge that they have about video games.
The growth in interest in video games is seen not only in the increase in sales, but also in the
way that the profile of the new gamer influences their everyday life, it shows “not only that the

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 Role of Video games in Socio-Cultural Life of Children in Peru

Figure 42.2 Characteristics of gamers in Peru.

Source: GfK Gamers: perfiles, cultura y prioridades en la compra. Un Deep dive en la categoría de gaming peruano
(2019).

Figure 42.3 Sociodemographic characteristics of people download or play internet video games, 2019
(percentage).
Source: Ministerio de Cultura [Ministry of Culture] (2020).

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 Manuel Jerjes Loayza Javier and Karen Wells

videogames are shaping our culture with their own languages, but that the languages of others
have shaped the culture and language of videogames” (Zurazti, 2018, p.189).
In relation to the age, class and gender of gamers, in Peru the purchase of video games reflects
a clear distinction between men and women, nearly one in five are men (19.7%), one third are aged
14–​29 years (33.8%) and about one in five have graduated higher education (19.2%).
Even though more men and boys play video games more than women and girls do, this is chan-
ging and video gaming is no longer predominantly associated with men and boys. Women mainly
use mobile platforms (74%) with only 30% using consoles (Havas Group, 2021).

Video games and socialization

Throughout childhood, gender identities are inculcated in children through the performativity of
a repetitive process of social differentiation that is gradually internalized under the label of the
normal, until by adulthood a series of rituals of various kinds generally fix a gendered identity.
It is worth noting that, according to the context and society, this kind of performativity will have
different pathways and outcomes for a person. The Latin American case, for example in Peru,
reflects the way in which a series of behaviors are inhibited or foreclosed under the sign of the
dichotomy of the sexes in the process of gendered socialization.
Video games are no exception, given that gender roles will be built into them according
to the history and objectives of each production. The importance of this virtual environment
lies in the fact that, unlike the drastic social impositions that reflect how stressful it is for
boys and girls to understand their role in society, video games present contexts that are a
matter of reflection, construction and deduction. Faced with the problem of adult-​centric social
assignment of what is considered “normal” in their society, video games could offer an envir-
onment for greater discussion and deconstruction by the boy, the girl and their own family of
their gender roles.
The construction of socialization roles is built hand in hand with the exercise of socialization,
which is part of every fundamental process to determine the construction of the self, of self-​
knowledge and of the notion of citizenship. According to symbolic interactionism, it is only through
the multiple interactions between individuals that the generalized other can become constituted as
a fundamental referent where the social self and the inner self (Mead, 1990) performatively struc­
ture the individual. In this way, the reality of everyday life will be organized around the presence
of my body in the here and now, this being the focus of attention of experience (Berger and
Luckman, 2001). Childhood is a fundamental moment for this development, producing the very
bases of one’s own sense of self.
The human being in society builds a world, her own world. This is possible thanks to the
opening she has toward the world, which plunges her into a conflict between order and chaos,
for which her existence will be a continuous externalization (Berger and Luckman, 2001). To the
extent that she is externalized, she will build that world in which she is externalized, “projecting
her own meanings onto reality” (Berger and Luckman, 2001, p. 134).
Among the most important roles that boys and girls will incorporate are those linked to the
development of their gender identity, their social commitments that begin with their family and
that are developed with their peers, in the resolution of conflicts and dilemmas, as well as the
intergenerational interactions that they will experience, in their role as individual participants
in a virtual space, and in the practice of their citizenship that will be exercised fully in a few
more years.

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In the study of video games and their relationship with the socialization of the child, it is
necessary to appeal to a sociology of childhood that is capable of rejecting the reductionism that
considers boys and girls as pre-​social beings, as well as of childhood as a mere transitory stage
toward adulthood (Pavez, 2012). In this way, the importance of the new child and adolescent
cultures that are developing in their relationship with information and communication technolo-
gies can be better understood.
Thus, new languages are being constituted on mobile phones and the internet; ethical norms
and values are reimagined for the future, new models for relationships are developed, and new
skills and competencies are developed. Children’s independence from the adult world is growing,
and this will generate phenomena that force us to think of childhood as something different from
how we currently represent it (Casas, 2006). In effect, the sociology of childhood understands
childhood as a unit of sociological study, which is why childhood should be seen as a social phe-
nomenon traversed by power relations that girls and boys display among themselves and with their
families, adults and institutions (Pavez, 2012). This scenario is crucial to understand the interrela­
tionship between children, adults and video games.
In this way, socialization is much more than cognitive learning: it implies an enormous emo-
tional load thanks to which it will be able to adhere to significant others (Berger and Luckman,
2001). Enculturation, that is, the process of cultural acquisition, will shape the child, enabling
him or her to move on to interactions with friends, and other peers, developing new meaning to
what has been assimilated (Calderón, 2015). In this way, the child will identify with the rest of the
signifiers, since this is the only way in which internalization can take place (Berger & Luckman,
2001). Thus, the child accepts the roles and attitudes of the signifiers, internalizing them and
appropriating others, being able to identify with them, acquiring a subjectively coherent and plaus-
ible identity (Berger and Luckman, 2001).
Although children acquire patterns within the family, they will resignify and change these
aspects with their peers, promoting new representations, which will not be fully understood by
adults because they are part of a new generation that will explain the world in a different way
(Calderón, 2015, Corsaro, 2012). It is understood, therefore, that adult society experiences
a loss of security in the face of the control it once held over children: it does not under-
stand its values because they are socially, economically, culturally and politically conditioned
(Gaitán, 2006).
According to Van Dijk (2007), the world is changing, moving from the authoritarian rules
of the past, which can no longer be replicated, to contexts of abandonment, where letting go is
confused with indifference. Children increasingly interact more with devices than with people,
leading him to ask: where and how are human relations built in these contexts (Van Dijk, 2007,
p. 51)? We respond to this question, indicating the way in which video games are capable of
building sociopolitical roles, as well as interactions in virtual environments with connected players
from different parts of the planet.
For this reason, video games confront the child with ethical possibilities and even lead them
“to experience the dark edges of human nature, although in a safe and confined space” (Zurazti,
2018, p. 196). This has a fundamental value given that the self is a reflected entity, reflecting the
attitudes that the significant others adopt toward it: “the individual becomes what the significant
others consider him [to be]” (Berger and Luckman, 2001, p. 167). In the environment of the video
game, a dialectic takes place between self-​identification and the identification that others make
of oneself, between the objectively attributed identity and the one that is subjectively assumed
(Berger and Luckman, 2001).

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Video games and the resolution of conflicts

The concern about the impacts of video games on children’s mental health and social worlds is
well known. One of these concerns is the idea of the game as a waste of time. This notion of time as
a commodity, like, money that can be spent, as the late capitalist society interprets time as money,
establishes in children’s minds an instrumentalist perspective that measures their own life through
economic parameters. This is worrying when it is, indeed, free time that triggers all possible cre-
ativity in children. To ignore the pedagogical and playful contributions that the video game has is
to dichotomize life between the “serious” and the “useless”, becoming “a kind of dead time in the
productive obligations of daily life” (Chávez-​Montero, 2018, p. 29).
Video games, far from being a waste of time, have various fundamental properties for the
well-​being of the child. For example, learning video games contributes to the generation of digital
skills. These digital skills will be essential given “the technological and digital context of current
societies (where) most children access the digital universe for the first time through video games”
(Chávez-​Montero, 2018, p. 30). Córdoba and Ospina (2019) identified children’s teachers and
specialists who recognized the positive influence that digital games will have on the learning
process of children, being essential to teach them the proper use of games, promoting various
dimensions of their human development.
This tool can be administered for problem-​solving, encouraging “the video game (is a) pretext
to approach a topic or problem that you want to deal with in the classroom” (Chávez-​Montero,
2018, p. 36). It offers not only the possibility of winning the game but, as importantly, the reso­
lution of the problem that the video game offers. The link between video games and emotions is
also highlighted, which allows gamers to both to express their emotions openly and to learn to
control them. Thus, the player will use their self-​regulation processes, controlling, selecting and
organizing the external influences that transcend the ludic situations that they experience during
the video game (Licona Vega and Carvalho Levy, 2001).
Video games play a fundamental role in regulating emotions, since they tend to promote a
catharsis of everything stressful that they may have experienced during the day in their different
activities (Malagón and Castiblanco, n.d.). The gamer child will control the situation, establishing
the limits of his autonomy (Licona Vega and Carvalho Levy, 2001) and, at the same time, he will
express his emotions without fear of repercussions, downloading destabilizing scenarios for the
person (Malagón and Castiblanco, n.d.).
This last aspect greatly highlights the role that video games can promote in the life of the child;
as a practice, it does not deny the need to protect children but rather “affirms that the best way to
protect them it is promoting and guaranteeing their right to be main actors of their existence, both
individually and collectively” (Alfageme, Cantos and Martínez, 2003, p. 50).
According to Berger and Luckmann (2001), the human being builds their own nature, pro­
ducing their self-​identity. This reflects the great importance that children’s freedom will have in
certain recreational environments. Video games to some extent offer a fully secure environment
in which they can intersubjectively constitute themselves. Children need to be alone without adult
help or control, to the extent that this experience, which will later be shared with adults as a dis-
covery, is achieved, they may then ask the adult for their approval or disapproval and eventual help
(Tonucci, 2003
In this sense, neither the right to life, the right to non-​degrading treatment, nor the right to
freedom of thought or to express what one thinks should depend on age, despite the fact that “there
are rights, fundamental human rights, that have been denied to boys and girls simply because of
age discrimination” (Casas, 2006, p. 39). By understanding this paradox that deprives children of

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their rights, it would be easier to establish strategies that promote active participation, “in order to
transform children from obedient and passive subjects to active, reflective and critical subjects”
(Chang and Henríquez, 2013, p.8).

Video games, resilience and citizenship

Considering the relationship of emotions with video games is important, taking into account that
children not only play alone but, given the current global connectivity that manifests itself in
online games, they share the game with other players from across the world, fostering an enriched
multilateral and cosmopolitan socialization, encouraging cultural exchange and going beyond lan-
guage borders. A pertinent development in the relationship between the players is the establish-
ment of bonds of trust and friendship, that is, social capital logics that can allow a young player to
find a field of trust and emotional support of the utmost importance.
Relationships become more sophisticated, socializing customs and thoughts linked to a certain
culture, as well as strategies for teamwork, impacting the formation of the person when facing
obstacles (Malagón and Castiblanco, n.d.). In this way, and thanks to the influence of others in this
virtual experience, the symbolic will be produced collectively and collaboratively (Cabañes, 2012).
Rather than the competitiveness of gaming negatively affecting the relationship between
players, it will create strong links between them (Malagón and Castiblanco, n.d.). In research
carried out with adolescents in Lima (Loayza, 2019), the way insults were expressed, the pressure
of the game and the antagonisms produced due to the obligation to win in a team game played in
a real common space (a gaming arcade in Lima) did not negatively affect their relationships with
one another, on the contrary, team playing strengthened these ties.
The video game, in addition to constituting a perceptive paradigm shift, generates, transforms,
and transmits cultural, political, and social meanings (Cabañes, 2012), which makes it possible to
contribute to the significant recreation of a community when conceiving the world that surrounds
them. In this way, according to Lenhart et al (2015), those adolescents who consume online video
games are more likely to have more friendships than other adolescents. In this way, they will nego-
tiate in these relationships as if they were clients and vendors, most of the time the encounters with
others are in a double sense: “I apprehend the other as a type and we both interact in a situation that
in itself is typical” (Berger and Luckman, 2001, p. 49).
The socio-​cultural richness that gaming promotes in adolescence and childhood is extremely
important, to the extent that “the conceptions of the world are inserted in the practical life of the
subjects, inspiring their social praxis” (Cabañes, 2012, p. 73). An example of this is the way in
which entertainment is exceeded, contributing to a powerful opportunity to socialize with other
people, reinforcing a feeling of friendship and connectivity (Lenhart, Smith, Anderson, Duggan,
& Perrin, 2015). The very language available to objectify one’s experiences will be based on
everyday life, taking it as a reference even when interpreting experiences corresponding to limited
areas of meaning (Berger and Luckman, 2001).
The interactions and, consequently, socialization in the environment of video games allow us
to glimpse a tool that contributes to the construction and exercise of citizenship; the daily playing
of games has a role in the development of childhood and adolescence; a fundamental development
niche, even more so in times where they have been forced not to leave home for several months
due to the COVID-​19 pandemic. Video games provide a very different motivation to the mere fact
of “playing”, since it allows access to a feeling of community between each player (Bowman,
Rieger, & Tammy Lin, 2022). It offers, then, through this feeling of a body related to a community,
the recognition of social, political and cultural contexts.

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In this way, the relationship between certain structures and their vital problems, through the
video game, will allow the user to solve simulated environments (Cabañes, 2012). The oppor­
tunities offered by video games are multiple and essential as they mean a kind of “playful media
literacy that is essential to train citizens who can fully exercise their citizenship” (García Martín,
2021, p. 112). Although video games are a window to playful freedom, they also impose rules,
restrictions and certain narrative configurations of what “can be thought, experienced or reflected
on within the framework of the game [that] dialectically interacting with the creativity and semi-
osis of the players [nevertheless] imposes limits on their freedom” (Marengo, Imhoff, Godoy,
Cena and Ferreira, 2021, p. 165).
This shows clearly how a player may come to understand the obligations and duties of citizens.
Programs have also been developed where video games are intended as not only cultural, but “in
many cases, educational products” (Pérez Pereiro and Sobrino Freire, 2022, p. 26, translator’s trans­
lation). Video games are, then, producers of a range of situations where humans are reconfigured
through the active use of playful devices that introduce them to cultural codes that are intended
to enable the construction of certain subjectivities (Acevedo-​Merlano and Ortiz Zaccaro, 2021).
However, despite the benefits linked to socialization that video games can have, parents are still
concerned about the supposed risks that video games could represent in relation to addiction and
its consequences on the health of children and teenagers. Aierbe, Oregui and Bartau (2019) iden­
tify that some parents will be concerned about the early age at which girls and boys start gaming,
assuming a sort of dichotomy between electronic gaming (negative) and social gaming (positive),
without realizing the false polarity between the two. Added to this are concerns about violent con-
tent of games and, finally, how video games might negatively affect rest and relaxation. These are
issues that deserve a less prejudiced and more informed discussion in relation to the development
of childhood and adolescence.
This kind of absolute tutelage over children, also called “adult centrism”, comes from the idea
that as “not-​yet-​adults” children should not participate fully in social life due to the social and pol-
itical fears their interests provoke in adults. For this reason, the important contribution of gaming
to the social capital of childhood as a whole is not taken into account. So long as child welfare
is thought of as an economic good, an investment in the future, then it is conceptualized for the
benefit of adults and not for children themselves (Casas, 2010, p. 23).

Video games, pandemic and streaming

Since the global pandemic, and the imposition of “lockdown” in a majority of countries, the world
of video games became more important given that it was no longer an alternative to face-​to-​face
play but the only possibility, given the mandatory social distancing. Children and adolescents
turned to consoles, PCs and cell phones. The increase in consumption and demand for video
games was spectacular. Indeed, it is due to the pandemic caused by COVID-​19 that the consump-
tion of video games in Peru increased significantly, reaching 58% of the Peruvian population
(Michilot, 2020).
This growth had a specific impact on children and adolescents, where three out of four chil-
dren in the country have access to a mobile device, 50% have their own cell phone, and 35%
have access to a video game console (Michilot, 2020). The acquisition of computer equipment
to be able to play video games doubled by 2020 in terms of the sale of laptops for video games,
representing 22% of total sales of laptops in the country. In the same way, the sale of gamer acces-
sories tripled from 2019 to 2020, including the sale of gamer chairs, essential for the greater com-
fort of consumers (Canal TI, 2020).

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According to the study carried out by Havas Group (2021), this growth in the video game pan­
demic is related to what it meant for users in emotional aspects and digital closeness with friends
or other users, finding that when playing, 54% feel relaxed, 38% interested, 34% happy. Likewise,
80% talk about video games with their friends, 72% play with their friends and 61% are part of a
community of gamers.
Gaming also increased due to the online transmission of video games on platforms such as
Facebook, YouTube and Twitch which, in this context, became essential spaces for socializa-
tion in the absence of face-​to-​face interaction, the mandatory distancing and the quarantines in
place for several months in different parts of the world. The interruption of live broadcasts due to
the measures taken by the quarantine resulted in the appearance and growth of broadcasts on all
platforms. In this way

more consumers were—​and still are—​confined to their homes, driving them to spend more
time on platforms like Twitch, YouTube, and Huya. These platforms also flourished as social
hubs for many consumers, resulting in an impressive year overall for streamers and the
broader live-​streaming market.
(Newzoo, 2021, p. 5)

Increases in streaming led to many of viewers who, even if they do not play video games, saw
others using social networks to play, either online or individually, and in this way were socialized
into gaming.
Increasingly, “people do not want to buy products, they want to consume experiences, be part
of stories that have representation of emotional elements with which they identify” (Stalman,
2014, p. 33, translators translation). In this way, the emotional bridges that are built in virtual
worlds are an important support for life during the worst global pandemic in the past 100 years.
This phenomenon includes children, who will connect to play, especially Fortnite, Fall Guys or
Dota 2. The streamer will invite them to connect to their game, generating the increase of a com-
munity that includes not only young people and adolescents, but also younger children.
The pandemic not only brought with it health problems, it also had an irreversible impact on
the socialization of children and adolescents who had to maintain the rules of social distancing,
including in primary, secondary and higher education. Indeed, the prohibition on leaving the house
or neighborhood for several months generated immense levels of stress in children who were
used to running and interacting with other boys and girls, as well as their environment. Similarly,
adolescents wanted to continue building relationships and connections with others. Video games
made it possible to meet this need on their own terms. Although there was no face-​to-​face inter-
action, there was virtual interaction, and this impacted on “real” life.
New communities were created, new friendships were built, and a world of possibilities was
recognized thanks to the reach of online video games. Although face-​to-​face and online virtual
interaction in the field of video games has different modalities, a series of objectives can still be
planned and carried out collectively, providing a fundamental basis for the constitution of the self.
It is only through others that we can be aware of our own existence. It is thanks to the gaze of
others that we feel part of something greater than ourselves.
Berger and Luckman (2001) suggest that in a face-​to-​face situation, the subjectivity of the other
is accessible thanks to the “symptoms” or signs (a smile, a frown) that are observed. For them
the other’s reality is “massive and compelling” (Berger and Luckman, 1991, p.43) to the point of
making the other more real than oneself, even though one can know oneself better than one can
know the other. In order to know oneself, significant amounts of reflection are required, whereas

577
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the other “is ongoingly available to me. This availability is continuous and prereflective” (Berger
and Luckman, 1991, p.44, translator’s translation).

Conclusion
This chapter has developed a perspective on the role of video games in the lives of boys and girls.
It should be noted that the role of video games is inseparable from the context in which it takes
place. The family, therefore, is central in terms of supporting and understanding the importance
that video games can have in their lives. The child’s life is also situated in an economic, political
and cultural environment, which impacts on their lives from the start. Latin America and the high
levels of inequality are proof of this. In this context, video games are more than just a distraction,
they are a very important resource.
Not only do they build national and international communities and enrich the cultural world of
the gamer child, they also allow him or her to build a perspective or strategy on the dilemmas that
occur daily in life. She builds her citizenship and solves duly defined problems in a playful story
made up of a complex system that is addressed in the world of video games. Paraphrasing Tonucci
(2003), the child needs to face it alone, assume the risk and the pleasure of leaving the safety of
the adult-​centric real world: look for their peers, play with them, agree on the game itself, on its
rules, and experiment and comment on the behavior of others; take risks, overcome obstacles, and
face and resolve conflicts.
The pandemic has shown how tragic social distancing can be and how traumatic isolation
can be in the lives of children and adolescents. However, virtuality has forced us to recreate
the body itself, building new codes and ways of interacting (Loayza, 2016), the new spaces of
social convergence such as streams are essential to building community through the interactions
experienced there.
I conclude this chapter with the firm conviction of how important it is to enter the world of chil-
dren and of the importance of studying and understanding the complexity of their own world, their
biographies, their problems and their daily dilemmas. If we do not access these worlds that today
are being enhanced thanks to the sophisticated technologies that are booming and growing, we will
not only be losing a great opportunity for children, but also denying a reality that is impossible
to avoid in the culture of childhood today. It depends on us, if we join and learn along the way or
reject it by excluding ourselves from a world that has existed far from the adult-​centric panopticon.

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 43
SPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT
Itamar Dubinsky

Introduction
The chapter examines the emergence and global dissemination of Sport for Development (SFD) –​
as a practice and scholarly paradigm –​with a prime focus on the place of African children and
youth within it. The chapter explores the adoptions of sport from the second half of the 20th cen-
tury until the early 21st century to promote positive social change among young populations. As
will be seen, human rights declarations adopted by the United Nations have reinforced the rights
of children to play sport and provided the backdrop for the growing support for SFD programs
(Millington and Kidd, 2018, p. 17). The declarations have raised the awareness of the roles sport
can play in seeking to improve children’s well-​being by inspiring governments, non-​governmental
organizations, international sporting associations, corporations, and individuals to initiate SFD1
projects. Furthermore, with the growing understanding that traditional development approaches
are not sufficient to promote the lives of children, the involvement of direct, multilateral, and
private development aid in the SFD sector ascended. In addition, non-​specialist development
agencies began seeking to promote development initiatives through social and cultural avenues,
such as sport (Darnell and Black, 2011).
After this historical overview, the chapter will analyze how global developmental processes
have influenced the lives of African children in specific SFD programs. Doing so will demonstrate
the limitations alongside the perceived power that development actors attach to sport. This part
will address the perception of sport as a tool to facilitate peacebuilding and reconciliation; improve
the health of young individuals and groups by educating them on HIV/​AIDS; tackle male domin-
ance and promote gender equity; and acquire financial, social, and cultural capital through success
on and off the pitch.
The third part of the chapter will examine the influence children and youths have on devel-
opment schemes, their crucial contribution to the assessment of schemes, and the methodologies
researchers can use to ensure that the voices of the young are respectfully included in research.
These aspects will be addressed through an analysis of the roles Ghanaian football academies
play in community development. This part reveals that children’s perspectives are indispensable
for understanding what development means to different people, in witnessing the gaps between
the rhetoric of development as promoted by the initiators of the schemes and the reality on the

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-51 581

 Itamar Dubinsky

ground, and in evaluating the successes and failures of schemes. At the same time, the inclu-
sion of children raises ethical and methodological questions on access to children, informed con-
sent, power relations, reciprocity, and the use of interviews as a research tool (Dubinsky, 2017).
These questions must be addressed through reflexivity and dialogue with research participants –​
including the children –​if we are to represent young participants in studies in a more ethical
manner (Abebe, 2009).

The emergence and institutionalization of sport for development

The attachment of sport to achieve physical and social goals is not new in modern history.
Giulianotti and Armstrong (2011, pp. 381–​384) pointed at three central stages in the spread of
sport as a development agent throughout the world. First, from the late 18th century until the
mid-​20th century, British schools incorporated sport in their curricula to train young men to be
physically fit and to develop skills that were determined vital for their future service in the colo-
nial administration, such as discipline, courage, leadership, and Christian morality. Second, from
the mid-​20th century until the end of the century, anti-​colonial movements adopted sport as part
of their claim for self-​identification. Post-​colonial governments have also harnessed the popularity
of sports to engender national cohesion. Third, from the 1990s, governments, non-​governmental
organizations, intergovernmental organizations, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists have sought to
promote initiatives aimed at improving the well-​being of people through sports, a trend signaling
the emergence of the SFD sector.
Various international conventions and treaties that promote the rights of people to partici-
pate in sporting activities contributed to the institutionalization of SFD. In the United Nations
Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, article 24 identified rest and leisure as a human right, and
article 27 referred to the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the community (Donnelly,
2008, p. 384). Principle 7 of the Declaration on the Rights of the Child of 1959 set the inter­
national recognition of play as a fundamental right. The first explicit mention of sport appeared
in the International Charter of Physical Education and Sport of 1978 which emphasized that
access to physical education and sport is one of the essential conditions for the effective exer-
cise of human rights. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women of 1979 noted in article 10 that states must ensure on a basis of equality of men and women
that women have equal possibilities to participate in sports and physical education. The United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1990 recognized in article 31 the right of every
child in the word to engage in play and recreational activities. Given these declarations, charters,
and conventions, Coalter (2010) argued that “Some commentaries suggest that the current sport-​
for-​development movement has emerged from an evolutionary history of the extension of human
rights” (p. 299).
Whereas the 20th-​century treaties raised the global awareness of sport as a fundamental human
right, the 21st century brought about an explicit connection between the SFD sector and youths.
At the World Sports Forum in 2000, Louise Fréchette, the UN Deputy Secretary, recognized that
sport’s power is “far more than symbolic” (Coalter, 2010, p. 301) while pointing at the opportun­
ities sport creates to improve the lives of youths. A year later, the Office on SFD and Peace was
opened, and a Special Adviser on SFD and Peace was appointed to consult Kofi Annan, the United
Nations Secretary-​General. Annan advocated for the incorporation of sport into development pol-
icies of children, encouraging “governments, development agencies and communities to think
how sport can be included more systematically in the plans to help children, particularly those
living in the midst of poverty, disease and conflict” (UN, 2002). As a testament to Annan’s calls,

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in 2003, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 58/​5 which recognized sport
as a means to promote education, health, development, and peace. The resolution emphasized the
contribution of sport toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals and proclaimed 2005
as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education (IYSPE) (UN, 2003). The UN adopted
further resolutions in the subsequent years that reiterated the merits of sports for the well-​being of
youths throughout the world (Beutler, 2008). Also, the International Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities of 2006 recognized in article 30 that states shall ensure that persons with
disabilities participate on an equal basis with others in sporting activities, with a specific mention
in section (d) of children. A decade later, the UN introduced the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) which recognized the importance of the inclusion of sports among children and youths to
the achievement of its goals (Lindsey Darby, 2019). Wilfried Lemke, Special Adviser to the United
Nations Secretary-​General on SFD and Peace, summarized this growing perception of the power
of sport to improve the lives of youths, noting that sport “instils healthy lifestyle choices among
children and young people, helping them remain active and combat non-​communicable diseases…
Sport provides lifelong learning and alternative education for children who cannot attend school”
(UN, n.d.).
Alongside the virtues of sport to complement development initiatives, the increased adoption
of sport by the UN for development purposes had attracted critiques. Hayhurst (2009) pointed at
three problematic aspects in the rhetoric and policies of the UN: (1) their ambiguity in terms of
what project falls under a Sport for Development intervention; (2) their exclusion at the policy
table of voices from the recipient sides of the SFD initiatives; and (3) their neoliberal discourses
which legitimizes governments to cut back on social and health services while increasing the
roles of non-​state actors who are motivated by financial profits or agendas determined by foreign
donors. Such shortcomings raise grave concerns over the question “Whose interests are being
served by this [sport for development] policy?” (Hayhurst, 2009, p. 218).
Notwithstanding these limitations, additional stakeholders in the subsequent years promoted
SFD policies and practices, seeking to improve the lives of young people. The Magglingen Call to
Action (2005), which was organized by the UN and served as the culmination of the 2015 IYSPE,
called upon organizations, athletes, multilateral organizations, bilateral development agencies,
governments, NGOs, private sector, and research institutions to contribute to sport and develop-
ment through concrete actions (pp. 4–​5). Indeed, various public, private, and third sector players
began harnessing sport to their development initiatives, thus demonstrating a growing perception
that “sport can, in certain contexts, contribute to the development process, particularly where trad-
itional development approaches have difficulty in engaging with communities” (Levermore and
Beacom, 2009, p. 16).
The growth in SFD schemes since the early 2000s has also correlated with an increase in the
number of non-​specialists operating within the development sector. Sports clubs are part of the
fourth pillar of development, that of non-​specialist actors; the other pillars include direct bilateral
aid (such as government loans), multilateral development aid (such as UN agencies), and NGOs.
Indeed, Develtere and De Bruyn (2009) recognized that sports clubs “are concerned with the pos­
sibility of developing and attracting sporting talent, while using sports initiatives as constructive
or problem-​solving mechanisms in fragile societies” (p. 916). While Develtere and De Bruyn’s
cautious claim that “Very little is known about the consequences of the emergence of the fourth
pillar” was valid for the time, a growing body of scholarly work now attests to the impact of non-​
specialist actors on the SFD movement to tackle different social ills, in particular among children
and youths. The following part focuses on such cases, indicating the advantages and pitfalls of
SFD programs in various African contexts.

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Sport for development in Africa

One of the first SFD initiatives that have been promoting social causes among youths in Africa is
the Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA). Canadian Bob Munro established MYSA in 1987
in Nairobi, Kenya “to give young people the skills and confidence they need to aim higher, achieve
more and improve their lives” (MYSA Kenya, n.d. a). Starting with a dozen children, over 30,000
youths now participate in MYSA’s activities, with additional 10,000 youths taking part in a similar
project at the Kakuma refugee camp in northwest Kenya. MYSA’s participants must enroll in one
of its 1,200 sports teams and engage in programs on edutainment art (the usage of music and the-
ater to convey messages to the public), environment (garbage clean-​up and tree planting), photog-
raphy and filming (making stories about everyday life in the slum), health and rights (prevention
of diseases and violence against women), libraries (study halls that promote a reading culture), or
employment (work readiness and technical skills).
MYSA has also been pioneering in attaching sport to address the threats of HIV/​AIDS and
to promote gender equity.2 MYSA’s strategy centers on changing the norms that young men
and women hold on the prevalence of sexual intercourse. As researchers recognized, “For boys
and young men, it is no longer so fashionable to boast about having lots of girlfriends. For
girls and young women, having a boyfriend is no longer a ‘must’ for one’s self-​esteem” (Williams
et al., 1997). MYSA’s program on health and rights focuses on sexual reproductive health, contra­
ceptive services, women’s sexual rights, and youth advocacy. The program is complemented with
a broader commitment to change the health environment in Mathare. Munro stipulated that the
participants have to contribute to cleaning the slum because the accumulated trash in Mathare
poses a severe health risk for the youth. At the same time, MYSA has also been groundbreaking
in seeking to change common perceptions in Kenyan society on the exclusion of women from
football by opening a football league for girls. Winning the national league provided evidence of
MYSA’s professional success and helped recruit further participants. Many of its alumni utilized
MYSA as a springboard for employment on and off the pitch, as footballers, referees, directors, or
coaches (Mwelu, 2020).
Due to MYSA’s contributions to its locale and for inspiring further SFD projects, it has been
“widely regarded as the greatest success story among sport and development projects in Africa”
(Giulianotti et al., 2016, p. 8). Willis (2000) maintained that MYSA fills “a vacuum in many
young people’s lives, creating a much needed sense of belonging” (p. 843). MYSA’s pioneering
approach made it a household name in the SFD community while ensuring a steady stream of
donations from international agencies that have helped maintain its activities. Another factor
that contributes to the organization’s sustainability is its reliance on local knowledge. As its
website attests, MYSA is “run by the Youth and for the Youth who take part in its activities”
(MYSA Kenya, n.d. b). The Health and Rights program has trained over 1,000 peer-​educators
who disseminate HIV/​AIDS information in the MYSA zones they are responsible for. In add-
ition, the program had trained 20 youth who serve as peer counselors (MYSA Kenya, n.d. c).
Furthermore, many of the coaches have been past participants, a strategy that ensures that
MYSA remains a source of inspiration for the members of the Mathare community while con-
tinuing to address local needs.
Notwithstanding MYSA’s cultural and social contributions, there is so much that sport can do to
bring about wider development. Given that “after 30 years the slum itself persists” (Darnell et al.,
2019, p. 270), scholars maintain that even the most widely praised SFDs are limited in their scope
of influence. MYSA has been unable to change the structural conditions that led to its emergence
in the first place, hence, leading scholars to argue that “While MYSA has certainly helped kids, its

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actions have stopped well short of changing the conditions that produced (and continue to repro-
duce) Mathare itself” (Darnell et al., 2019, p. 270).
Additional SFD programs have utilized the popularity of sport to raise HIV/​AIDS awareness
and tackle social ills elsewhere in Africa. Such SFDs have particularly been active in Zambia,
where in the early 2000s, almost 20 percent of adults aged 15–​49 lived with the disease, and
650,000 became orphans because of it (UNAIDS, 2000, p. 124). In 1998, Zambian Clement
Chileshe, a former teacher and basketball coach, established Sport in Action (SIA). SIA has
included sportive and non-​sportive games, such as role-​playing and puppetry, to encourage its
participants to creatively discuss issues about sex, HIV transmission, gender, and sexuality. SIA’s
approach has challenged traditional classes in which the adults are leading discussions while the
youth are passive. The children are engaged with the pedagogy of SIA and shape what content is
delivered and how. Banda (2010) noted that by doing so, SIA’s programs serve as “a viable tool
for breaking barriers in participation for young people in sexual health matters” (p. 334). The
program has expanded its activities to address further social and cultural issues across 24 districts
of Zambia, engaging 160,000 children each week (Darnell et al., 2019, p. 265).
Another influential SFD organization that has operated in Zambia since the late 1990s is
EduSport, which was founded by Oscar Mwaanga (Mwaanga and Mwansa, 2013). One of its
earliest notable programs has been the Kicking Aids Out which seeks to mitigate the prevalence
of HIV/​AIDS. Another central program at EduSport has been Go Sisters, which aims to promote
women’s rights, improve their education, and increase their employment opportunities through
sporting activities. The program is predominately “run by girls for girls”, while boys are included
to promote mutual appreciation and respect (Go Sisters, n.d.). Given that Go Sisters contradicted
traditional gender norms in Tanzania, parents were initially reluctant to send their daughters to an
SFD program, yet discussions the organization held with the parents helped curb such resistances.
Consequently, Go Sisters has become the largest girls’ sports movement in Zambia, with approxi-
mately 5,000 girls involved in its activities (Hayhurst et al., 2010).
Alongside these positive usages of sports to promote changes in the Zambian society, several
shortcomings attest to the limited impact of SIA and EduSport. SIA’s founder, Chileshe, admitted
that power imbalances between men and women in the domestic and public spheres serve as
impediments to the empowerment process. As such, to change the Zambian society, there is a need
“to form alliances between male and female participants in fighting gender inequalities beyond
the project’s activities” (Banda, 2010, p. 330). SIA has also faced difficulties raising funds from
organizations that require quantitative measurements for assessing how they have combated HIV/​
AIDS or gender inequalities. For example, national targets require that organizations receiving
funding for HIV/​AIDS purposes demonstrate that they achieved condom distribution targets, yet,
in many schools SIA operates, condom distribution is prohibited. Banda (2010) has also raised
concerns about the depth of EduSport’s Kicking Aids Out training programs for its young peers
who deliver the lessons on HIV, given that not all of them have graduated from school and, thus,
might not “have the ability to fully comprehend the social and economic aspects of the scourge of
HIV” (p. 333).
In addition to tackling health and social issues, SDGs have also sought to support peacebuilding
efforts. In the early 1990s, a Scottish catholic priest established the Don Bosco Youth Centre in
Monrovia, Liberia, which developed into the Bosco United Sports Association. In the wake of the
First (1989–​1997) and Second (1999–​2003) Liberian civil wars, this SDG offered Liberian youth
a social alternative to the crime and abusiveness they experienced. The initiator of the program,
Reverend Joe Glackin, attested that the aim of Don Bosco Youth Centre is “saving souls so that
they can make more of their lives. There is no official preaching in the project, but there is shelter,

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hope, and football” (Armstrong, 2002, p. 488). Many of its participants were orphaned children
who participated in massacres, looting, and raping as part of the fighting. To provide them a sense
of belonging and community in order to hamper the chances of seeing them return to the militias,
many of the children were involved in the organization of the Don Bosco’s teams. In the early
2000s, thousands of children participated in this SFD (Armstrong, 2004).
The fragile post-​conflict climate in the mid-​2000s created many difficulties for the Bosco
United Sports Association. Its activities were affected by the meager financial support it received,
the burning of several Don Bosco’s shelters, the abduction of youths by the forces of Charles
Taylor, and the trauma many children –​boys and girls –​continued to carry after the atrocities
ended (Armstrong et al., 2019, pp. 476–​477). These adversities, as well Don Bosco’s limited geo­
graphical focus in Monrovia coupled with the need for broader social, economic, structural, and
political changes that extended beyond the scope of the pitch, attested to the shortcomings of this
SFD. As Collison (2016) recognized:

Sport played an important role during the conflict for the Don Bosco youth workers who
risked personal safety to engage with young soldiers via football, but this form of interven-
tion was lost when the need outweighed their capacity. Structure and sports programming
were secondary to the action needed on a day-​to-​day basis.
(pp. 88–​89)

Whereas SFD initiatives can contribute to development efforts among children and youths, their
increasing popularity has led scholars to warn from the heightened expectations they engender.
Mwaanga and Adeosun (2020) noted that alongside the few success stories, the hardships of the
participants’ lives continue in most cases. The two criticized Nelson Mandela’s speech in 2000,
which endorsed sport as a vehicle for social change given that it has created a false sense of belief
in SFD. Langer (2015) further warned that given the absence of long-​term evaluation of SFDs in
Africa, there is meager evidence on the impact of SFDs.
In the wake of the limitations of governmental and non-​profit SFDs, recent years have witnessed
an upsurge of SFDs that tie business and development rhetoric and practice. As Giulianotti recalled
(2011, p. 763), the SFD sector is not limited to international aid and philanthropists. Entrepreneurs
seek to exploit business opportunities through for-​profit development schemes, a connection that
is particularly visible in Africa through the mushrooming of football academies.

Football academies
Commonly defined as “facilities or coaching programs designed to produce football talent” (Darby
et al., 2007, p. 148), academies first arrived in Africa in the late 1990s. Through academies,
European football clubs sought to reserve young talents at their affiliated African clubs until they
turned 18, the legal age for them to move to Europe. Soon, additional types of academies emerged
which were run by a former African player, entrepreneur, or company.
Scholarship on the spread of academies often views and judges their impact from global
perspectives (Darby et al., 2022). As such, scholars pointed at the benefits and dangers such
settings offered for Africans. They identified the positive impact of these academies by facilitating
the migration of some players to Europe where they earned improved salaries that contributed to
their upward social mobility. Such migration created ripple effects as the players sent remittances
to their communities in their countries of origin. On the negative side, academies were identified

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to reproduce neocolonial relations in which the Global North profits from the underdevelopment
of the Global South. Furthermore, by exporting Africa’s talents abroad, academies were seen to be
contributing to Africa’s muscle drain (Darby, 2007; Darby et al., 2018).
Whereas academies are still frequently examined through the goal of migration, since the
mid-​2010s, a scholarship began paying more attention to the importance of local perspectives
within football academies (Ungruhe and Esson, 2017; Van der Meij et al., 2017). Building
upon these methodological and epistemological shifts and pushing research forward to include
locally owned academies, I examined how Ghanaian academies seek to promote communal
development (Dubinsky, 2022). It was based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at three
academies from 2013 until 2019, during which time I held countless interviews and informal
conversations with boys and girls alongside daily observations on their sportive, educational,
and recreational activities, while actively participating in some of them. Each of the academies
offered different incentives and benefits to youths, based on the founders’ available resources
and the player’s football talent. Each founder sought to harness the popularity of football to
gain communal and personal goals. In return, youths and their families approached the acad-
emies with their own set of imagined outcomes, and the dialogue between these multiple –​and
at times competing –​visions is what shaped the impact of each academy as a development
scheme.

Children’s and youths’ influence on academies

The case of the Mandela Soccer Academy (MSA) demonstrated this collision of visions between
those of the participants and the founder, thus exposing the influence youths can have on SFD
ventures. Mohamed Issa, who established the academy in 2012, stipulated that the training in the
academy must involve regularly attending school. Issa funded the school and university tuition for
the players, provided them with uniforms and books, medical insurance, daily meals, and trans-
portation from their homes to school, and on training days to the football pitch. Issa did not wish
to merely create footballers, and he recognized that:

Football is only a tool to get them together, but the main thing is humanity, helping those
kids who don’t even have books, don’t even have clothes. We’re trying to give them more
education to make them better people, give tools that they can face in their real life. In this
country, they need some tools to survive.
(Dubinsky and Schler, 2016, pp. 1739–​1740)

Tensions and problems surfaced when the children’s dreams collided with Issa’s educational
approach. Children and parents were not as committed to education as Issa was, and players who
consistently missed school were expelled from MSA in growing numbers. The standards Issa
set for the players were unrealistically high and strict for them, given their exhausting schedules
and their aspiration to improve their conditions through success on the pitch rather than in the
classrooms. As such, four years after establishing MSA, Issa decided to part company with the
academy, having recognized that he was wrong in thinking that he could impose his vision on
the children. Issa’s perceived failure to realize his development goals through MSA demonstrates
that the youths who join football academies are not passive receptors of the founder’s vision, but
they have a crucial impact on the success or failure of an academy (Dubinsky and Schler, 2019,
p. 265).

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Youths’ contributions to the assessment of academies

The research perspective regarding children in the social sciences has undergone a significant
change since the late 20th century, evolving from viewing children as passive participants to seeing
them as actors who influence the social circumstances in their lives. Researchers now widely
acknowledge that we cannot have a full understanding of children’s lives without their insights
(Jones, 2004. p. 114). Indeed, the perspectives of African children and youths have an indispens­
able role in the process of assessing the impact of SFD schemes (Collison and Marchesseault,
2018, p. 235), including football academies.
The accounts of MSA’s youths attested to their professional and scholastic progress, thus
contradicting Issa’s perception that his venture had failed. Many have signed contracts in profes-
sional teams, and some progressed to higher education systems while accrediting their success to
Issa. Ziblim Saminu’s explanation for his success in advancing to the prestigious Labone Senior
High School suggests that he was receptive to the messages Issa sought to convey:

I forced myself to learn, even if I am tired, I make sure I will learn thirty minutes before I
will go to bed… . No matter I’ll be tired but I have to force myself because now without
education you can’t be a footballer.
(interview, February 20, 2015)

Such progresses motivated Kuuku Yankah –​who served as the academy’s manager during Issa’s
days –​to try and keep the academy afloat.
The youths’ insights are also valuable in revealing the gaps between the rhetoric of develop-
ment that founders and managers of academies adopt and the reality on the ground. Ernest Kufuor
founded Unistar Soccer Academy with a prime objective of transferring its players to international
clubs, while also hoping that the educational part of the academy would provide the youths with
more opportunities in life. In different interviews and pamphlets, Kufuor explained the difference
between Unistar and a non-​academy team: “here, once it is an academy, we make sure they [the
boys] go to school” (interview, August 19, 2013). Prince Nyarku –​the academy’s technical man-
ager –​presented a similar façade, noting: “we have made it our aim that the moment we enroll you
here we make sure you go to school” (interview, August 19, 2013).
The rhetoric of Kufuor and Nyarku expressed an acknowledgment of the importance of
developing the youths at the academy on and off the pitch, but this rhetoric has not been backed
up by concrete deeds. Kufuor funds the tuition of dozens of the academy’s players, yet, many
of them display little regard for regularly attending school. Each day after the morning training
ended, I waited more than two hours for the youths to head to school. It was rare that we left the
academy’s perimeter before 9:30, although the training sessions ended at 7:30. These constant
delays suggested that school did not receive equal attention as football received at Unistar. Many
players complained that the heightened expectations from them, on the football pitch and in the
classroom, as well as the lack of time and energy, did not enable them to integrate education and
football efficiently. U15 player, Tahir, judged that “they should give us enough time for us to study
our notes given to us. When they put much pressure on us, they confuse us” (interview, February
5, 2016). His teammate, Hakim, explained that their main challenge is studying nine subjects: “It
gives us headache. We learn too much” (interview, February 7, 2016). Additional accounts from
students and their teachers indicated that while Unistar was successful in grooming footballers
and in building community ties, the scholastic part was missing, thus casting doubt over the “aca-
demic” component of this SFD program.

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Respectfully engaging children and youths in research

The increased involvement of youths in research raises complex questions on the proper ways to
ensure that children are respectfully, safely, and ethically engaged in research. Review boards and
conventions have drawn widespread scholarly debate on whether these mechanisms, which were
devised in minority-​world countries, are also valid in majority-​world countries. Some scholars
stress the similarities and shared values between cultures and societies throughout the world, such
as justice, respect, solidarity, and honesty (Clacherty and Donald, 2007). Others maintain that
because the cultures of the world are diverse, research ethics should adjust and be sensitive to local
values and customs (Skelton, 2008, p. 29). Such ethical and methodological dilemmas came up
frequently in my fieldwork among Ghanaian football academies, finding expression in four main
areas: gaining access to children, obtaining informed consent from children to participate in the
study, coping with power disparities that affect the field of study, and reciprocating the research
participants.3 These tensions can arise in any children-​focused qualitative research anywhere in the
world. But as the process of research is deeply shaped by broader cultural, political, and economic
landscapes, there is much to be gained from a focused consideration of how these dynamics all
come into play in a specific context, such as Ghana.
Given that most youths in the academies are younger than 18 and, thus, per Ghana’s constitu-
tion, are still considered children, according to universalist ethical and methodological guidelines,
I was supposed to obtain the parents’ consent to receive access to the children. But most parents
did not live near the academy, and some lived outside of Ghana. Therefore, in accordance with
the recommendation of Clacherty and Donald (2007) who struggled to obtain the parents’ consent
in their study in South Africa, I had to adapt the methodology to the local context. I sought per-
mission to access the children from the responsible adults at the academy –​the managers. After
granting consent, the adult in charge explained to the players the purpose of my being there. Next,
I would tell my interviewee details about myself, my study, and their rights in the course of the
interview. During this explanation, I would emphasize their right to anonymity, the right not to
answer any of the questions, and the right to stop the interview at any time. After receiving the
players’ consent, I would start the interview.
The process of receiving access by the gatekeepers to the children and receiving the latter’s
consent raises a new range of methodological and ethical questions. Such questions include: Is
it fair for an adult to prevent a child from participating in research, despite the child’s desire to
participate? Can permission granted by the adults to the researcher make the child participate in
research in which they do not want to participate? Do the children have the right to refuse to be
interviewed if they are a part of a structured framework aimed at contributing to their develop-
ment and advancement? These questions illustrate the researcher’s need to consider the cultural
context in non-​Western settings. In Ghana, I adopted the recommendations made by Gikonyo
et al. (2008) based on their study conducted in Kenya, in which they counter-​balanced the current
“stringent formal standards” (p. 719) by paying attention to social relationships. They considered
informed consent to be a process rather than a single event. Respect between the researcher and the
community members –​built and maintained over time –​can determine the extent of consent the
researcher obtains. As such, daily conversations and reciprocal relations with academy personnel
and other people in and around the academies enabled me to obtain the adult’s permission and
later, the children’s informed consent.
Another factor that shapes research with children is that of unequal power relations (Powell
et al., 2012, p. 3). In Ghana, I identified with Skovdal and Abebe’s (2012) argument, that their
imagined presence among the children during the research process they conducted in East Africa

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“undoubtedly had an impact on how the latter responded” (p. 87). My status as a white man,
educated, coming from a country perceived as a desirable destination because of its religious affili-
ation and its proximity to European football leagues, facilitated the unlimited access I received at
the academies. The enthusiasm of the children whom I had interviewed may have been influenced
by my imagined or real characteristics, which engendered the expectation among the children
that an interview might help them obtain a professional contract abroad. Simultaneously, the wel-
coming treatment I had received at the academies may have originated in the founders’ interest in
marketing their players. This might explain why my requests to interview the players were easily
granted, as the founders hoped that I would see that players were eager and ready to migrate
abroad. This can also explain the preference of my interviewees not to conceal their identity,
although I offered to interview them anonymously. These situations illustrate that children and
adults participate in research for various reasons, which may be different from the researcher’s
reasons for conducting the study.
Anonymity is another ethical question concerning interviews with children. Privacy is a com-
plex right, given that it can protect children, but it can also exclude them and perpetuate their per-
ception as passive objects (Alderson and Morrow, 2011, pp. 35–​36). As Skovdal and Abebe (2012)
recalled, exposing the children’s identity “may infringe their privacy, but refusing to do so also
contradicts taking children’s views and opinions seriously” (p. 79). Before I started interviewing
the children, I asked each one of them if they preferred to remain anonymous. Because they
answered that they did not want to be anonymous, I decided to respect their wishes and use their
real names. I chose this form of action because I do not think I am entitled to decide what is right
for the children in the present or in the future. Adopting an approach that regards children as
powerful subjects, I must take their opinions on the issue of anonymity into consideration. Also,
I did not ask intimate questions that had the potential to harm the children physically or mentally.
Lastly, the authorization given to me derives from the wish of the academy personnel and the
children to gain exposure that can advance their interests. Kuuku Yankah from MSA was explicit
from the beginning of our interview, when he said: “There is no need to use fake names since
your research can open doors. You don’t know who will read this in the future”. These examples
reiterate the importance of reconciling universal ethical guidelines and the local context when
involving children in cross-​cultural studies.
Reciprocity also raises critical ethical and methodological questions for researchers, given that
there is no clear consensus whether they should compensate children for participating in their
studies, and if yes, what type of compensation should be given. Some scholars regard payments
negatively, as an incentive or bribe, whereas others recommend not giving any money to research
participants because it may perpetuate power differences (Mikkelsen, 1995). Skovdal and Abebe
(2012, p. 89) maintained that payments pose a greater difficulty for local researchers who do not
have funds to pay participants as Western researchers have. At the same time, the two provided
incentives to their participants to acknowledge their contribution, effort, and time, because
“research does not take place in a vacuum, and since time is a valuable resource for children”
(2012, p. 90).
During my first fieldwork at Unistar, I arrived with small gifts as tokens of appreciation,
which I gave the academy personnel. These included small football flags of Maccabi Tel Aviv
Football Club, and some bookmarks with biblical references. After returning home, I reflected on
whether I had rewarded the children properly for contributing to my study. To address some of my
concerns, before embarking on my second stint of fieldwork, I consulted with Nyarku, Unistar’s
manager. He suggested that the players would be delighted to receive football equipment, which
would come in handy during their training and matches. Maccabi Tel Aviv gladly donated dozens

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of fully equipped football uniforms, which I presented to Unistar upon my arrival. The equipment
was received with enthusiasm by the academy staff and players and was consistently used during
their activities. News articles about the donation appeared in the Ghanaian and Israeli media
(GhanaSoccerNet, 2016; Shemesh, 2016), which aroused further excitement.4
My experiences taught me that instead of coming to the field with a fixed agenda on reciprocity,
it is essential to allow our engagement with the children and youths to reshape our ethical and meth-
odological positions. In addressing this dynamic, Abebe and Bessell (2014) proposed a concept
of participatory ethics. They argued that “Current ethical guidelines are often not sufficiently cog-
nisant of the multiplicity of ethos in social relationships that are neither known to, nor articulated
adequately within, the dominant, formalised processes of academia” (p. 131). Consulting with
Unistar’s participants before my arrival for the second fieldwork helped me better understand the
academy’s needs and to reciprocate its participants in a participatory manner.

Conclusion
Since the mid-​20th century, various human rights declarations have contributed to the growing
awareness of the rights boys, girls, young men, and young women should have to engage in sports.
These increased the understanding among policymakers, non-​governmental organizations, and
businesses that sports can serve as an alternative tool to promote development goals among chil-
dren and youths. The institutionalization of this understanding culminated in the emergence of
the SFD field in the early 21st century. As demonstrated with the cases of the Mathare Youth
Sports Association, SIA, EduSport, Kicking Aids Out, Bosco United Sports Association, MSA,
and Unistar Soccer Academy, sport can contribute to efforts of improving the lives of the youth.
Nevertheless, SFD projects can also replicate problematic development approaches that set goals
that do not correlate with those of its participants, and they are limited in their scope of influence.
We know about the advantages and limitations of SFDs on the lives of children and youths owing
to the inclusion of their perspectives. At the same time, including their insights raises a set of meth-
odological and ethical questions, particularly in cross-​cultural contexts, which must be addressed
by researchers in order to ensure the respectful contribution of children and youths to the research.
As the experiences from my fieldwork in Ghana taught me, failure to understand the children’s
place within local ethos “prevents the development of a sound ethical framework that respects and
responds to local contexts and social practices” (Abebe and Bessell, 2014, p. 130).

Notes
1 The application of sport as a tool for development is also referred to Sport-​in-​Development; Sport for
Development (SFD) and Peace ; Development through Sport (DTS); and SFD.
2 This article builds upon Hayhurst et al.’s (2021) recognition that “equity –​guided by a transformative,
social justice approach –​needs to be at the forefront of SGD [Sport for development and Peace] policy,
programming and practice” (p. 17). Given that equality aims at treating all people the same, the outcomes
do not necessarily “lead to fair and equitable results”.
3 This part draws upon arguments first published in Dubinsky (2017).
4 Gifts in social research can have further ethical and political significance that researchers should be aware
of. Whereas Maccabi Tel Aviv representatives explained to me that the gifts were part of the team’s social
outreach program to assist communities in need, some readers can interpret these gifts as part of a broader
attempt by the Israeli public, private, and third sector to harness the popularity of sports to improve the
country’s public image in response to efforts of the BDS movement to boycott Israeli sports. For a detailed
discussion on the practice of “sportswashing” and its links to Israel’s sports diplomacy, see Dubinsky
(2021).

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 Itamar Dubinsky

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 44
RESISTING STATE-​
SPONSORED OPPRESSION
THROUGH APPLIED THEATRE
A Brazilian Case Study

Marina Henriques Coutinho with Tim Prentki

Translated by Miguel Herman

Introduction
The International Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), ratified by Brazil in 1990, and
the Brazilian Statute of the Child and Adolescent,1 a legal milestone for the rights of children and
adolescents in the country, recognize that the full development of childhood and youth depends
on the right to education and educational processes that respect the cultural, artistic and histor-
ical values of the children’s social context, guaranteeing them freedom of creation and access to
sources of culture. However, the growing violation of the rights of children and young people in
Brazil reveals a picture of barbarity and the field of formal (school) education is only one instance
of this in a generalized situation of great vulnerability.
The Complexo da Maré is a district that includes 16 shanty-​town communities. It is located
next to Guanabara Bay, between two of the main access roads to the city of Rio de Janeiro. There
are some 132,000 inhabitants in Maré, living in about 38,000 households. Maré demonstrates
a history of abandonment by public powers. Such abandonment brings the youth closer to the
experience of other residents of the Brazilian urban peripheries, whose daily life is marked by the
combination of numerous vulnerabilities: poor schooling, contact with criminal groups, frequent
armed conflicts and prejudice. The residents of the Complexo da Maré had an especially difficult
year in 2018 due to an escalation of armed violence and the intensification of the policy of hos-
tility towards the favela employed by the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro. According to
the 4o. Boletim: Direito à Segurança Pública na Maré (2019) (4th. Bulletin: The Right to Public
Security in Maré), published by the NGO Redes da Maré (Maré Development Networks), what
most adversely affects the daily lives of the local population is the presence of networks linked to
the commerce of illegal drugs, and illegal paramilitary groups who exploit the delivery of basic
services, monopolizing functions which should devolve upon the state. The document affirms that:

the residents of the favelas of Maré have coexisted for more than three decades with the
conduct of public security agents which disregards the rights of the population to security.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155843-52 595

 Marina Henriques Coutinho, Tim Prentki, and Miguel Herman

Instead, the population is criminalized to the point where they are alienated by the disres-
pectful treatment they receive, or practices which intimidate and create insecurity and fear in
their daily lives. The strategies employed in these locations are bellicose and characterized
by arbitrary police measures and intense armed conflict.2

REDES has as one of its main objectives the gathering and systemization of statistics relating to
the impact of armed violence within the 19 favelas that comprise the Maré Complex. (https://​rede​
sdam​are.org.br/​br/​publ​icac​oes). On 20 June 2018, Maré was woken up by an operation involving
more than 100 police and military personnel, four armoured vehicles and two combat helicopters.
Their ultimate goal, officially, was to serve 23 arrest warrants and validate information provided
by the police’s intelligence departments. No one was arrested, but seven people were killed. That
morning, officers employing helicopters as airborne shooting platforms discharged their weapons
near schools and busy streets in the community known as Salsa e Merengue, Maré. According to
the report “Territories of exception: rights violations and the use of police helicopters in Rio de
Janeiro”, the shots fired from helicopters during school hours on that June morning were not part
of an isolated incident. From a total of 84 operations carried out by the Polícia Civil between 2017
and 2019 with sufficient available data, 49 (58%) of them took place before midday and 24 (29%)
of them happened before 7 am, coinciding with the moments students are often going or returning
from schools. In this report published by MediaLab.UFRJ, researchers identified clear patterns in
the utilization of military apparatus in the city between 2018 and 2019, with a special emphasis on
the Complexo da Maré. The report exposes verified images and recordings taken during the oper-
ation the following days (https://​doc​umen​tal.xyz/​inte​rven​cao).
That is what happened to 14-​year-​old Marcus Vinícius da Silva. That same day he was hit by a
stray bullet while walking to school. At the time, the teenager was wearing his school uniform and
backpack. Before he died, he managed to tell the paramedics who rescued him that the shot had
come from a police armoured vehicle. The image of the bloodstained school uniform has become
a perverse symbol of the state violence enacted in the city’s territories of exception.
The shirt, displaying simultaneously both the colours of the Rio de Janeiro municipal public
school system and the blood of the dead boy, held in the hands of Bruna da Silva, his mother, was
printed on the front page of the main newspapers in Brazil and around the world.3 The crime,
which remains to this day unsolved, highlights the prevalence of necropolitics (Mbembe, 2018),
the state’s policy of death that, in Brazil, chooses the favela and its mainly Black population as the
target of the ultimate expression of sovereign power.
In response to the increase in operations with the use of armoured land and air vehicles (“Big
Skulls”, as they are known in the favelas), a campaign organized by the NGO Redes da Maré in
partnership with schools gathered 1500 drawings and letters from residents, including children,
demanding that Rio de Janeiro’s justice system ban this type of incursion.4 Another example of
reaction to the aimlessness of police gunfire is a sign placed on the roof of an educational organ-
ization that reads: “School. Don’t shoot”.5
There are many news reports of children being shielded by teachers inside schools during
shootings in Rio’s favelas.6 If on the outside the State is present through its genocidal policy, inside
the schools, the same State acts through educational practices supported by the notions of shelter
and social protection, increasingly to the “detriment of the time, space, resources and energy that
should be at the service of knowledge” (Algebaile, 2009, p. 329). The author warns that the pol­
icies that have been heralding an expansion of public schools in Brazil work to “attenuate the
potential conflicts linked to the context of the intensification of poverty, reduction of rights and
dismantling of horizons” (Algebaile cited by Libaneo, 2016, p. 49).

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 Resisting State-Sponsored Oppression through Applied Theatre

Over the last 20 years, the educational policies applied to Brazilian schools have been influenced
by agendas proposed by international organizations which have had a considerable impact on the
understandings regarding schooling, and on the development of curricula. According to Libaneo
(2016), recent studies indicate that one of the guidelines most present in World Bank documents is
“the institutionalization of poverty alleviation policies expressed in a conception of the school as
a place of shelter and social protection, in which one of its elements is the implementation of an
instrumental or results-​based curriculum” (Libaneo, 2016, p. 41). The author emphasizes that such
policies lead to a “disfiguring of the school” as a place of cultural and scientific development and,
as a result, to the devaluation of meaningful knowledge.
According to the author (2012), the notion of the school as a place for “social care” has its origin
in the 1990 World Declaration on “Education for All: Meeting Basic Learning Needs”, signed at
the UNESCO Conference in Jomtien (Thailand), 1990. The document, produced with sponsorship
from the World Bank, advocated for the school as a place for broader socio-​educational action on
behalf of an inclusive education. The declaration questions a pedagogical model based on profi-
ciency in exams, tests and subjects while defending a conception of schooling based, among other
elements, on notions of social integration, coexistence among difference, sharing of cultures and
solidarity.
These seemingly very positive and alluring intentions, however, soon revealed different facets.
Libaneo observes that the democratic ideal envisaged by the declaration needs to be analysed in
the light of global policies determined by international organizations for poor and developing
countries. The international organizations that are most active in the field of education pol-
icies are UNESCO, the World Bank, the Inter-​American Development Bank (IDB), the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Organisation for Economic Co-​operation and
Development (OECD). Documents generated in conferences promoted by these organizations and
signed by member countries have served as a reference to educational policies in Brazil. It is worth
mentioning the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment’s (Pisa) relevance to
Brazilian policymaking.
Libaneo argues that the declaration’s original proposal has been shrunk in order to guarantee its
compatibility with the World Bank’s economistic perspective: “In synthesis, learning becomes a
mere natural need, an instrumental vision devoid of access to higher forms of thought” (Libaneo,
2012, p. 18). Such policies will, according to him, ensure that everyone has a minimum access
to education in order to guarantee structural adjustment policies “that will unleash market forces
and end the culture of universal rights to basic goods and services assured by the state” (Libaneo,
2012, p. 19). Social policies, in this case, educational policies, have been instrumentalized in order
to further economic goals.
Libaneo deepens his criticism by stating that the school that was leftover for the poor,
characterized by its protective and fostering mission, transforms itself into a “caricature of social
inclusion”. According to him, the policies of universal access end up harming the quality of edu-
cation, and the right to learning is replaced by mere “learning for survival”. The biggest victims of
all this are poor and marginalized children and young people, their families and teachers. What is
left for them? A weakened school, teaching reduced to the minimum notions of education, attuned
to the labour market’s demands for training, a simulacrum of social care and socialization which
hides “the internal mechanisms of exclusion throughout the schooling process, anticipators of
social exclusion” (Libaneo, 2012, p. 24).
While the grotesque contradiction of a state school system designed to protect young people
from the dangers posed by the self-​same state may constitute a peculiarly Brazilian example, the
instance, albeit in less overt forms, is not specific to Brazil. In the UK many state schools in areas

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 Marina Henriques Coutinho, Tim Prentki, and Miguel Herman

of cultural and economic deprivation attempt to redress some of the social evils encountered by
their pupils from safeguarding to free school meals. However, these remedial activities serve also
to disguise the realities of inequality and injustice from which the young people are suffering and
will encounter in their adult lives.
In addition to the context presented so far, it is also worth considering the heritage of the years
of military dictatorship in Brazil (1964–​1985) which left deep scars in the country’s education
system that are still extremely perceptible today: a “disciplinary system that eliminated philosophy
and reflective and critical forms of knowledge and that had its mode of conduct based on passivity,
submission, repetition, and fear” (Mosé, 2013, p. 50). A model of the school as a reformatory, a
place of discipline, of docile bodies, of order, of good behaviour and the absence of critique. This
approach has been recently accentuated with the rise to power of reactionary and ultraconservative
forces that have been interfering in the educational field through projects such as the “nonpartisan
school movement” and the militarization of schools, especially after the presidential election of
2018. Nonpartisan School is a political movement in Brazil aimed at curbing what its supporters
perceive to be ideological indoctrination in schools and universities. The movement gained steam
in 2018, with the election of President Jair Bolsonaro who is a supporter of the movement. The
militarization of public schools means the transfer of school management to the Military Police.
Bolsonaro’s administration has defended civil-​military schools as a model to be adopted across
the country.7
It is, therefore, not very fertile ground in which to sow creativity, understanding and investiga-
tion of reality, development of critical thinking processes and education of the sensitive. Not very
fecund ground, above all, for the arts. The neoliberal view of education upon which the curricula
of state schooling are based is narrowly utilitarian. It is not concerned with education as human
development but with training to the jobs required to service a neoliberal economy. It follows what
Ken Robinson describes as an industrial model:

There are many symptoms of the current malaise in education, and they won’t be relieved
unless we understand the deeper problems that underlie them. One is the industrial char-
acter of public education. The issue in a nutshell is this: most of the developed countries
did not have mass systems of public education much before the middle of the nineteenth
century. These systems were developed in large part to meet the labor needs of the Industrial
Revolution and they are organized on the principles of mass production.
(Robinson, 2015, pp. xiv–​xv)

In such systems where the needs and rights of the learner are subordinated to the demands of
the dominant order, the expressive arts, especially drama, will always be pushed to the margins.
Where the art form, applied theatre, encourages criticism of that dominant order, it is likely to be
eliminated entirely.

Applied theatre as a platform for resistance both within

and outside of schools
We also know, however, that in spite of everything, the disposition for resistance pulsates strongly
in the open veins of the Brazilian people and that innumerable responses have been given to this
almost implacable scenario. How has the field of education, with a distinct focus on the practices
of applied theatre, reacted to this disastrous panorama of violations of the fundamental rights
of childhood and youth? Can Brazilian public schools be able to guarantee an open space for

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 Resisting State-Sponsored Oppression through Applied Theatre

games, for play, for transgression, for education as a practice of freedom? What alternatives
have been found inside and outside of schools to guarantee children and adolescents the right
to an integral development? Two good answers spring from Maré: the Theatre in Communities
Programme,8 a non-​formal education initiative, and the classes of drama teacher Lígia da Cruz at
the Escritor Millôr Fernandes Municipal School. The university extension programme, Theatre
in Communities, has been coordinated by Dr. Marina Henriques Coutinho since 2011. It runs
in places located in the favela complex of Maré and Penha. The programme is the result of a
partnership between the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), the Maré
Development Networks (REDES) with Maré Arts Center, the City Health Centre Américo Veloso
and Arena Carioca Dicró. In these places, there are drama workshops for children, teenagers and
adults facilitated by students of the Undergraduate Drama course of UNIRIO.
Children and young people living in favelas in Rio de Janeiro frequently attend, in addition to
formal schools, various social projects promoted by community organizations, NGOs in partner-
ship with universities, government agencies and others. These are initiatives of a less hierarchical
and bureaucratic nature than schools with variable duration, which take place in various spaces
such as community and cultural centres, museums, health centres, churches, neighbourhood asso-
ciations, sports clubs, even in schools; in extracurricular activities that can be understood as part of
a non-​formal education environment defined as: “all organized and systematic educational activ-
ities executed outside the formal system to offer distinct types of education to certain subgroups
of the population” (La Belle, 1986 p. 2 cited by Gadotti, 2005, p. 2); initiatives in which the act of
teaching is performed in “a more spontaneous way and the organized social forces of a community
have the power to interfere in the delimitation of the didactic content taught as well as to establish
the purposes to which those practices are intended” (Gohn, 2011, p. 107).
Moacir Gadotti calls attention to the fact that non-​formal education is usually defined by an
absence when compared to the schooling system, “taking school education as the only paradigm,
as if the school could not also accept informality, the extra-​scholastic” (Gadotti, 2005, p. 2).
However, we do not intend to put formal education in opposition to non-​formal education, nor to
affirm that the second would be the salvation of the first. Our intention is not to devalue the school
and the universal right to public and quality education, but to reflect on the combination of these
different forces that have, in many cases, managed to act for the benefit of the children of Maré.
In the words of Gadotti, we defend “the complementarity between the formal system and the wide
diversity offered by non-​formal education, even if it is in order to enrich formal education by
reinforcing alternative ways of learning” (Gadotti, 2005, p. 11).

Theatre in communities and the “superhero” children of Maré

The Theatre in Communities extension programme has been running at the Maré Arts Center
(MAC)9 since 2011, a partnership between the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro
(UNIRIO) and the Redes de Desenvolvimento da Maré (Redes). The Maré Arts Center houses the
Escola Livre da Maré, is home to the group of choreographer Lia Rodrigues, a partner of Redes da
Maré NGO in the creation of the Centre, and offers an intense programme of artistic, cultural and
socio-​political events. There are performing arts shows, workshops, movie clubs, art exhibitions,
music concerts and dance and theatre performances. Over the last ten years, the programme has
opened the doors of MAC every Saturday morning to receive groups of children and teenagers.
In 2019 the programme welcomed one group for children, two groups for teenagers and one
intergenerational group. Overall, about 80 people were participating in the activities in the three
partner institutions. In March of 2020, while we were preparing to resume the year’s activities, the

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COVID-​19 pandemic hit Brazil and face-​to-​face meetings were suspended. Throughout 2020 and
2021 we tried to keep in touch with children and other participants of the programme, but for them
internet access is difficult. We held encounters by Zoom and maintained messaging by WhatsApp.
Unfortunately, the inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas are the most affected by the pandemic, a
situation that was already critical in 2020 is even more aggravated in 2021.
The fabric of the programme has been woven by many hands. Forty-​two UNIRIO students and
more than 300 Maré residents have already been a part of it. One of its positive results is the con-
solidation of a social network that, by involving community organizations, universities and public
institutions, has been contributing to an exchange of knowledge and a deeper dialogue between
academia and popular communities’ own sets of knowledge and cultural experiences.
The pedagogical development has a dual nature: that of the undergraduate students of UNIRIO
and that of the Maré youth. The former study to become teachers and, therefore, the direct connection
with the groups in Maré provides a meaningful and practical teaching experience; while the com-
munity groups are introduced to theatre, frequently, for the first time. The programme’s main
challenge has been to establish, through the encounter between the University and Maré, a space
where theatre, through the power of dramatic narrative, can establish a process in which everyone
becomes the subject of their own development, where: “the learners become real subjects of the
construction and reconstruction of the knowledge taught alongside the educator, who is equally
a subject in the process” (Freire, 2003, p. 26). Along with this educational approach, there is also
an aesthetic approach which seeks to communicate individual and collective wishes on stage in a
poetic, artistic and communitarian way.
In its ten years of existence, the programme has already staged 33 theatrical performances for
audiences composed of mothers, fathers and the community. These works’ themes have independ-
ently arisen from the participants’ interest and have generally been linked to their lived experiences,
but also dedicated to distant universes. In most cases, ideas emerge from improvisations which are
transformed into dramaturgy. In others, works from Shakespeare, Brecht or national playwrights
are adapted and recreated. The presence of dance and music is almost obligatory in the works
since rhythm, musicality and movement are an integral part of Maré youth culture. There is no
concern to achieve “passing grades”, to be approved in order to reach a more developed degree of
learning; on the contrary, participants of different age groups are intermingled and coexist in the
programme.
Taking into consideration the social context on which Theatre in Communities is based, in con-
trast to the social exclusions that characterize the space of Maré and the city, the process of “inclu-
sion”, far from being based on a structure of adaptation of the so-​called marginalised individuals
to the demands of a dominant culture and class, is arranged for the creation of an environment
in which all its participants are simultaneously encouraged to share and delimit a new territory
without hierarchies, favourable to critique and creation.
The year 2019 was special for the history of the programme due to the opening of its first
class dedicated to children between 8 and 11 years old at the Maré Arts Centre. Out of all the
victims of daily social injustice, this age group seems to us the most vulnerable. Carlos, Danyelle,
Deborah, Esther, Gabriela, Gustavo, Karen, Luany, Maria Clara, Mauricio, Nickollas, Nivea,
Pedro, Sara and Sophya were still shy when they first entered the Arts Centre, but throughout the
morning the activities proposed by the facilitators Camila Barra, Gustavo Barbosa and Juliana
Targino, students from UNIRIO who lead work with this group, quickly stimulated the children.
Traditional games from Brazilian culture, such as cirandas and piques10 provided a “playground”
atmosphere, euphoria, laughter and running around even in the first meetings. In some moments
chaos descended and the world was turned upside down. In that peculiar space-​time, there was

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a “license to lose control, the experience of a moment of madness without social consequence”
(Prentki, 2011, p. 190).
The aim was not to direct the process towards a concrete result to be presented to an audi-
ence, but to respect the children’s gradual development and the expression of their ideas,
emotions and narratives. The themes of their improvisations were mostly related to their daily
experiences, mainly at school. Curiously, the issue of violence was hardly present. Perhaps
because they decided that in that space, their childhood should have the chance to be lived
differently, an intermission that inserts “in the confusion of life and in the imperfection of the
world a temporary and limited perfection” (Huizinga, 2001, p. 13). The young people gave
expression to this feeling by dressing themselves in the costumes of world-​changing super-
heroes, drawn from the props chest.
The “justice league” imagined by the children rescued a stranded bus, found a job for a hungry
robber, froze an authoritarian teacher, handed over control of a school to students and planted
more trees in Maré. By decision of the group, in December 2019, the simple scenic discoveries
were transformed into a short play presented for families and the community. At that moment, the
audience seemed to believe that that very instant ignited the possibility of a different world: “The
image of the world we can create (and do create). The world that does not yet exist shows itself as
a world that exists as a not-​yet” (Holloway, 2013, p. 33).

Creating another world in a Maré school

Not far from the Maré Arts Centre, Lígia da Cruz Silva has been teaching drama at the Escritor
Millôr Fernandes Municipal School since 2017. This other example of applied theatre, situated
within the environment of a formal school, operates according to dynamics very close to those
experienced at the Arts Centre. Like many Brazilian educators who face difficulties related to low
wages, precarious school infrastructure and operating in unstable municipalities, Lígia prefers to
present her work at the school from a perspective that seeks new possibilities. Disagreeing with
the educational system’s model based on rules, tests, schedules and obligations, she has been cre-
ating in her drama classes and with her students a space where they can discover another school
inside their own.

The looking-​glass school teaches us to suffer reality, not change it; to forget the past, not learn
from it; to accept the future, not invent it. In its halls of criminal learning, impotence, amnesia
and resignation are required courses. Yet perhaps –​who can say –​there can be no disgrace
without grace, no sign without a countersign, and no school that does not beget its counterschool.
(Galeano, 2005, p. 389)

The refusal of the “looking-​glass school” is revealed by Lígia’s words:

If there’s no room in the classroom, let’s occupy the playground! The corridors! The stairs!
The lunchroom! And even the headmaster’s office! I propose that the students can run, laugh
and jump. I propose that the students can cook, sew, that they can write poetry and that they
can say how dissatisfied they are with this school that has been imposed on them. I reject this
school which incarcerates the students and makes them useful for the market, for capital. I
refuse this disciplinary school that, purposely abandoned, becomes an immense factory of
cheap labour, making it impossible for the student to at least learn to read and write.
(Silva, 2020, p. 19)

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The anarchic and noisy occupation of the school spaces and her enthusiasm in proposing alter-
native dynamics to the regulation of formal education generated in the students, says the teacher,
joy through experimentation. In “Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom”,
bell hooks, in line with Paulo Freire, argues that classrooms should create “open learning com-
munities” in which everyone’s presence is valued: “In the classroom’s community, our capacity
to generate enthusiasm is profoundly affected by our interest in each other, by hearing each
other’s voices, by acknowledging each other’s presence” (hooks, 2019 p. 17). hooks’ words are
directly reflected in Lígia’s practice. One of her many initiatives was based on “The Naked Boys’
Land”, by famous Brazilian writer Graciliano Ramos (1892–​1953), a modernist writer, politician
and journalist. He is known worldwide for his portrayal of the precarious situation of the poor
inhabitants of the Brazilian sertão in his novel Vidas secas. The novel tells the story of a young
boy named Raimundo and his daring escape to a land he had imagined, Tatipirum, where every-
thing would be perfect. Reading the book served as inspiration for the children who, instead of
reproducing Ramos’ narrative, preferred to write a new story in which they created their own
ideal city:

The little ones engaged in a utopian exercise of planning the city they would like to live in;
between rivers of chocolate and houses of sweets, they also imagined a place without drug
trafficking, without shootings, with public squares to play in.
(Araújo et al., 2019, p. 186)

Lígia says she asked the students: “I wonder how Raimundo got to Tatipirun?!” One of them
answered: “It’s very easy, he must have built a magic teleportation machine that would take him
to any world he could imagine!”. According to her, a lot of drawing, philosophizing, acting and
colouring went into creating their own Tatipirun. What would this place be like? Which characters
would inhabit it? Where and how did they live? And the children embarked on the journey.
Arranged in a circle, with bare feet, their bodies in motion, with coloured balloons and pieces
of fabric, they built puppets, played shadow theatre, created their ideal city and brought to life
many stories. In one of these adventures, four girls tired of their domestic chores, ran away
from home and decided that the school, more precisely, the theatre room, would become their
refuge. Just like the children at the Maré Arts Center, in that enchanted room, Lígia’s students
found a space for freedom of creation, for the exercise of critical thinking and the construction
of knowledge.
Article 13 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states that

The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this freedom shall include the right
to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds regardless of frontiers, either
orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s
choice.11

Brazil’s children, along with those of all signatory countries, have a right to engage in drama
processes and theatrical performances. The government, federal or regional, is acting illegally
in failing to give space to applied drama in their formal curricula. Creativity is not a desirable
option within education. It is a human right. Between September 2009 and January 2010, the
European Union sponsored a research project (DICE) into the effectiveness of educational drama
for young people aged 13–​16. The project, conducted by 12 partners across the Union, set out
to explore whether and how drama might improve five of the eight Lisbon Key Competences in

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Education: communication in the mother tongue; learning to learn; interpersonal, intercultural

and social competences, civic competence; entrepreneurship; cultural expression. Besides dem-
onstrating significant improvements in these areas, the research team discovered the necessity of
adding a sixth competence to their results (hence DICE). This competence is described as “the
universal competence of what it is to be human” (DICE, 2010, p. 13). The opportunity to engage
in drama enables young people (and, we would argue, all people) to explore aspects of their rela-
tionship to others and the world without which they cannot access their full potential.
Research into the neurological structure of the human brain bears out this finding. As Christian
Keysers observes, “The brain is hardwired to turn us into highly social and empathic animals”
(Keysers, 2011, p. 117) so that “the emotional connection with others is, to a large extent, what
makes us human” (Keysers, 2011, p. 8). The discovery of the so-​called mirror neurons in 1990
by Vittorio Gallese and his team at the University of Parma accelerated our understanding of the
ways in which we respond to each other, demonstrating that our brains undergo neural changes
while we watch the actions of others and listen to their words, even if these changes are not
manifested in actions we undertake. In other words, whether we wish to be or not, we behave
minute by minute in our daily lives like a theatre audience. As with performers and audiences,
the more we engage with the process, the more adept we become at forming empathic responses
and critiquing those responses: “Our mirror system is thus not fully determined at birth, but can
be augmented by experiences that change the way we perceive these actions in others” (Keysers,
2011, p. 54). Children’s brains are especially susceptible to the possibilities of neuroplasticity so
the opportunity to engage in drama, that most empathic of processes, is critical to the building of
a more caring world. Keysers speculates about the ways in which our neurological insights lead
to an understanding of the moral basis of human interactions: “shared circuits might be more
powerful than intellect when it comes to morals. We do not primarily think about whether it is right
or wrong to make people suffer. We feel it” (Keysers, 2011, p. 194). The psychologist Jamil Zaki,
who researches into practical applications of empathy, concludes his book, The War for Kindness,
with these words:

It’s easy to live in a less intentional way. Building a new sort of empathy takes effort and
sacrifice, for people who might not repay it. But in the face of escalating cruelty and isola-
tion, we are fighting for our moral lives. Doing what’s easy is seldom worthwhile, and in
moments like these, it’s dangerous. We each have a choice, and the sum of our choices will
create the future.
(Zaki, 2019, p. 173)

In life and in death Marcus Vinícius is an emblem of resistance against the forces that seek to deny
humanity. Marcus Vinícius was a student of Lígia.

Notes
1 Brazilian Federal Law (Lei nº 8069, 13 de Julho de 1990).
2 4th Bulletin: The Right to Public Security in Maré. An initiative of the NGO Redes de Maré (REDES) –​
(Maré Development Networks).
3 Phillips, Dom. Brazilian teenager dies after police helicopter strafes favela. Available at: www.theg​
uard​ian.com/​world/​2018/​jun/​21/​bra​zil-​lat​est-​death-​teena​ger-​fav​ela-​raid-​pol​ice-​mar​cus-​da-​silva [Last
accessed 9 June 2021].
https://​g1.globo.com/​rj/​rio-​de-​jane​iro/​noti​cia/​adol​esce​nte-​morto-​na-​mare-​foi-​ating​ido-​por-​disp​aro-​
pelas-​cos​tas-​diz-​laudo.ghtml [Last accessed 9 June 2021].

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 Marina Henriques Coutinho, Tim Prentki, and Miguel Herman

4 The drawing is part of the news report by Canideu, Maria Laura. Favela Children Speak the Truth About
Abusive Policing. Available at: www.hrw.org/​news/​2019/​08/​22/​fav​ela-​child​ren-​speak-​truth-​about-​abus​
ive-​polic​ing [Last accessed 9 June 2021].
5 Placa de telhado no Complexo da Maré, diz: “Escola. Não atire! (Revista Forum). Available at: https://​
revis​tafo​rum.com.br/​bra​sil/​placa-​em-​telh​ado-​no-​compl​exo-​da-​mare-​no-​rio-​diz-​esc​ola-​nao-​atire/​ [Last
accessed 14 August 2021].
6 Brito, Renata. Schools caught in crossfire in violent Rio de Janeiro slums. Available at: https://​apn​ews.
com/​arti​cle/​busin​ess-​shooti​ngs-​rio-​de-​jane​iro-​d5c25​40b8​c704​ccf8​3f31​d10c​4dcf​b4e [Last accessed
14 August 2021]; Tiroteio no Rio: crianças vivem dia de drama em uma escola (Band, TV News).
Available at: www.yout​ube.com/​watch?v=​P7_​k​vjCR​lFA [Last accessed 14 August 2021]. Foto de
crianças deitadas em escola se protegendo de tiros gera revolta na web. Available at: https://​extra.globo.
com/​casos-​de-​poli​cia/​foto-​de-​crian​cas-​deita​das-​em-​esc​ola-​se-​pro​tege​ndo-​de-​tiros-​gera-​revo​lta-​na-​web-​
21143​471.html [Last accessed 14 August 2021].
7 www.brasi​ldef​ato.com.br/​2020/​01/​07/​2019-​in-​rev​iew-​or-​mil​itar​izat​ion-​privat​izat​ion-​and-​bud​get-​cuts-​
to-​educat​ion/​ [Last accessed 18 June 2021].
8 http://​teat​roem​comu​nida​des.com.br/​sobre/​about-​us/​ [Last accessed 18 June 2021] and in the documen­­
tary film (subtitles in English) www.yout​ube.com/​watch?v=​maoM​dGI4​Zao&t=​619s
9 https://​rede​sdam​are.org.br/​en/​info/​3/​mare-​arts-​cen​ter [Last accessed 18 June 2021].
10 Ciranda (a folkloric circle dance popular in the Brazilian North-​east.). Pique (Touch, Hide and
seek etc.).
11 https:// ​ d ownlo ​ a ds.uni ​ c ef.org.uk/ ​ w p- ​ c ont ​ e nt/ ​ u plo ​ a ds/ ​ 2 016/ ​ 0 8/ ​ u ni ​ c ef- ​ c on ​ v ent ​ i on- ​ r ig ​ h ts- ​ c hild-​
uncrc.pdf?_​ga=​2.108009​666.175​0035​406.158​0230​726-​151​6587​074.158​0230​726 [Accessed 16
August 2021].

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index.php/​urdime​nto/​arti​cle/​view/​15731
DICE Consortium. (2010). The DICE has been cast: Research findings and recommendations on educational
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Freire, P. (2003). Pedagogia da autonomia. Saberes necessários à prática educativa. São Paulo: Paz e Terra.
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ricos, escola do acolhimento social para os pobres, Educação e pesquisa, São Paulo, 38 (1), 13–​28.
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Mosé, V 2013, A escola e os desafios contemporâneos. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização brasileira.

Prentki, T.; Nogueira, M. P. (trad.) (2011). Acabou a brincadeira: pode o teatro salvar o planeta? Florianópolis,
Revista Urdimento/​UDESC. Available at: www.revis​tas.udesc.br/​index.php/​urdime​nto/​arti​cle/​view/​1414​
5731​0217​2011​187
Robinson, K. (2015). Creative Schools. London: Penguin.
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605
 INDEX

abolition 376–​7, 380–​6 childhood 61–​5, 77–​8, 81–​5, 88–​9, 109–​10, 126,
adolescents 77, 114, 117, 145–​7, 168, 257, 259–​61, 144, 164, 170, 180, 191–​3, 235–​6, 246–​7, 256–​8,
264–​6, 270, 293–​301, 319–​7, 352, 370, 575–​8 278–​80, 322, 341–​6, 348–​9, 360–​8, 373–​4, 394,
Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health 420–​30, 435–​9, 470–​6
(ASRH) 25, 256–​7, 293–​300, 304–​16 child labour 4, 8, 184, 341–​6, 367, 376–​86, 420–​1,
agency 19, 90–​2, 109, 111, 114, 123, 126–​7, 426–​7, 558–​60
129–​36, 158–​9, 163–​5, 169–​70, 192, 208–​9, child marriage 91–​4, 267, 296, 341, 403–​6, 415
242–​3, 246–​7, 304–​16, 352, 359, 379, 415, 429, child migration, unaccompanied 180, 221–​4,
458, 496 228–​31, 240
activism 109–​11, 141, 146–​7, 152, 154–​5, 159, 538 child-​rearing 212, 241–​2, 324, 369, 424, 437, 440,
archives 14, 17–​29, 128–​9 506, 515–​16
Africa 35, 51, 77, 83–​4, 110, 155, 242, 247, 257, children’s labor 420–​9, 141–​5, 166, 196, 202,
260, 270, 304–​13, 319, 322–​7, 496–​7, 505, 529
513–​14, 542–​54, 557–​65, 586–​9 children as subjects 1, 36, 49
Asia 117, 154, 178–​9, 196–​214, 244–​7, 270, 496, children, migrant 8, 177–​80, 183–​93
510, 546, 570 children, migrant, left-​behind 183–​4, 202–​14,
aspiration, educational 4, 61, 65, 90–​1, 102–​3, 241, 243
129–​33, 192, 209, 236, 238, 243, 299, 307, 435, child rights 153, 187–​8, 267–​8, 270, 343–​6, 348–​9,
463–​6, 529, 587 351–​60, 364–​7, 372–​4, 382, 386, 420–​30
assemblage, of sexuality 34, 310–​15 child saving, practices 341–​3
child soldiers 111, 163–​72, 378
boy scouts, Palestine 133–​4 chile, youth activism 139–​48
civil society 110, 164, 186, 259, 268, 350, 355,
Cambodia 179, 196–​204, 210–​14 358, 380–​1
care 255–​8, 269, 283, 285–​9, 293–​4, 319–​9, 369, climate crisis 110, 140, 145–​7, 151–​60, 495–​502
398, 435, 437, 451, 575, 481, 485, 498, 510–​12, Colombia 111, 163–​72, 223
523, 526–​9 colonialism 127, 135, 142, 146, 224, 397, 374,
caste 50, 90–​1, 438, 444–​6, 456, 459–​60, 462, 436, 539–​43
464–​6 colonization 127, 129–​36
capitalism 109–​110, 146, 221–​22, 242, 345–​6, 428, communities: Indigenous 145–​7, 152, 420,
436, 459, 466, 539 429–​90, 515; pastoralist 437, 505–​16, 519–​30;
capitalism, global 34, 42, 140–​2, 148, 151–​2, 374, rural 130, 506, 511, 521, 562–​5
530, 543 consent: informed in research 55, 61, 65–​71, 589;
Central America 221–​4, 226–​7, 230–​1, 239, sexual 257, 260, 267–​8, 316
242, 247 Convivencia 438, 470–​3, 477–​90

606
 Index

COVID-​19 143, 178, 197, 228, 230, 319, 325–​8, Indigenous 129, 133, 141, 145–​7, 152, 154–​7, 165,
353, 397–​9, 495, 575–​6, 600 222, 255, 420, 423–​9, 437, 442–​52, 470–​90, 497,
culture and development 9, 81–​3, 157–​8, 411–​17, 500, 515, 528, 537, 539, 543–​5, 547, 559
483, 490, 505, 516, 537–​40 Indigenous Knowledge 9, 440, 471
informal economy 345, 435, 439, 443, 455–​65, 528
decolonial 14, 15, 32–​42, 147, 546 intergenerational 7, 8, 49, 113, 123, 137–​41,
development: international 8, 140, 164, 171, 178, 145, 148
186, 237, 247, 255–​8, 293–​5, 305, 310, 343–​5, International Criminal Court 164
348–​60, 371, 376, 382, 425, 450, 520, 522, 527, International Labour Organization (ILO) 199, 341,
538, 560; research 4–​8, 32–​42, 52, 61–​3, 65, 367, 456
67–​8, 70, 160; studies 1–​8, 13, 16, 46–​7, 50, 109
disability, social model 262, 393–​6 Jordan 391–​400

early childhood 256, 278–​90, 322–​3, 426, Kashmir 113–​24

436–​7, 505–​16 Knowledge Production 5–​6, 13–​15, 34–​6, 46–​57,
early childhood education (ECE) 435, 505–​6, 343, 346, 392–​4, 400
510–​25, 560, 539
early marriage 403–​18 language policy 543–​7
Education For All (EFA) 184–​5, 372, 435, 437, 455, Lebanon 391–​400
512, 519–​23, 553, 597 left-​behind children 183–​4, 202–​14, 241, 243
El Salvador 221–​6 life course 238, 240–​1, 257–​81, 297, 501
empowerment 3, 13, 16, 37, 47–​8, 56, 82, 88–​104, livelihood 8, 153, 183, 137, 210, 213, 236, 244,
256, 299, 342, 358, 458, 466, 501, 585 422, 437–​40, 442, 444–​59, 497, 500, 508,
environmental activism 145–​7 513–​15, 521, 524, 526–​7
epistemic 14–​16, 33–​7, 39–​40, 47–​9, 54 localization 32–​5
epistemology 13, 78, 89
ethics 15, 46–​57, 61–​70, 500, 589, 591 methodology 1–​16, 17–​30, 32–​42, 61–​71, 76–​85,
ethiopia 409, 437, 519–​31, 542, 546, 548, 88–​104, 282–​3, 297, 310, 407, 421–​3, 506,
550–​3 560, 589
ethnography 14, 41, 83–​4, 178 Mexico 221–​30
migrant children lone 180, 221–​4, 228–​31, 240
female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/​C) migration 177–​80, 182–​93, 221–​31, 235–​47
342, 403–​17 millennium development goals 377, 512, 583

gender norms 8, 92, 203, 209, 212, 239, 241–​2, nation-​building 109, 549
256–​8, 278–​90, 294, 301, 306–​15, 442, 445–​52, nationalism 110, 115–​17, 132, 228, 539
465, 585 neoliberalism 139–​48, 424–​6, 458, 460
generation 110, 123, 148, 152, 156–​9, 171, non-​governmental organizations (NGOs) 178, 256,
470–​90, 573 293, 376, 420, 581–​2, 591
Ghana 420–​30, 514, 547, 557–​65
global development 1–​8, 62–​3, 70, 142, 177–​9, 221, oppression 37–​8, 40, 90, 114, 261, 352, 364, 446,
224, 268–​71, 341, 346, 435, 542–​3 459, 465–​6, 522, 595–​603
globalization 351, 470, 473–​4, 481, 484, 487–​9
governmentality 143, 351, 442–​4 Palestine, British Mandate 126–​36
Guatemala 188, 221–​4, 436–​8, 470, 473 participatory research 7, 14–​15, 46–​56, 63, 68, 70,
79, 126, 231, 271
Health and International Development 255–​8 Palestine 126–​36, 343, 391–​400
HIV/​AIDS 319–​29; adolescents affected by 323–​5; pastoralists 505–​16, 519–​31
infants and children affected by 322–​3 Peru 142–​3, 278–​90
Honduras 180, 221–​6 Philippines 259–​72
photo-​voice 15, 78–​9
identity 7, 14, 25, 52, 62, 77, 113, 300, 323, 443–​4, political economy 4, 6, 34, 46, 140–​3, 180, 245–​6,
448–​9, 452, 549, 565, 572–​9 344, 386, 543
India 17–​30, 182–​93, 442–​53, 455–​66 postcolonial 29, 545–​6, 559–​60
India, Bangalore 182–​93, 463 post-​development 147, 519–​31

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 Index

post-​schooling 519–​31 South-​East Asia 179, 196–​14

play 283–​8, 506–​10, 513–​15, 539–​40, 557–​65 Sub-​saharan Africa 304–​5, 319–​29, 455, 497,
political agency 126–​36 542–​8, 559–​60
political socialization 113–​24, 126–​36 sustainable development 110, 213, 356–​7, 372, 440,
poverty 15, 32, 35, 63, 82, 133, 140–​3, 155, 187, 496, 501–​2
191, 196, 201–​2, 210, 214, 222–​3, 238, 255, sustainable development goals (SDGs) 3, 62, 255–​6,
293–​4, 305–​6, 310, 391–​2, 465, 497, 506, 520, 259, 265–​61, 278, 341–​2, 344, 357, 372, 376–​87,
528, 597 397, 403, 495–​502, 537–​8, 561, 565, 583, 585
protection, child 265–​7, 279, 346, 364, 368–​72,
404, 424 Technical and Vocational Education and Training
(TVET) 456–​7
racism 34, 76, 147, 154, 393 theatre 595–​603
resilience 63, 77, 143, 205–​13, 245, 247, 265, 271, translanguaging 548–​53
320, 329, 429, 505, 575–​6 transnational families 8, 179–​80, 297–​8, 235,
240–​7, 595–​603
sexual reproductive health 4, 293–​301, 584
skilling, youth 8, 435–​6, 438–​9, 455–​66, 529 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
social change 2, 8, 14, 32–​8, 42, 45, 55, 346, 393, Child (UNCRC) 5, 61–​3, 68, 153, 158–​91, 165,
437, 440, 581, 586 341, 355, 367–​9, 426, 496, 499
social mobility 465, 489, 528, 586 United Nations Educational Scientific and
social norms 267, 278–​90, 294, 301, 342, Cultural Organization UNESCO 38, 456, 511,
407–​9, 540 537, 597
social reproduction 1–​2, 4, 8, 235–​47, 435–​40, USA 157, 425
455–​66, 470–​90, 505–​16, 538
schooling 8, 17, 23, 41, 51, 92, 109, 164, 178, vernacular education 546–​8
182–​93, 204, 304–​16, 345, 435–​40, 446, 450–​1, video games 569–​78
455, 456–​8, 461–​3, 486–​90, 519, 521, 530, violence, sexual 120, 257, 259–​75, 294, 306
545, 595–​9 visual methods 50–​1, 76–​85
school, as site of children’s political mobilization voice 5–​7, 14–​16, 21, 37, 39, 46, 62–​3, 66, 88, 126,
109–​10, 117–​18, 129, 143–​5 141, 393, 428
schools, missionary 28, 132, 544
sport 8, 540, 581–​91 water security 495–​502
social justice 53–​4, 86, 465, 513, 549 wellbeing 15, 32, 61–​2, 100, 155, 178–​80, 207, 255,
social transformation 8, 35, 346, 440 305, 328, 346, 358, 371, 383, 490
South Africa 77, 79, 110, 155, 304–​16, 327, 458, working children 141–​3, 187, 344, 377, 381–​7;
547–​50, 562 see also child labor

608