Tanzanian Childhoods

Street Children's Narratives of ‘Home’

Bibliographic Data

ID11423071
AuthorsRuth Evans (0000-0002-4599-5270, corresponding author), Ruth M C Evans
Year2004
Volume22
Issue1
Pages69-92
Publication date2004-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0258-9001 • E-ISSN: 1469-9397
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0258900042000179616
OpenAlexW2159749894
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited7

This article discusses Tanzanian street children's narratives of their home environments and their experiences of family life.Based on findings from childfocused ethnographic research, I identify the salient factors influencing children's decisions to leave their immediate household to seek a living independently within the urban environment.These include chronic poverty and social marginalisation, negative features of the social construction of childhood, such as corporal punishment and the conflict between 'work' and 'play', underlying gender inequalities, children's experiences within diverse household structures, and rural-urban migration.My research refutes assumptions about street children as being predominantly 'orphans' or 'abandoned', and suggests that a complex myriad of factors influence children's decisions to leave home.Children are very often making a rational choice of one lifestyle over another, in response to difficult home environments and oppressive adult-child relations

Art · Ethnology · Literature · Narrative · Sociology · Tanzania · Gender Studies · Homelessness and Social Issues · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Urban and Rural Development Challenges

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