Fearsome people and places, narratives of street and hideout children in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Bibliographic Data

ID12710876
AuthorsTim Malcomson (Marginal Childhoods, Independent Consultant, Granada, Spain), Simon Bradford (0000-0001-9980-7637, Brunel University of London, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume16
Issue3
Pages333-345
Publication date2017-09-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueChildren s Geographies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1473-3277 • E-ISSN: 1473-3285
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14733285.2017.1380168
OpenAlexW2755775564
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited35

This article is based on a GOAL Global field study of street children in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It draws on narrative accounts given by street children who have migrated to Freetown from rural Sierra Leone. The study used the participatory ranking method to generate data about children’s street and hideout (a room, shack or part of a building where children live in groups) lives post-migration. These data contained much about children’s fears, and the article explores their experience of fearsome people and places, showing that fear is a dominant aspect of these children’s lives. Fear shapes their day-to-day choices and decisions: their agency. It also suggests that agency should be seen as complex, contingent and sometimes paradoxical. The article concludes by identifying implications for social policy and practice, suggesting that these necessarily entail risky engagement with fearsome people in the liminal spaces of children’s street and hideout lives

Agency (philosophy · Art · Citizen journalism · Liminality · Narrative · Political science · Sierra leone · Social science · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Anthropology · Children's Rights and Participation · Gender Studies · Homelessness and Social Issues · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare

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