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EnglishThe point of departure of this paper is that childhood is socially constructed and continuously re-defined through public policies, laws, practices and ideologies. The paper explores the perspectives on children, upbringing and socialization as reflected in the manuals, forms and questionnaires of social workers in a child protection institution in Mexico. It employs a theoretical lens borrowed from Childhood Studies, using three dominant images of childhood—the Dionysian, Apollonian and Athenian—to examine the links between discursive constructions of childhood and ways of governing institutionalized children. Four overarching themes were identified as representative of predominant concepts of values concerning children and child rearing in an institutionalized context in the documents: (1) Patriotism, (2) Work ethics, (3) Hygiene, and (4) Physical experiences and sexuality. The analysis reveals how children are perceived primarily as future citizens, with their upbringing being a part of a wider nation-building project. Hence, there is an emphasis on how to become a 'decent' labourer, internalize the values of- and loyalty to the nation-state, and develop into a 'moral' and 'civilized' citizen. It is argued that institutional socialization is part and parcel of a political ideology that reinforces the idea of children as relatively passive socialization objects.
Spanish"El sentido de mi vida siempre será defender nuestra patria": Criando y educando ciudadanos en instituciones de protección infantil en México. El punto de partida de este artículo es que la infancia es construida socialmente, y que es continuamente redefinida a través de las políticas públicas, las leyes, las prácticas y las ideologías. Este artículo explora las perspectivas sobre los niños, la crianza, y la socialización según se reflejan en los manuales, planillas y cuestionarios de los trabajadores sociales en una institución de protección infantil en México. Se emplea la propuesta teórica tomada de los Estudios de la Infancia, usando tres imágenes dominantes (Dionisíaca, Apolínea y Ateniense) para examinar los vínculos entre las construcciones discursivas sobre la infancia y las formas que gobiernan a los niños institucionalizados. Se identificaron cuatro temas relevantes como representativos de los conceptos de valores predominantes en los documentos respecto a los niños, y cuidado infantil en un contexto institucionalizado: (1) Patriotismo, (2) Ética de trabajo, (3) Higiene, y (4) Experiencias físicas y sexualidad. El análisis revela cómo los niños son percibidos primeramente como futuros ciudadanos, y su crianza es parte de un proyecto más amplio de construcción de la nación. De este modo hay un énfasis en cómo convertirse en un trabajador "decente", internalizar los valores de y la lealtad al Estado nación, y desarrollar un ciudadano moral y civilizado. Se afirma que la socialización institucional es parte de la ideología política que refuerza la idea de los niños como objetos de socialización relativamente pasivos.

The point of departure of this paper is that childhood is socially constructed and continuously re-defined through public policies, laws, practices and ideologies. The paper explores the perspectives on children, upbringing and socialization as reflected in the manuals, forms and questionnaires of social workers in a child protection institution in Mexico. It employs a theoretical lens borrowed from Childhood Studies, using three dominant images of childhood—the Dionysian, Apollonian and Athenian—to examine the links between discursive constructions of childhood and ways of governing institutionalized children. Four overarching themes were identified as representative of predominant concepts of values concerning children and child rearing in an institutionalized context in the documents: (1) Patriotism, (2) Work ethics, (3) Hygiene, and (4) Physical experiences and sexuality. The analysis reveals how children are perceived primarily as future citizens, with their upbringing being a part of a wider nation-building project. Hence, there is an emphasis on how to become a 'decent' labourer, internalize the values of- and loyalty to the nation-state, and develop into a 'moral' and 'civilized' citizen. It is argued that institutional socialization is part and parcel of a political ideology that reinforces the idea of children as relatively passive socialization objects. ; publishedVersion ; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Denne artikkelen har som utgangspunkt at metodiske og metodologiske valg aldri er nøytrale, men bygger på dominerende politiske agendaer og teoretisering av feltet. Gjennom å granske utviklingen av gatebarnfeltet de siste 30 årene tydeliggjøres konturene av to ulike paradigmer, kalt 'Offerrollen' og 'Helterollen': Hovedtendensen på 1980-tallet var å basere seg på 'ekspertstemmer', og portrettere gatebarn som ofre i patologiserende, umyndiggjørende og deterministiske ordelag. Forskningen med gatebarn innenfor den tverrfaglige barne- og barndomsforskningen utover 1990-tallet innebar en helomvending, hvor en rekke medvirkningsorienterte studier ofte portretterte unge gatebeboere som handlende og resiliente. Denne sammenstillende analysen identifiserer tre utfordringer med de to paradigmene; essensialisering av barnet, unyansert fremstilling av barnets aktørskap knyttet til strukturelle føringer og hindringer, og fravær av voksenrelasjoner i framstillinger av barns liv på gata. Longitudinell etnografi foreslås for å unngå homogenisering av gatepopulasjoner og et overdrevent fokus på barns aktørskap gjennom å reintegrere et strukturelt og intergenerasjonelt perspektiv. Avslutningsvis knyttes diskusjonen til den mer generelle debatten rundt utviklingen av den tverrfaglige barne- og barndomsforskningen, med et kritisk blikk på diskursen om 'det kompetente barnet'. ; publishedVersion ; Open Access. Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 4.0)

"Drawing on longitudinal qualitative research in Brazil involving participant observation and narrative interviews with young homeless persons, and semi-structured interviews with middle class residents, local businesses, and patrolling police officers, three overlapping yet contradictory dimensions of inclusion and exclusion are developed. First the hegemonic exclusionary discourse that tends to produce stigmatizing labels on poor people in general, and boys and young men on the street in particular, is mapped out. Second, socio-spatial exclusionary mechanisms involving architectural measures, surveillance cameras and violent policing, guarding the neighbourhood from stigmatised 'others' are examined. Third, the less recognised but equally important inclusionary mechanisms, facilitating street life and enabling a sense of belonging among young homeless people are explored. A simplistic and unidimensional conceptualisation of social exclusion is critiqued while demonstrating the multifaceted, intertwined, and contradictory character of homeless people's social relationships with middle class residents, businesses, and police. Furthermore, the exclusion/inclusion dualism that is vivid in the existing literature is questioned. It is suggested that a nuanced picture is vital to increasing our understanding of the everyday lives of homeless populations and that further investigation and theorization of their exclusion as well as inclusion is needed." (author's abstract)

AbstractThis article explores how young Brazilian men from poorer areas transcend socio-geographical boundaries by inhabiting the streets of an elite neighbourhood. Drawing on several periods of qualitative fieldwork, the article demonstrates the complex and dynamic character of the relationship between the young men and the formal residents and traders. It reveals temporal patterns of day and night, where the young men's social positions shift from subordinate diurnal (as serving workers) to dominant nocturnal positions (as potential attackers). Analysing the interactional patterns between the two groups regarding sentiments of trust and fear, the multifaceted and sometimes incoherent relations reveal social inclusion and exclusion as well as street protection and crime. The article also dismantles some common dichotomies within research on crime and fear of crime, emphasising that these young men are both victims and offenders, fearful and fearsome.

AbstractWhen Greece was hit by the global financial crisis in 2009, families with children paid the heaviest toll. In this article, we draw on individual interviews and focus groups with 17 sixth graders, six teachers and six parents at a primary school in the Magnesia region. We use a relational approach to unpacking everyday austerity as it is lived, felt and experienced by Greek children. The empirical material shows how children's well‐being is conditioned by the well‐being of their families, where emotional stress spills over through witnessing parents' worries. Relational agency enables children to contribute to adversity relief, which seems to enhance not only their well‐being but also their resilience, as it is embedded in relations of mutual empowerment and development. Lastly, the study documents how macro policies of austerity measures trickle into the fabric of children's everyday lives and shape familial and intergenerational practices of care and responsibility.

While there is a growing body of research on Ciganos/Roma in Portugal, little is known about how Cigano youth transition into adulthood. In this article, we address this gap by drawing on a qualitative study on the transitions of young Ciganos living in Cascais, a coastal municipality in the Lisbon district. Using a multi‐method approach, we explore the life course trajectories of Cigano youth within the areas of education, livelihoods, and marriage, and how these areas shape their transition experiences. The empirical material shows that the transition into adulthood of Cigano youth is influenced by broader structural and socio‐cultural factors. Processes of socialization, ethnicity, and gender restrict young Ciganos' participation in education and formal labor markets, which increases their vulnerability to marginalization and exclusion in society. Cigano youth, however, initiate different pathways in their life trajectories to achieve adulthood. By focusing on the voices of Cigano youth, we challenge the homogenization of their lives in Portugal and highlight how social age and linked lives shape their transitions into adulthood.

The last 40 years has yielded a vast body of literature on street children. In this article, we reflect on the knowledge accumulated by several generations of scholars and across two bodies of research. The article's aim is twofold: 1) To conduct a meta-narrative review, mapping out the contours of Brazilian and Anglophone literature on street children since the 1980s until today. 2) To bridge these two bodies of literature through reflections on similarities and differences. In so doing, we identify some overall tendencies in which street children have been described, debated, and theorized and bridge the two bodies of literature that often remain separated.

This work is situated in the field of childhood studies, which conceives the child as an active subject in society and who is, among other factors, marked by its generational position in front of other generations. In this opportunity, we reflect about how Brazilian kids who live in the urban space and in a very specific adversity context (the streets) are perceived. The objective was to understand how adults perceive those children in homeless situation, and how do they face the duty of childhood protection once it is applied to those specific children. In order to do this, we present the results of two qualitative researches, separately developed by the authors, in three different cities in Brazil, from Northeastern and Southeastern, counting on a total number of 77 adults. They participated through individual and group interviews. The registers of the fieldwork were analyzed and generated categories which deal with the question of who carries the responsibility over children in homeless situation, as well as the protection of marginalized childhood. Based on the empirical work from two researches, we realized that the adults make a differentiation between children who have the streets as their home and those who don't. The participants elected the State as the major responsible for the children in homeless situation. For this marginalized childhood, part of the adults elected governmental institutions as the sole responsible for providing any kind of treatment to the children in homeless situation, which not necessarily means a measure of protection. "Accountability" and "punishment" were much more often mentioned by the adults than "protection". As a conclusion, we saw that the adults have not felt invited to protect marginalized childhood, since they primarily thought about their own protection and even went to a state of neglect towards those children. The acknowledgement of the "pickpockets" was given only by negative means, since the child in homeless situation was seen for some as an evil who acts deliberately, so that this was the only moment when those children were regarded in an active manner. ; publishedVersion ; Published by Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)