Street children in Brazil have always been a hot topic catching the attention of journalists, photographers, the United Nations and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). Although street children come under the umbrella of poor children, the former seems to mobilize more social actors than the latter and attracts more funding.
The anthropologist Tobia Hecht presents a very interesting ethnography of street children in his book At Home in the Street, Street Children of Northeast Brazil. Through a research conducted between 1992 and 1993 and in 1995 in Recife and Olanda, he tries to understand the reasons behind the big attention given to street children specifically, despite the large number of children living in favelas affected by extreme …show more content…
On the one hand, these two stories share different experiences, due to the gender of the children and the expectations of girlhood and boyhood in the Brazilian society, focusing mainly on violence, identity and the definition of childhood. However, on the other hand, what brings these two stories together is the reference to the mother figure when defining their life on the street. Chapter 2 looks at the broader picture of street children, highlighting different aspects of their daily life. Mainly, the children in the radio workshop mention that they do not belong to gangs because they are hierarchal where children serve the leader of the gang. Thus, they prefer the way where “it’s each one for himself”. They also sleep in the busiest areas of the city where they generate money through begging, stealing and washing cars. Also, the author highlights the different experiences lived by boys and girls in the street, whereas the first mention beating, “feeling like it” as a reason for leaving home, the second frequently talk about sexual abuse as the main motive for leaving home. In addition to gender, age plays an important role in shaping the relationship between street children, where older youth seek to take advantage of younger peers so they can steal on their behalf. Most of the children interviewed by Hecht sniff or have sniffed glue, which is considered to be the drug commonly used by street children to get high or calm their hunger. Moreover, children living in the streets are at risk of Sexual Transmitted Infections (STI) as they become sexually active from a very young age; specifically girls who tend to get pregnant early and are at risk of miscarriage due to the beating from the police. Moving to chapter 3, the author examines
The anthropologist Tobia Hecht presents a very interesting ethnography of street children in his book At Home in the Street, Street Children of Northeast Brazil. Through a research conducted between 1992 and 1993 and in 1995 in Recife and Olanda, he tries to understand the reasons behind the big attention given to street children specifically, despite the large number of children living in favelas affected by extreme …show more content…
On the one hand, these two stories share different experiences, due to the gender of the children and the expectations of girlhood and boyhood in the Brazilian society, focusing mainly on violence, identity and the definition of childhood. However, on the other hand, what brings these two stories together is the reference to the mother figure when defining their life on the street. Chapter 2 looks at the broader picture of street children, highlighting different aspects of their daily life. Mainly, the children in the radio workshop mention that they do not belong to gangs because they are hierarchal where children serve the leader of the gang. Thus, they prefer the way where “it’s each one for himself”. They also sleep in the busiest areas of the city where they generate money through begging, stealing and washing cars. Also, the author highlights the different experiences lived by boys and girls in the street, whereas the first mention beating, “feeling like it” as a reason for leaving home, the second frequently talk about sexual abuse as the main motive for leaving home. In addition to gender, age plays an important role in shaping the relationship between street children, where older youth seek to take advantage of younger peers so they can steal on their behalf. Most of the children interviewed by Hecht sniff or have sniffed glue, which is considered to be the drug commonly used by street children to get high or calm their hunger. Moreover, children living in the streets are at risk of Sexual Transmitted Infections (STI) as they become sexually active from a very young age; specifically girls who tend to get pregnant early and are at risk of miscarriage due to the beating from the police. Moving to chapter 3, the author examines