Ambiguous Childhoods - Peer Socialisation, Schooling and Agency in a Zambian Village

Growing up with social and economic upheaval in the peripheries of global neoliberalism, children in rural Zambia are presented with diverging social and moral protocols across homes, classrooms, church halls, and the streets. Mostly unmonitored by adults, they explore the ambiguities of adult life in playful interactions with their siblings and kin across gender and age. Drawing on rich linguistic-ethnographic details of such interactions combined with observations of school and household procedures, the author provides a rare insight into the lives, voices, and learning paths of children in a rural African setting.

List of contents

List of figures

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Growing Up in Han'gombe Village

Chapter 1. Approaching Children's Perspectives: Reflections on Fieldwork

Chapter 2. "Know a Dead Man's Feet by his Child" Family Life in a Changing Society

Chapter 3. "Is That How You Insult in Your House?" Linguistic Agency among Hang'ombe Children

Chapter 4. The Distant Power of School: Academic Practices in Daily Life

Conclusion: Past and Future Perspectives



References

Index

About the author

Nana Clemensen is Associate Professor of Educational Anthropology at Aarhus University, Denmark. Her recent publications include Managing freedom: Children and parents negotiating safety and autonomy in a Copenhagen housing cooperative (Anthropology and Education Quarterly 2019).

Product details

• Authors: Nana Clemensen
• Publisher: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.09.2019
• EAN: 9781789203516
• ISBN: 978-1-78920-351-6
• No. of pages: 168
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Marriage & Family, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Zambia, Rural communities, Sociology: family & relationships, Social and cultural anthropology, Age groups: children, Sociology: family and relationships