Children and adolescents working in the «street»: ethnographic approaches in the streets of Athens

Abstract

THIS ARTICLE examines children's and adolescents' work in the streets of Athens. The article is grounded οn ethnographic material produced during a six month period of fieldwork which took place from February 2009 until September 2009 in the streets of Athens. Fieldwork engaged thirty four children between four and ten years old and twenty six adolescents between eleven and fifteen years old who come from three different Roma and Gypsy families. The analysis aims to bring to light the children's and adolescents' own views and experiences regarding their work in the «Street» as well as the particular relationships and practices that the children and the adolescents themselves put emphasis upon and which relate to their work. Children's and adolescents' work in the «street» is approached here not merely as an economic activity which results in the particular conditions of their marginalisation but also as a culturally constructed practice which crosscuts kinship and ethnic identity. What is more, this article attempts to incorporate the above-mentioned ethnographic analysis into a wider framework of discussion which involves important issues developed within a wider body of international literature οn street and working children.