A Cultural and Gender Perspective on Marginal Children on the Streets of Kenya

ABSTRACT

How to best analytically position street children in comparison to others in various social circumstances requires a robust theoretical discussion.The very concept of street children can be contested as essentialized; serving to mask social and behavioral differences; especially those between boys and girls.The limited perspective of the street child as a victim and thereby psychologically vulnerable is also contested. Cases considered here serve to illustrate that all children on the streets share a common experience of social marginality.This is experienced by them as children; as members of the powerless jua kali (hot sun) workers class; and in their isolation from cultural institutions. Some of these children however; especially girls; are vulnerable and clearly victims of harsh social circumstances. A theoretical perspective is put forth to explain a relative social marginality for women; taking into account increased social class differences and changing cultural values since 1900. Girls on the streets are therefore best understood as being at the bottom of a gendered hierarchy in Kenya. Concepts like the street child and the vulnerable child in current use as master labels serve to hide agency reported here even on the margins of Kenya's cultural; social; and gender hierarchy. An ethnographic method is put forth as a useful strategy for discovering strategies for success on the streets. To specifically evaluate gender; follow up research with adults previously described as children (1991) is combined with new material from children in Nairobi and the smaller city of Nyeri in central Kenya. A theoretical perspective from general anthropology is offered as one way to better align studies of children with broader theoretical concerns in anthropology and related disciplines