The spontaneous narratives of three brothers, ages 5, 8, and 11, in response to a structured story stem task were analysed for representations of positive and negative family interactions. The children had lived their entire lives with no permanent home, and often on the streets, in the care of their mother. The story stem task presented brief…

This research examines mediational processes in digital activities at Projeto Clicar, a program designed to promote the social inclusion of children living and working on the streets of São Paulo, Brasil. It offers a cognitive ethnography of how the program's particular relational habitus, or pedagogical frame, shapes children's participatory…

The place of popular and multifunctional media in the musical life of young people has been addressed in several studies. Music can aid in understanding youth cultures through the identification of musical preferences: inform about new lifestyles, fashions, ways of acting, work as motivation for personal dreams and aspirations, and build…

This article investigates the experiences, identities and aspirations of children and adolescents living on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, formed as they are around the conditions of exclusion, violence and discrimination. Significant here are experiences of "revolta"--revolt or rage--the aspiration for freedom through life on the street…

The goal of this analysis was to examine gender differences in the experiences of children and adolescents found on city streets. It has been proposed that girls who leave home to seek their survival on city streets are from more disturbed families than boys, reflecting cultural factors that result in differential norms for male and female…

Depiction of the problem of children living in the streets in third world countries emphasizes the extent to which they are victims (as statistics have shown them as numbers on the streets or killed by "death squads") or victimizers who affect an economy (e.g., by robbing tourists). Both descriptions suggest that one-dimensional portrait…

Describes three school programs designed to provide alternative schooling for Brazilian street children and illiterate adult students with the basic skills to survive in their world. Directly or indirectly embedded in Freirean principles, the three programs are: (1) Sao Paulo Interdisciplinary School Reform; (2) Projeto Axe: Schooling for Street…

This article reports on research carried out with homeless children in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which sought to engage the fantasies of these children by telling them fairy tales that reflected their ordeal and by asking them to make up stories to tell puppets in distressing situations. The article contains a lengthy appendix with transcripts of…

This review examines the social literature on Brazilian street children to determine causal factors. Stressing the socioeconomic aspects of poverty and social exclusion, the analyses identify three basic themes: the family, high failure rates in school, and child/adolescent labor. The role of Brazil's economic crisis of the late 1970s and…

Describes how a comparative study of street children in Montevideo (Uruguay), Rio de Janeiro, and Mexico City contributes to a synergism between theory and method. Notes how theoretical approaches of symbolic interactionism, genetic structuralism, and habitus theory complement interview, participant observation, and content analysis methods;…

Notes that Brazilian street children are socially branded as criminals, limiting their opportunities to improve themselves and believe they can change their lives for the better. Draws on interviews with street children to provide a true picture of daily struggles and demonstrates ability and creativity in many situations. (LBT)

Draws on research with Brazilian street children to present methodological and ethical challenges inherent in research with street children; provides suggestions for overcoming these challenges. Issues of concern include the following: definition and sampling, and lack of clarity in these areas; measurement aspects, including surveys,…

Analyzes institutional responses to homelessness among children and youth in the United States and Brazil as a means of understanding the workings of the neoliberal state, both in developing and developed nations. Highlights a major contradiction of neoliberalism--its promotion of symbolic political and social inclusion, while simultaneously…

This study examined the lifestyle of children from a sedentary grouping of 20 homeless families living under a viaduct in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The study particularly focused on issues related to this lifestyle, including dimensions of housing and cultural variations in housing related to child development and child rearing. The lifestyle of the…

Studied the social networks and daily activities of children and adolescents living or working on the streets of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Found that youngsters who lived at home and worked on the street appeared to be experiencing orderly development despite their impoverished circumstances. Youngsters who lived on the streets, however, showed…