Open AccessDu trouble à l’assistance
Author(s) -
Pedro José García Sánchez,
Erwan Le Méner
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
tsantsa
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2673-5377
pISSN - 1420-7834
DOI - 10.36950/tsantsa.2016.21.7378
Subject(s) - reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , sociology , narrative , fragility , space (punctuation) , public space , circumstantial evidence , psychological intervention , social psychology , political science , psychology , social science , engineering , computer science , art , law , architectural engineering , chemistry , literature , psychiatry , operating system
In this paper the authors investigate a less documented side of street children’s (bakoroman) lives in Ouagadougou, namely, their encounters with strangers in town. These encounters lead to resources such as relationships, goods, protective time and space, or learning opportunities and punctuate the narratives of the bakoroman. They are one of the main dimensions of their lives in the urban public space as they go back and forth between the street and their homes (institutional and family). As such, these interactions participate in the construction of their biographical trajectories and bifurcations. From minimum reciprocity to relational vigilance, a broad spectrum of interactions delineates the possibilities and limits of an «ethics of fragility». Across these encounters the children create their space in the city, through circumstantial pedagogies of living together. These interactions can be read as resources to regulate urban violence, other than institutional or charitable interventions.