Informality as space. Children's visualizations and experiences of streets and markets in Accra, Ghana.

Autor/in	Ofosu-Kusi, Yaw
Titel	Informality as space. Children's visualizations and experiences of streets and markets in Accra, Ghana.
Quelle	Aus: Jahnke, Holger (Hrsg.); Schlottmann, Antje (Hrsg.); Dickel, Mirka (Hrsg.): Räume visualisieren. Münster: readbox unipress in der readbox publishing GmbH (2016) S. 107-124 PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Reihe	Geographiedidaktische Forschungen. 62
Beigaben	Abbildungen; Literaturangaben
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; gedruckt; Sammelwerksbeitrag
ISBN	978-3-96163-100-1
Schlagwörter	Kind; Didaktik; Unterricht; Urbanisierung; Visualisieren; Raumbegriff; Markt; Lebenswelt; Straßenkind; Ghana
Abstract	Evidently, streets, markets and urban spaces of Accra represent more than territories defined by boundaries. Beyond the physical space there are social, economic and cultural activities that emanate from the way that environment is organized. [....] With thousands of children and young people adopting streets and markets as a permanent or transient space for their alternative life, a legitimate question to contemplate is what that space, its opportunities and challenges mean to their lives. This is a significant question to raise because their involvement in the urban economy has become an important narrative in the discourse on Africa's rapid urbanization. In this narrative, they are construed as working to provide additional labour to their families or in their own right as independent labour [...]. Space in this context therefore represents embedded opportunities that can be exploited to one's advantage. Hence, streets, markets, lorry stations, shop fronts, etc. are visualized as potential places for small-scale production and commercial activities. It is in this perspective that the chapter discusses children's visualization and utilization of space within the context of rampant structural and socio-economic informality. Old Fadama, a quintessential informal space, was the focus of research for this paper. Its typicality, opportunities and existential challenges made it an appropriate choice in the bid to explore street children's lives. Basing the discussion on narratives from a series of research with street children over the years, the chapter shows that street children contemplate, visualise and utilize space in both its structural and constitutive sense. But in doing so, they reinterpret normative obligations to suit their aspirations. (Orig.).
Erfasst von	Externer Selbsteintrag
Update	2023/1