Reviews: The representational burden

Giorgia Doná reviews Shukla, N. (ed) The Good Immigrant, London: Unbound, 2016

Surely, a wench can choose her own work! Women coal miners in Paonia, Colorado, 1976-1987

In 1842 the British Parliament passed the Mines and Collieries Act which excluded women from working in underground mines. The legislation created a gender based, industry-wide segmentation of labor that persisted in Great Britain and the United States for 130 years. Post-World War II social and legal changes created a context from which women reappropriated their choice to seek jobs as underground coal miners. Women\u27s representation in the industry increased into the 1980s, peaking at between eight and eleven percent of the workforce, but by 1983 their numbers began to substantially deCline After the coal boom of the 1970s ended, hundreds of coal miners were layed off, accounting for much of the deCline But other women chose to leave the occupation; Although women continue to work underground, the occupation has been resegregated. How and why has that happened? The purpose of this study is to examine the dynamics of the original segregation of the coal industry by sex, its persistence, desegregation in the 1970s, and finally its resegregation. Experiences of women interviewed for this study raised the issue of choice. Coal company documents and oral interviews of women miners associated with the Orchard Valley Mine in Paonia, Colorado, raise the possibility that despite efforts by women and the industry, there are occupations that are appropriately sex segregated

Street children and political violence: A socio-demographic analysis of street children in Rwanda

Objective: The aims were (1) to examine the profile of African street children and to assess the link between street children in Africa and political violence (2) to undertake a systematic examination of causal factors of street children in post-genocide Rwanda (3) to situate this analysis in the context of the socio-cultural and political impact of the genocide on Rwandan communities. Method: Observational mapping examined the profile and activities of Rwandan street children. Structured interviews were carried out with 290 children in four regional towns to obtain information on socio-demographic, familial, educational background, causal factors surrounding street life involvement, psychological well-being and relationship to the street. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews examined the relationship between street children and the broader Rwandan society. Results: Street children in Rwanda were predominantly adolescent boys, almost half of whom were homeless (42%), with a high proportion of orphaned children or children who had lost at least one parent. Two variables predicted homelessness: child’s guardian and reason for being in street. Qualitative accounts of children conveyed the impact of death of family members, repatriation, imprisonment of parents and poverty on their lives. Conclusions: The analysis highlighted the need for community based support for children in alternative guardianship care and for policies to support the reintegration of male youths in post-conflict welfare strategies as prevention strategies for street children

Children as Research Advisors: Contributions to a ‘Methodology Participation’ in Researching Children in Difficult Circumstances

This article contributes to emerging discussions of child participation in general, and in research with migrant and displaced children specifically, by examining the involvement of children as research advisors in two projects: a study of foster care for separated children in Rwanda, and an analysis of the conditions of children outside parental care living in institutions and communities in Bangladesh. The comparison highlights the importance of conceiving participation as a research strategy, and advocates a ‘methodology of participation’ that considers varieties of participation and varieties of social change. Teaching research methods to children acting as advisors enabled them to understand what research is and to learn about the lives of other children, while contributing to decision-making processes in selecting questions, participants, interpreting findings and making recommendations. Children's input into research contributes to overcoming essentialist conceptualisations of children in difficult circumstances, and moving to viewing these children as social actors embedded in complex relational processes. At the same time, involving children in an advisory capacity considers them as active participants in the research process, as they are in social life

The Rwandan Experience of Fostering Separated Children

This is a condensed version of a case study produced by the Government of Rwanda, Unicef and Save the Children Alliance and published by UNICEF under the title of “Umwana Wanjye ni Uwawe ni Uwacu – My Child is Yours and Ours – The Rwandan Experience of Foster Care for Separated Children

The Microphysics of Participation in Refugee Research

This paper examines the involvement of refugees in the production and reproduction of knowledge of which they are ultimately meant to be beneficiaries. By using examples from research with Central American refugees and Rwandan displaced children, it considers forced migrants’ roles as participants in research, their position in ‘participatory’ research, and the representation of refugees’ voices in refugee-centred research. Power is intimately connected to the diverse ways in which participation unfolds, and the last part of the paper examines refugees’ participation in research in terms of ‘power that circulates’ (Foucault) to show that they are not more or less powerful but vehicles for the circulation of power, simultaneously undergoing and exercising it

Child participation in research: Children as research advisors

In research, child participation usually refers to positioning children not simply as objects or subjects but as social actors and more recently as participants and co-researchers. This short piece of writing is a reflection on the methodology adopted in two research projects with separated children, one with Rwandan fostered children and the other with Bangladeshi children in institutions and communities. Working under the assumptions that children know best, we invited a group of children to participate in our research as research advisors, to counsel on the planning and implement of the projects

Being young and of mixed ethnicity in Rwanda

The transition from childhood into adulthood is particularly complex for young people of mixed ethnic backgrounds who experience being ‘out of place’ twice: as young adults and as ethnically mixed. The challenges are clear in Rwanda