Even though it has been taken for granted in Europe and USA, empirical studies of children’s competency in cultural production and reproduction have been fewer in Africa and literature on the subject is limited. However, through my observation during the fieldwork, I learned that even though they are developed in the context of Europe and the US, the theoretical perspectives and concepts discussed in this chapter are relevant for understanding how children in the context of Africa produce their play (peer) culture, connect their play (peer) culture to adult culture and participate in the social and cultural practices of their society.
Thus, drawing on the perspective of the socially constructed child, I observe that the everyday
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life of Guji children is meaningful within the social and cultural circumstances of the Guji people. Based on the concept of interpretive reproduction, I study how the Guji children, through their everyday interactive events, appropriate, create, share and maintain riddling and storytelling traditions, and thereby contribute to production and reproduction of the Guji oral tradition. By combining these perspectives with the social construction of oral tradition, I observe that children produce and reproduce oral tradition through their social network with adults and peers. I examine how the children perform and interpret their oral tradition and through such processes learn about their social environments. Following Corsaro (2011, 2012), Kjørholt (2003, 2004) and Mouritsen (2002), I argue that the oral tradition of children is not a completely separate phenomenon but part of the Guji expressive culture and everyday life, and through producing and reproducing it, children contribute to the change and continuity of the Guji oral culture.
In general, the discussed perspectives are appropriate for my study on three grounds. First, they are pertinent to see children as competent actors in performing and interpreting oral tradition and understanding their social environment through it. The social competency of children is, as stated by Corsaro (2011, pp. 43-44), manifested through ‘children`s creative appropriation of information and knowledge from adults’ world, children’s production and participation in the series of peer cultures and children’s contribution to the reproduction and extension of adults` culture’ Based on these notions, I examine how children creatively use their oral tradition (their folktales and riddles) to reflect on and construe their social world, which includes both adults and children’s everyday life. Second, the perspectives are relevant to examine oral tradition not only in the context of children’s interaction with each other but also in their interaction with adults as part of their everyday life. As asserted by Corsaro (2011, p. 29), ‘children are always participating in and are part of two cultures—children’s and adults’—and these cultures are intricately interwoven.’ According to this notion, the oral tradition that children perform as their peer culture expresses the social world that children share with each other as well as with adults. Third, in the context of this perspective, I study oral tradition as part of social interaction rather than as static text meaningful on its own.
Generally, based on the perspectives and key concepts discussed in this chapter, I observe oral tradition as a cultural concept that is best understood through the contextual and ethnographic study of social interactions among children as well as between children and adults (Feleppa, 1986)
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CHAPTER THREE
THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
In this chapter, I discuss the major social and cultural realities of the Guji people with my emphasis on the place and roles of children in these spheres. The main aim of the chapter is to introduce the social setting in which children live with adults and perform their everyday roles. As discussed by Hammersley and Atkinson (2007), in an ethnographic research, background and general information about people and their everyday life is a useful context for a better understanding of the research process. Thus, in this thesis, I present the social and cultural realities of the Guji people with the aim of introducing glimpses of the setting in which children live and perform their oral tradition. In my description, I focus on the roles and places of children in the social and cultural practices of the people.
The southern part of Ethiopia is inhabited by communities who predominantly lead traditional ways of life based on subsistence economic activities. The majority of adults and children who live in conditions of intensive poverty and illiteracy are found in this part of the country.11 Even though there is economic progress in Ethiopia, according to The African Development Bank Group Chief Economist Complex (2010), the concern for improving children`s wellbeing in this and the other parts of the country has been insufficient (UNICEF, 2011). As indicated by The African Child Policy Forum (2008), Ethiopia stood 42 out of the 52 African countries in its child friendliness. This implies that although Ethiopia is among the countries that ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, issues related to children have not been prioritized within the mainstream governance system of the country.
It was only in 2006 that a government body known as the Ministry of Women, Youth and Children Affairs has been established with the aim of promoting child-friendly policy and development schemes at the national level. Despite the efforts of this government body, Ethiopian children, particularly those in rural areas, live in poor economic, health and social conditions (Save the Children, 2004; UNICEF, 2011). As shown |by The African Child Policy Forum (2010), Ethiopia`s rank in providing children with adequate nutrition, health services
11 In Ethiopia in general, 83% of the people in rural areas live on agriculture; children make up 55 % of the population and out of this figure 47% live in rustic conditions (FDRE 2008).
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and hygiene is still lowí26 out of the 52 African countries. In terms of formal education, even though there has been tremendous expansion of schools and increment in school enrolment in rural areas, the quality of education in primary schools is still poor (UNICEF, 2011). This poor and adverse condition of life is the same for children of the Guji people for whom, besides their social and economic constraints, cultural practices influence their everyday life in a manner similar to what Ellis (2000), Panelli (2002) and Punch (2002a) have discussed in the context of rural areas of developing countries. In this chapter, I present the wider social and cultural context that helps to understand the everyday life and practices of children. I presume that children`s arenas of social practices such as home, school, work and playcan be understood more clearly when the social and cultural contexts in which children live and interact are adequately constructed. Accordingly, a description of the Guji people`s cultural, social and economic ways of life is relevant to capture a glimpse of the contexts in which the discussions in this thesis should be understood. Thus, in this chapter, first I introduce the Guji people and discuss the place of children in Guji cultural practices such as the Gada system, oral tradition and family structure. Then, I present the elements of the recent social changes and contemporary life of the Guji people with my emphasis on how these elements characterize the everyday life of Guji children. These elements are villagization, cattle herding, crop cultivation, formal education and expansion of Christianity.