VARILLA ORDINARIA DE ACERO (AC)

Childhood is described as a social construction (Frønes, 1994; James & James, 2004; James & Prout, 1997a; Shamgar-Handelman, 1994; Wyness, 2006). Frønes (1994) added “cultural” and “economic” as descriptors and defines childhood as, “the life period during which a human being is regarded as a child, and the cultural, social and economic characteristics of that period” (p. 148). It is also a structural category in society, akin to social class or age group (W.A. Corsaro, 2005; J. Qvortrup, 1994).

For individuals, childhood is a temporary period; for society it is a “permanent structural form or category that never disappears even though its members change continuously and its nature and conception vary historically” (W.A. Corsaro, 2005, p. 3). Wyness (2006) described it as a “set of ideas or concepts, which define children’s nature and the kinds of relations they have with other members of society” (p.7) In the words of Frønes (1994), childhood acts as a “conceptual bridge” between society and the individual child. It outlines the norms, rules and expectations of society for its children (Shamgar-Handelman, 1994). These norms and rules are culturally determined, thus the nature of childhood must vary between societies just as culture does. In their explanation of childhood, James and Prout (1997a) recognised cross-cultural variation, but affirm that it is still a specific structural and cultural component of all known societies. The behavioural norms, for instance, of

137 Javanese-Indonesian children (See Section 2.2.6) differ from Western children; yet both societies acknowledge the concept of childhood.

There are several known features of childhood which differ between cultures. James and James (2004) refer to them as the “cultural determinants of childhood” and list them as: the social status children are assigned; the “influences children might have over their position

as children during childhood; … social factors such as family structure, the nature of kin and gender relations, the structure of the school system; conceptions of the educational process and of the child’s health and welfare; secular or religious discourses about what children are or should be; and the economic and political conditions which underpin such discourses” (p. 7). Some of these features, such as economic conditions, would imply that childhood must also vary intra-culturally; which is evident in the great diversity of ‘childhoods’ that exist within any one culture (Frønes, 1994).

Using James and James (2004) catalogue, the cultural descriptions in Chapter 2 and field observations, some of the cultural determinants for the children involved in this study can be derived. Indonesian children are seen from within their culture primarily as a part of the family. This is most likely the greatest determinant in their relationships and interactions with others. Family loyalties trump many other priorities in life and there is a strong adult authority presence which is reflective of the high power distance inclination of the culture (Hofstede, 2001). Children are also highly valued by society and parent-child relationships are to provide children with “nurturance, unconditional emotional support, and love” (Megawangi et al., 1995, p. 116). While the children in this research may occasionally assist with family economic activities, such as food stalls, they are not relied on for economic activities. Gender differences were not highlighted in this research, but observation shows that children have equal but more traditional gender-specific roles in society. The educational process is a large social structure in these children’s lives. Primary and junior secondary education is free and compulsory for all Indonesian children (UNESCO, 2010) and education is seen as a way to escape poverty. The children involved in this research are from low income families and are constrained by their socio-economic status.

Despite the obvious variation between cultures, there are some similarities in the cultural determinants of childhood across cultures. Lieten (2008) has contended that such commonalities between cultures, and thus childhoods, are increasing as a result of globalization, which is having the effect of making the traditional and specific culture of a

138 territory less important. He offers the example that the concerns of “children living in the

favelas of Rio de Janeiro, the suburbs of Beijing, the villages of Bangladesh, the mountain slopes of the Himalayas, or the oases of the Sahara” are more centred on gaining the knowledge and skills needed to secure a “livelihood in a ‘modernising’ world” than on the children’s “specific ‘culture’ … and how children used to live traditionally” (p. 6). Moreover, traditional cultures are continuously evolving to include modern societal values, such as universal education and access to health care (p. 6).

The existence of similar features of childhood across cultures is significant for this research. Natural disasters hit every culture, but infrequently; meaning that research and expertise in the field may not exist in every country or be culture-specific. Therefore commonalities between childhoods allow new ideas regarding children in disasters to be transferred across cultures using these similarities as the link. For example, the common value of universal education is already being taken advantage of by using schools as a vehicle for disaster reduction efforts. The UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction focused their efforts in 2006-2007 under the theme “Disater Risk Reduction Begins at School” and they describe

schools as being “the best venue for sowing collective values [of disaster risk reduction]” (ISDR, 2007, p. vii). Their report offers accounts of children from over thirty different countries who have been involved in DRR efforts through their schools. Nevertheless, as is evident in the various accounts, the effective implementation of these ideas still rests on an understanding of the specific culture because it heavily influences the manner in which these common goals are reached.

This section has directed attention to children as social actors whose contributions and participation as members of adult society and of their own unique children’s culture are constrained by the social, culture and economic structures of their childhood. The concepts that govern children’s relationships and role in society are culturally determined and therefore differ between cultures. Yet similarities in the lives of children across cultures due to globalizing and modern development influences not only allow for the transfers of ideas between cultures, but also suggest that the way in which natural disasters impact children in different cultures may in fact be analogous.

The final portion of this chapter is dedicated to looking at how disasters affect children. It attempts to tie together the various threads of culture and social theories of children in order to understand how they relate to children’s experiences of natural disasters.

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4.3

Children in Natural Disasters

Children have been exposed to disaster situations – both natural and man-made – for as long as they have been occurring. As a consequence of being an integral part of society, any events affecting a society will affect the children in it, whether directly or indirectly. This project limits its scope to natural disasters, though some of the findings may enlighten research of man-made events.

There was little systematic research focusing on children in disasters prior to 1950 (Vogel & Vernberg, 1993a). In the 1950s and the following decade, research was conducted primarily in the field of psychology and it indicated that children’s responses to disasters are relatively mild and transient. In the 1970s and 1980s, however, evidence emerged suggesting that the effects on children in disasters can be severe and long-lasting (Vogel & Vernberg, 1993a). The generally accepted view now is that children can be severely affected psychologically by disasters and the effects may be long-lasting. This psychological approach to researching children and disasters dominated the field until recently (Peek & Fothergill, 2006). Much of this research has been carried out in Western contexts, but the effects are seen in children in both Western and non-Western settings (J. Morris et al., 2007). In his review of available literature in 2002, Jabry found that the literature available “confines children to three areas”: studies on women in disaster; “‘medicalised’” narratives of “trauma, psychological and psychiatric studies and social work”; and media representation of disasters where children play the victims (Jabry, 2002, p. 8). Progress is being made in this ‘understudied’ field (W. A. Anderson, 2005; Jabry, 2002) and there is a strong interdisciplinary character to this research as well. A special issue of Children, Youth and Environment in 2008, that focused on children and disasters, drew papers from a wide range of disciplines: “anthropology, education, environmental science, geography, landscape architecture, psychology, public health, sociology, urban planning, and urban and public affairs” (Peek, 2008, p. 3).

From this diverse body of literature are taken the factors that influence the vulnerabilities, the experiences and the agency of children in a natural disaster to inform this study and to provide insight into the effect of culture in the situation. The following sections outline the existing disaster literature which forms the theoretical and empirical foundation that this study builds on and uses to understand its findings.

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