Children, Structure, and Agency Routledge Studies in Development and Society 1. Searching for Security 9. Environment and Development in Women’s Responses to Economic the Straits of Malacca Transformations Mark Cleary and Goh Kim Chuan Edited by Isa Baud and Ines Smyth 10. Technical Knowledge and 2. The Life Region Development The Social and Cultural Ecology of Observing Aid Projects and Processes Sustainable Development Thomas Grammig Edited by Per Råberg 11. World Bank and Urban 3. Dams as Aid Development Anne Usher From Projects to Policy Edward Ramsamy 4. Politics of Development Cooperation 12. Poverty Orientated Agricultural NGOs, Gender and Partnership and Rural Development in Kenya Hartmut Brandt and Uwe Otzen Lisa Aubrey 13. Political Confl ict and 5. Psychology of Aid Development in East Asia and A Motivational Perspective Latin America Stuart Carr, Eilish McAuliffe and Edited by Richard Boyd, Benno Galjart Malcolm MacLachlan and Tak-Wing Ngo 6. 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Lieten New York London First published 2008 by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2008 Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereaf- ter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trade- marks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lieten, Georges Kristoffel, 1946– Children, structure and agency : realities across the developing world / by G.K. Lieten. p. cm. — (Routledge studies in development and society ; 16) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-415-98973-2 1. Child welfare—Cross-cultural studies. 2. Children—Services for—Cross-cultural studies. I. Title. HV713.L545 2008 362.709172'4—dc22 2007050577 ISBN 0-203-89526-6 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0-415-98973-6 (hbk) ISBN10: 0-203-89526-6 (ebk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-98973-2 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-89526-9 (ebk) Contents List of Tables and Boxes vii Glossary ix Preface xi Introduction xiii 1 Tradition and Child-Centred Approaches 1 2 Country Specifi c: Development Indicators, Child Conditions, and Research Areas 14 3 Methodology 34 4 Leisure and Daily Life 42 5 School and Education 63 6 Child Labour 91 7 Problems and Priorities in Development 120 8 Conclusions: Structural Constraints and Agency 135 Bibliography 147 Author 151 Index 153 List of Tables and Boxes TABLES 1.1 Typologies of (Child) Participation 10 2.1 Child-Related Development Index (2003) 15 2.2 Vietnam: Regional Comparison of Health Indicators 17 2.3 Education Indicators in Burkina Faso 23 3.1 Perception of Economic Conditions in Tanzania 40 4.1 Children’s Activities During Free Time in Vietnam (%) 43 4.2 Children’s Play Time (%) in Vietnam 48 5.1 Children’s Assessment of Education in Vietnam (%) 81 6.1 Involvement of Children (%) by Type of Work (Bihar) 107 6.2 Child Work Involvement by Age Group (% of Children, Vietnam Sample) 109 6.3 Proportion of Child Work Involvement in Vietnam by Gender (%) 110 BOXES 4.1 A Day in the Life of T. 48 4.2 A Day in the Life of Ashok 51 4.3 A Day in the Life of Pinki 54 4.4 A Day in the Life of Jaimala, a Sunday 57 viii List of Tables and Boxes 4.5 A Day in the Life of Manoj 58 4.6 A Day in the Life of Phool Jaha 60 5.1 A Day in the Life of Heera 67 6.1 A Day in the Life of Iqbal 100 6.2 A Day in the Life of Mahesh 101 6.3 Day 1 in the Life of Lalita 102 6.4 A Day in the Life of Matra 105 Glossary BJP Bharatya Janata Party, a right-wing Hindu party in India Chamar One of the lowest castes in India, traditionally involved in leather craft Chappati Flat round bread Chhach Curd mixed with water Chulha Small freestanding oven Chungse Vietnamese word akin to agency Churma Flour fried with ghee and sweetened with sugar Dal Lentils, a staple food in India Doi moi Economic modernisation and liberalisation in Vietnam Dong Vietnamese currency Favela Slum area in Latin America Feman Relief work Garibi hatao A program under Indira Gandhi to put an end to poverty GDP Gross Domestic Product Khaini Chewing tobacco Kichri Cooked rice with dal Kutcha Solid Lifafa Envelope Lungi A cloth worn by males in India, wrapped around the lower part of the body Machista Male (chauvinist) behaviour, a stereotype ascription for Latin American males Masaala A mixture of (usually hot) spices NGO Nongovernmental organisation