Qenja: child fostering and relocation practices in the Amhara region, Ethiopia. Issue 1 (2nd January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kassa, Sophia Chanyalew; Abebe, Tatek
• Is Part Of: Children's geographies. Volume 14:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 46
• Page End: 62
• Publication Date: 2016-01-02
• Subjects: Qenja -- child fostering -- child relocation -- agricultural labour -- rural livelihood strategies -- Ethiopia; Geographical perception in children -- Periodicals; 305.23
• DOI: 10.1080/14733285.2014.974508
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1473-3285

Abstract

Abstract : In this article we discuss temporary relocation and informal labour of children in rural Ethiopia. We respond to the call 'to understand the wider logic underlying child relocation and non-parental residence among populations experiencing poverty' (Boyden, J. 2013. "We're Not Going to Suffer Like this in the Mud: Educational Aspirations, Social Mobility and Independent Child Migration among Populations Living in Poverty." Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education 43 (5): 580–600. 582). Drawing on the perspectives of children and families involved in the practice of qenja (meaning 'teaming' or 'forming a coalition') we examine how – in contexts of uneven distribution of rural labour – children's involvement in transient agricultural labour outside the home is a fundamental feature of social reproduction. We argue that qenja is a social coping strategy that co-exists alongside gendered and generational relations of household production and reproduction. An understanding of the practice as merely transactional and exploitative ignores long-standing community strategies of labour acquisition and redistribution. We stress that child protection campaigns by non-governmental organizations and national legislations that intend to criminalize the practice are not in the interest of children, families, and communities.