Doctoral Dissertation Research: Suppressed Voices, Transitional Lives, Childrens Strategies Negotiating Neoliberal Globalization in Peru.

尽管研究表明，妇女和儿童往往首当其冲地受到改变国家经济的结构调整政策的影响，但在制定国际、国家甚至地方政策时，往往没有考虑到这些政策将如何具体影响青年人可利用的资源和机会。在Victoria Lawson的指导下，博士生Dena Aufseeser将探讨经济结构调整和国际儿童权利制度对秘鲁利马和库斯科工作儿童的影响。该研究将试图回答以下问题：1)秘鲁针对经济弱势儿童的福利政策和计划如何反映国际儿童权利和自由市场意识形态？2)经济上处于不利地位的儿童使用什么策略来应对这些变化？3)儿童的生活经历在哪些方面不同于政策、政府官员和护理人员对他们的建构和描绘？对政府官员、项目工作人员、非政府组织负责人和警察的信息采访，以及对相关儿童福利政策的分析，将提供有关现有服务和机会、利用这些服务的条件以及成年人行使儿童权利的方式的数据。对利马的15名街头儿童和库斯科的15名街头儿童进行深入访谈和参与性观察，将提供有关儿童生计战略和对社会和经济变化的反应的数据，探索与工作、教育和与服务提供者互动有关的主题。然后将对数据进行比较，以检查成人构建和描绘童年的方式以及儿童描述和构建自己经历的方式中的差距和脱节。该方法承认儿童是社会行动者，为他们的参与提供了空间，而不仅仅是对不断变化的社会指标的一瞥。调查结果将表明经济上脆弱的儿童如何以创造性的方式应对结构性限制，并探讨在秘鲁儿童福利政策的背景下，自由市场意识形态和国际儿童权利如何相互补充或相互矛盾。调查人员希望证明，儿童对社会和经济变化的实际体验与政府官员有很大不同。政策制定者呢？儿童贫穷的主张和描述，作为儿童权利继续由成年人界定，并有选择地适用。这项研究着眼于与自由市场意识形态和国际儿童权利有关的全球理念如何在特定背景下被重新设计。它分析了利马和库斯科的童工如何应对和协商经济和社会变化。了解儿童的生计战略和对他们未来的看法将有助于在Perú范围内加强有关童工和教育的政策以及国家的全面发展。特别是，通过提高人们对目前用来衡量贫穷的指标的一些局限性的认识，这项工作将有助于更好地进行政策分析，进而有助于制定更好的政策来处理与儿童贫穷有关的问题。它还可能通过考虑儿童利用公共空间作为工作和生活场所的方式，影响有关国际发展和儿童地理的文献。由于儿童贫困是所有国家都面临的问题，因此，加强沟通和认识青年和政府应对这类问题的方式，可以促进合作，共同努力，改善各地儿童未来成功的机会。本项目由美国国家科学基金会地理与空间科学项目和美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室美洲项目联合资助。

Despite studies showing that women and children tend to bear the brunt of structural adjustment policies modifying a nations economy, when international, national and even local policies are made, they are often decided without considering the ways in which such policies will concretely affect resources and opportunities available for young people. Under the direction of Victoria Lawson, doctoral student Dena Aufseeser will explore the effect of economic restructuring and international children's rights regimes on working children in Lima and Cusco Peru. The research will attempt to answer the questions 1) In what ways do Peruvian welfare policy and programs aimed at economically disadvantaged children reflect international children's rights and free-market ideologies? 2) What strategies do economically disadvantaged children use to negotiate these changes? and 3) In what ways do children's lived experiences differ from how they are constructed and portrayed by policy, government officials, and care workers? Informational interviews with government officials, program staff, NGO directors and police officers, along with analysis of relevant child welfare policy, will provide data on available services and opportunities, requisites to utilize such services, and the ways in which adults invoke children's rights. Extended interviews and participant observation with 15 street children in Lima and 15 street children in Cusco will provide data on children's livelihood strategies and responses to social and economic change, exploring topics related to work, education, and interaction with service-providers. Data will then be compared to examine gaps and disconnects in the ways in which adults construct and portray childhood and the ways children describe and frame their own experiences. The methodology recognizes children as social actors, providing spaces for their participation, rather than just providing glimpses into changing social indicators. The findings will indicate how economically vulnerable children respond to structural constraints in creative ways, as well as explore the ways in which free-market ideology and international children's rights complement and contradict each other in the context of child welfare policy in Peru. The investigators expect to demonstrate that children's actual experiences of social and economic change differ significantly from government officials? and policy makers? Claims and portrayals of child poverty, as children's rights continue to be defined by adults, and are selectively applied. This research looks at how global ideas relating to free-market ideologies and international children's rights are reworked in specific contexts. It analyzes the ways in which working children in Lima and Cusco respond to, and negotiate, economic and social changes. An understanding of children's livelihood strategies and views of their future will contribute to strengthening policy regarding child labor and education, as well as overall national development within Perú. In particular, by raising awareness of some of the limitations of current indicators used to measure poverty, this work will contribute to better policy analysis, and in turn, better policies to address issues related to child poverty. It may also impact the literature on international development and children's geographies by considering the ways in which children utilize public spaces as places of work and living. Because child poverty is an issue all countries face, increased communication and awareness of the ways in which both youth and governments respond to such problems can facilitate collaboration to make a concerted effort to improve children's opportunities for future success everywhere. This project is jointly supported by the NSF Geography and Spatial Sciences Program and the Americas Program of the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering.