Interpreting street narratives of children and parents in Indonesia
pp. 111-134
in: Paul Smeyers, David Bridges, Nicholas C. Burbules, Morwenna Griffiths (eds), International handbook of interpretation in educational research, Berlin, Springer, 2015Abstract
In this chapter, I justify the use of interpretive approach in analyzing the narratives of children working in Indonesian street, deemed as 'street children," as well as their parents. My data involved interviews with and observations on seven children aged seven to fifteen years old who worked as street dusters and musicians, and their parents, who lived in what the locals regard as a street community in Bandung, Indonesia. Additionally, the study collected the 'societal narratives," constituted by the Indonesian government's policies toward street children, including the Education for All policy that ensures children to leave the street and enroll in school, the media reports, and the Indonesian middle-class society's beliefs of street children's culture and behaviors. These narratives provided a context in which the children and parents narrated their experiences about schooling and street works. My analysis suggests that street children's and their parents' narratives should be seen as constructed in responding to the dominant societal discourse that marginalizes them. The interpretive approach thus serves a way to contextualize and analyze the street community's narratives in a way that challenges the taken-for-granted dominant narratives.