 | Anthropologist Freelance researcherGreat Guide since 12/09 Nationality: British |
Location: Southern Africa | South Africa Themes: society | anthropology | |
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Learning from Children
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GREAT GUIDE
RACHEL BRAY : Learning from Children
Launching our book 'Growing Up in the New South Africa' [photo]
Radio By Children: Empowerment in rural South Africa [audio]
meet Rachel Bray
Rachel Bray is an Anthropologist who has worked with children from the junk yards of Kathmandu to the townships of South Africa. Listening to children, and learning from them, are her passion.
Rachel worked closely with Dilip Subba in Kathmandu, Nepal
"There can be no keener reflection of a society's soul than the way it treats its children".
So said Nelson Mandela in 1995, a time when South Africa was emerging from a long struggle with oppression and preparing to build a more just society. Rachel believes that Mandela's words hold true across the globe, and that learning from children is a vital key to positive social change. We all know the importance of consultation in decision-making, but do we think to include children?
Rachel's passion is discovering different ways to listen to and learn from children, and being a bridge between their worlds and those who call the shots. She finds work with young people exciting because it offers new perspectives and inventive solutions to thorny problems.
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Studying Anthropology in Durham, England, gave Rachel a fantastic toolkit for this work: How to participate in children's everyday lives, observe closely and record the nuances that often get missed. Her doctoral research explored the lives and aspirations of children living and working on the streets of Kathmandu. She then worked with government and NGOs on child labour issues in Nepal's carpet industry, and on child-trafficking across borders in south-east Asia. | |
Research led Rachel to work with Children in the Himalayas |
| In mid 2010 Rachel published a book "Growing Up in the New South Africa", the product of five years research with three post-graduate students and Prof Jeremy Seekings. They drew on a survey of young people's experiences and aspirations across Cape Town, and conducted ethnography in schools, families and children's clubs in three neighbouring suburbs; Masiphumelele, Ocean View and Fish Hoek. Historically these areas were designated for 'black, coloured and white' people, respectively. Their question was 'how have things change for children in the new democratic era?' The answers are in the book: the first major ethnography of childhood in post-apartheid South Africa. |
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Rachel worked for 5 years among youth in Masiphumelele,CapeTown |
Rachel's work is now varied. She continue to research how children and their families cope in the face of AIDS and chronic poverty, and to advise policy makers. She also teaches university students and practitioners how to use creative, ethical approaches in work with children, and resources corporates wanting to understand youth experience or the generational gaps in their company.
Learning from children is the thread that links Rachel's varied roles, and one that has to remain strong and bright if we are to fulfil the vision Mandela shared with the world in 1995:
"...to address the wrong done to our youth and to prepare for their future. Our actions and policies, and the institutions we create, should be eloquent with care, respect and love".
Author: Rachel Bray
Date: 03 Jan 2012
Location: Asia, Southern Africa | South Africa, Nepal
Themes: society | education, anthropology
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