ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the author explains her methodology and the specific methods she use – textual analysis, ethnographic observation and interviewing. She also explains her phenomenological perspective which informs her framing and interpretation of data. The author considers children to be experts about their own lives and about aspects of their families and communities. Repeat visits and in-depth interviewing as a method allowed for both conceptual and affective explorations and reflections. Methodologically, one could interview a child once, at a particular moment in time, and get a misleading snapshot both of them as a person and of the society which their talk animates. In this chapter, the author distinguishes between children, between girls and boys of different ages, classes and castes, examining the ways in which their vulnerabilities, tendencies to conformity and resistance are changed by circumstances beyond their control.