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Abstract
In November 2012, a researcher, two social workers and five mothers embarked on a participatory action research (PAR) journey with the aim to develop new ideas for interventions for children and young people in street situations of the city of El Alto in Bolivia. In this article, we attend to the topic of personal and social transformation in PAR. We explore how the mothers of young people in street situations perform and negotiate their subjectivities as mothers in their everyday life; how they create (new) subjectivities in exchange and in interaction with each other during the mother project; and how the performance of their (new) subjectivities can bring social change. The mothers in our group shared stories of being silenced by social services in their everyday lives, as their motherhood is declared not good enough or as they are perceived too guilty to claim for help. It was the first time the mothers shared their stories with other mothers of their lives with their children in street situations. By noticing that they all experienced or heard of similar events that their children were subjected to in the streets, the mothers grew confident enough to talk back. Mothers talked back by denouncing injustice and by transforming doubts into questions, providing them with more knowledge. Finally, as the mothers reached out to social services, mothers’ presence, questions and stories confronted aid workers with their own flaws, and their comfortable discourse of blaming families, creating new paths towards social transformation.
Resumen
En noviembre de 2012, una investigadora, dos trabajadoras sociales y cinco madres se embarcaron en un viaje de investigación-acción participativa con el objetivo de desarrollar nuevas ideas para las intervenciones con niños y jóvenes en situaciones de calle de la ciudad de El Alto en Bolivia. En este artículo atendemos al tema de la transformación personal y social en una investigación-acción participativa. Exploramos cómo las madres de jóvenes en situaciones de calle performan y negocian sus subjetividades como madres en sus vidas cotidianas; cómo crean (nuevas) subjetividades a cambio y en interacción durante el proyecto madre; y cómo la performance de sus (nuevas) subjetividades pueden producir cambio social. Las madres en nuestro grupo compartieron historias de ser silenciadas por los servicios sociales en sus vidas cotidianas, mientras que su maternidad es declarada no suficientemente buena o mientras son percibidas como demasiado culpables para reclamar ayuda. Fue la primera vez que las madres compartieron sus historias de vida con niños en situaciones de calle con otras madres. Al notar que todas habían experimentado u oído de eventos similares a los que sus hijos habían sido sometidos en las calles, las madres se sintieron lo suficientemente confiadas como para responder. Las madres respondieron denunciando la injusticia y transformando las dudas en cuestionamientos, proveyéndolas de un mayor conocimiento. Finalmente, como las madres se acercaron a los servicios sociales, la presencia de las madres, sus preguntas e historias confrontaron a los trabajadores sociales con sus propias faltas y sus discursos cómodos de culpar a las familias, creando nuevos caminos hacia la transformación social.
摘要
2012年十一月，一位研究者、两位社会工作者与五位母亲，开啓了一个参与式行动研究的旅程，企图为介入玻利维亚的艾尔阿图市中的街头儿童与青少年，建立新的观念。我们在本文中，关照参与式行动研究中的个人及社会变迁之主题。我们探讨街头青少年的母亲，如何在她们的每日生活中，展演并协商她们作为母亲的主体性；她们在母职计画中，如何透过彼此交换和互动，创造 (新的) 主体性；以及她们的 (新) 主体性之展演，如何能够带来社会变迁。我们的群体中的母亲，共享着每日生活中被社会服务给噤声的故事，因她们的母性被宣称不够好、抑或她们被认为有罪而无法寻求协助。这是这些母亲与其他同样经历孩子流落街头的母亲分享彼此故事的第一次经验。这些母亲藉由意识到她们全部经历过、或听闻过她们的孩子沦落街头时遭受的相似事件，增加了足以回应此事的勇气。母亲们透过责难不正义、并将怀疑转为质问，提供了她们更多的知识以进行回应。最后，随着这些母亲寻求社会服务的协助，母职的在场、质问与故事，挑战了社工与其缺陷、及其责备家庭的安逸论述，创造了迈向社会变革的崭新道路。
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the research group Interpersonal, Discursive and Narrative studies, The Centre for Children in Vulnerable Situations and the assistance provided by Marina Gironda Choque, Ruzena Moscoso Erquicia and Janneth Perez Molina from the Iniciative Maya Paya Kimsa. We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their detailed, thoughtful and useful comments about this article. All shortcomings, of course, remain entirely ours. We would like to give a very heartfelt thank you and appreciation to all of the mothers who participated in this research and who were willing to share their stories. This article is dedicated to all of the parents in El Alto who care and struggle for their families.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Twenty-four children gave their parents’ telephone numbers and permission to call them. Five parents refused to participate and 12 parents were not reached because of a non-existent number or because the call was never answered. Due to the small sample size of the parent group, we take into account the possibility of not having reached a large range of possible cases or more extreme experiences, in order to obtain data that might contradict or modify the analysis.