Deliberative Disobedience as a Strategy for Claiming Rights and Representation in the Family: The Case of Accra’s Street Children

Abstract

Representation as a cornerstone of liberal democracy enables representatives to speak on behalf of others; articulate their views and defend their interest when necessary. Children’s representation however is a challenging endeavour because they usually do not have voting rights or enforcement capacity to hold those who represent them accountable. In the domestic arena, for example, parents are commonly seen as legitimate representatives of their children because of a natural affiliation and propensity to speak for and defend their interests. However, in recent times, broader social and economic transformations in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa, especially social change, neoliberalism and globalization and their myriad consequences, have incapacitated some parents, while motivating their children to defy and deliberately disengage with their representation. This quest transforms the notions of rights and representation because by enabling children more space in decision-making it subverts the norms of representation. It is a slide from traditional acquiescence/obedience towards a self-representation that elevates children’s agency but subverts the authority of parents/adults, thus disrupting the traditional distribution of power. This is exemplified in the migration of children to the major cities of Ghana, especially Accra, in spite of protestations from their parents, to earn incomes for themselves and sometimes the family and in the process claim rights that enable them to chart their own courses of life. The context for this argument is the outcome of a programme of qualitative studies in Accra in the 2000s. It involved 102 boys and girls, aged between 8 and 17 years, who were interviewed, observed and encouraged to participate in photo-elicitation exercises.