Working from a conscious committment to bridge the gap in knowledge between the world of childhood and that of adulthood, Children's Lifeworlds moves beyond the unusual concern with child labour and welfare to a critical assessment of both boys' and girls' daily work in the context of the family in a south Indian village. Questioning why there is so little child labour in the developing world, this book discusses how class and kinship, gender and household organization, state ideology and education combine to define children's work away. From the roots of children's position in society,...

Children's Lifeworlds examines how working children face the challenge of having to combine work with school in Kerala. Moving beyond the usual concern with child labour and welfare to a critical assessment of the daily work routine of children, this book questions how class and kinship, gender and household organization, state ideology and education influence and conceal the lives of children in developing countries. Presenting an extraordinarily sympathetic and detailed case study of boys' and girls' work routine in a south Indian village, this book shows children creating the...