Entre la ayuda y el “desligamiento”: prácticas y regulaciones cotidianas sobre las familias y el cuidado infantil en barrios populares del Gran Buenos Aires – aportes desde la etnografía

Education, child rearing and social justice

“…The 'discursive front' made up by state initiatives, the media, NGOs and transnational organizations to impose certain meanings on the rights of children (6) based on northern-hemisphere views of childhood and child rearing, that are accepted as almost naturally superior, with very little criticism (6), together with the disciplinary biomedical discourse, as well as knowledge, practices and values held by the dominant classes (and specifically by the professionals working in social welfare programmes), form the parameter by which child rearing in subaltern communities is judged. The child rearing that takes place in these subaltern groups is deemed insufficient, inappropriate or harmful (5,9) and is, thus, stigmatised and devalued. The education that takes place in the social welfare programmes must be understood not only as the dissemination of knowledge that the women lack, but also as tools for controlling and imposing meanings on child rearing (5,8,31).…”

“…The child rearing that takes place in these subaltern groups is deemed insufficient, inappropriate or harmful (5,9) and is, thus, stigmatised and devalued. The education that takes place in the social welfare programmes must be understood not only as the dissemination of knowledge that the women lack, but also as tools for controlling and imposing meanings on child rearing (5,8,31). Taken to the extreme, these discourses create pressure (including, even the threat of removing the children from the mother) that become new barriers to accessing public services.…”

“…Education in the health sector programmes mentioned above takes a traditional and transmissionist approach, which imposes the knowledge and meanings of child rearing derived from scientific discourse (5), especially from the discourse of children's rights (6). Based on this knowledge and their own cultural values, health professionals have the power to determine which meanings are 'true' (7,8) and thereby pass judgement on the quality and appropriateness of popular knowledge and practices with regard to child rearing (5,9).…”

“…Another question that arises from inquiries about caregivers in these programmes is: What are the opportunities-that is, what social, material and personal support do caregivers have to carry out the type of child rearing they value? Health professionals often make requests with regard to child rearing without understanding what this means for caregivers nor knowing the material conditions in which child rearing takes place (5,11). This question arises from a concern for social justice, but given that there are multiple views on this subject, one must also ask, 'What sort of justice are we talking about?…”

Circulación de niños. Entre actuaciones estatales e iniciativas populares

“…Estas imbricaciones y superposiciones entre el accionar estatal y las iniciativas populares no resultan una novedad para la literatura especializada contemporánea. Sin ir más lejos, en su trabajo de campo en barrios populares y asentamientos del norte del conurbano bonaerense, Laura Santillán (2013) ha registrado múltiples procesos en los que, en la cotidianidad territorial, se intersectan relaciones marcadas por el Estado, la proximidad y la ayuda mutua que involucran renovados y afinados mecanismos de observación, control y evaluación de los comportamientos parentales.…”