At Home in the Street: Street Children of Northeast Brazil

by Tobias Hecht

Book Overview

Through innovative fieldwork and ethnographic writing, Hecht lays bare the received truths about the lives of Brazilian street children. This book changes the terms of the debate, asking not why there are so many homeless children in Brazil but why - given the oppressive alternative of home life in the shantytowns - there are in fact so few. Speaking in recorded sessions that participants called radio workshops, street children asked one another questions...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521598699
• ISBN13: 9780521598699
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Few moral judgements

It was helpful to read a non-Christian study on street children. It was definitely more sociological and anthropological than most books I've read concerning children at risk, but I appreciated the objectivity. Hecht makes few moral judgments, but paints a picture of a daily reality for street children of northeast Brazil.

An Excellent, Intriguing Book

I bought this book to use for research for my term paper on Brazilian Street Children. Although I was already interested in this subject, I didn't really get into it until I started reading this book. It is very intriguing because it isn't just an outsider's point of view- Tobias Hecht includes numerous interviews with street children he knew well, and stories about the time he spent with these children getting to know them. He also looks at the issues concerning street children from many angles, not from a biased point-of-view, so as to make it more interesting. It's a fascinating topic and I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about this subject, even if it isn't for a term paper.

A harrowing look at street children in Brazil

It has been said that there are two Brazils--the"firstworld" modern archipelago where the rich lived behindwalled compounds, own several houses and apartments, and buy consumer items without regard for price. The rest of the country lives in the Third World--in poverty. Anthropologist Tobias Hecht applies careful, compassionate research and study to the urban dimension of lower class life. On par with Nancy Scheper-Hughes, the book brilliantly brings the tribulations and small triumphs of homeless children to life.