Browsing by Author "Moses, Susan"

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    Does space and place matter? perspectives from girls growing up in a Cape Town neighbourhood created under apartheid
    (2005) Moses, Susan
    With the advent of democracy in South Africa, space was legally de-racialised and people were no longer legally restricted to certain residential areas based on official racial classifications. Many areas, however, remain segregated along racial lines. This paper looks at how children and young people experience their 'neighbourhoods' and 'communities' in this broader context. It draws on the experiences and perspectives of South African girls living in an area called Ocean View, established under Apartheid for 'coloured' people who were forcibly removed from areas re-zoned 'white' on the South Peninsula of Cape Town. I examine ways in which girls' shape these environments as well as how physical and social features of their environments impact on their everyday lives, well-being and identity. I argue that children and young people in Ocean View lead everyday lives primarily bound within Ocean View and that the social, physical and economic environment within Ocean View means that they do not have access to all the resources they require and face challenges and obstacles which are not always easy to overcome. The kinds of mobility that regularly traverse Ocean View's borders do not foster the interpersonal links necessary for accessing space and resources not bound by class and race. By showing that neighbourhood characteristics often have both positive and negative effects on children's lives, I problematise the conception of 'high risk neighbourhoods' as leading to negative child outcomes, often utilised by neighbourhood studies and policies. I also highlight children's agency in dealing with the negative elements in their lives and suggest that building on these strategies (such as providing opportunities for young people to challenge prevailing stereotypes about Ocean View) may be an appropriate way of addressing some of the challenges faced by young people in the area.
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    The impact of neighbourhood-level factors on children's everyday lives, well-being and identity: a qualitative study of children living in ocean view, Cape Town
    (Taylor & Francis, 2006) Moses, Susan
    Drawing on qualitative data generated over fifteen months by children aged six to eighteen, this article explores the ways in which neighbourhood and community spaces of Ocean View impact on the lives of children living there. The article draws particular attention to the way in which the legacy of Ocean View's particular socio-political history continues to impact on children, through the interaction of physical, social and economic features which limit their everyday lives to the spaces and people within Ocean View. This affects children's access to resources, hampers integration, and impacts on their selfand collective-efficacy. Children's individual preferences, skills and personalities are shown to affect how they cope with difficulties and respond to available opportunities and supports. The article?draws attention to how children generate their social environment and attach meaning to physical spaces around them, emphasising the variety and creativity of the tactics they employ to negotiate their everyday environments. Finally the article argues that by failing to recognise the specific and dynamic processes in which children's social networks are embedded, traditional approaches to understanding neighbourhood effects(such as social capital and social disorganisation theories) over-simplify and over-generalise the operation of social dynamics. I argue for moving away from focussing on the impact of discrete neighbourhood features to a focus on the environmental processes that benefit children. This requires a broader approach to researching 'neighbourhood effects' which encompasses children's perceptions and agency, internal and external power dynamics, and the interaction of sociopolitical, physical, and economic aspects of children's environments.