Marginalized Knowledge: An Agenda for Indigenous Knowledge Development and Integration with Other Forms of Knowledge

Theoretical perspective

The process of becoming a street child and the effects thereof do not occur in a vacuum but with accordance to a number of individual and environmental variables. (Maphatane, 1994: 22). In order to be able to understand this process, it is necessary to go beyond the family and examine other factors within the social environment. This is the main reason why this study found researcher considered it important to use theoretical models which help to provide a more unified explanation of the phenomenon and also facilitate the development of principles for intervention.

When trying to restore the social functioning of an affected human being a Multidisciplinary Approach is often useful. However for the benefit of this research only a few approaches were used based on their relevance, that is The Social- Exclusion Theory, Ecosystems Theory and Evaluation Theory were observed as the best.

The Social-Exclusion Theory focuses on social inequality in terms of economic, political, and cultural competence. The evolution of urbanization and political pressures forced people to involuntarily move into cities without knowing the difficult lives that lay ahead of them. The families of street children have no financial means of adequately supporting their children. As a result some people live in “imikhukhu”(informal settlements) others in the dilapidated houses. In Durban Station for example, people have imikhukhu where they live with their young ones. They generate income by selling craft work to survive or working as domestic servants. Their children are not cared for, and as a result, some become street children. The logical consequence of all this is that those excluded from the labour market become the poorest.

The Ecosystems Theory on the other hand involves the study of laws, conditions, principles and ideas which are concerned on the one hand with a human’s immediate physical environment and on the other hand with a human’s immediate physical environment versus the human nature as a social being and the study of the relationship between the two factors (Meyer & Moore 2002:82). Many people picture the life as a journey during which every human being has positive gains from infancy to young adulthood. Their abilities and habits do not merely ‘mature’ on their own as part of the nature’s plan. Parents, teachers and other important people contribute in the nurturing of young people and showing them how to behave in new way.

People are changed through their experiences, as is the case of street children. Due to environmental factors, people have even ignored the Municipality Laws in order to live their ‘easy’ ways. For example immigrants from Zimbabwe keep on illegally arriving in South Africa in order to find ways to survive despite being arrested daily. Environmental forces therefore have a significant impact on human lives because if these immigrants were not forced by bad economic situations in their country, they would not dare risking with their lives.

Programme evaluation research is about establishing whether social programmes are needed, effective and likely to be used (Terre Blanch & Durrheim, 2002:209) Evaluation research track the efficacy of social programmes not financially but in human and social terms.