Browsing by Author "Korpela, Päivi"

This thesis has focused on Afro-Peruvian adolescents’ perceptions on education and future in the context of the poor and violent urban neighbourhood of La Victoria, Lima. The objectives of the study were to find out how the subjective experiences of the adolescents and their thoughts on social reality are directing the formation of values and practises and what factors affect their views, actions and decision-making. The study is based on 13 semi-structured interviews with the adolescents. In addition I have used participant observation, background interviews, lectures and seminars to complement my data. As a theoretical framework I applied Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and capitals combined with intersectionality – a concept borrowed from feminist studies that allowed me to look for relationships and differences of race, class, ethnicity and gender, and to explore the interconnections between different factors that can be found in the background of the adolescents’ decision-making processes. The factors producing inequalities in La Victoria are multiple. In the context of the study, poverty and social class have more significance for the adolescents than ethnicity. Poverty can be seen both as a concrete and a structural obstacle, whereas ethnicity is more structural and therefore invisible. Through habitus one learns to make choices that appear obvious, although they have been learned socially and culturally. Therefore, social structures become visible through people’s individual choices and actions. Poverty among the adolescents appears as socio-cultural poverty that places them in a marginal. It limits their possibilities to access capitals and to make adequate choices and decisions regarding their life and future. In many of the cases poverty can be seen as reproduction of a certain culture, a set of assumed values, attitudes and forms of behaviour that create a lifestyle ruled by maintaining survival strategies. The interviews demonstrate that the adolescents’ perceptions about education and future opportunities are constructed on the basis of multiple interconnections between social class, ethnicity, age and place. In their perceptions, class and place seem to be important producers of power that limit the possibilities to act and make decisions regarding education. The general attitude of the adolescents and the tone of voice remain fairly positive. However, it can be concluded that there is a big contrast between dreams, speech and actions. The adolescents believed to have better opportunities than their parents, but did not always transform this attitude into concrete actions. They recognised the adverse aspects of the socio-economic context, but thought that their will and motivation were exceeding them.