Abstract
The incidence of street children around the world had raised concern about social order. Scholars have paid attention to socioeconomic and psychological implications ignoring the cultural dynamics that contribute to this development. This paper focuses on a category of street children in Akwa-Ibom state of Nigeria. They are the child-witches, thrown to the street due to witchcraft label masterminded by parents and pastors. Structural functionalist and Moral Panics theories were adopted. Focused group, participant observation, key informants, and in-depth interviews, as well as narrative analysis were employed. The paper revealed that while the phenomenon of street children in Akwa Ibom portrayed moral panic, Eket people, conceive behaviours that violate norms as a threat to social order, and consequently sanctioned. It recommends that parents should inculcate societal norms and values to their children. It concludes that the extremity of the sanction and the paradoxical presence of children on the street is an aberration of order. Key words: Social order, Akwa Ibom street children, moral panic.
Highlights
Street children have gradually become common sights in most cities of the world
This paper explores the ordeals of a category of street children that has been incriminated in Akwa Ibom state of Nigeria, owing to witchcraft label masterminded by the clergy who label children as witches, pose as exorcists to whom parents‟ recourse to
This paper focuses primarily on three objectives stated below: 1. To examine the behaviours of street children vis-à-vis communal norms, in order to uncover what in their conducts or behaviours make them elements disruptive of the social order
Summary
The term designates children who inhabit the street either as their permanent residence or means of livelihood Most of their daily interactions and social relations occur there with little or no adult supervision or care. This paper explores the ordeals of a category of street children that has been incriminated in Akwa Ibom state of Nigeria, owing to witchcraft label masterminded by the clergy who label children as witches, pose as exorcists to whom parents‟ recourse to. They are sent out of their homes by their parents into the street to fend for themselves. Abandonment of the street exposes them to inclement weather conditions and criminal tendencies like stealing, alcoholism, drug abuse, child trafficking, prostitution and a host of other vices common among street children as scholars have
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