Identity Dynamics in Parks; Regulated Competition on Crossroads: Two Images of Childhood in Urban Space

Anthropological studies on childhood who tried to define a culture of childhood have chiefly focused on behaviours, values, and norms between children in spaces designed for this age of life. The present communication deals with the following question: Is there any formation of a specific culture among children in spaces not designed for them? Urban spaces are designed mostly for adult use, but constitutes the main working and playing space of some childhoods. In the migration situation, for example, what role does the host neighbourhood play in the children’s conceptual world? How do children produce sense of and construct their social relations within urban spaces? In order to answer these questions we have conducted two ethnographic researches in the city of Tehran, one in the park and the other one on the crossroad. The active participation of the child as a social actor in redefining and organizing his physical and social environment is the main finding of this research. Based on the first field study we will be able to observe how a group of migrant children contributes to the integration of families and the ethnic group through its territorialisation in the park of the host neighbourhood. The second fieldwork will bring to light some rulemaking of begging children regulating their concurrence in an apparently dominated situation.