Searching for success: boys, family aspirations, and opportunities in Gabon, ca. 1900-1940.
Boys growing up in rural Gabon between 1900 and 1940 negotiated with many challenges: the rise of migrant labor, famines and hardships brought on by World War I, the growth of Christianity and African-based spiritual traditions, and the undermining of clans, which had been the main form of social and political organization in the nineteenth century. Parents, extended family members, missionaries, and European businesses recruited boys to serve their varied interests. Boys in turn developed new self-understandings by leaving their homes as students, workers, and clients of older men. This article examines the life histories of four boys to trace the successes and challenges that individual boys encountered in this turbulent era. Interestingly, older biological relatives of boys generally succeeded in maintaining their authority over children living far from home, although the education and wages that boys received forced older men to offer boys more benefits.
Rich
Jeremy
J
Middle Tennessee State Univ.
D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000208:ethnology / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D002660:Child Guidance / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D004493:Education / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D004651:Employment / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D005191:Family Characteristics / Q000208:ethnology; D005195:Family Relations / Q000208:ethnology / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005681:Gabon / Q000208:ethnology; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D066189:Missionaries; D010287:Parent-Child Relations / Q000208:ethnology / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012067:Religion / Q000266:history; D008921:Religious Missions / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D012922:Social Change / Q000266:history; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014171:Transients and Migrants / Q000193:education / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology