Abstract
This chapter describes what street-frequenting young people call the ‘system’; it embodies what has now become their home, where they eat, earn money and engage in leisure and sleep. The chapter illustrates how these young people appropriate space, engage in meaningful work spaces, contest moral perceptions about them and resist in both explicit and masked ways. The chapter notes that a street-frequenting existence is less different from any other form of survival. It involves a constant negotiation of life paradoxes which can be fun and futile, safe and risky, and lawful and illegal.
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Notes
- 1.
The Arbat system refers to the street subculture formed by youths on the streets of Moscow. Being highly organised it offers a supportive network for youths particularly the runaways and homeless (Stephenson 2001).
- 2.
This camp organised by the Ministry of Youth Employment Opportunities and Sports (MYEOS) was a one-off event. The principle behind its implementation and outcomes are discussed thoroughly in the next chapter.
- 3.
Master is a term used to refer to male teachers. During my time as a resident volunteer at Chevalier Hostel as I was also teaching at a Suva high school, hence the name master. Because of my prior relationship with some street-frequenting youths the name was invoked by children who had known me from that time which was then adopted by other street-frequenting youths.
- 4.
Choking is an informal word used when asking people for money. Where begging is often the reliance on people’s generosity choking involves a more demanding approach.
- 5.
Fr Kevin Barr initially established Chevalier Hostel and the youths alternatively use his name and Chevalier when referring to the Hostel.
- 6.
Invernizzi’s (2003, p. 331) typology include “Introduction to street work; Subsistence work; Work as a game; Work for identity and Ways out of street work”.
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Vakaoti, P. (2018). The System: Street-frequenting Young People and Their Social World. In: Street-Frequenting Young People in Fiji. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63079-3_5
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