Street Kids in Nikes: In Search of Humanization Through the Culture of Consumption

Abstract

Brazilian street kids have been represented, with few exceptions, as victims of oppressed cultural forces that weaken the family and dilute social capital. To be sure, concentrated poverty, loss of extended family ties, low levels of education, and lack of governmental involvement have all given shape to a terribly strenuous childhood for many in the country. These kids, however, are more than victims. They are also active agents in the coconstruction of their social realities, and they struggle in brave ways to become fuller human beings. Using reconstructions from my ethnographic fieldwork on the streets of Campinas, Brazil, in which kids encounter Nike artifacts and the culture of consumption, the author attempts to show this struggle for humanization. In addition, a central purpose of this article is to present a slice of social science research written in a self-reflective manner about authorship, interpretation, and the interweaving of theory and fieldwork.