PANEL ORGAN - KIIT University

Indigo Children: Self-Leveling In the Context of Declining Educational Welfare and
Increasing Socio Economical Marginalization
Since the late 1970’s a small but increasing number of parents in the US claim their
children are “indigo”, i.e. possess special traits or abilities, ranging from thinking they are
the next stage in human evolution or practice telepathy, to the belief that they are simply
more empathic and creative than their peers. Drawing on an ethnographic research
started in July 2011 and based on in-depth interviews and participant observation within
“indigo families” in the New York and Detroit areas, this paper analyses the indigo
children ideology as it is played out strategically and selectively in the family member’s
everyday lives. This would reveal a strategy of self-labelling deeply connected with the
resilience of kids and their parents, particularly in terms of managing societal violence
(i.e. excessive medicalization) and accessing economic benefits, in a context of declining
educational welfare and increasing socio-economical marginalization.
VIGNATO, Silvia,Università di Milano-Bicocca,Cultural Anthropology, Piazza dell'Ateneo
Nuovo, 1 20126 Milano, Italy, E-mail:
Between Home and Homes-A Place for Children in Post Tsunami Post Conflict Aceh
This paper is based on an ongoing non-continued fieldwork focusing on the life of children
in Aceh (Indonesia). Acehnese society is recovering from both a 30-year long civil conflict
and a major ecologic disaster (the 2004 tsunami). Thousands of children rely on Islaminformed
institutions both to survive and to grow up in a rightful way (attend school,
receive personal care and treatments). They grow up in a continuous exchange between
home and homes. Within this dynamic, I shall look into one specific question. If in a postconflict
context childhood is considered as a metaphor of recovery what happens to
children who explode the metaphor and suffer or twist the healthy and moral standard In
this light, the paper re-reads a 4 year experience and looks for a larger theoretical frame
to encompass the Acehnese children's upbringing.
ALCANO, Matteo,Università di Milano-Bicocca,Cultural Anthropology Piazza dell'Ateneo
Nuovo, 120126 Milano, Italy. Email:
Storms Heroes and Friends: An Ethnography of Street Children and Masculine Identities
in Surabhaya (East Java)
This paper presents ethnography of street children from the slums of Surabaya (East Java),
corridors commonly named lorong, I describe the urban space of the lorong, the social
enclaves that traverse heterogeneous areas of the city of Surabaya and the life of urban
youth formations. While the boundaries of the lorongare quite pliant its territory is
marked by internal divisions and factions, and exposed to outside aggressions. Youth
groups (not yet assimilable to gangs) provide micro-regimens of order and promote
communal forms of belonging; their aim is to protect their immediate material needs (the
sale and consumption of drugs) and their friends and neighbors from outside thieves,
criminals and gangs. These youngsters justify their violence as being motivated by
“respect” for their “friendship” and for their neighborhood. In this context, what seems to
be an inherently destructive form of group violence and street warfare arguably presents
constructive elements, both at the social and individual (personal and identity) level.
PANEL-14 (A): RIGHTS AND SECURITIES OF NATURAL DISASTER AFFECTED CHILDREN
27 th November, 2012 Time: 10.30-13.00hrs Hall No.: