Abstract:

Since March 2021, I have been conducting a qualitative sociological field research on childhood and education within the Senegalese communities of Vienna. How do children from Senegalese parents who migrated in Vienna live and think their childhood? What part do they play in their socialization process?

For this session of the Afrika-Kolloquium, I will first focus my attention on how I managed to contact Senegalese parents and their children. The children and their education is – as in other cultural contexts – a very private matter as well as a sensible topic. Being able to enter the privacy of their homes was – and remains – very difficult. I will explain how I gained – and sometimes lost – the parents’ trust and how I began researching with their children. Second, I will outline the ways in which these children are perceived by their parents in an educational framework in the Viennese context. What are the cultural points of contention between parents and children and which effects do they have on their relationship. Third, I would like to invite the participants to engage in a discussion on the mobility and migration of African migrants in Austria and what that means for their children.