ON BECOMING A STREET CHILD
A Field Study in the City of Córdoba
ANDREA SABATTINI
ON BECOMING A STREET CHILD

A Field Study in the City of Córdoba

CIP-DATES KONINKLIJKE BIBLIOTHEEK, DEN HAAG
Sabattini, Andrea
On becoming a street child: a field study in the city of Córdoba / Andrea Sabattini. - Amsterdam:
SCO-Kohnstamm Instituut voor Onderzoek van Opvoeding en Onderwijs van de Faculteit der
Pedagogische en Onderwijskundige Wetenschappen, Universiteit van Amsterdam. - I11. - (SCOrapport; 422)
Thesis Universiteit van Amsterdam. With ref.
ISBN 90-6813-473-6
Subject headings: street children; Córdoba (Argentina); field research.
1996 A. S. Sabattini, Amsterdam
Photographs: Andrea Sabattini
Cover photograph: Andrea Sabattini
Cover design: Jan Sikking
ON BECOMING A STREET CHILD
A Field Study in the City of Córdoba
Academisch proefschrift
ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor

aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam,
op gezag van de Rector Magnificus
Prof. dr. P.W.M. de Meijer
ten overstaan van een door het college van decanen ingestelde
commissie in het openbaar te verdedigen in de
Aula der Universiteit, Singel 411, Amsterdam,
op maandag 10 juni om 13,30
door
Andrea Susana Sabattini
geboren te Córdoba
Proefschrift Universiteit van Amsterdam
Promotor: Prof. dr. M. G. M. van den Dungen
Faculteit der Pedagogische en Onderwijskundige Wetenschappen
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book deals with the street child phenomenon in the city of Córdoba.
I am glad for having found many people who supported me in the task of writing it. After all, this was not a usual investigation, neither concerning the subject, nor the methodology. I wish to thank Maarten van den Dungen for having supervised my work from such a large distance. It is a combination of kindness and discipline that I appreciate most about him as a teacher. I also want to mention Hans de Wit, who made the necessary arrangements for carrying out my research, and Tom Mous, Peter Swanborn, Prof. van Gennep,
Jan Karel Koppen, Dina Joha, Joop Hox, Marijke Lambers and the members of the administrative staff at the Faculty of Pedagogical and Educational Sciences; also
Germie, Renèe and other AIO's.
Concerning my patronage outside the Faculty, I wish to thank Joke
Schrijvers, the head of the Institute for Development Research Amsterdam at the University (InDRA) as well as of Joao Ferès, Graciela Paillet (also from
Córdoba), Olga Nieuwenhuys, Margriet Popperma, Corrie Wessendorp, Madaleine
Vreeburg, Dorothe Elshof and the other assistants of InDRA. Furthermore, I wish to thank Jean Carrière, from the Centre for Study and Documentation of Latin
American (CEDLA) at the University, Prof. Kleinpenning from the Catholic
University of Nijmegen, the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (with whose support I made a preparatory one-month trip to Argentina at the beginning of the research), Mr. Nusselder and Loise Reinsy.
The research was also supported by many people in Argentina. I especially wish to thank my family in Córdoba. The curiosity of my son Tristan and his patience stopped me from giving it all up halfway. I dedicate this book to him and to my

parents. I would also like to mention the writer Ernesto Sábato, Silvia Bermann and all the children and relatives who participated in this research as well as all the government officials and members of non-governmental organizations; furthermore, the people who work at the Research Centre of the Faculty of Philosophy and
Humanities and at the Centre for Advanced Studies at the National University of
Córdoba and Mr. Legnazzi (for his comments concerning the photographic material).
Finally, I wish to thank all my other friends, especially Judith van Stipriaan, Keith
Pieterse (who did the editing) and Hilje Huismans.