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“We Became One Family”: Hardship, Interdependence, and Resistance Among the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan

Myriam Denov (School of Social Work, McGill University, Canada)

Régine Debrosse (School of Social Work, McGill University, Canada)

Children and Youth as ‘Sites of Resistance’ in Armed Conflict

ISBN: 978-1-83549-371-7, eISBN: 978-1-83549-370-0

Publication date: 10 December 2024

Abstract

The Lost Boys and Girls attempted to escape from the war in Sudan on foot, most often traveling together, separated from their families, and they survived extreme conditions by taking care of each other. However, limited research has focused on their relationships with one another during both flight and resettlement. This chapter explores the connection between the hardships faced by Lost Boys and Girls, alongside the relational experiences forged and the sense of community they developed with one another. To do so, we examine a set of qualitative interviews and a focus group with Lost Boys and Girls who resettled in the Global North and analyze them under the light of the kinship hypothesis, which connects hardships and interdependence in relationships. Drawing upon young people’s direct narratives and voices, our data reveal that the bonds that Lost Boys and Girls forged with one another during flight often remained strong after resettlement, highlighting agentive forms of resistance, resilience, and capacity. Findings further reveal high mutual support and high willingness to sacrifice for one another. The significance of these findings for how the experiences of unaccompanied minors are understood, especially for children and youth affected by war and displacement, is discussed.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Authors’ Notes, Funding Details, and Disclosure Statement

This work was supported by funding to the first author through the International Development Research Centre, the Canadian International Development Agency (Government of Canada), McGill University, the Canada Council for the Arts (Killam Program), the Canada Research Chair program and by funding from a William Dawson Scholar Award conferred by McGill University to the second author. The authors report that there are no competing interests to declare.

Citation

Denov, M. and Debrosse, R. (2024), "“We Became One Family”: Hardship, Interdependence, and Resistance Among the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan", Shah, T.M. (Ed.) Children and Youth as ‘Sites of Resistance’ in Armed Conflict (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Vol. 34), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 15-33. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-466120240000034002

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited