“The System Bang me Right Here”: Obstacles and Opportunities in the Streets of Freetown and Beyond

Abstract

This article is focused on the life on a streetcorner in downtown Freetown, Sierra Leone. It is in the aftermath of the ten-year long civil war in the country and many of the people making do in the area are ex-combatants. In particular I focus on forms of social cohesiveness, of alternative structures of relatedness, on social networks and the creative social tools used for daily survival and social mobility. Albeit the typical voice of the street dwellers would suggest them being victims of the system and forever stuck in marginality, a more long-term gaze on things show that this is not necessarily the case. Yet still: life is hard.