Discussion
Having or perceiving their own agency - displayed in their capacity to
exert some sort of control over their own life and their surrounding
environment - was delineated as a crucial component in enhancing
children’s well-being and in developing strategies to cope with their
unpredictable contexts. Moreover, the model that emerges from our
findings visually highlights the dialectic relationship between
children’s agency and the fields of social and environmental structures
in which their lives are embedded (see Figure 3).
—- Insert Figure 3 —-
On the one hand, spatial, political, relational, and material factors
shapes the lives of the children, providing or reducing their
opportunities to access resources and ‘thinning’ their agency (Klocker,
2007; Moen, 2013). On the other hand, children’s agency was strongly
reflected in the fact that such violent experiences and adverse living
condition – as well as such structural influences – were not enough to
stop them from finding creative strategies to both survive and imagine a
better future.
Safety has been identified as one of the most important domains of
children’s well-being and of their general quality of life. Yet,
children’s sense of agency emerged as strictly related to the
opportunity to experience safety, which enables them to act autonomously
(Fattore, Mason, & Watson, 2009; Stecknermeier, 2019). Therefore, if
one the one hand, feelings of insecurity and vulnerability were
discussed as crucial limitations of children’s ability to act, on the
other, participants showed themselves to be actively engaged in
developing new strategies in order to challenge those limitations.
Moreover, children’s narratives evidenced how their lives are embedded
in familial and communal networks, which play a pivotal role in
providing opportunities to develop competencies in order to better cope
with adversity (Seymour, 2012). Indeed, children’s ability to act
emerged as strongly linked to their web of social relations, evidencing
the relational dimension of children’s agency (Bell & Payne, 2009).
Children stressed the importance of spending time with friends and
family to experience emotional support and share negative feelings,
which helps to manage the deleterious impacts of their violent
circumstances (Barber, 2001; Veronese et al., 2018). Feeling connected
to, and thus protected by, their family and community provides the
children with a secure base, sustaining their relationships with both
people and the place itself and enabling them to autonomously navigate
their environment (Akesson, 2014; Veronese et al., 2020).
Subsequently, the importance of being able to freely move around their
environment and having access to places specifically dedicated for
children vividly emerged in this study. As a precondition to feeling
happy and enjoying their lives despite their adverse conditions,
children mentioned the need to autonomously explore their environment
and to feel free from constrains (Fattore et al., 2009). Restrictions on
their mobility denied them access to various resources, reducing their
ability to develop strategies and to benefit from relational support.
Similarly, the lack of play-areas was limiting children’s opportunities
to engage in leisure activities. However, in confronting both of these
restrictions, children did not react with passivity or resignation.
Participants displayed different strategies in order to circumnavigate
those obstacles and improve the quality of their free time.
Education, national identity, and spirituality were also mentioned as
powerful enhancers of children’s agency. Being able to access their
schools provided children with the opportunity of a safe place through
which to engage in activities of learning, playing, and socializing.
Indeed, school restores a sense of routine and normalcy in children’s
lives, which enhance their abilities to cope with their adverse
situation (Shalhoub-Kevorkian, 2006; Veronese & Cavazzoni, 2019). On
the other hand, children’s actively described their willingness to
further their education as a means to strengthen their abilities,
improve the situation of their family and their community, and as a way
to learn their rights in order to challenge both the occupation and the
male-dominated societal and cultural norms that they regularly face.
Besides school, children revealed the importance of both national
identity and spirituality as crucial enhancers of feelings of
validation, pride, safety, and hope for the future (Hammad, 2011;
Peteet, 2005). Children highlighted the importance of Islam in teaching
and providing them with positive values, behavioral and moral
guidelines, as well as a purpose in life, which supports them when
having to face an adverse and dangerous environment (Salas-Wright,
Olate, & Vaughn, 2013; Wessells & Strang, 2006). Indeed, children’s
narratives challenged the Western idea of children who endorse Islamic
idioms being potentially radical and violent. Instead, our findings
corroborate other studies that have suggested that religiosity carries
with it narratives of redemption, forgiveness, and freedom, rather than
revenge and violence (Habashi, 2011; 2013; Veronese et al., 2017).
Finally, studies concerning children living in contexts of war and
conflict highlight the importance of recognizing children’s agency also
as emerging out of the cultural and political discourse (Habashi &
Worley, 2009). In our findings, the immediate environment – such as
street, walls, or fences – emerged as an important medium through which
to access information and it was often used by children to improve their
historical and political awareness. Being able to signify an otherwise
perturbing event helps individuals to contextualize their situation,
which reduces the impact of trauma and enables the mobilization of
resources to deal with it (Garbarino, 2014; Veronese et al., 2018). By
actively reading the signs of their complex surroundings,
children’s narratives also testified to their ability to understand the
relationship between the history of previous generations and their own
present situation. As outlined by Barber (2008), being able to locate
yourself within a historical and political context while also
identifying a collective purpose – we will return to our lands(M, 13-years-old, Dheisheh camp) – powerfully helps in withstanding the
hardship experienced as a result of the occupation.