Kuva: Tapani Eronen
In her doctoral dissertation, MSc Annika Lehtonen explored how street-connected youth in Northeast Brazil experience their social worlds across the street, families, communities, and support systems. The findings reveal that their lives are shaped by complex relationships of emotional and material interdependence, relational mobility, and everyday forms of solidarity. The young people create means of survival and form and maintain important relationships amidst limited livelihood choices. These insights challenge dominant narratives of abandonment and highlight how rights-based practice can meaningfully strengthen young people’s ties to their families, communities and society. The results benefit practitioners and policymakers seeking effective and sustainable approaches to improve the well-being and futures of street-connected youth.
The doctoral dissertation of Master of Social Sciences Annika Lehtonen titled No One Is Born from the Asphalt: Social worlds of street-connected youth in Northeast Brazil, in the field of Social Work, will be publicly examined in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tampere University on 28 August 2026.
The Opponent will be Professor Marit Ursin from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The Custos will be Professor Riikka Korkiamäki from the Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University.