Tatek Abebe

About

I am convenor of postgraduate programs, namely MPhil in Childhood Studies and Ph.D. in Education specializing in Interdisciplinary Child Research. My teaching, research, and publications intersect childhood/youth studies and development studies with an emphasis on how young people are affected by and contribute to the transformations of the socio-cultural and political-economic environments they inhabit. I have conducted longitudinal ethnographic and participatory research on precarious childhoods and youth in Ethiopia and worked on a range of topics in diverse African contexts. Currently, I lead a project financed by the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (2019-2024) to facilitate research and capacity-building activities on the connections between childhood, culture, and sustainable development.

In recent years, my research has further focused on popular culture and the aesthetics of youth activism, exploring the revolutionary capacities of young people's music/music videos/oral poetry. This includes fieldwork involving young music activists, singers, lyricists, performers, etc. to bridge gaps in knowledge production between academia and other communities of practice on pressing concerns such as oppression, violence and dispossession, but also as a means to achieve cultural and epistemic justice.

I am involved in several writing projects, coediting the Routledge Handbook of Childhood and Global Development and a themed issue of Childhood on southern theories and decolonial childhood studies. My edited book African Futures and Childhood Studies in Africa is published by CODESRIA in 2022.

I am a member of the research group Critical Childhood and Youth Studies at NTNU and serve as an international advisory board member of Children’s Geographies and Fennia: International Journal of Geography. I am also an editor of Childhood; A journal of global child research.

Completed and ongoing externally funded projects:

Principal Investigator for research on the livelihood strategies of AIDS-affected children and families (Research Council of Norway, 2004-2008).
Project Leader, Nordic Network of African Childhoods and Youth Research - NoNACYR (NordForsk, 2011-2016).
Project Leader, Children’s Migration in Historical and Cross-cultural Perspectives (NOS-HS, 2017-2020).
Co-Principal Investigator in an interdisciplinary research consortium focusing on childhood and local knowledge in Ethiopia and Zambia (NUFU, 2007-2012).
Co-Principal Investigator, Young People, Participation and Sustainable Development in an Urbanizing World (UN-Habitat, 2012-2013).
Director of the Council for Development of Social Science Research in Africa’s Child and Youth Institute: African Futures and the Future of Childhood in Africa (CODESRIA, 2017).
Project Leader, AAU-NTNU Partnership to Promote Knowledge on Childhood, Culture and Sustainable Development (Norwegian Directorate for Collaboration in Higher Education and Skills, Diku 2019-2024).

Publications

2021

Abebe, Tatek. (2021) Rekonseptualisering av "Aktorskap" i Barndomsstudier. Barndomsstudier i norsk kontekst : Tverrfaglige tilnærminger.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek. (2021) Storytelling through Popular Music: Social Memory, Reconciliation, and Intergenerational Healing in Oromia/Ethiopia. Humanities. volum 10 (2).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek; Biswas, Tanushree. (2021) Rights 'in' Education: Outlines for a Decolonial, Childist Reimagination of the Future – Commentary to Ansell and Colleagues. Fennia. volum 199 (1).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek; Ursin, Marit; Sørenssen, Ingvild Kvale. (2021) Barndomsstudier i Norge: Historien, konteksten og hvor vi er i dag. Barndomsstudier i norsk kontekst : Tverrfaglige tilnærminger.
Chapter
Sørenssen, Ingvild Kvale; Abebe, Tatek; Ursin, Marit. (2021) Barndomsstudier i norsk kontekst : Tverrfaglige tilnærminger. Gyldendal Akademisk. 2021. ISBN 9788205519213.
Scientific anthology
Ursin, Marit; Sørenssen, Ingvild Kvale; Abebe, Tatek. (2021) Tverrfaglige barndomsstudier: Hvor er vi, og hvor går vi?. Barndomsstudier i norsk kontekst : Tverrfaglige tilnærminger.
Chapter

2020

Abebe, Tatek. (2020) AIDS Orphans. The Sage Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies.
Lexical introduction
Abebe, Tatek. (2020) ETHIOPIA. Teens Lives Around the World: A Global Encyclopedia.
Lexical introduction
Abebe, Tatek. (2020) Lost Futures? Educated Youth Precarity and Protests in the Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Children's Geographies. volum 18 (6).
Academic article
Wilson, Samita; Hean, Sarah; Abebe, Tatek; Heaslip, Vanessa. (2020) Children's experiences with Child Protection Services: A synthesis of qualitative evidence. Children and Youth Services Review. volum 113.
Academic article

2019

Abebe, Tatek. (2019) Reconceptualising Children's Agency as Continuum and Interdependence. SI on Childhood and Society. Social Sciences. volum 8 (3).
Academic article

2018

Hanson, Karl; Abebe, Tatek; Aitken, Stuart C; Balagopalan, Sarada; Punch, Samantha. (2018) 'Global/Local' Research on Children and Childhood in a 'Global' Society. Childhood. volum 25 (3).
Article
Osei-Tutu, Jonah; Abebe, Tatek. (2018) Tensions and controversies regarding child labor in small-scale gold mining in Ghana. African Geographical Review.
Academic article

2017

Abebe, Tatek; Waters, Johanna. (2017) Geographies of Laboring and Learning: Introduction. Laboring and Learning..
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek; Waters, Johanna; Skelton, Tracey. (2017) Laboring and Learning. Springer. 2017. ISBN 978-981-287-031-5. Geographies of Children and Young People (.).
Scientific anthology
Ursin, Marit; Abebe, Tatek. (2017) Young People’s Marginal Livelihoods and Social Transitions in Urban Brazil: Tale of Four Lives. Laboring and Learning..
Academic chapter/article

2016

Abebe, Tatek. (2016) Political economy of children’s work: economic restructuring, the coffee trade and social reproduction in post-Socialist Ethiopia. Geographies of Global Issues: Change and Threat.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek; Ofosu-Kusi, Yaw. (2016) Beyond pluralizing African childhoods: Introduction. Childhood. volum 23 (3).
Academic article
Kassa, Sophia C; Abebe, Tatek. (2016) Qenja: child fostering and relocation practices in Amhara region, Ethiopia. Children's Geographies. volum 14 (1).
Academic article
Phiri, Douglas Tendai; Abebe, Tatek. (2016) Suffering and thriving: Children’s perspectives and interpretations of poverty and well-being in rural Zambia. Childhood. volum 23 (3).
Academic article

2015

Abebe, Tatek. (2015) Reframing children's contributions to household livelihoods in Ethiopia through a political-economy perspective. Children's Work and Labour in East Africa. Social Context and Implications for Policy.
Academic chapter/article

2014

Abebe, Tatek; Bessell, Sharon. (2014) Advancing ethical research with children: Critical reflections on ethical guidelines. Children's Geographies. volum 12 (1).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek; Tefera, Tamirat. (2014) Earning Rights - Discourses on Childrens Rights and Proper Childhood in Ethiopia. Childrens Lives in an Era of Childrens Rights The Progress of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Africa.
Academic chapter/article

2013

Abebe, Tatek. (2013) Interdependent Rights and Agency: Children's Role in Collective Livelihood Strategies in Rural Ethiopia. Reconceptualizing Children's Rights in International Development: Living Rights, Social Justice and Translations.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek; Gizaw, Shumete; Mekonnen, Teferi; Baudouin, Axel. (2013) Migrant children’s portfolio of street-based livelihoods in urban Ethiopia. Childhood and Local Knowledge in Ethiopia: Livelihoods, Rights and Intergenerational Relationships.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek; Kjørholt, Anne Trine. (2013) Childhood and Local Knowledge in Ethiopia: Livelihoods, Rights and Intergenerational Relationships. Akademika forlag. 2013. ISBN 9788251928533.
Scientific anthology
Abebe, Tatek; Kjørholt, Anne Trine. (2013) Children, Intergenerational Relationships and Local Knowledge in Ethiopia. Childhood and Local Knowledge in Ethiopia: Livelihoods, Rights and Intergenerational Relationships.
Academic chapter/article
Ali, Mohammed; Desalegn, Fikre; Abebe, Tatek. (2013) Children’s Knowledge of Local Food Sources and Habits in Southwestern Ethiopia. Childhood and Local Knowledge in Ethiopia: Livelihoods, Rights and Intergenerational Relationships.
Academic chapter/article
Beyene, Tizita Abate; Abebe, Tatek. (2013) The Socio-economic Roles of Children in Ethiopian Periodic Markets. Childhood and Local Knowledge in Ethiopia: Livelihoods, Rights and Intergenerational Relationships.
Academic chapter/article
Tefera, Tamirat; Abebe, Tatek; Elefachew, Tibebu. (2013) Childhood and Parenting Practices in Dilla Town. Childhood and Local Knowledge in Ethiopia: Livelihoods, Rights and Intergenerational Relationships.
Academic chapter/article

2012

Abebe, Tatek. (2012) AIDS-affected children, family collectives and the social dynamics of care in Ethiopia. Geoforum. volum 43 (3).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2012) Orphanhood, Poverty and the Channenges of Care - Review of Global Policy Trends. Orphan Care: A Comparative View.
Academic chapter/article
Skovdal, Morten; Abebe, Tatek. (2012) Reflexivity and dialogue: methodological and socio-ethical dilemmas in research with HIV-affected children in East Africa. Ethics, Policy & Environment. volum 15 (1).
Academic article

2011

Abebe, Tatek. (2011) Gendered work and schooling in rural Ethiopia: Exploring working children's perspectives. Not Just a Victim: The Child as Catalyst and Witness of Contemporary Africa.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek; Bessell, Sharon. (2011) Dominant Discourses, Debates and Silences on Child Labour in Africa and Asia. Third World Quarterly. volum 32 (4).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek; Kjørholt, Anne Trine. (2011) Young people, participation, and sustainable development in an urbanizing world. 2011.
Report

2010

Abebe, Tatek. (2010) Beyond the ‘orphan burden’: understanding care for and by AIDS-affected children in Africa. Geography Compass.
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2010) Sik'älla as a Way of Life: Begging, Poverty and the Livelihood Paths of Child Beggars in Addis Ababa. Research in Ethiopian Studies: Selected papers of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Trondheim July 2007, Aethiopistische Forschungen Vol. 72.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek; Skovdal, Morten. (2010) Livelihoods, care and the familial relations of orphans in Eastern Afr. AIDS Care. volum 22 (5).
Academic article

2009

Abebe, Tatek. (2009) Begging as a livelihood pathway of street children in Addis Ababa. Forum for Development Studies. volum 36 (2).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2009) Child labour in the global South: A review and critical commentary. Barn – forskning om barn og barndom i Norden. volum 27 (3 - 4).
Scientific translation/review
Abebe, Tatek. (2009) Multiple methods, complex dilemmas: negotiating socio-ethical spaces in participatory research with disadvantaged children. Children's Geographies. volum 7 (4).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2009) Orphanhood, Poverty and the Care Dilemma: Review of Global Policy Trends. Social Work & Society. volum 7 (1).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek; Kjørholt, Anne Trine. (2009) Social Actors and Victims of Exploitation. Working children in the cash economy of Ethiopia's South. Childhood. volum 16 (2).
Academic article

2008

Abebe, Tatek. (2008) Changing Livelihoods, Changing Childhoods: Patterns of Children's Work in Rural Southern Ethiopia. Global Childhoods: Globalization, Development and Young People.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek. (2008) Earning a living on the margins: Begging, street work and the socio-spatial experiences of children in Addis Ababa. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography. volum 90 (3).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2008) Ethiopian Childhoods: A Case Study of the Lives of Orphans and Working Children. 2008. ISBN 978-82-471-6731-1.
PhD thesis
Abebe, Tatek. (2008) The Ethiopian "Family Collective" and Child Agency. Barn – forskning om barn og barndom i Norden.
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2008) Trapped between disparate worlds: the livelihoods, socialisation and schooling contexts of children in rural Ethiopia. Childhoods Today. volum 2 (1).
Academic article

2007

Abebe, Tatek. (2007) Changing Livelihoods, Changing Childhoods: Patterns of Children's Work in Rural Southern Ethiopia. Children's Geographies. volum 5 (1-2).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek; Aase, Asbjørn. (2007) Children, AIDS and the politics of orphan care in Ethiopia: The extended family revisited. Social Science and Medicine. volum 64 (10).
Academic article

2005

Abebe, Tatek. (2005) Geographical dimensions of AIDS orphanhood in sub-Saharan Africa. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift.
Academic article

Scientific articles

Abebe, Tatek. (2021) Storytelling through Popular Music: Social Memory, Reconciliation, and Intergenerational Healing in Oromia/Ethiopia. Humanities. volum 10 (2).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek; Biswas, Tanushree. (2021) Rights 'in' Education: Outlines for a Decolonial, Childist Reimagination of the Future – Commentary to Ansell and Colleagues. Fennia. volum 199 (1).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2020) Lost Futures? Educated Youth Precarity and Protests in the Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Children's Geographies. volum 18 (6).
Academic article
Wilson, Samita; Hean, Sarah; Abebe, Tatek; Heaslip, Vanessa. (2020) Children's experiences with Child Protection Services: A synthesis of qualitative evidence. Children and Youth Services Review. volum 113.
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2019) Reconceptualising Children's Agency as Continuum and Interdependence. SI on Childhood and Society. Social Sciences. volum 8 (3).
Academic article
Osei-Tutu, Jonah; Abebe, Tatek. (2018) Tensions and controversies regarding child labor in small-scale gold mining in Ghana. African Geographical Review.
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek; Ofosu-Kusi, Yaw. (2016) Beyond pluralizing African childhoods: Introduction. Childhood. volum 23 (3).
Academic article
Kassa, Sophia C; Abebe, Tatek. (2016) Qenja: child fostering and relocation practices in Amhara region, Ethiopia. Children's Geographies. volum 14 (1).
Academic article
Phiri, Douglas Tendai; Abebe, Tatek. (2016) Suffering and thriving: Children’s perspectives and interpretations of poverty and well-being in rural Zambia. Childhood. volum 23 (3).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek; Bessell, Sharon. (2014) Advancing ethical research with children: Critical reflections on ethical guidelines. Children's Geographies. volum 12 (1).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2012) AIDS-affected children, family collectives and the social dynamics of care in Ethiopia. Geoforum. volum 43 (3).
Academic article
Skovdal, Morten; Abebe, Tatek. (2012) Reflexivity and dialogue: methodological and socio-ethical dilemmas in research with HIV-affected children in East Africa. Ethics, Policy & Environment. volum 15 (1).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek; Bessell, Sharon. (2011) Dominant Discourses, Debates and Silences on Child Labour in Africa and Asia. Third World Quarterly. volum 32 (4).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2010) Beyond the ‘orphan burden’: understanding care for and by AIDS-affected children in Africa. Geography Compass.
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek; Skovdal, Morten. (2010) Livelihoods, care and the familial relations of orphans in Eastern Afr. AIDS Care. volum 22 (5).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2009) Begging as a livelihood pathway of street children in Addis Ababa. Forum for Development Studies. volum 36 (2).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2009) Multiple methods, complex dilemmas: negotiating socio-ethical spaces in participatory research with disadvantaged children. Children's Geographies. volum 7 (4).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2009) Orphanhood, Poverty and the Care Dilemma: Review of Global Policy Trends. Social Work & Society. volum 7 (1).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek; Kjørholt, Anne Trine. (2009) Social Actors and Victims of Exploitation. Working children in the cash economy of Ethiopia's South. Childhood. volum 16 (2).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2008) Earning a living on the margins: Begging, street work and the socio-spatial experiences of children in Addis Ababa. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography. volum 90 (3).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2008) The Ethiopian "Family Collective" and Child Agency. Barn – forskning om barn og barndom i Norden.
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2008) Trapped between disparate worlds: the livelihoods, socialisation and schooling contexts of children in rural Ethiopia. Childhoods Today. volum 2 (1).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2007) Changing Livelihoods, Changing Childhoods: Patterns of Children's Work in Rural Southern Ethiopia. Children's Geographies. volum 5 (1-2).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek; Aase, Asbjørn. (2007) Children, AIDS and the politics of orphan care in Ethiopia: The extended family revisited. Social Science and Medicine. volum 64 (10).
Academic article
Abebe, Tatek. (2005) Geographical dimensions of AIDS orphanhood in sub-Saharan Africa. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift.
Academic article

Journal publications

Hanson, Karl; Abebe, Tatek; Aitken, Stuart C; Balagopalan, Sarada; Punch, Samantha. (2018) 'Global/Local' Research on Children and Childhood in a 'Global' Society. Childhood. volum 25 (3).
Article
Abebe, Tatek. (2009) Child labour in the global South: A review and critical commentary. Barn – forskning om barn og barndom i Norden. volum 27 (3 - 4).
Scientific translation/review

Books

Sørenssen, Ingvild Kvale; Abebe, Tatek; Ursin, Marit. (2021) Barndomsstudier i norsk kontekst : Tverrfaglige tilnærminger. Gyldendal Akademisk. 2021. ISBN 9788205519213.
Scientific anthology
Abebe, Tatek; Waters, Johanna; Skelton, Tracey. (2017) Laboring and Learning. Springer. 2017. ISBN 978-981-287-031-5. Geographies of Children and Young People (.).
Scientific anthology
Abebe, Tatek; Kjørholt, Anne Trine. (2013) Childhood and Local Knowledge in Ethiopia: Livelihoods, Rights and Intergenerational Relationships. Akademika forlag. 2013. ISBN 9788251928533.
Scientific anthology

Part of book/report

Abebe, Tatek. (2021) Rekonseptualisering av "Aktorskap" i Barndomsstudier. Barndomsstudier i norsk kontekst : Tverrfaglige tilnærminger.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek; Ursin, Marit; Sørenssen, Ingvild Kvale. (2021) Barndomsstudier i Norge: Historien, konteksten og hvor vi er i dag. Barndomsstudier i norsk kontekst : Tverrfaglige tilnærminger.
Chapter
Ursin, Marit; Sørenssen, Ingvild Kvale; Abebe, Tatek. (2021) Tverrfaglige barndomsstudier: Hvor er vi, og hvor går vi?. Barndomsstudier i norsk kontekst : Tverrfaglige tilnærminger.
Chapter
Abebe, Tatek. (2020) AIDS Orphans. The Sage Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies.
Lexical introduction
Abebe, Tatek. (2020) ETHIOPIA. Teens Lives Around the World: A Global Encyclopedia.
Lexical introduction
Abebe, Tatek; Waters, Johanna. (2017) Geographies of Laboring and Learning: Introduction. Laboring and Learning..
Academic chapter/article
Ursin, Marit; Abebe, Tatek. (2017) Young People’s Marginal Livelihoods and Social Transitions in Urban Brazil: Tale of Four Lives. Laboring and Learning..
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek. (2016) Political economy of children’s work: economic restructuring, the coffee trade and social reproduction in post-Socialist Ethiopia. Geographies of Global Issues: Change and Threat.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek. (2015) Reframing children's contributions to household livelihoods in Ethiopia through a political-economy perspective. Children's Work and Labour in East Africa. Social Context and Implications for Policy.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek; Tefera, Tamirat. (2014) Earning Rights - Discourses on Childrens Rights and Proper Childhood in Ethiopia. Childrens Lives in an Era of Childrens Rights The Progress of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Africa.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek. (2013) Interdependent Rights and Agency: Children's Role in Collective Livelihood Strategies in Rural Ethiopia. Reconceptualizing Children's Rights in International Development: Living Rights, Social Justice and Translations.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek; Gizaw, Shumete; Mekonnen, Teferi; Baudouin, Axel. (2013) Migrant children’s portfolio of street-based livelihoods in urban Ethiopia. Childhood and Local Knowledge in Ethiopia: Livelihoods, Rights and Intergenerational Relationships.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek; Kjørholt, Anne Trine. (2013) Children, Intergenerational Relationships and Local Knowledge in Ethiopia. Childhood and Local Knowledge in Ethiopia: Livelihoods, Rights and Intergenerational Relationships.
Academic chapter/article
Ali, Mohammed; Desalegn, Fikre; Abebe, Tatek. (2013) Children’s Knowledge of Local Food Sources and Habits in Southwestern Ethiopia. Childhood and Local Knowledge in Ethiopia: Livelihoods, Rights and Intergenerational Relationships.
Academic chapter/article
Beyene, Tizita Abate; Abebe, Tatek. (2013) The Socio-economic Roles of Children in Ethiopian Periodic Markets. Childhood and Local Knowledge in Ethiopia: Livelihoods, Rights and Intergenerational Relationships.
Academic chapter/article
Tefera, Tamirat; Abebe, Tatek; Elefachew, Tibebu. (2013) Childhood and Parenting Practices in Dilla Town. Childhood and Local Knowledge in Ethiopia: Livelihoods, Rights and Intergenerational Relationships.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek. (2012) Orphanhood, Poverty and the Channenges of Care - Review of Global Policy Trends. Orphan Care: A Comparative View.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek. (2011) Gendered work and schooling in rural Ethiopia: Exploring working children's perspectives. Not Just a Victim: The Child as Catalyst and Witness of Contemporary Africa.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek. (2010) Sik'älla as a Way of Life: Begging, Poverty and the Livelihood Paths of Child Beggars in Addis Ababa. Research in Ethiopian Studies: Selected papers of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Trondheim July 2007, Aethiopistische Forschungen Vol. 72.
Academic chapter/article
Abebe, Tatek. (2008) Changing Livelihoods, Changing Childhoods: Patterns of Children's Work in Rural Southern Ethiopia. Global Childhoods: Globalization, Development and Young People.
Academic chapter/article

Report

Abebe, Tatek; Kjørholt, Anne Trine. (2011) Young people, participation, and sustainable development in an urbanizing world. 2011.
Report
Abebe, Tatek. (2008) Ethiopian Childhoods: A Case Study of the Lives of Orphans and Working Children. 2008. ISBN 978-82-471-6731-1.
PhD thesis

Språkvelger