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Abstract:Post-war Sierra Leone has experienced a population explosion that has raised questions among rural farmers about the relationship between family size and poverty. Agricultural decline and the high cost of schooling are not prompting parents to articulate a desire for smaller families; rather, they highlight that the uncertainty around articulating the "right" number of children is unresolvable because the ability to send children to school is predicated on increasing agricultural outputs that decline precisely because population pressure has reduced soil fertility. Bolten and Marcantonio conclude that this renders family size the heart of a paradox, where there is no optimal number of children.Résumé:La Sierra Leone d'après-guerre a connu une explosion démographique qui a soulevé des questions pour les agriculteurs ruraux sur la relation entre la taille de la famille et la pauvreté. Le déclin de l'agriculture et le coût élevé de la scolarité n'incitent pas les parents à exprimer leur désir d'avoir des familles moins nombreuses; ils soulignent plutôt que l'incertitude entourant l'établissement du « bon » nombre d'enfants est insoluble parce que la capacité d'envoyer les enfants à l'école est fondée sur l'augmentation des rendements agricoles qui diminuent précisément parce que la pression démographique a réduit la fertilité des sols. Bolten et Marcantonio concluent que la taille des familles est au cœur d'un paradoxe où il n'y a pas de nombre optimal d'enfants.Resumo:No pós-guerra, a Serra Leoa atravessou um período de explosão demográfica que levou os agricultores a questionarem a relação entre a dimensão das famílias e a pobreza. O declínio da agricultura e o elevado custo da educação não contribuem para incentivar os pais a planearem famílias menos numerosas. Em vez disso, estes fatores evidenciam que é impossível planear o número "certo" de filhos, uma vez que a capacidade de enviar as crianças para a escola depende do aumento da produção agrícola, a qual, por sua vez, tem diminuído precisamente porque a pressão demográfica reduziu a fertilidade dos solos. Bolten e Marcantonio concluem que este cenário confere uma natureza paradoxal à questão do tamanho das famílias, para as quais não existe tal coisa como o número ótimo de filhos.

Education was historically valued in Sierra Leone as a possession that conveyed and expressed elite status, with the revered, authoritative teacher being the gatekeeper. The erosion of teachers’ authority through government policies designed to universalize access to education has called into question the once-certain high status of the educated. With the future now ambiguous, students and teachers undertake “practices of uncertainty,” engaging in symbolic boundary work to distinguish themselves from the uneducated but at the same time undertaking the same manual labor as the unschooled. They socially level the elite and concurrently seek entrée to their networks, and react to an uncertain future with contradictory practices. The work undertaken by students and teachers lies within and reinforces extant social values that emphasize the importance of both distinction and belonging, revealing education’s enduring value in the social imaginary. This explains the tenacity of the idea of education even in a persistently desultory employment climate.