Annual RC21 Conference 2011

The struggle to belong. Dealing with diversity in 21st century urban settings
Amsterdam (The Netherlands), July 7-9 2011

Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research – Urban Studies
University of Amsterdam – The Netherlands

30. Youth

Youth geographies and spatial identities (identities, transitions and cultures)

Recognising that youth researchers have a privileged vantage point from which to view social change and continuity, this is a call for papers that seek to interrogate these themes in relation to how young people deal with and live within conditions (times and spaces very different from those of their parents. How do young people deal with change in their own lives whilst negotiating social, cultural, economic and technological and uncertainty in contemporary urban settings?

Our focus is in investigating the issue of how youth go about inhabiting their world and the ways that this can generate both innovation and continuity. Whether these practices and actions are based on, or stems from, issues of religion, gender, class or ‘other’ in the Global North or South we leave open to interpretation. How this challenge manifests itself is our second question – does this create new collective identities or new examples of individuation?

We invite papers that highlight these issues in any number of ways. Papers are not limited to empirical discussions; we also invite analyses of methodological and ethical matters of concern.

Femi Adekunle
University College London, Department of Geography,
Email: a.adekunle@ucl.ac.uk
www.geog.ucl.ac.uk

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