Youth, Place and Theories of Belonging

201 Pages·2019·1.651 MB·English

by  Sadia Habib, Michael R. M. Ward

What I like about this book is that it is innovative and challenging, bringing new
thinking to Youth Studies. It is taking the work on ‘belonging’ and ‘place’ to
another level and showing how these concepts can help us understand young
people’s lives . . . a must read for people working in the Youth Studies field.
Alan France, Professor of Sociology,
University of Auckland, New Zealand
T his is a wonderful collection of chapters theorizing the relationships between
young people, place and belonging. Not only does it include researchers from
a range of places around the globe, but it also includes a significant range of
theoretical perspectives on belonging. More than that as well as some world-
renowned youth studies scholars, it highlights the critical contributions of
emerging and new researchers. A rich, illuminating and compelling read!
Barbara Comber, Research Professor,
University of South Australia, Australia
I n this timely and exceptional edited collection, an international set of social
theorists offer up new forms and diverse ways of theorizing and connecting young
people’s sense of place, space, identity and belonging, taking readers into some of
the most forward-thinking provocations in sociology today.
Pamela Burnard, Professor of Creativities,
University of Cambridge , UK

Youth, Place and Theories of Belonging
Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives, Y outh, Place and Theories of Belonging
showcases cutting-edge empirical research on young people’s lifeworlds. The scholars
demonstrate that belonging is personal, infused with individual and collective histories
as well as interwoven with conceptions of place. In studying how young people adapt to
social change, the research highlights the plurality of belonging, as well as its temporal and
fleeting nature.
In the field of youth studies, we have seen a recent emphasis on studying the ways youth
live out everyday multiculturalisms in an increasingly globalised world. How young people
negotiate belonging in everyday life and how they come to understand their positions in
fragmented societies remain emerging areas of scholarship. Composed of twelve chapters,
the collection references key sites and institutions in young people’s lives such as schools,
community/cultural centres, neighbourhoods and spaces of consumption. Drawing from
diverse areas such as the rural, the urban as well as displacements and mobilities, this
international collection enhances our understanding of the theories employed in the study
of youth identity practices.
W ritten in a direct and clear style, this collection of essays will be of interest to researchers
working in geography, theories of affect, gender, mobility, performativities, and theories of
space/place. Investigating how young people come to belong can open up new spaces and
provide critical insights into young people’s identities.
Sadia Habib is the author ofL earning and Teaching British Values: Policies and Perspectives
on British Identities (2017). She has nine years of teaching experience in UK schools and
colleges. She holds a PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, where she conducted
arts-based educational research with young Londoners to learn about their conceptions of
local, national and transnational identities and belongings, as well as to observe the critical
pedagogies involved in identity work in the classroom. She is co-founder of The Riz Test
and co-editor of The Bookslamist.
Michael R. M. Ward is a Lecturer in Social Sciences at Swansea University. His work
centres on the performance of working-class masculinities within and beyond educational
institutions. He is the author of the award-winning book F rom Labouring to Learning:
Working-Class Masculinities, Education and De-Industrialization (2015) and co-convener
of the British Sociological Association Education Study Group. Dr Ward has held visiting
scholarships in Canada, the USA, Iceland and Germany.
Sociological Futures
Series Editors:
Eileen Green, John Horne, Caroline Oliver, Louise Ryan
Sociological Futures aims to be a flagship series for new and innovative theories,
methods and approaches to sociological issues and debates and ‘the social’ in
the 21st century. This series of monographs and edited collections was inspired
by the vibrant wealth of British Sociological Association (BSA) symposia on a
wide variety of sociological themes. Edited by a team of experienced sociological
researchers, and supported by the BSA, it covers a wide range of topics related
to sociology and sociological research and will feature contemporary work that is
theoretically and methodologically innovative, has local or global reach, as well
as work that engages or reengages with classic debates in sociology bringing new
perspectives to important and relevant topics.
The BSA is the professional association for sociologists and sociological
research in the United Kingdom, with an extensive network of members, study
groups and forums, and a dynamic programme of events. The Association engages
with topics ranging from auto/biography to youth, climate change to violence
against women, alcohol to sport, and Bourdieu to Weber. This book series repre-
sents the finest fruits of sociological enquiry, for a global audience, and offers a
publication outlet for sociologists at all career and publishing stages, from well-
established to emerging sociologists, BSA or non-BSA members, from all parts
of the world.
Climate Change and Intergenerational Justice
Tracey Skillington
Social Beings, Future Belongings
Reimagining the Social
Edited by Anna Tsalapatanis, Miranda Bruce, David Bissell, Helen Keane
Youth, Place and Theories of Belonging
Edited by Sadia Habib and Michael R. M. Ward
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/
Sociological-Futures/book-series/SOCFUT
Youth, Place and Theories
of Belonging
Edited by Sadia Habib and
Michael R. M. Ward
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 selection and editorial matter, Sadia Habib and Michael
R. M. Ward; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Sadia Habib and Michael R. M. Ward to be identified
as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for
their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
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including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-55962-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-71241-2 (ebk)
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Contents
List of illustrations ix
Notes on the contributors x
Foreword xvii
1 Introduction: investigating youth and belonging 1
SADIA HABIB AND MICHAEL R. M. WARD
2 Expanding theoretical boundaries from youth transitions
to belonging and new materiality 12
JOHANNA WYN, HERNÁN CUERVO AND JULIA COOK
3 Surveillance, belonging and community spaces for young
people from refugee backgrounds in Australia 25
MELANIE BAAK, RENAE SUMMERS, SHEPARD MASOCHA,
DEIRDRE TEDMANSON, PETER GALE, JOHANNES PIETERS
AND AWIT KUAC
4 Queering Timmies: theorising LGBTQ youth claiming
and making space in Surrey, BC, Canada 39
JENNIFER MARCHBANK AND TIFFANY MULLER MYRDAHL
5 ‘Adults decided our fate’: children and young people
navigating space, territory and conflicting identities in the
‘new’ Northern Ireland 51
FAITH GORDON
6 Travel imaginaries of youth in New York City: history,
ethnicity and the politics of mobility 66
JOHN LOEWENTHAL AND JOHN BROUGHTON
viii Contents
7 Women, spatial scales and belonging: signalling inequality
in Latin America 80
ANA MIRANDA AND MILENA ARANCIBIA
8 Brotherhood and belonging: creating pedagogic spaces for
positive discourses of Aboriginal youth 92
NAYIA COMINOS, DAVID CALDWELL AND KATIE GLOEDE
9 Belonging without believing? Making space for marginal
masculinities at the Young Men’s Christian Association
in the United Kingdom and The Gambia 109
ROSS WIGNALL
10 Precarious class positions in Spam City: youth, place and
class in the ‘missing middle’ 122
KATY MCEWAN
11 Arenas of empowerment? Case study of a ‘multicultural’
high school in Oslo, Norway 134
PAUL THOMAS, MAREN SEEHAWER AND SANDRA FYLKESNES
12 Local and refugee youth in rural Australia: negotiating
intercultural relationships and belonging in rural places 147
ROSE BUTLER
13 Politics of class and belonging in Pakistan: student learning,
communities of practice and social mobility 160
MUNTASIR SATTAR
14 Conclusion: youth and belonging: agency, place and
negotiation 171
SADIA HABIB AND MICHAEL R. M. WARD
Index 178
Illustrations
Figures
8.1 Solidarity and language 102
8.2 Activity 2: Group work 102
8.3 Activity 10: Group work 104
Tables
8.1 On-field excerpt 103
8.2 Activity 6: Group discussion 103