2014 IGU Regional Conference, 18-22.08.2014, Kraków, Poland
(For more information about the conference, see http://www.igu2014.org)
Call for papers: “Inclusionary Youth Geographies: Changes, Challenges and Responsibilities”
Session organisers: Fiona M. Smith (University of Dundee, UK), Matej Blazek (Loughborough University, UK), Kathrin Hörschelmann (Leibniz-Institute for Regional Geography, Germany, and University of Durham, UK)
Over the last couple of decades, young people’s participation and inclusion have become policy mantras in several countries whilst elsewhere young people remain on the margins of formal institutions as well as everyday community dynamics. This session takes a look at such patterns of inclusion and exclusion and critically explores prospects and visions for inclusionary geographies of young people that would emerge through interplays of institutional policy and practice, informal social relationships and bonds, and young people’s own agency.
Responding to the broader conference theme, the session will explore the connections between the following questions:
- What changes (social, cultural, economic, political, environmental) most affect young people’s everyday lives in contemporary societies? What changes do young people in turn foster, nurture or, on the contrary, confront and mitigate in their families, communities and beyond?
- What are the challenges to young people’s civic engagement, development of agency, participation in decision-making, or involvement in the community and familial life? How do the patterns and processes of young people’s exclusion emerge and which mechanisms sustain them?
- Who can carry the responsibility for constructing inclusionary youth geographies? What responsibility can young people themselves take in shaping their own lives as well as the lives of those around them?
The themes addressed in the papers might include:
- Relations and tensions between young people’s inclusion, participation and agency;
- Diverse spaces and scales of young people’s inclusion, participation and agency;
- Links and discrepancies between politics, policy, practice and experience;
- Emotional and embodied geographies of youth inclusion and participation;
- Methodological challenges of researching and/or practicing youth inclusion and participation;
- Promises and limits of collaboration with other actors (policy-makers, practitioners, community and family members) in fostering inclusion;
- Youth inclusion, social difference and intersectionality;
- Challenges to (re)presentation and dissemination in research and practice on inclusion.
Abstracts need to be submitted via the IGU registration system (http://www.igu2014.org/index.php?page=call_for_papers) by 15th January 2014. Registration for the conference is required before you can submit your abstract on-line, but you only need to pay registration fees after you have been notified in mid-February as to whether your abstract has been accepted. For more information on the registration process, including the early and reduced fees options and IGU travel grants, please see http://www.igu2014.org/index.php?page=registration.
We are happy to consider alternative formats of contribution (e.g. short critical reflections, posters)
For any inquiries or if you would like to discuss your papers before submitting, please contact any of the convenors:
Fiona Smith: f.m.smith@dundee.ac.uk
Matej Blazek: m.blazek@lboro.ac.uk
Kathrin Hörschelmann: K_Hoerschelmann@ifl-leipzig.de
Mark Carrigan 