Second call for papers:
Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) 2008 Annual Conference, London,
August 27-29
Youth Matters? Critical geographies of youth policy and practice
Convenors:
Peter Kraftl (University of Leicester, UK); John Horton (The University of
Northampton, UK); Faith Tucker (The University of Northampton, UK)
Research Group affiliation: Geographies of Children, Youth and Families
Working Group
Abstract:
As part of an engagement with policy literatures and professional
practices (e.g. public service provision) ‘outside’ the academy, a growing
number of geographers have sought to adopt more critical stances to
governmental discourses (Martin, 2001). For instance, (post-)medical
geographers have performed critical readings of mental health (Parr, 2004)
and obesity (Evans, 2006) policy-making in the UK and elsewhere.
Geographers of childhood and youth have – similarly – sought to engage
critically with policy-making for young people, often with particular
interest in children’s participation in the production of governmental
knowledge (e.g. special issue of Children’s Geographies journal, 2006).
Yet geographers have not – thus far – explored the full range of social
constructions, representations, viewpoints, practices and (often emotive)
debates that are incorporated in policy and professional practices
targeted at young people. In particular, four issues might benefit from
critical, geographical analysis.
First, there is a pressing need to understand the spatial implications of
the contexts and the contents of recent policy documents aimed
specifically at young people (e.g. in the UK, Youth Matters). Second,
geographers might extend their critical analyses to explore the treatment
of young people in more general pieces of legislation (e.g. on health,
employment, education or crime). Third, there is a need to understand the
complex and recursive relationship between (inter)national policy-making
on one hand, and regional/local interpretations on the other (e.g. in the
UK, the recent introduction of Children’s Trusts). In particular – with
nuanced conceptualisations of scale – geographers could unpick the
interpretation, negotiation and implementation of youth policy legislation
at different spatial scales. Fourth, geographers could attend to the sheer
diversity of ways in which ‘policy’ and ‘professional practice’ with young
people are performed – acknowledging and interrogating the sheer work
involved in meetings, consultations, training, providing services ‘on the
ground’, to/with young people and their families.
We welcome abstracts for 20-minute papers which critically analyse the
geographies of youth policy and professional practice within any
geographical context. Papers may attend to any of the following issues, or
any geographical slant on the documentation, representation and
performance of youth policies.
-Representations and social constructions of young people in youth
policies, and policy interventions more generally.
-The types of knowledges, emotions and moralities evident in youth
policies.
-The relationship between policy documents, professional practices and
other representations of young people (e.g. the mass media).
-The diverse ways in which youth has come to ‘matter’ in
global/national/local policy-making since the UN declaration on the rights
of the child.
-The implications of policy discourse and professional practice for
emergent ‘inter-generational’ geographies of age (e.g. Hopkins and Pain,
2007).
-The processes and practices involved in interpreting (inter)national
youth policies at local scales.
-The everyday practices, materials and emotions that constitute
professional practice and work with young people (e.g. Kraftl and Horton,
2007); e.g. meetings, consultations, training, and the provision
services ‘on the ground’, to/with young people and their families.
-Young people’s views and experiences of recent youth policies and
professional practice (i.e. of ‘service provision’).
Young people’s ‘place’ in the production and contestation of youth
policies and professional practices.
-The role of academic geography in contributing to, and contesting, youth
policies
Abstracts for proposed papers (max. 250 words) should be submitted to
Peter Kraftl ([log in to unmask]) before 31st January 2008.
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