This essay outlines an agenda for youth studies from the vantage point of the Global South and describes the structure of the Oxford handbook of Global South Youth Studies. Youth in the Global South emerge in the postcolonial world in relation to material and social precarity, with their everyday practices constituting embodied forms of knowing, responses to their social, material, economic, and political circumstances. Research with Southern youth therefore involves working alongside, documenting, and acknowledging these practices, an exercise that constitutes a form of ‘epistepraxis’: a knowledge creation endeavor underpinned by contextually relevant theory, aligned with people’s innovative practices, in search of social justice. This approach is reflected in the structure of the handbook. An introductory section distils the conditions that precipitated the Global South and the characteristics of youthful populations that inhabit it. The second part grapples with features of life for youth in the Global South, unpacking eleven relevant concepts, using Southern theory. The final section continues to explore the intersections of theory, practice, and politics, shifting focus to look specifically at examples of methodological, practical, and policy-related interventions, in an attempt to disrupt business-as-usual knowledge production.
This chapter interrogates and develops one of the major conceptual traditions for thinking about social change as it intersects with youth and the life course: the sociology of generations. Grounded in an overview of how the notion of generations is used in two Southeast Asian contexts, Indonesia and the Philippines, it develops an alternative concept of generation, emphasizing intergenerational relationships, the impact of youth on the life course, the continuing impact of history and the refiguring of long-standing inequalities in the context of rapid change. An orientation to generations is limited if it is only used to illustrate change across groups within countries, but not new connections across borders. However, the opposite is also a limitation, too easily slipping into claims of a homogenous global generation. A global sociology of generations needs simultaneously to be aware of these differences and similarities that are in a constant state of flux.
This essay comprises reflections of scholars in and originating from the Global South, plus some comments from Northern scholars, forming an integrated dialogue. It focuses on the development of youth studies in Africa, Latin America, parts of Asia, and the Caribbean, illuminating how youth studies in, from, and for the South emerge as a result of struggle—to get recognition, to theorize beyond dominant Northern frameworks, and state-led developments, and to be heard. Paradoxically, youth studies from the South are strongly influenced by the work of Northern scholars. Despite these influences, Northern ideas struggle to grasp local contexts and conditions and consequently there is a need for more localized knowledge and theorizing to make sense of young people’s lives outside the Global North. The reflections provide a reminder that struggles over the meaning and situation of youth, within particular contexts, are highly political.
This essay introduces the concept of ‘historical violence’ in the lives of young Filipinos, especially those who are unemployed and referred to locally as the istambay (on standby) phenomenon. Drawing on the work of José Rizal, a nineteenth-century Filipino social thinker and activist, the essay offers a dialogue between the past and present locating the istambay phenomenon in the colonial experience of a nation. It argues for the necessity of historicizing violence, and recognizing the violent effects of colonialism, in order to understand and challenge stereotypes such as those regarding young Filipinos’ attitudes toward work. Historical accounts demonstrate how colonization continues to affect life stages such as youth. Rizal’s narratives of sustainability, precolonial history, and globalization are linked to current sociologies of youth, religion, and public policy.
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