Introduction: investigating youth and belonging

Introduction to the Research Handbook on Transitions into Adulthood

“…One concept that has become embedded in youth research since the turn of the century is that of belonging. Although as a concept, belonging has yet to attain a strong theoretical underpinning (Habib & Ward 2020;Harris et al 2021) or an agreed upon definition, youth scholars tend to agree that belonging is a complex multi-dimensional process (see, for example, Wright 2015). Understanding how young people develop a sense of belonging as they negotiate the complexities associated with leaving secondary school and creating independent lives has captured the interest of youth scholars across the globe.…”

Espacios de pertenencia juvenil en contextos de desventaja: tensiones y disputas

“…Pero la pertenencia, por otro lado, es también producida a través de una «interacción coconstitutiva de individuos con otras personas, cosas, instituciones y contextos socioculturales específicos» (Halse, 2018, p. 4). Lejos de limitarse a un asunto personal e íntimo es una experiencia relacionada con la conexión, la membresía, el apego y la identificación con otros (Habib y Ward, 2020). Como destaca Lawler (2013), en relación con un concepto emparentado, como el de identidades: estas son producidas socialmente a través de relaciones sociales y formadas entre más que dentro de las personas.…”

Finding �belonging� in the caring relationships of young people with migration experiences in South Africa

“…Within analysis of the 'moral economy of care' the idea of deservingness 'of care' maps onto the politics of belonging (Watters 2007); who is and who is not deserving of care, friendship and peer support in a society. In exploring how and why young people navigate these politics of belonging, within caringscapes, I build on Kirby's (1996) argument, (drawing from Probyn, 1996), and theorisations within research on youth and place (Habib & Ward 2019), that belonging should be seen as in-process, and a personal dialectic in negotiation with one's surroundings. This conceptualisation provides an opportunity to better understand how young people with migration experiences creatively construct and resist power, in their navigation of care and belonging.…”