Realigning Theory, Practice, and Justice in Global South Youth Studies

Abstract

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.

Aspiring While Waiting: Temporality and Pacing of Ghanaian Stayer Youth’s Migration Aspirations

“…Consequently, these stayer youth resorted to shifting by delaying or replacing their aspirations in line with their capabilities. They thereby expressed their agency through various strategies to cope with waiting while aspiring (Cooper et al, 2021;Lam & Yeoh, 2018;Osei et al, in press).…”

Perdebatan Perspektif Transisi dalam Kajian Kepemudaan

“…Dalam kajian kepemudaan global, studi mengenai transisi kaum muda tidak hanya ramai diperbincangkan secara teoritis dengan menggunakan risk society dan individualization (Beck 1992;Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 2002) serta generasi (Mannheim 1952) namun dalam perkembangannya juga merespon konstelasi geopolitik pengetahuan yang termanifestasi dalam perdebatan antara Global North/Global South (Swartz, Cooper, Batan and Causa 2021). Secara spesifik, hal tersebut tidak dapat dilepaskan dari kondisi objektif sebagai kon-sekuensi sejarah kolonialisme berupa kesenjangan dalam produksi pengetahuan ilmu sosial global (Connell 2019), tidak terkecuali pada kajian kepemudaan.…”

“…Secara spesifik, epistepraxis mengacu pada penghargaan terhadap pengetahuan yang bersifat menubuh (embodied knowing) di antara kaum muda yang menunjukkan perjuangan dalam menghadapi kondisi kerentanan yang berlapis dalam landscape sosial, kultural historis dan politik dimana mereka hidup. Lebih lanjut, epistepraxis ini juga menunjukkan mengenai: 'a knowledge creation endeavor underpinned by contextually relevant theory, aligned with people's innovative practices, in search of social justice' (Cooper, Swartz, Batan and Causa 2021). Dengan kata lain, produksi pengetahuan yang berorientasi pada terwujudnya keadilan sosial bagi kaum muda.…”

Stayer youth shaping their transnational family lives

“…Consequently, these stayer youth resorted to shifting by delaying or replacing their aspirations in line with their capabilities. They thereby expressed their agency through various strategies to cope with waiting while aspiring (Cooper et al, 2021;Lam & Yeoh, 2018;Osei et al, 2023).…”