Final Call for Papers 2008 AAG: Urban Youth: cultures, identities and spatialities

Urban Youth: cultures, identities and spatialities

Organised paper session
2008 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers 15-19th
April Boston, Massachusetts

Organisers
Lorraine van Blerk (University of Reading) Gareth Jones (London School
of Economics)

Background
Recent international media interest has heightened awareness of, and
'criminalised', the identities of youth 'gangs' on inner city estates,
streets and neighbourhoods in the West. Similar youth cultures present
in many cities in the South has become part of everyday life for large
numbers of young people growing up in poverty. These representations of
urban youth have implications for the way young people are able to
participate in peer culture, express particular identities and display
connectedness to specific localities. This session aims to bring
together these important strands by addressing some key questions
including:
What does the general criminalisation of urban youth cultures mean for
young people's negotiation of public space? How do young people
construct their identities as urban youth in light of these negative
associations?
How are youth cultures and identities impacted by processes of
globalisation and global interconnectedness?

Themes
We welcome abstracts for papers related to any aspect of this topic.
Possible themes may include (but are by no means limited to):

*Urban youth cultures: gangs, violence and street identities *Youth
offending: criminal identities, prison cultures and surveillance
*Transient geographies: young people's social and spatial (im)obilities
in the city *Global interconnectedness and youth cultures

Abstracts
Please send abstracts (250 words maximum) by 26th November, to: Lorraine
van Blerk (l.c.vanblerk@reading.ac.uk) or Gareth
Jones(g.a.jones@lse.ac.uk)

Final online registration of abstracts with the AAG is now 30th
November.