Overturning assumptions about young people, border spaces and revolutions

Abstract

With this essay, we set the stage for a discussion about young people and borders that is local in its context and global in its implications. Young people's bounded, bordered and embodied contexts are framed by issues of exclusion and inclusion where identity and development are negotiated, acquiesced, moved and migrated. We offer insight into the literal and metaphorically bordered lives of young people and the revolutionary imaginations that transcend those borders.

Keywords:

• borders
• change
• portable frontiers
• de-territorialization
• revolution

Notes

The ideas in this collection began with a workshop at San Diego State University that brought together researchers interested in borders and young people. The workshop, entitled ‘Mapping North American Youth Cultures’, was convened in August 2008 and funded by the Canadian Government and San Diego State University's Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Youth and Space (ISYS). The discussions were wide-ranging and not necessarily focused upon the political borders that encompass North America.