Autonomous participation. An activist ethnography in Maranya Youth Club

ABSTRACT

In this article there is a discussion about the results of an activist Ethnography carried out in Benicasim (Spain). The study is focused on the culture of youth participation in leisure spaces that contribute significantly to the education of young people as critical citizens. During 3 years of fieldwork as an activist in the Youth Club (YC) we carried out an investigation based on biographical, narrative, participatory and observational tools. Particularly, we try to understand which elements can turn a participatory structure into a tool for a model of participatory progression and offer the possibility of creating personalised participatory trajectories. Our results suggest that structuring participation in a youth club can be beneficial if we care for aspects like commitment, responsibility, availability, leadership and the sense of membership. Adapting these elements to the characteristics of each youth will boost participation to more autonomous levels, thus enabling an empowering and autonomous learning process.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical ethnography
• participation
• democracy
• Non-Formal education
• association
• Youth Club

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Arecia Aguirre http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1004-8046

Lidón Moliner http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0143-898X

Joan A. Traver http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5948-1035

Notes

1 A quickly description of that structure (Figure 1) is the next one: Volunteer Youth Worker Team (VYT): Are the qualified people as youth workers. Stable groups activists and directors board: They are the ones that lead specific activity groups in the YC and also some are members of management. Stable group members: Young people who are part of the activity groups assisting frequently. Activity users: they assist regularly to courses and services offered by the YC. Activity Consumers: people who participate occasionally in the YC massive activities.

2 Victor and Virginia are the first youth workers that have Maranya YC.

3 Julio and Enrique are youth workers and are integrated in the Valencian Federation YC.