One of the most striking features of the social sciences over the last decade relates to the concept of 'youth' (Cole & Durham, 2007). Although the word ‘youth’ is frequently used as an age categorisation, this approach and understanding of the term is limited because the process of growing up is socially mediated depending on context. Therefore, current research in anthropology is likely to situate young people within a complex set of networks, activities, processes by putting emphasis on the relationship between youth and their cultural context (Amit, 2015, p. 808-812). In this section, we attempt to define 'youth' based on academic research and the insights of our actors.
After our initial meetings and reading around the topic of our seminar, we came to the joint decision to focus on ‘youth’. As explained in 'How we got here', the Belgian connection to youth movements lead us to our focus on ‘youth’. Although a consistent definition of youth is difficult in anthropology, definitions of the term tend to be based on age, different cultural perspectives, socioeconomic and sociocultural factors, and the demographic and financial status of young people, in terms of their experience and background (Durham, 2000). The United Nations defines ‘youth’ as people between 15 and 24 years old, although this is very much an average and in reality what is considered ‘youth’ varies in every society and cultural context. The United Nations proposes a definition of ‘youth’ as a “transition from the dependence of childhood to adulthood’s independence” (UN, 2008). Young people experience many things in common because of their age, however this is often due to the way in which they are treated by institutions. It is argued that youth is most productively conceptualised as a multi-faceted social process in which the meaning and experience of becoming adult is socially and culturally mediated.
Youth in a global world
“Youth has no age” - Picasso
In general, youth can be defined in different age categories. In a study by Nugent (2006), youth are defined in three age categories, from 10-14, from 15-20 and from 21-24. All of these different stages form the experience of being a young person and whilst ‘youth’ commonly denotes a whole group, experiences differ significantly by every age group. Therefore, it is difficult to see youth as one coherent group. What’s more, the meaning of youth has been changing consistently over the last two decades. Nowadays, young people on average spend a longer time in school, and therefore start working at a later age and have children later compared to their parents and grandparents (Nugent, 2006). However, there are still differences all over the world in terms of whether people are still considered youth or already an adult. In Belgium, for example, a 10-year-old person is not considered ‘youth’ while this might be the case in other cultures and societies around the world (Lam, 2006).
On one hand, the position and opportunities of young people in society are shaped primarily by relations of wealth and poverty, race and ethnic relations and their experiences (Wyn & White, 1997), therefore the age categorisation of youth varies broadly across the globe. On the other hand, today, globalisation, migration, and increasing media awareness, youth cultures are crossing social and national borders (Wortham, 2011), which enable young people all over the world to compare themselves to their peers in different contexts. Appadurai (1996) mentions this as well in his book about the cultural development of our shrinking world. He addresses that young people and other groups seek to incorporate the global into their own practices of the modern. To demarcate our research, we will focus on those who are considered to be youth in Belgium and how our organisers categorise the age of their participants.
Youth in Belgium
In Belgium, ‘youth’ commonly refers to people who have reached secondary school age, which is around 12 years old. When people reach the age of 18 in Belgium, they are legally recognised as an adult, have the obligation to vote and are considered independent legal people (Belgian Statistics, 2018). Although people in Belgium are officially considered to be an adult from the age of 18, the government offers all kind of benefits until they are 25-26 years old, including a continuation of child benefit, reduced rail travel and ‘youth’ reductions in a variety of public places (Belgische Federale Overheidsdiensten, 2018). However, despite Belgians officially becoming adults at the age of 18, in practice the age categorisation of youth is very flexible. Students at university/college are, for example, more likely to be considered as youth for a longer period of time compared to young adults who start working at the age of 18 because parents are more likely to financially support students until graduation (Vossensteyn, 2009), which in turns makes them more likely to be recognised as ‘dependant’ and thus ‘youth’.
Burn welcomes all youth between 12 and 20 years old, although if participants are slightly older it is not considered an issue. Quindo's youth age category ranges from 16 to 30 but is not very strict either. OKAN-MijnLeuven meanwhile works strictly with young people between 12 and 18 years old, who are part of OKAN-classes. Evidently, our two central actors and supporting actor all define youth differently.
Why our actors focus on leisure activities for youth
“Good habits formed at youth make all the difference” - Aristotle
All our actors state that leisure activities for young people help them to develop themselves and that they are an enjoyable target group to work with. The organisers from Quindo and Burn strive to attract people from multicultural backgrounds to a range of leisure activities. Jeroen explains: “we do not focus on youth with a vulnerable or immigration background, but we are just open to everyone who is interested in our activities”. The organisers prefer to work with young people because they tell us that they are very grateful, have fewer prejudices and are ready to try new things. “They are like sponges”, says Bruno and it is rewarding because most of the time they are honest and give the organisers a lot of satisfaction. Our pool of organisers recognises the element of reciprocity in what makes their work enjoyable.
Therefore, it is important to meet people from the same age category, to create a network where they feel comfortable. At Quindo, the age category is broader compared to Burn. This can be explained through the fact that at Burn there are more group activities while at Quindo, it is possible to make a radio programme on your own. The estimated age category of Burn is between 12 and 20 while in reality most of the people are between 15 and 19 years old. The most important aspect is not that they are associated to their age category but to a group of people in general, the age does not matter that much. Group affiliation can arise through common interests in a particular activity, gender etc.
Youth and gender
Many studies, such as one carried out by Lindström (2012), indicate that leisure activities are important places for ‘integration’ and a transition towards citizenship. However, studies such as this one also claim that in general, leisure activities are more attractive to boys than to girls. This is something we saw reflected in our fieldwork. The organisers mentioned that there is an underrepresentation of girls, especially at Quindo and OKAN-MijnLeuven (At Burn, boys and girls are equally represented but they are mostly doing separate activities). This appears to be related to different interests; the girls who came to Burn to sing, suddenly started a hip hop dance class. The boys who come to Burn are more interested in rap. Whilst, the statistics of the organisations do actually suggest equal representation, the organisers at Quindo confirmed that this is a valid observation of us. They previously had a woman who was editor, therefore Broos thinks this may be a coincidence that the organisers are only men (though two interns are women) but admits that he has no clear explanation and it is also worth some research. In our going forward, under challenges, we will discuss gender imbalances in more detail.
Although it is difficult to specifically define youth, our actors have a well-established idea of who belongs to their target group. They succeed in reaching the youth who are interested in their activities and create a space where they can have fun, feel safe, welcome and accepted.