Session Title: Sorting Youth: Categorization of and Contestation by Children and Teenagers
Organizers: Leanne Purdum (University of Georgia) and Gloria Howerton (University of Georgia)
With this AAG paper session we seek to bring together critical analyses pertaining to the categorization and sorting of children and teenagers in contemporary society, as well as youth resistance to these processes. We encourage participation from scholars who would not necessarily categorize their work as being within the realm of children’s geographies, but whose work centers youth in their analysis.
We are interested in contributions including (but not limited to) topics such as:
- DACA
- Law and policies impacting youth
- School-to-prison pipeline
- School segregation
- Youth migration
- Undocumented Youth
- Categorization and sorting of children
- Racialization and gendering of youth
- Youth activism and organizing/political spaces of youth
- Youth subjectivities
- Uneven geographies of youth
- Military recruitment tactics
- Human rights and youth
Framing of this session:
Until the late 1960s, when William Bunge identified children as our largest minority and argued that they must be brought into geographical studies, human geography focused nearly exclusively on adults, particularly white males (James 1990). While still underdeveloped, Bunge’s work on the spatial oppression of urban youth began a significant increase in scholarship on children’s geographies. Skelton (2013; 2010) recently called upon geographers to treat seriously the political involvements of young people, and previously admonished geographers for treating children and young adults as future people or human becomings. We draw inspiration from Martin (2011), who brings the concept of the “geopolitics of vulnerability” to her analysis of family detention in the US, as a way to bridge the often separated areas of immigration politics and children’s rights. This work sheds light on the complex ways in which youth are categorized, sorted, and framed. With this session, we seek to bring together current research that examines a wide variety of scales to think through the spaces, policies, movements, systems, etc. that constrain, sort, categorize, or are contested by youth.
If interested, submit a 250 word abstract to either Gloria Howerton (gjhowert@uga.edu) or Leanne Purdum (leannekp@uga.edu) by October 13, 2017.
Works Cited
James, S. 1990. Is there a “place” for children in geography? Area. 22(3): 278-283.
Martin, Lauren L. 2011. “‘The geopolitics of vulnerability: children’s legal subjectivity, immigrant family detention and US immigration law and enforcement policy.” Gender, Place and Culture 18 4: 477-498.
Skelton, T. 2010. Taking young people as political actors seriously: Opening the borders of political geography. Area. 42(2): 145-151.
Skelton, T. 2013. Young people, children, politics, and space: A decade of youthful political geography scholarship: 2003-13. Space and Polity. 17(1): 123-136.