ABSTRACT
Complementing the preceding four case studies, this chapter refl ects more generally on the formation and articulation of young people’s identities in the context of rural places. Salient points from each of the preceding chapters are drawn together, further discussed, and situated alongside wider research. The chapters in this part of the book have shown the diversity of young people’s experiences of rurality as well as highlighting differences within and between childhoods. The defi nition of ‘rural’ has been shown not to be the most uniformly important defi ning feature of the places which the young people occupied, and the chapters have demonstrated that young people may perform or be ascribed many identities other than that of ‘rural young people’. These matters and wider implications surrounding contexts and identities are expounded in the following sections. The fi rst section revisits the notion of contexts, pointing to the diversity and complexity of rural contexts that need to be appreciated beyond the existing literature. The second section then turns to consider generic observations surrounding identity-noting the ways rural youth studies can be more fully engaged with wider conceptual approaches to identity. The third section then draws these concerns together, recording the interconnections between contexts and identities.
