ABSTRACT

Young People in the Global South: Voice, Agency and Citizenship explores the spatial, relational, affective and material dimensions of adolescents’ and young people’s civic engagement and political participation in lower- and middle-income contexts. This textbook questions how the ‘everyday politics’ of exercising voice and agency is experienced at different scales, from the interpersonal to the global.

It explores how structural inequalities and marginalisation, as well as social norms and attitudes, shape how voice, agency and participation are expressed by diverse young people in particular contexts with unique histories. Contributing authors focus on the experiences of young people who are marginalised based on age, gender, sexuality, disability, citizenship status and geographical location. Together they show how ageing through adolescence enables or constrains agency and voice. Textbook features include case studies on Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, as well as reflective accounts authored by adolescents and young people themselves, and discussion questions.

Filling a key gap in the knowledge about the concerns and experiences of young people in contexts beyond the Global North, this textbook will be of interest to academics, students and practitioners in the fields of childhood and youth studies, international development, social movements, human geography, sociology and comparative politics.

chapter Chapter 1|26 pages

Introduction

Adolescent and young people's voice, agency and citizenship in the Global South

part Section I|92 pages

Research methods to explore young people's voice, agency and civic engagement

chapter Chapter 2|16 pages

Section overview

Research methods to explore young people's voice, agency and civic engagement

chapter Chapter 3|14 pages

Measuring adolescent voice and agency

An overview of quantitative and mixed-methods approaches

chapter Chapter 4|19 pages

Empowerment in the age of Covid-19

A mixed-methods study of voice and decision-making on four continents

chapter Chapter 5|12 pages

Giving voice to children and adolescents in Chile

Lessons from the participatory research Mosaic approach

chapter Chapter 6|14 pages

Youth contribution

Changing perceptions, changing roles exploring self, peer and public perceptions and changing roles and responsibilities of street-connected peer researchers and advocates in Kolkata during the Covid-19 pandemic

chapter Chapter 7|4 pages

Youth contribution

Our child-led research makes child activists' voices stronger in Brazil

chapter Chapter 8|6 pages

Youth contribution

How we are working to reduce teenage pregnancy in our community in Sierra Leone

chapter Chapter 9|4 pages

Youth contribution

‘When a girl says something, I learn from her’

part Section II|75 pages

Listening to young people: Negotiating gendered perspectives on voice and agency

chapter Chapter 10|20 pages

Section overview

Listening to young people: Negotiating gendered perspectives on voice and agency

chapter Chapter 11|12 pages

Exercising agency on the periphery

Brazilian children and young people's understanding of agency and choice within contexts of inequality

chapter Chapter 12|12 pages

‘Children have the right to be controlled by their parents’

Children's voice in rural Sierra Leone

chapter Chapter 14|4 pages

Youth contribution

When children and young people participate, it is possible to make a change

chapter Chapter 15|6 pages

Youth contribution

Reflections of a young feminist navigating the promise of sustainable development by world leaders

chapter Chapter 16|4 pages

Youth contribution

Pressure around sex in exchange for necessities is a setback in the fight against HIV among adolescent girls living in fishing communities in Kenya's Lake Victoria region

chapter Chapter 17|4 pages

Chapter Youth contribution

‘Although the camp has changed as compared to the old times, I don't think it has changed enough’

part Section III|64 pages

Understanding young people's citizenship: Marginalisation, agency and the political imagination

chapter Chapter 18|16 pages

Section overview

Understanding young people's citizenship: Marginalisation, agency and the political imagination

chapter Chapter 19|12 pages

Street youth as human billboards – a paradox of performed street citizenship

Novel political participation by street youth in Ghana

chapter Chapter 20|12 pages

Informality, gender, and alternative citizenship

The lives and livelihoods of rural migrant youth in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

chapter Chapter 21|14 pages

Youth movements and political protest

Opportunities and limitations of Ethiopia's Qeerroo movement in affecting transformative change

chapter Chapter 22|4 pages

Youth contribution

Negotiating everyday life in a Delhi slum as a Muslim girl

chapter Chapter 23|4 pages

Youth contribution

My revolution footprint in Zambia

part Section IV|56 pages

Understanding young people's citizenship: Marginalisation, agency and the political imagination

chapter Chapter 24|14 pages

Section overview

Young people's voice, agency and participation ‘beyond borders’

chapter Chapter 25|12 pages

Patterning, enablers and barriers to adolescents' participation in protracted crises

A case study of adolescents' mobility and safe access to public spaces in the Gaza Strip

chapter Chapter 26|14 pages

Adolescents mobilising in real life and online

The Bangladesh context

chapter Chapter 27|6 pages

Youth contribution

Youth climate leaders: What are the major barriers facing young people in climate action and how can these be overcome?

chapter Chapter 28|4 pages

Youth contribution

‘Being part of the military wing gives you authority here in the camp’

chapter Chapter 29|4 pages

Youth contribution

‘My mother does not allow me to go out of this camp’: Reflections on experiences as an internally displaced adolescent girl in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

part Section V|76 pages

Policies and programming for voice, agency and civic participation

chapter Chapter 30|20 pages

Section overview

Policies and programming for voice, agency and civic participation

chapter Chapter 31|14 pages

Supporting adolescent voice, agency and civic participation in the context of forced displacement

The role of the Makani/‘My Space’ programme one-stop centres in Jordan

chapter Chapter 32|12 pages

Negotiating meaningful dialogue

Scaffolding safe spaces for street-connected young people's participation

chapter Chapter 33|6 pages

Youth contribution

Youth citizenship and advocacy: Perspectives and challenges facing Peruvian youth leaders

chapter Chapter 34|4 pages

Youth contribution

‘We give our views but our suggestions are not implemented’: Experiences of school parliaments in Batu, Ethiopia

chapter Chapter 35|4 pages

Youth contribution

The Khuluma Mentor programme: Young people's experiences of running a digital peer-led psychosocial support intervention in South Africa