ABSTRACT
The delayed access to adult social life suffered by young Arabs leaves them in a social space in which they are neither children nor independent adults: they are at the “margins” of society. Nevertheless, at the same time, this position allows them to generate social opportunities and spaces in which they can establish and manage their own alternative contemporaneities, emancipation or life plans. If marginalisation means distance from hegemonic discourses, this chapter focuses on analysing the diverse paths the young in Arab Mediterranean countries have developed to “escape” the economic, social and political marginalisation imposed by the hegemonic adult-centrism of their societies, known as “demarginalisation strategies”. The results are taken from the analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data produced in the framework of the European SAHWA Project, which examines young people in five Arab Mediterranean countries.
