ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on findings from a two year ethnographic and participatory project following Team Future, a young people’s political campaign home-grown in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom. It deals with some examples from young people on how to better work with them. Being seen and being heard was a constant challenge for Team Future, and one which we regularly noted from our observations of meetings and events either attended or led by the young activists. A related yet distinct concern from that of young people’s politics is youth participation. Consequently, broad debates over young people’s political engagement are frequently channelled into narrow discussions about voting. A focus on voting also propagates limited, adult-sanctioned delimitations of ‘acceptable’ political agency: typically acts that reinforce stability and the status quo. Political intersectionality focuses on the ways in which black women belong to at least two marginalized groups and so often have to engage with different political agendas.
