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Publications

New publications from PARTISPACE and the field of participation research

Copy of PARTISPACE book

PARTISPACE Book published

Young People and the Struggle for Participation

Contested Practices, Power and Pedagogies in Public Spaces

edited by Andreas Walther, Janet Batsleer, Patricia Loncle and Axel Pohl (Routledge)

Young People and the Struggle for Participation: Contested Practices, Power and Pedagogies in Public Spaces, 1st Edition (Hardback) book cover

The book aims at offering a new perspective towards youth participation. It starts from a critique of a narrow institutionalised interpretation of participation and the exclusion of a majority of young people’s activities in public spaces form what is being recognised as participation. Against this backdrop, it provides empirical analyses and theoretical reflections on young people’s practices in formal, non-formal and informal public spaces. It is based on the research carried out in the framework of the EU-funded project “Spaces and Styles of Participation. Formal, non-formal and informal possibilities of young people’s participation in European cities” (PARTISPACE). The book is available from local book sellers now. Further information at the publisher’s website.

New Forms of Solidarity Among and for Young People: An Ethnography of Youth Participation in Italy

Alessandro Martelli, Nicola Da Luigi and Ilaria Pitti have written a chapter based on the data collected within PARTISPACE entitled “New Forms of Solidarity Among and for Young People: An Ethnography of Youth Participation in Italy” for the book “Young People Re-Generating Politics in Times of Crises” edited by Sarah Pickard and Judith Bessant. The book will be out in July for Palgrave. Continue reading

Forthcoming publications

Abstract: Young feminists online: political and social participation and feminist activism

McMahon, Gráinne and Batsleer, Janet

There are well-established historical trends that show that new and emerging forms of media are able to disrupt and then transform political and social opinion and discourse and have the capacity to break down social hierarchies in order to challenge dominant socio-cultural and political norms. Social media or “new digital media” are part of this trend and influence a reshape of socio-cultural and political norms, practices and discourses through awareness-raising, activism, and debate. Recent research has found that social media have considerable potential to engage, empower and activate young women in particular. These online spaces are often women-only and explicitly feminist (‘safe spaces’) and central to political and social activism in terms of women’s rights. The question remains, however, about how that effect evolves, and intersects with more traditional forms of activism, and ‘how and under what conditions these new digital platforms relate to citizen activism and protest politics’ (Valenzuela, 2013, p. 921).

Drawing on historic accounts of women-led spaces and public activism as generative of feminist movement, as well as accounts of contemporary online activism drawn from our current research in Manchester and Ireland, this paper explores how ‘safe enough spaces’ are mobilised for political and social activism and perspectives on the impacts of such spaces on political and social change.

L. Hope 2016 – young feminists online – abstract.pdf

Forthcoming publication: participation of refugees?

Abstract “Non-Formal Spaces of Socio-Cultural Accompaniment: Responding to Young Unaccompanied Refugees: Reflections from the Partispace Project”

The so called “refugee crisis” hit Europe and the PARTISpace-countries became actors in the direct confrontation with (civil) wars, armed conflicts and poverty on a global dimension. The German (Frankfurt), Swedish (Gothenburg) and English (Manchester) teams decided to write an article about the ongoing discourse and its deposit in actual participatory activities on, with and for refugees – especially unaccompanied minor refugees. The following outlook comes from a perspective of the Frankfurt team and focuses on the incidents for, with and against refugees, but also frames the impact on the debate in Germany more specifically in Frankfurt. Continue reading