‘Presentism' and Youth Research: Methodological and Historical Oversights

A key incentive for why many youth researchers undertake research is the hope we can ‘make a difference’ for the young people. No more so than in community participatory research when we are invited in to participate in ‘transformative’ change for marginalised young people in particular. However, while we know that social change takes time, we are constrained in such research by timeframes imposed by neoliberal institutes that compel quick research turn-arounds and rapid outputs. Moreover, such constraints also encourage a very ‘presentist’ view of the young people at the focus of our research, thus overlooking historical legacies, continuities and discontinuities that are embedded in communities and how these shape their social worlds. In this paper I examine a participatory community youth research project that ‘failed’, forcing me to confront my own presentist and short-sited views, as well as those imbued in methodological choices. Drawing on Hannah Arendt (1986), I re-examine the ‘web of relations’ (p. 150) which these narratives of ‘failure’ are situated in, thus highlighting the complex and intertwined historical and contemporary factors at play when we conduct research. The paper critiques ‘presentist’ tendencies in youth research and raises questions about collective ethical responsibilities toward sustainable actions of change through youth research.