XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

625

Youth in the Global South: Divergences, Absences, Universalities

RC34 Sociology of Youth (host committee)

Language: Spanish and English

It is problematic when theories assume universalism, when they have only been applied to people from one or two regions. This is frequently the case in Youth Studies research, as Global North scholars regularly make generalisations when they have only investigated a small subset of young people in specific regions. Edited books and journal articles in the field regularly claim to focus on a universal life stage, whilst research is informed largely by youth in Europe and North America. This results in theoretical assumptions that are both useful but insufficient for addressing the needs and concerns of global South youth. The flip side of these systemic, global knowledge production processes is that global South insights that could benefit youth everywhere are assumed only to have local relevance, to be case-studies of phenomena already observed. Northern theories therefore require adaptation to become relevant to Southern Youth; and global South scholars must generate their own, indigenous theories. Southern theory that focuses on youth could illuminate a fuller range of human experiences and sublimate into knowledge that may be used to benefit those who have been consistently silenced and peripheral in the world system. This session invites contributions that refute or support these arguments, and is especially keen to receive contributions from senior and emerging scholars that map out research agendas and theoretical lacunae that focus on Southern youth; that contrast what is available with what is needed; and also draw attention to universalities between Southern and Northern youth and scholarship.