Listening to youth voices: Text analysis of youth essays about their communities and concerns

Abstract

As a demographic, youth (defined by the United Nations as persons aged 15–24 years) are receiving increasing attention in national and global discourses. While attention to youth is welcome and overdue, scholars have argued that the depiction of youth struggles and the portrayal of youth's potential can be incomplete and lacking in nuances. Literature dedicated to uplifting youth voices has challenged and complicated the linear narratives of national and global discourses in helpful ways. In this paper, using a unique dataset of more than 750 youth essays from more than 20 African nations, elements of natural language processing and qualitative insights from youth essays we contribute to this literature that centers youth voices to understand their circumstances. Our analysis reveals the thoughtful and complex ways youth make sense of their worlds and engage with issues they consider most pressing. It shows how youth navigate the dichotomy of their increasingly globalized lives while maintaining a keen connection with their local realities. Our analysis with a particular focus on education also highlights the significant concerns on young people's minds, which overlap with but also extend beyond national and global discourses. The clearest mismatch between concerns most prominent in young people's minds and the research and policy discourse surrounds the issue of “school affordability”. We discuss these findings which underscore the importance of listening to youth voices.