The struggle to belong: young people on the move in the countryside

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper I explore the relationship between marginality and rural youth by revealing the multiplicity of ways in which young people's identities are performed in contemporary rural society. I illustrate how for some rural youth engendering a sense of ‘belonging’ in the countryside is a daily struggle – a struggle embedded in the way power is executed in villages. Recent research illustrates how dominant discourses of rurality reflect and mutually reinforce conventional gender identities and stereotypes in particular places. While emphasising the significance of this work to the study of rurality and identity, this paper argues for the need to extend academic analysis to examine the marginalising influence of dominant constructions of rurality on some young people. Through exploring young people's narratives of self I further develop identity theories around notions of the body through movement in village spaces. Drawing on the experiences of the young people in this study, this paper further demonstrates the existence of highly defined ideas concerning acceptable rural identities and how some young men and women struggle to maintain their sense of belonging. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.