Youth Scene Research Articles

Perekhodya granitsy. Rossiyskiy stendap: lokalnye i globalnye smysly

Stand-up comedy is one of the brightest youth scenes of modern Russia, rapidly gaining popularity over the last decade. This genre of modern laugh culture rarely gets the attention of either foreign or domestic scholars and researchers. This article focuses on the career strategies of stand-up comedians, the peculiarities of their communication with audiences in the context of the formation of the stand-up scene in contemporary Russia in comparison with the formats of humor and laugh culture characteristic of the Soviet and post-Soviet times. The uniqueness of the Russian stand-up experience will be revealed through the analysis of characteristic style markers associated with the genre: the liminality / transboundary nature of the emerging culture, the high mobility of stand-up artists, creative collaborations, and touring exchanges within and between cities in their native regions. As a theoretical framework, the construct of youth cultural scene is used as the most adequate to the case under the study. The empirical base of the article is 15 semi-structured interviews with participants in the stand-up scene, non-participant observation of stand-up performances, and the textual analysis of blogs of stand-up comedians. The case study material was collected as part of a large-scale research project aimed at tracing the migration strategies and life plans of talented young people in the Northwestern Federal District of Russia.

Queering Gender Boundaries and Redoing Heteroamorous Desire: Youth Scenes As a Social Field for (Re-)Negotiating Gender Arrangements and Sexuality

In Second Modernity, traditional affiliations, ideals and norms continuously are becoming less important. Among the things affected by that are gender norms and sexualities, so that the reflexive self now has the task of relating to these transformations. Based on scene ethnographies (interviews, group discussions, participant observations), this article examines how the (youth) scenes Visual Kei and K-pop serve as social fields to challenge traditional societal norms of gender and heterosexuality. Gender-neutral ideals and gender-differentiating norms coexist in Visual Kei; heteroamorous fantasies coexist with various sexual realities in K-pop. In both scenes, the scene-specific gender displays also significantly influence the sexual displays. Scene members embrace a great diversity of sexual orientations, thereby applying cultural globalization and socially constructing post-traditional forms of gender arrangements and sexualities that intertwine ‘Western’ as well as ‘Asian’ practices and aesthetics.

Local Youth Policies between National Frameworks and Local Peculiarities: Examples from Two European Cities

Abstract There are ongoing debates in youth research and politics about the impact of European and national youth policies on the local level. Based on the qualitative findings collected in the framework of the European Project partispace, this paper aims at analyzing whether and to what extent current local youth policies relates to national and European policies. Attempting to answer this question, it presents some empirical findings from a study on youth policies in two European cities: Bologna and Frankfurt. Before the reconstruction of the historically grown links between the local and the national youth policies, first the structures of current youth policies are analysed. After this, the results of expert interviews, focus groups with young people from a variety of youth scenes are presented to enlighten how youth policies work in these two urban contexts. It shows that they are linked to national policies in very different constellations with very different outcomes on the level of how they are perceived and taken up by the young people.

Peers/strangers/others? The youth of Dagestan in search of group identities

ABSTRACTThe article discusses the map of youth cultural scenes in Makhachkala, the capital of the Republic of Dagestan, and the third largest city in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation. The uniqueness of Makhachkala’s youth space is associated with the specific geopolitical and cultural circumstances of the history of the republic. This is set against the context of post-Soviet transformation: rising unemployment and severe inequality; the revival of Islam; radical changes in the gender regime, the ethnic and religious composition of Dagestanis; and a complicated political agenda involving the struggle with radicalization, and the growth of a terrorist threat. Thus, we consider it important and timely to study the local youth socialities, which exist in such a contradictory context. The research that underpins the article is focused on two opposing youth scenes in Makhachkala: street workout (inscribed in the context of the local patriarchal regime), and the anime community (symbolically resisting the pressure of social ‘normativity’). Using the theoretical concept of cultural scenes and a case-study approach (in-depth interviews, participant observation, community mapping), the potential to categorize youth that are not centred (that is, who are outside the ‘core’ of the capitalist world-system) is critically considered through the opposition between subcultural and mainstream groups. The key aim of the article is to demonstrate the importance of using the construct of the ‘other’ (that which is alien or dangerous) as the main way to define the more subtle (often latent) structure of group identity and cultural capital of a community. This also describes the intra- and inter-group solidarities and the value conflicts of youth in a complex and contradictory local urban environment. In this case, the process of growing up and the socialization of youth involve the selection of different strategies of acceptance and resistance to the social order, the structure of normativity and images of success.

Kontekstualizacija istraživanja suvremene mladosti na primjeru mladih u Dalmaciji

Since contemporary research on youth fails to differentiate the various youth scenes, we have taken as a hypothetical framework for our research the differentiation of youth behaviour as discussed by the German researcher Karl Lenz (1986, 1988, 1991). By using his model, we have tried to establish empirically to what extent each aspect of youth behaviour is present in the Dalmatian context. The general hypothesis has facilitated an overview of the potentially relevant empirical "answers" to the question: can the Lenz's model offer a model of analysis for the behaviour of young people in a society in transition like Croatia?The results have not entirely confirmed the initial assumption of the similarities between the young people in Croatia and those in the developed post-industrial countries. However, the wealth of common characteristics in the basic areas of activity that characterize the types of youth behaviour fits the assumption that significant differences do not exist. The results obtained allow us to conclude that, for example, the young people of Croatia today have similar priorities in their lives, and that they are similarly orientated in Peers's terms, as well as being highly demanding in questions concerning schooling and future vocation.

“Undesirables Entering the Town to Look for Good Times”: Banff Confronts Its Counterculture Youth Scene, 1965–1971

Small urban centres remain largely overlooked in historical studies of the counterculture in Canada. This article examines the rise and fall of the scene in Banff, Alberta—a single-industry town with an economy based on accommodating travelling pleasure-seekers, that lacked an elected municipal government. Beginning in 1965, a fast-growing number of counterculture and transient youths trekked to Banff each summer. Some used its public spaces for behaviour Banffites deemed inappropriate and also bothersome to tourists, which pushed officials, business owners, and other permanent residents to debate the nature and limits of tolerance in their community. A few facilities and services welcomed counterculture youth, but most residents remained apprehensive about how Banff’s image might be affected during the high tourist season. After years of mounting frustration and resentment, tensions reached a crescendo in 1971, following which Banff’s status as a counterculture destination abruptly collapsed.

“Undesirables Entering the Town to Look for Good Times”: Banff Confronts Its Counterculture Youth Scene, 1965–1971

Small urban centres remain largely overlooked in historical studies of the counterculture in Canada. This article examines the rise and fall of the scene in Banff, Alberta—a single-industry town with an economy based on accommodating travelling pleasure-seekers, that lacked an elected municipal government. Beginning in 1965, a fast-growing number of counterculture and transient youths trekked to Banff each summer. Some used its public spaces for behaviour Banffites deemed inappropriate and also bothersome to tourists, which pushed officials, business owners, and other permanent residents to debate the nature and limits of tolerance in their community. A few facilities and services welcomed counterculture youth, but most residents remained apprehensive about how Banff’s image might be affected during the high tourist season. After years of mounting frustration and resentment, tensions reached a crescendo in 1971, following which Banff’s status as a counterculture destination abruptly collapsed.

Soul rebels and dubby conquerors. Reggae and dancehall music in Germany in the 1990s and early 2000s

AbstractIn the 1990s, a vibrant reggae and dancehall scene emerged in several German cities, and in the early 2000s songs of reggae artists such as Gentleman, Seeed or Jan Delay rose to the top of the German pop charts. In this article, the German reggae scene of this time is depicted in respect to its formation, infrastructure, transnational relationships and sub-genres, and is related to general social and cultural developments in reunited Germany, e.g. a new national self-consciousness, tendencies towards a multi-ethnic society and new kinds of youth scenes. These findings are illustrated by a close reading of two songs from the seminal albumsSearching for the Jan Soul Rebelsby Jan Delay andNew Dubby Conquerorsby Seeed, both released in 2001. While Jan Delay's lyrics reflect the singer's commitment to the antifascist youth scene, Seeed celebrates a hedonistic lifestyle in the new capital Berlin.

Youth work in a changing society: A case study of Hong Kong youth service providers

Hong Kong has recently witnessed heightened public awareness of the issues of rights, civil society and citizenship. Contested relations with the Beijing government and slower economic growth in mainland China have seen more Hong Kong citizens become involved in civic engagement and identity politics. Youth service providers thus find themselves forced to respond to a rapidly changing society and changing youth needs while being situated in institutions with their own structural constraints and work culture. The result is that occupational stress is increasingly common amongst Hong Kong secondary school teachers and social workers. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative ethnographic study involving 16 in-depth interviews with community leaders, teachers and school-based social workers. How does a changing society affect youth work in general? How does greater discussion of democracy and human rights in the public sphere affect the way that youth service providers perform youth work? What are the changing roles and responsibilities of these providers in offering support to Hong Kong youth? The research themes that emerged include changing demographics and youth scene, a democratising public sphere in relation to Chinese youth and professionalism as a youth service provider.

Ethnicity in the City: Tatar Urban Youth Culture in Kazan, Tatarstan

AbstractIn this article, the city and the urban space shall be understood as a political platform, where identities and powers are bargained, and as a screen on which they are projected. In this context, I will reflect on the strategies of identity management ‘from below’ employed by Tatar young people in Kazan and on their attempt to build a ‘Tatar urban youth culture’. These identity strategies are mainly oriented against the ‘Russian other’, a decadent consumerist West and an ignorant rural Tatar culture and their main issue is the ‘repossessing’ of Kazan and the Tatarisation of the city. Such strategies namely include the use of the Tatar language in predominantly Russophone public spheres, the introduction of Tatar folkloristic elements in music and fashion as well as the appeal to a (lost) Tatar urban culture associated with an enlightened approach to Islam and to the pre-revolutionary Tatar intelligentsia. Tatar youth scenes thus use ethnicity as a resource in the linguistic, religious, historic and cultural (re)appropriation of the urban space, which in turn has to be understood as a symbolic political act in a specific historical as well as ‘glocal’ context. Thus, this article can be seen as a contribution to a critical approach towards cosmopolitanism introducing alternative concepts to reflect relationships, norms and values in urban life.

The Sixty-Fifth Anniversary of the Founding of WUPJYS

AbstractIn honour of the sixty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Youth Section of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJYS), the author reminisces about some early events he attended, discusses some of the current changes and developments in the Jewish youth scene due to the paradigm changes such as computers, mobile phones etc. as well as the modern ‘Post’ eras of individualism of the Me generation. He concludes with no specific prognostications, but feels that much can be done by dedicated, committed youth and their mentors.

Aesthetics of Youth Scenes

The aesthetic expressions produced and reproduced within post-war spectacular youth (sub)cultures used to be seen as a display of resistance to and subversion of ‘social order’, perceived as opressive of youth life experiences and chances. Under the traditional subculturalist paradigm, both artefacts or performances were subsumed to the class status of their young practicioners and seen as ideological expression of their dominated and disadvantadged social position. Nowadays, however, the stylistic resources used in youth scenes has taken on new meanings for which the concept of resistance is not enough and/or adequate to explain. Therefore, departing from a post-subcultural approach, this essay intends to highlight the social changes recently occurred in the political culture of spectacular youth scenes and, consequently, to contribute to overcome resistance as nuclear concept on the debate, relocating it towards the concept of existence. Following this idea, and to close this essay, I suggest the concept of arts of existence as analytical point of view on the new expressiveness of the aesthetics of contemporary youth scenes. Inspired in Foucault, that concept allows to go further in the understanding of youth scenes aesthetics as arts of a good living (in the consumption sphere), and arts of making a living (in the production sphere).

The Sixty-fifth Anniversary of the Founding of WUPJYS

In honour of the sixty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Youth Section of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJYS), the author reminisces about some early events he attended, discusses some of the current changes and developments in the Jewish youth scene due to the paradigm changes such as computers, mobile phones etc. as well as the modern ‘Post’ eras of individualism of the Me generation. He concludes with no specific prognostications, but feels that much can be done by dedicated, committed youth and their mentors.

Seeing (Transitions to) Adulthood in Youth (Sub)cultural Studies Through the Eyes of Former Straightedge Adherents

This article uses forty‐four face‐to‐face interviews with individuals who formerly identified with straightedge—a clean‐living, mostly youth‐based (sub)culture—to explore the possible role chosen youth cultural identities play in adult transition, as well as extend recent work on aging and youth scenes by more deeply engaging both “subjective adulthood” and the retrospective accounts of “ex” members. Data show interviewees developing (paths to) subjective adulthoods substantially influenced by former affiliation with straightedge culture they frequently believe mark their (paths to) adulthoods fundamentally distinct from others in their age cohort. Particularly, individuals transitioning from straightedge recounted pronounced subculturally rooted antipathy toward adult conventionality, often envisioned alternative adult trajectories for themselves, discussed transitional impediments and opportunities they took to be unique to transitioning from straightedge, and, in indicating heightened awareness of adulthood's “facework,” visualized a collective of others like them inside adult social spheres by virtue of the formative bases (former) scene affiliation provided them. Ultimately, findings suggest that the study of subjective adult transition may profit from directly considering the formative influence of elective youth identities. Likewise, perhaps the most fertile grounds in the turn toward examining aging and scenes might rest in meanings individuals attach to adulthood and transitioning, even for ex‐members of certain communities.

On Being a Punk and a Scholar: A Reflexive Account of Researching a Punk Scene in Russia

Ethnographic studies of youth subcultures, scenes and urban tribes often rely on insiders’ accounts, where researchers investigate a social environment of which they are presently or formerly members. This approach raises important questions about the positionality of the researcher, and the reflexivity, epistemology and ethics of an ethnographic investigation, as different roles and engagement with the field, as well as the very identity of the ‘field’ itself, no longer fit into the methodological framework of traditional ethnography. This article explores the difficulties that arise during ethnographic research on one's own social world. I was actively involved in the Russian punk scene before pursuing my academic career in England, and in the framework of a research project on post-socialist punk at the University of Warwick, I went back to study this milieu as a ‘field’ in two different sites in 2009 and in 2010. The article shows the complexity of researching one's own subculture and demonstrates that active discentring of the ‘knowing authority’ in studying one's own ‘tribe’ necessarily involves a transformation of its main research paradigms, where epistemological and ethical issues appear to be rearranged in a new way which radically affects the methodological foundations of such an investigation.

Measuring attitudes, behaviours, and influences in inner city victims of interpersonal violence (VIVs) - a Swiss emergency room pilot study

BackgroundSwitzerland is confronted with the problem of interpersonal violence. Violence is in the increase and the potential for aggression seems to be rising. Observations by hospitals discern an appalling increase of the severity of the injuries. The aim of this study is to collect accurate information about the social environment, the motivation and possible reasons for violence. We also intend to investigate whether sociocultural, or ethnic differences among male victims exist.Materials and methodsFor the first time in Switzerland, this survey employed a validated questionnaire from the division of violence prevention, Atlanta, Georgia. The first part of the questionnaire addressed social and demographic factors which could influence the risk of violence: age, gender, duration of stay in Switzerland, nationality and educational level. Beside these social structural factors, the questionnaire included questions on experience of violent offences in the past, information about the most recent violent offence and intra and interpersonal facts. The questionnaire itself consists of 27 questions, translated into German and French. In a pilot study, the questionnaire was checked with adolescents for feasibility and comprehensibility.Results69 male VIVs were interviewed at two hospitals in the Canton of Bern. Most of the adolescents emphasised that weapons were not used during their confrontations. It is astonishing that all of the young men considered themselves to be victims. Most of the brawls were incited after an exchange of verbal abuse and provocations with unfamiliar individuals. The rivals could neither be classified with the help of ethnic categories nor identifiable groups of the youth scenes. The incidents took place in scenes, where violence was more likely to happen. Interestingly and contrary to a general perception the offenders are well integrated into sport and leisure clubs. A further surprising result of our research is that the attitude towards religion differs between young men with experience of violence and non-violent men.DiscussionYouth violence is a health issue, which concerns us globally. The human and economic toll of violence on victims and offenders, their families, and on society in general is high. The economic costs associated with violence-related illness and disability is estimated to be millions of Swiss francs each year. Physicians and psychologists are compelled to identify the factors, which cause young people to be violent, to find out which interventions prove to be successful, and to design effective prevention programs. The identification of effective programs depends on the availability of reliable and valid measures to assess changes in violence-related attitudes. In our efforts to create healthier communities, we need to investigate; document and do research on the causes and circumstances of youth violence.

Elisabeth (review)

Reviewed by: Elisabeth Alisa C. Roost Elisabeth. Music by Sylvester Levay. Book and lyrics by Michael Kunze. Originally adapted and directed by Koike Shuichiro. Snow Company, Takarazuka Revue Company. Takarazuka Grand Theatre, Takarazuka, Japan. 5 June 2007. Takarazuka Revue Company performs musical revues and Western-style musicals with all-female casts for predominately female audiences. With five different companies, ten shows a week at a permanent house outside of Osaka that seats over 2,000, a second theatre in Tokyo, tours throughout the country, and occasional international performances, the group is a commercial and cultural phenomenon: performing to over 2.5 million people a year, it has also inspired a video game, several anime series, and a number of YouTube clips. In a country where the mass culture of digital entertainment and manga (comic books) dominates the youth scene and traditional culture is revered but rarely attended, Takarazuka has a unique niche, appealing primarily to young women through fairly conventional live theatre productions. Unlike the all-male kabuki and noh theatres, Takarazuka has little recognition outside of Japan. The companies perform various styles, from Broadway shows like West Side Story to a musical adaptation of War and Peace, to Las Vegas–style dance revues, to all-women kabuki/noh pastiches. Elisabeth, a German musical with music by Sylvester Levay and book and lyrics by Michael Kunze, is a plot-driven show with little character development mostly in the English-language style of sung-through mega-musicals, with many reprises of catchy songs. Elisabeth has been in Takarazuka's repertoire, with only minor costume changes, for over a decade. It amalgamates numerous theatrical and popular traditions and demonstrates a somewhat unusual approach to cross-dressing that focuses on women's strength while eschewing sexualized objectification. The production additionally evokes many elements of youth culture, including rock concerts, manga, and anime. Unselfconsciously theatrical and almost completely earnest, it employs myriad commercial techniques (manipulating the amplification levels; large-scale, repeated use of stage fog; hydraulic lifts toward heaven; and obviously mechanical manipulation of scenery) with only a single hint of the irony or pastiche that seems so common in many Western musicals today. An epic tale based on the life of Elisabeth of Bavaria, the show begins as her murderer—an anarchist—is undergoing a trial in purgatory. Claiming that Elisabeth (Yuri Shirahane) and Death (Natsuki Mizu) always loved each other, the anarchist stages Elisabeth's life as his defense. Throughout her life, Elisabeth and Death continually flirt with mutual love. Toward the end of her life that attraction becomes overwhelming; at one point, Elisabeth finally asks Death to take her, but Death refuses, wanting not just her life but an affirmation of her love. This only happens after the murder, as the couple transcends toward heaven, dressed all in white on a hydraulic platform evoking, Cats-like, a tire with the requisite fog and lights. While originally written for both male and female performers, the Takarazuka production of Elisabeth subverts Western expectations about the sexualized nature of cross-dressing. While men wrote the original show and adapted and directed it for the Takarazuka Revue Company, Elisabeth employs crossgender casting without the familiar objectification of women for a presumably male viewer: the company portrayed male roles in a passionate, dramatically committed, and esthetically minimal style by altos in tailored but not tight clothes (the performers of male roles are known as otokoyaku), while sopranos in skirts portrayed women (musumeyaku). The musumeyaku dancers freely wore skimpy outfits; there was no need to hide any voyeuristic elements under the guise of cross-dressing. The makeup and wigs emphasized European facial characteristics, but all the women had a strong "feminine" style. No stubble, facial hair (with the exception of one mustache), or lines tried to trick the eye; close-up photos demonstrate that the male characters clearly are played by conventionally "attractive" women, although a willing suspension of disbelief worked to make the male characters believable. The representation of Death seemed inspired by manga and anime: black leather, high boots, long blond hair turning green at the edges, green lips, and intricate embellishments along one hand. Death generally read as an effeminate male character, but sometimes...

Soul in the City - Mission as Package Holiday: The potential implications of a 'tourist' paradigm in youth mission

Soul in the City happened in the summer of 2004 in London. Its impact on the UK Christian youth scene has been wide and varied - some loved it; some hated it. It brought 9,000 young people to London to engage in 'mission'. But did it? Was it really just a Christian themed package holiday with mission as the main day trips? This paper draws on reflection from participation in the planning and running of Soul in the City (SITC) and textual analysis of publicity material. Whist primarily a theological reflection, significant use is made of sociological and anthropological thinking on 'tourism' to analyse phenomena observed in SITC. This assessment illustrates the emergence of a tourism motif in youth mission and highlights key missiological limitations and possibilities that this paradigm

Conflict Processes between Youth Groups in a Norwegian City: Polarisation and Revenge

AbstractThis study analyses the dynamics of conflict between two youth scenes in the Norwegian city of Kristiansand, commonly described as 'the neo-Nazis', and their counterparts, referred to as 'the anti-racists' or 'the Valla Gang'. The 'neo-Nazis' regularly committed acts of violence against other youths belonging to the multi-ethnic youth scene. As such, many of these incidents could clearly be described as acts of racist violence or hate crime. However, through interviews with 50 participants from both sides it became clear that the acts of violence were part of a more complex set of conflict dynamics between youth groups. This involved processes of polarisation within and between the local youth scenes as well as cycles of generalised revenge based on widely shared notions of 'one for all and all for one'. Youth groups and individual actors switched between political identities and gang identities depending on the situation, and conflicts that initially had nothing to do with racism or anti-racism could easily become politicised. Based on an understanding of the conflict processes, several points of intervention could be identified. Several of the interventions gave positive outcomes.

Re-Imagining Being “Straight” in Straight Edge

In the early 1980s the term “straight edge” was coined to describe a youth subculture within the punk rock scene, a subculture that chose a lifestyle that abstained from alcohol, tobacco and drugs as well as promiscuous sex. While considered a smaller youth scene today than in its peak years of the late 1980s, straight edge has evolved into an international, more complex subculture with several different strands. This paper explores the youth subculture of straight edge, with a special focus on how they construct and signify their abstinence from alcohol and other drugs while often participating in a music scene and a youth culture that embrace their use. An analysis of the language surrounding alcohol, other drugs and abstinence on their Internet websites provides the data for this exploratory, qualitative research. The paper concludes with speculation about the future of this side branch of the American abstinent tradition.