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- Convenors:
-
Elvira Graner
(MWS/ICAS:MP)
Siri Hettige (University of Colombo)
- Location:
- 25H26
- Start time:
- 26 July, 2014 at
Time zone: Europe/Zurich
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
Understanding young people and their ideas about the state is a major challenge for policy makers, development partners and academics. During this panel we intend to discuss several youth surveys and other studies about youth that have been carried out in South Asia recently.
Long Abstract:
Governing Youth is not only a major challenge for policy makers and development partners but also constitutes an important area for research and theorising for academics. By their sheer numbers, youth is a core constituency and understanding their needs for providing services for them is crucial in order to support them for setting up their lives, both professional and personal. In spite of this relevance, there are only a few studies that specifically concentrate on young people in South Asia. These include the Youth Surveys by Colombo University in Sri Lanka (1999 and 2009), by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) for India (2009), and by the Institute of Governance Studies (IGS) for Bangladesh in 2011. Ideally, such studies are also fundamental tools for supporting policy makers by providing crucial insights into how to strengthen policies and governance mechanisms.
During this conference panel we aim at sharing the results of these studies and build up a network of scholars who share an interest and competence in this field. We aim at a comprehensive contribution from South Asian scholars, with (co-)authored papers from Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This will hopefully bring about a series of joint research projects involving European and South Asian scholars. For doing so, sharing and critically discussing future avenues of research is a vital step. This forum with the participation of renowned scholars from Europe and South Asia is a unique opportunity for us to take these ideas forward.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Marina Korzenevica (University of Copenhagen)
Paper short abstract:
As many rural youth in are navigating between chosen or given (im)mobilities their perception of the state differs than that of the elders. Youth do not imagine themselves as passive receivers, but rather as active shapers of their own future and of development in their community and state.
Paper long abstract:
Most of the people in rural Eastern Nepal are waiting for the state to improve their lives. The state gave schools, but not jobs, built the road and told people to construct proper toilets. State is usually equalised with development and it is always in debt in front of people. It often fails. Local jobs and local income are never perceived seriously, because they are unstable and they do not come from the state. To cope there are two solutions pursued through youngsters: 1) sending them to study, which would hopefully give them governmental jobs and reconnection with the state or 2) sending them abroad to work and to make a livelihood's socio-economics easier.
In this way young people unavoidably happen to be in different "spatial and social geographies" (Mahler and Pessar 2001) - in or out the village, by fact or expectation or imagination. Geography matters a lot because according to mobility pursued a young person also takes a certain social position.
However, young people are not willing to follow the path of coping with the state failure. Negotiation and experience of (im)mobility of oneself or others enhances cognitive processes and, particularly, responsibility. Young people realize possibilities for access to power that they can use for improvement of their own or others life; but above all for developing their village or even Nepal, that actually needs them in this critical situation. They are not passive receivers any more: They are active builders and improvers of the state.
Ruveni Wijesekera (cfd, Bern)
Paper short abstract:
In order to promote dialogue and hence initiate a bottom-up conflict transformation process, appropriate tools need to be developed and adapted according to the interests of youth. This paper analyses two such tools: theatre and sport.
Paper long abstract:
The terms dialogue and conflict transformation seem at first glance far too complex and inappropriate to be used when working with children and youth. But they are not. While some argue that youth in Sri Lanka are uninterested in engaging in socio-political issues, there have been successful attempts at promoting conflict transformation at the grassroots level.
While engaging with youth on political issues is sometimes challenging, tools such as theatre and sports can provide potential entry points. Theatre provides a platform where youth have the opportunity to express their emotions and thoughts through different means. Sports enable a conducive environment where youth can develop strategies, engage in competition as well as reflect on their behaviour. This paper analyses how theatre and sports have been used to support conflict transformation and peacebuilding in the context of Sri Lanka.