June 2014 :Are you between 16 and 25 in St-Michel ?
would you like to share your story ? The MapCOLLAB project is for you !
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If you are interested contact :
and for more info :
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This comparative study of the production of youth culture in immigrant neighborhoods explores the experience of young people (between the age of 16 to 25) in four districts of Paris (Aubervillier and Pantin) and Montreal (St-Michel and Little Burgundy).
Taking into account the literature and public debates on youth in immigrant neighborhoods, and without jeopardizing the process of impoverishment/disaffiliation/dequalification that affect these areas, this research aims to provide a different perspective on these transformations :
Instead of looking at the phenomena of decay or deregulation, we ask instead what is being (re)constructed, which allows the production of identities and cultures by (1) highlighting the counter-discourses of young people facing the dominant discourse on their anomie, (2) analyzing the collective histories they build for themselves and between them, (3) exploring power relations, the conditions that constrain or favor youth citizenship and political participation.
To achieve this, the research is organised along three axes :
(a) processes of identity formation for young people and their territorialities, based on collective memory and youth local culture ;
(b) youth relations to politics, understood as how they construct themselves as political actors, as citizens with their own legitimacy, but also in their relationships with local institutions ; and
c) gender relations, which will also contribute to shift the focus of research towards understanding more about the daily life of the majority of young people, and understanding more the gender relations that structure neighborhoods.
Our methodology combines the tools of oral history, critical geography and sociology. We will conduct ethnographic observations, interviews in various forms, life histories and workshops for young people where they will map and communicate their vision of their neighborhood and their city. In partnership with community organizations in the four neighborhoods, these 10-weeks workshops will lead to the production of "audio guides ", but also photos, videos, maps and other materials.
Research-collaborators : J.-A. BOUDREAU ( Principal Researcher, INRS, VESPA), S. HIGH (U. Concordia), C. CARDI (U. Paris VIII), M.H. BACQUÉ (U. Paris X), G. DESROSIERS-LAUZON (UQAM, VESPA), D. AUSTIN (Abbott College), Martin Lamotte (INRS, VESPA), Lamence Madzou, Paul Lervy-Mayere (INRS, VESPA) and DÉSIRÉE ROCHAT.
