Traditions and transitions: teenagers' perceptions of parading in Belfast

The purpose of this article is to explore and illuminate teenagers' experiences of, and attitudes to, parades in Belfast. The research draws on responses from 125 teenagers located in interface areas (areas where Catholics and Protestants live side by side but apart) to government supported attempts to rebrand Orangefest (traditional parade associated with Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist community) and St Patrick's Day (traditional parade associated with Catholic/Nationalist/Republican community) as all-inclusive community events. For the most part, young people access these parades in pre-existing, single identity peer groups and view these parades as either inclusive or exclusive calling into question the extent to which Belfast's city centre can be viewed as shared space.     

‘Chilling’ and ‘hopping’ in the ‘teenage space network’: explorations in teenagers’ geographies in the city of Mechelen

Within the field of children's geographies several calls have been made to develop ‘teenagers’ geographies’ as a complementary field of research and practice. It has been stated that teenagers remain ‘invisible’ or ‘marginalised’ in public debates as well as in research and practice, even within childhood studies and children's geographies. Further explorations in teenagers’ geographies could contribute to the research on ‘diverse childhoods’. This article explores the spatial worlds of teenagers (approximately 12–16 years) in Flanders (Belgium), a region characterised by a dense network of smaller cities and ‘urban sprawl’. Based on street interviews and observations in a small city several mental maps and patterns of teenagers’ use of public space were identified. Starting from a case study in the city of Mechelen, this article suggests how these perspectives can be integrated into urban planning by identifying and tying together relevant planning layers, thus creating a more closely knit ‘teenage space network’. Wouter Vanderstede is an urban planner, anthropologist and historian. He is a researcher and staff member at Childhood & Society Research Centre–Onderzoekscentrum Kind & Samenleving vzw. Child friendly and teenager friendly planning and design of public space is one of the main research themes of the institute. View all notes     

Book reviews

Mobile phones have invited a number of dystopian understandings, particularly as far as young people are concerned. They have been variously argued to contribute to poor spelling and grammar, disturb attention to school work, facilitate text bullying, lead to brain cancers and promote the destruction of face-to-face relationships. Despite these concerns, text messaging is by far the most common form of mobile communication between young people in New Zealand. Drawing on actor-network theory and qualitative research conducted with New Zealand teenagers, we explore how teenagers, cell phones, socio-spatial relations and discourses exist within a hybrid and interdependent network which we have termed digital sociality. This network seems to facilitate rather than destroy proximal contact. The machine and the human, in a cyborgian sense, meld to develop new and complex workings of space and the social which suggests mobile technologies are not as damaging to young people as many have suggested and calls for preventative approaches to this technology might need therefore to be rethought.     

Leisure time preferences and health-risk behavior of teenagers in the post-communist Central European countries

In Central and Eastern Europe (CE), alcohol consumption, smoking, and substance use have become a substantial problem mainly among young people as well as changes of their leisure time occupations. The paper uses the binary logistic regression to measure the association between a certain type of leisure occupations and health-risk behaviors to show which activities are the most prone to health-risk behaviors. The analysis shows one prominent result – the strong relation between health-risk behavior of teenagers and going out in the evenings in the CE countries. There are, however, some specific protective factors of teenage risk behavior; these could be used to focus anti-risk behavior campaigns aimed at teenagers.     

Gender differences in teenage alcohol consumption and spatial practices

In recent years teenagers have reported a decline in under-age drinking at the same time as their access to public space has been increasingly curtailed. In this paper we explore the spatial practices and drinking behaviours of a group of teenage girls and boys aged 13–14 years in Liverpool, UK. Our analysis considers how their use of space was bound up with experimentation with alcohol and how this varied by gender. We find in support of previous research that both boys and girls report nuanced experiences of public space, with some enjoying greater freedom while others have moved into more domestic and supervised leisure spaces in response to fears about their safety in public spaces. The boys also reported less alcohol consumption than the girls. These gendered experiences were mediated by social relationships and encounters with other young people, their parents and carers and also other adults in positions of authority.     

印尼华裔青少年语言与认同的个案分析--华侨大学华文学院印尼华裔学生的调查研究

本文依据对华侨大学华文学院印尼华裔学生的调查研究,探讨印尼华裔青少年一代的语言环境、语言使用、语言能力及其认同问题.调查表明,印尼华裔学生是以印尼语为主、具有双语或多语能力的语言使用者;虽经数十年的严厉禁止,但他们在印尼现仍有一个使用汉语言文字的环境;他们程度不一地具有汉语方言的能力;他们学习汉语的目的动机与华人身份的认同紧密联系在一起.     

Situating (Young) teenagers in geographies of children and youth

The past decade has been an exciting and productive period in the study of children's and young people's geographies. The principal aim of this paper is to contribute to this field of research by presenting the arguments for a more substantive focus on teenagers' geographies. Firstly, the terms ‘children’ and ‘young people’ are constructed as synonymous and used interchangeably and the complex transitional positioning of young teenagers—situated between childhood, youth and adulthood—has been relatively neglected. Secondly, many researchers have been engaged in developing methods, which aim to challenge unequal power relations between adult researchers and young participants but little focus has been placed on utilizing participants' own constructions of themselves. The final argument for a more coherent focus on teenagers' geographies rests on the contribution that geographers can make to challenging negative stereotypes of teenagers within policy and the media. The paper concludes by outlining what form an emphasis on teenagers' geographies may take.     

日本"满蒙"青少年移民训练所及其功用

日本全面侵华战争爆发后,由于大量征兵,“满洲移民”侵略计划受到严重影响。为挽救移民侵略失败的命运,1938年初,日本政府决定组织“满蒙开拓青少年义勇军”移民。但规定被募集的日本青少年移民必须在“内地训练所”和“现地训练所”进行为期3年的实际训练,然后方能成为独立的开拓民。为此日本在国内建立了内原训练所,在现地建立嫩江等94个训练所,对日本青少年移民进行强制性的教育和训练,灌输“皇国精神”和军国主义思想,其目的在于培养为日本军国主义侵略扩张服务的驯服工具。     

Look and tell: using photo-elicitation methods with teenagers

This article reflects on the usefulness of photo elicitation in research with young people. As part of an Economic and Social Research Council-funded project exploring conflict and divisions in contested cities, teenagers living or attending schools in segregated areas of Belfast were presented with 11 photographs depicting the city's traditional ethno religious divisions, the new ‘post conflict’ consumerist city and youth subcultures. In response to each photo, the young people produced individual written comments and their opinions were fleshed out during follow-up focus group interviews. Drawing on these responses, the strengths and weaknesses of using photo elicitation in research with young people and its capacity to generate new insights into teenagers' spatial perceptions and experiences are outlined.