“There must be something better than here”: the role of place in shaping the mobility aspirations of young people in coastal towns
In this seminar, I will reflect on the role of place in shaping the mobility aspirations of young people in coastal towns in England. In the Global North, youth mobility has become a normalised part of the journey to higher education and ‘cosmopolitan’ adulthood. However, we argue that this is only part of the story for young people in coastal towns. Many of these coastal towns now face persistent socio-economic and infrastructural challenges. Against this backdrop, many coastal youth feel that they are marginalised within their towns and that the town is on the margins – culturally, economically, and geographically. This sense of marginality simultaneously propels youth out-migration and stigmatises those who stay behind. To make this argument, I draw on qualitative data we generated with young people in three coastal towns in England, including in-depth interviews, mapping workshops, and participatory arts and place-based methods.
Date: 28 November 2024, 15:30 (Thursday, 7th week, Michaelmas 2024)
Venue: Kellogg College, 62 Banbury Road OX2 6PN
Venue Details: The Hub (wheelchair accessible)
Speaker: Avril Keating (UCL)
Organising department: Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS)
Organiser: Dace Dzenovska (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: info@compas.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Perspectives of Place
Booking required?: Not required
Booking url: https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/event/perspectives-of-place
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Nathan Grassi