Taking young people as political actors seriously: opening the borders of political geography

• Published in: Area (London 1969) Vol. 42; no. 2; pp. 145 - 151
• Main Author: Skelton, Tracey
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2010
• Subjects: Borders; Caribbean; Children; Conceptualization; Geography; Geopolitics; Political debate; Political elections; Political geography; Political power; Political structures; Politics; Polities; Space; Special Section: Upscaling Young People's geographies; Voting rights; young people; Youth
• ISSN: 0004-0894; 1475-4762
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4762.2009.00891.x

This article challenges the absence of young people from Political Geography. It shows how in many parts of the world young people are in an in-between space politically and legally. This article suggests that the geographically divergent liminal positioning of young people within political–legal structures and institutional practices is what makes them extremely interesting political subjects. I argue for a deconstruction of the generally accepted binary of capital P Politics and lower case p politics. Using an illustration from a non-Western geography, I argue that young people can do more than act politically in the interstices of this binary; they can in fact meld and blend both elements. Taking young people seriously may well create new definitions of the political and demonstrate other ways of conceptualising geopolitics and political geographies.