On Disconnected Youth, Place, and Nepantla

(Photo by Tara)

The process of place-making also describes a process of identity (re)formation. For young people traversing city spaces and who seek a sense of grounding or ‘permanence’ amongst the “instabilities of motions” (Henry, 1996, p. 262) characteristic of these urban landscapes experience what Glora Anzaldua calls nepantla. As *disconnected or vulnerable youth transition from adolescence to adulthood with limited resources and support they inhabit a threshold of spatio-temporal awareness and place, one described through liminality and in-betweenness.

Nepantla is a period of struggle, but also a reflective place of possibility where transformation can occur. While experiencing nepantla one is confronted with conflicting realities and questions. This threshold moment breaks down boundaries, whether material or metaphorical. Familiar ways of identifying no longer work. Categories rupture. Place dwellings destabilize. A young person not attending school is no longer considered a student. So she asks, what am I learning? A young adult without a job is no longer a worker, and so she asks, who do I work for?

The tingling consequence of a capitalism is not ignored here; this system is prone to crisis and relentlessly intent on redefining social organization. Capitalism manifests ‘instabilities of motions’. But the young person transforms despite this systematic betrayal because now she exists “between worlds, between realities, between systems of knowledge” (Keating, 2000, p. 268). She resides at a crossroads, a metaphorical fork in the road that reveals a new way of perceiving the world and her place in it.

Through this anxiety-inducing process of discerning and questioning, disconnected youth experience a "perpetual perishing" of place ( (Henry, 1996, p. 261). A re-dying of permanence with which they once identified.

*Disconnected youth are characterized as teens and young adults, ages 16 to-24 years old who are not working or attending school (Mastin, Metzger, and Golden, 2013).

References

Harvey, D. (1996). Social justice and the geography of difference. London: Blackwell.

Keating, A. (2000). Interviews/entrevistas. New York: Routledge.

Mastin, Metzger, and Golden (2013). Foster care and disconnected youth. Report.

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#RaisingDissertation is a way to keep me sane and connected to the outside world while working, at times in isolation, on my dissertation research. From time to time, and depending on my mood, I will post draft excerpts from my dissertation research to this public blog. I welcome dialogue from subscribers, readers, and lurkers. I acknowledge that ideas belong to the universe. That said, however, if you wish to write about my research elsewhere, you must cite my work here. For those in the press reporting about the media and technology uses among ‘disconnected’ youth, and youths involved in foster care and juvenile justice systems, feel free to contact me directly. I’d love to share my research with you; this should not to be confused with doing your research for you. For others researching in this area, I also welcome your insights here. As always, I’m happy to connect.

When Gloria Anzaldua and Bruno Latour Met

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Actually, they never did, to my knowledge, meet. But if they did I imagine they'd have similar outlooks on the so-called intellectual class.

Anzaldua chats with my former professor in Interviews/Entrevistas (2000):

"[I]deas don't belong to anyone. They're part of the collective consciouness. The information is out there, it's just the way I organize ideas and put them together that's unique to me."

Bruno Latour writes in We Have Never Been Modern (1991):

"No one has ever been modern. Modernity has never begun. There has never been a modern world [...] I am not saying that we are entering a new era [...] No, instead we discover that we have never begun to enter the modern era. Hence the hint of the ludicrous that always accompanies postmodern thinkers; they claim to come after a time that has not even started!"

In other words, calm your nerves, you intellectual fools because your ideas are nothing new. The sun hasn't shined differently. We haven't reached there yet.

A Theoretical Explanation for Why Someone Would Tattoo Drakes Name on Her Forehead

Uses and Gratifications Theory (U&GT) or perspective "places emphasis on the active role of the audience in making choices and being goal-directed in its media-use behavior” (pg. 37). In other words, this theory looks at the ways in which the viewer chooses to put certain media to use. It also says that depending upon the ways in which the viewer takes pleasure in (or is motivated by) certain media will determine certain behaviors associated with media use. Incidentally, cultivation theory has been reinterpreted in line with a uses and gratification approaches, stressing the active mental activity of the viewer while watching (pg. 35). Harris presents the horror film example to illustrate U&G perspective. That is to say, watching a horror film will vary for different people depending upon how the person develops empathy, or not, to the victim in the film. Perhaps most notable about U&GT involves what Harris deems as the critical issue of “what draws different people to consume different types of media” (pg. 38). For example, why do people watch violent pornography? What use and gratifications come from such a viewing experience? The uses and gratifications perspective may lead researchers to understand other social, cultural, and psychological factors, besides media consumption, that influence why people consume certain types of media, particularly media that are violent in nature. Harris continues to outline six current research directions for uses and gratifications research. These six approaches involve the following:

1. developing taxonomies of communication motives.
2. comparing motives across media. This is particularly important for CMT research.
3. looking at different social and psychological circumstances of media use (e.g. coviewers, personality, lifestyle, or religiousity).
4. looking at how one’s motivations for using media are satisfied or not.
5. examining the role of individual differences in experiences, motives, and exposure on the media experience.
6. studying measurement issues like the reliability and validity of instruments measuring motivation.

Another notable insight for Harris’ section on U&GT constructs concern how people form relationships with media figures they have never met. Harris cites these relationships, whether between viewers and real people or with viewers and fictional characters in media, as parasocial interactions (Klimmt, Hartmann, & Schramm, 2006, etc) (pg. 38). The following are some useful examples that illustrate parasocial interactions, a construct of U&GT:

• Judith Warner's NYT article, Sometimes a President is Just a President is about the surge of Obama fantasies and dreams by U.S. Americans after he was elected president. Warner begins her article by describing a dream she had about President Obama. She then references friends and strangers who have admitted to having sexually explicit dreams about the President and the First Lady, Michelle Obama. The way in which people admitted to identifying closely with the Obamas was not only illustrated through sexually explicit dreams but through fantasies of close friendships. From the article: "These are people for whom the Obamas are not just a beacon of hope, inspiration and 'demigodlikeness,' as a New York lawyer put it, but also a kind of mirror. And the refracted image of self they see is not one they much admire."

• Fan tattoos Drake's name on her forehead. Drake is a popular actor-turned-rapper/artist whose music videos continuously appear on MTV, BET, VH1. His songs are also on heavy rotation on various hip-hop and R&B radio stations around the country. This is probably one of the most bizarre displays of how a a super fan (or stan) illustrates a sense of closeness to a media figure she has never met. I haven't come across her response yet, but for the full interview with the tattoo artist who tattooed the name "Drake" on the women's head, see Vice.

Reference

Harris, R.J. (2009). A cognitive psychology of mass communication. Routledge.