The struggle to belong: young people on the move in the countryside (pages 304–325)

摘要

In this paper I explore the relationshipnbetween marginality and rural youth bynrevealing the multiplicity of ways in whichnyoung people’s identities are performed inncontemporary rural society. I illustrate hownfor some rural youth engendering a sense ofn‘belonging’ in the countryside is a dailynstruggle – a struggle embedded in the waynpower is executed in villages. Recent researchnillustrates how dominant discourses ofnrurality refl ect and mutually reinforcenconventional gender identities and stereotypesnin particular places. While emphasising thensignifi cance of this work to the study ofnrurality and identity, this paper argues for thenneed to extend academic analysis to examinenthe marginalising infl uence of dominantnconstructions of rurality on some youngnpeople. Through exploring young people’snnarratives of self I further develop identityntheories around notions of the body throughnmovement in village spaces. Drawing on thenexperiences of the young people in this study,nthis paper further demonstrates the existencenof highly defi ned ideas concerning acceptablenrural identities and how some young men andnwomen struggle to maintain their sense ofnbelonging. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley &nSons, Ltd.