Youth Cultures and Wellbeing
Helsinki, Finland, 5–6 November 2018
The Finnish Youth Research Society invites proposals for the Annual Conference of Youth Studies 2018: Youth Cultures and Wellbeing. Studying and understanding youth cultures has been an essential element of the youth research inquiry since it began 30 years ago.
This year’s conference will return to the theme which led to the establishment of the Youth Research Society in 1988, approaching youth cultures as a resource for young people and society. This challenges common perceptions of youth groups and cultures as sources of risks, problems and fear, viewing them instead as platforms for social relations, sociability, learning and participation, and thus wellbeing. The conference will analyse youth cultures from various angles, including the history and future of youth cultures as source of wellbeing. The Youth Cultures and Wellbeing conference is the 17th Annual Conference of the Finnish Youth Research Society. At the same time, the conference is the highlight of the Youth Research Society’s 30th anniversary.
The international keynote speakers
The keynote speakers at the conference will be:
- Professor Andy Bennett (Griffith University, Australia), a leading international subculture researcher who has extensively studied youth subcultures, including their prospects for wellbeing.
- Professor Carmen Leccardi (University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy) who is familiar with youth temporal cultures as well as with young people’s new individualism and solidarity experiences.
- Reader Sian Lincoln (Liverpool John Moores University, UK), who has studied digital youth culture widely
Working groups and posters
The conference includes a wide range of working groups. We welcome contributions related to the conference’s theme and other current themes in youth studies. Proposals are invited for:
- Self-organized sessions: groups may propose running a full 90-minute session, including presentations (1–4 individual papers and discussion), or a round table discussion.
- Individual paper presentations: 20–30 minutes, including discussion.
- Poster presentations: sessions will be set up for conference participants to interact with poster presenters.
We also welcome proposals outside research, for example from the youth work field. We encourage new approaches and methods in working groups. The conference will primarily be held in English, but Finnish-language presentations and working groups in Finnish are also welcome.
The following are examples of themes for working groups and presentations:
- History of youth research
- Young people’s digital culture
- Youth cultures, health behaviour and wellbeing
- Rap and hip-hop culture
- The culture of young people with disabilities
- Everyday life of children and adolescents
- Children and adolescents’ leisure time
- Girl cultures
- Boy cultures
- Urban space
- Hidden or secret cultures
- Methodological and ethical questions of youth research
- Multiculturalism and ethnicity
- Young people’s friendship and peer relations
- Popular culture research
- Youth and temporal cultures
- Open theme
Registration
Abstracts from both individual presentations and sessions will be sent electronically before 31 May:
https://www.lyyti.fi/reg/XVIIFYRS30Conference
Important dates
- 31 May: Submissions of working groups, papers and poster proposals
- 1 October: Notification of acceptance of papers
- 26 October: Final date for registration
- 5–6 November: the Conference
Fees
The conference fee is €70. The discounted price for students and members of the Finnish Youth Research Society is €30.
The Conference
The Annual Conference of Youth Studies is the leading multidisciplinary conference for youth studies in Finland. It brings together researchers from various disciplines and professionals interested in youth studies. The conference has been held annually since 2002.
For further information, please visit: https://www.youthresearch.fi/seminars/annual-conference-of-youth-studies/annual-conference-of-youth-studies-2018
We sincerely look forward to seeing you in Helsinki!
On behalf of the organizing committee,
