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Paper short abstract

How do young people experience belonging in rural areas? Focusing on patterns of back-and-forth movement in belonging and the (self-)localization of young people, our analysis reveals conflicting social, spatial and temporal dimensions in the negotiation of belonging in rural-coded fields.

Paper long abstract

In our project YouReACT, starting from democracy as everyday social reality that thrives on people feeling heard, involved, and connected, we analyze how young people in rural areas in Germany experience participation and belonging. Our fieldwork accentuates the fluid spacial and temporal boundaries of belonging policies: access to social spheres is being negotiated alongside origin, ethnicity, and ‘race’, with ‘newcomer’ status being ascribed even to multi-generational residents. Concentric hierarchical circles emerge which put long-established families at the center, followed by ‘autochton’ Germans and ‘resident foreigners’ – who remain pressured by adaptation expectations – and, at the margins, refugees, which are completely removed from community narratives, even though being physically present. Yet, young people of these different groups meet in third spaces, where boundaries are transcended, conflicts suspended, and solidarity, mutual learning as well as group cohesion beyond social strata are promoted. In our contribution we shed light on modes of inclusion vs. exclusion and polarization vs. community-building, showing how different categories of belonging intersect, through which everyday practices the social order of villages is stabilized and how it is subverted. We focus on cultural patterns of back-and-forth movement in the development of belonging and the (self-)localization of young people within rural-coded fields. How do different levels of belonging shape positions in the community and how do they constitute ‘otherness’ vs. nativeness? In which everyday situations do these distinctions take effect and in which are they overcome? Which conflicting social, spatial and temporal dimensions become significant in the negotiation of belonging?