The seminar “New Perspectives on Children’s Belonging” took place on June 6th, 2026 (08:30–10:00) at Litteraturhuset in Oslo. This event marked the conclusion of the four-year research project “Belong,” formally titled “Practices and Policies of Belonging Among Minority and Majority Children from Low-Income Families.” The project was funded by the Research Council of Norway.
The seminar also celebrated the launch of a new Norwegian-language anthology, published the same day by Cappelen Damm. The book, whose English-translated title would be “Children’s Belonging Among Human Beings and Things,” is intended for master’s students, researchers, and professionals working with children and youth.
Approximately 40 participants attended the seminar in person at Litteraturhuset and people also followed the event online.
The program began with a keynote by Professor Vanessa May (University of Manchester, UK), who spoke on the materiality of social life and its connection to belonging. This was followed by a presentation from Professor Allison Pugh (Johns Hopkins University, USA), who explored the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in children’s experiences of belonging. The work of both scholars has been central to the Belong project and is extensively cited in the new anthology—34 times for May and 57 times for Pugh.
The seminar concluded with an introduction to the anthology by Anita Borch (SIFO/OsloMet), project leader of Belong. This was followed by a “researcher relay,” where contributing authors presented the chapters they had written or co-written.
The anthology contains 11 chapters, loosely organized into three overlapping sections:
The role of materiality in belonging
Belonging across various social arenas
Professional experiences and reflections on children’s belonging
Often experiences of having a multicultural identity are based on adult memories of childhood rather than the direct experiences of children themselves. These are often memories of being caught between cultures, and feelings of losing a sense of belonging. There are challenges answering questions such as “where are you from”, and “who are you” where responses often rely on stable national identity categories. Popular culture can be a site to understand the nuances of interpersonal belongings, as well as the more complex politics of belonging. This becomes more visible when understandings of multicultural belonging can expand beyond stable identity categories.
‘Cross-Cultural Kids’ has been developed as a model by Van Reken & Bethel (2005) to encompass broader and more nuanced experiences associated with having a multicultural background, beyond ‘Third Culture Kid’. The term “Third Culture Kid” (TCK) originally emerged to describe children growing up between cultures due to their parents’ careers or migration. Often the emotional turmoil that comes with moving between cultures and the loss of a sense of belonging is associated with the experience of being a TCK.
Where the concept of ‘third culture kid’ relies on the notion of a stable identity developed in a ‘third’ space between cultures, the ‘cross-cultural kid’ emphasizes meaningful interaction with more than two distinct cultures. This allows for more fluid interpretations of identity which includes the experiences of migrants, children of migrants and multi-ethnic households that do not always fit neatly into pre-existing categories of multicultural belonging.
My doctoral research considers how cultural identity is negotiated by children with multicultural backgrounds, and the role popular culture plays in identity formation. Throughout my fieldwork, my own internalized narratives of migrant childhood emerged. To my surprise, when asking the research participants questions related to multicultural identity many of them were not framing their experiences as the struggle of being caught between worlds. Through this work I found that the dimensions of belonging intersect with two different definitions of popular culture in the experiences of the research participants.
credit: pexels | rdne
Defining Belonging and Popular Culture
Engagement with popular culture has been described as a key aspect for belonging, identity formation and building family connections for migrant children. Belonging is often described across two dimensions, the emotional and the political. The emotional dimension of belonging emphasizes feelings of intimacy, of being at home and is reflected in interpersonal connections. This can speak to a feeling of belonging with family, friends, peers or community. The political dimension of belonging speaks to the discourses and dominant narratives that construct or resist forms of social and spatial inclusion/exclusion. In my current research with children growing up with multicultural backgrounds, pop culture emerged as a site to not only facilitate family and peer connections but for examining tensions between cultural identity, citizenship and belonging as well.
There have been many different approaches to defining ‘popular culture’ but here I focus on two key definitions outlined by Stuart Hall (1981). The first is the commercial definition where popular culture is defined through the cultural artifacts which are considered to be popular due to mass consumption, including books, movies, music, toys etc. (446). An alternative definition of popular culture challenges the infantilization of consumers and audiences, instead viewing popular culture as a site where power dynamics between dominant culture and dominated classes (Hall, 1981, 447).
credit: pexels | cottonbro
Emotional Belonging and Consumption of Popular Media
Popular culture can facilitate this emotional belonging, particularly for young people meaningfully interacting with multiple distinct cultures. The enjoyment of commercial products by the masses has often been framed through the infantilization of audiences and consumers. I have found that alternatively the enjoyment of popular culture under this definition allowed participants to connect with their friends, parents, cultural heritage and siblings.
Within the digital age, spatial and temporal border become increasingly blurred, which manifests in what kind of media is consumed by young people. I observed participants on online platforms such as TikTok and asked them about their digital practices. One participant re-posted TikTok videos describing the experience of fasting for Ramadan while living as a young person in Norway. These videos were often light-hearted and humorous depictions of negotiating cultural expectations of peers and family with their own embodied experiences.
Another participant is a self-described ‘French-American’ who has lived in Norway since the age of 5. They described feeling connected to her parents and siblings when they watched the popular American sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-2024) as a family, which led to shared references and inside jokes. This same dynamic emerged with her closest friend at school in sharing memes on the google chat instant messaging platform to silently communicate with one another during class time. In attending an international school and having different cultural backgrounds, these memes of popular American television shows and movies were a point of connection across their cultural differences.
The Politics of Belonging and De-Constructing the Popular
Popular culture can be a site where traditional national narratives are both resisted and proliferated. In de-constructing popular culture, rather than an emphasis on cultural dynamics, the focus is on the relations between dominant class and the ‘other’ which defines popular culture through their power dynamics (Hall, 1981: 447). Post-national identity has been used as a framework to redefine what it means to belong to a nation, and represents identities formed in cultural grey zones where people belong to a culture based on diverse spaces of shared political principles (Anonsich, 2008).
Karpe emerged in my fieldwork across both dimensions of belonging as emotional and political. When asked to choose a cultural artifact that has made the most impact on them, one 12-year-old participant who describes themselves as Brazilian and Norwegian chose Karpe as their artifact. They used one of Karpe’s song titles as their username on Discord and proudly shared with me that they were in the top 0.0001% of the rap duo’s Spotify listeners. They discovered Karpe’s music through their mother, and during our interview stated that the biggest impact Karpe had on them was how their music communicated what it’s like to come from another country while living in Norway. They shared the significance of having the opportunity to travel to Oslo with their mother and cousin to watch Karpe perform live in concert.
Another participant, who is 15 and has parents who have immigrated from Pakistan, they shared with me that they don’t consume much music from Norway – except for Karpe. In our interview they expressed the sentiment that there can be judgment and racism towards foreigners from their peers, particularly Pakistani’s. They pointed out the discrepancy between this feeling of judgement towards foreigners but many of her peers naming Karpe as their favourite artist. In discussing the impact of Karpe on racism in Norway they stated,
“They have such a big influence on the racism in Norway, it’s insane. Because that’s what people listen to. Like, I went to an entire white school. Like, we had a school ball. Entire white school. They started blasting Karpe. It’s so funny to me because like sometimes they sing in like Urdu too.”
National-popular culture and tradition has been described as a battlefield (Hall, 1981, 451), but maybe for expressions of cross-cultural childhood identity popular culture can be both a point connection for emotional belonging as well as a site to engage with power dynamics of socio-cultural and political inclusion/exclusion. What does it mean for it to be both?
Cross-Cultural Childhood Belonging in the Digital Age
credit: pexels | cottonbro
credit: pexels | ron lach
The digitally enabled child (Livingstone & Third, 2017) is one who is growing up with access to global culture through digital media. This informs who they are not just through place or family, but through what they watch, remix, and share. The digital does not only symbolically or representationally inform a cross-cultural experience, but social shifts such as a rise in remote working facilitated by digital technologies may mean a larger demographic of young people with cross-cultural experiences.
These cross-cultural experiences of the digitally enabled child will not be informed by migrating between cultures, but rather meaningful interactions with cultures where geographic location is entangled with complex national identities, traditions, languages and cultural expressions. The emphasis is not in what happens in betweencultures, but what happens in the meeting – or the crossing of cultures. As seen with Karpe, popular culture can create spaces where people are able to cross cultures, to see what is possible at the site of this crossing and re-imagine a belonging which doesn’t require one to stabilize a fluid identity made up of a multiplicity of cultural differences.
Author’s bio
Amina Allyis a PhD Candidate specializing in childhood studies in the Department of Education and Lifelong Learning at NTNU, where she is a member of the Critical Child and Youth studies, and TransLit: Sustainable Ethics, Affects, and Pedagogies research groups. Her doctoral research examines how children with multicultural identities construct a sense of self, belonging and citizenship in a digitally mediated and globalizing world
Bibliography
Antonsich, M. (2008). The Narration of Europe in ‘National’ and ‘Post-national’ Terms: Gauging the Gap between Normative Discourses and People’s Views, European Journal of Social Theory 11 (4), 505-522.
Hall, S. (1981). People’s history and socialist theory, Notes on deconstructing ‘the Popular’. London: Taylor & Francis. 442-454.
Livingstone, S., & Third, A. (2017). Children and young people’s rights in the digital age: An emerging agenda. New Media & Society, 19(5), 657-670. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816686318 (Original work published 2017)
Saetre, J. (2022), Nationhood, identity and subcultures: A case study of the Norwegian rap duo Karpe, Global Hip Hop Studies 2(1), 55-73.
Van Reken, R., & Bethel, P. M. (2005). Third-culture kids: Prototypes for understanding other cross-cultural kids
End seminar and book launch with results from research project Belong – Practices and policies of belonging among minority and majority children of low-income families.
In this seminar, renowned sociologists Allison Pugh and Vanessa May will share insights about children’s sense of belonging focusing on the significance of AI and materiality in social life.
A new book about children and young people’s sense of belonging to people, places, and objects will also be launched.
Program
8:30-8:35 Welcome, by Anita Borch, SIFO
8:35-9:00 Belonging: An embodied, sensory and material experience of connection, by Vanessa May
9:00-9:25 Disrupted belonging? AI and the neoliberal child, by Allison Pugh
9:25-9:55 The book’s chapters – an overview, by the authors
9:55-10:00 Wrapping up, by Anita Borch
Vanessa May on the materiality of social life
In her talk, Vanessa May will revisit arguments presented in Connecting Self to Society (2013) about the significance of the embodied, sensory and material dimensions of belonging and bring these into conversation with recent empirical work.
She then discusses two theoretical approaches to the study of connectedness – Jennifer Mason on the potency of connections and Sophie Woodward on materiality as an inseparable part of relationships – and explore what light these can shed on the role of embodiment, the senses and material things in how people create a sense of belonging with the surrounding world.
Vanessa May is professor of sociology at the University of Manchester.
Allison Pugh on the significance of AI
Allison Pugh presents her lecture the following way:
“The burgeoning use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education and how it poses new challenges for children’s quest for belonging in social relations with their peers and communities. Based on research for my most recent book The Last Human Job, I will argue that the advent of AI in children’s spaces threatens to transform their belonging projects.
I will outline the social impact of the “personalization” of education, including the primacy of work, the individualization of education, and the rationalization of teaching and learning. I will also explore the implications of these effects for children’s belonging and outline questions for researchers grappling with this brave new world.”
Allison Pugh is professor of sociology at the Johns Hopkins University.
About the book
The new book provides vivid examples of how children create and experience belonging with peers, places, and objects. The first part of the book examines how material goods influence children’s social belonging, with examples such as food, clothing, and digital games. The second part looks at how belonging takes shape in different social arenas, from birthday parties and football fields to more challenging contexts such as criminal activity.
The third part approaches belonging from a professional perspective, offering insights from social workers, public health nurses, teachers, and other professionals who play a key role in children’s lives. This book is primarily aimed at master’s students, educators, and researchers in the field of children and youth, but it will also be relevant for professionals in politics and civil society.
Youth are increasingly living their lives on digital platforms, and gaming culture has become a significant part of the upbringing of children and teenagers in the Norwegian welfare state. Access to technological communication and digital arenas has become a natural part of growing up and is necessary for participating in social interactions with other children and young people.
Gaming is the most popular leisure activity among Norwegian children and teenagers (Medietilsynet 2022) and is described by the youth themselves as an arena free from adult-controlled activities (Moberg og Vogt 2022). In 2022, 92 percent of Norwegian boys and 59 percent of girls between the ages of 9-18 played video games. Gaming is more than just entertainment; it also offers opportunities for social interaction through platforms like Discord. Here, youth gather to play, chat, and share interests. This interplay between gaming and communication platforms like Discord forms what we can call the «gaming arena.»
credit: a-darmel | pexels
Inclusivity and Exclusion in Gaming
At first glance, gaming can be described as an inclusive activity since everyone starts with the same prerequisites and must follow the same rules. However, there are disparities outside of the games that can act as limiting and excluding factors for some players. Studies show that female gamers often face different expectations and reactions (often negative) compared to men (Arneberg og Hegna 2018). There are numerous stories in both media and research about girls who experience harassment while gaming.
Economy can also be a limiting factor for some youth, as gaming equipment can be expensive and inaccessible for certain groups. Ensuring that all children and young people have the same preconditions and opportunities to play video games is a public and social policy issue in an era where digitalization is becoming increasingly important, and gaming is increasingly seen as valuable competence by many employers. Youth clubs, community centers, and similar open meeting places for youth have the potential to create democratizing and inclusive arenas, with trustworthy adults, where digital and physical meeting places merge. These are the types of meeting places I will be investigating in this project.
a-darmel | pexels
In recent years, several public actors have used video games to connect with children and young people. Video games and E-sports have also become an important part of the offerings at Norwegian youth clubs, sports teams, and cultural schools. Since youth involvement, initiative, and desires are core values in Norwegian youth clubs, digital activities have increasingly become common at the clubs based on the youths’ own wishes.
In “Ungdom og fritids” strategy for 2023-2025, digital culture is one of four main goals – focusing on digital youth work that can bridge the gap between digital and physical offerings to recruit children and young people at risk of social exclusion. The basis for the «Digital Leisure for All» project is that youth clubs can help create a safer gaming environment by establishing their own gaming arenas with trusted youth workers. To better understand the potential of youth clubs in creating safe digital meeting places, we need to learn more about youth culture within the gaming arena and the youths’ own thoughts and reflections on both the positive and more problematic aspects of this arena. This knowledge can form the foundation for future social policies and method development in social work.
a-darmel | pexels
The Research Project
Therefor the overarching research question for this Ph.D. project is to «highlight the potential for gaming as an inclusion arena in youth.» This question will be explored by examining how young people understand, shape, and are shaped by gaming as a social arena within the framework of the Norwegian youth clubs.
The Ph.D. project is concretely linked to «Digital Leisure for All,» a development project by Ungdom og Fritid. In this project, five pilot youth clubs will test various methods for increased inclusion, better cohesion, and improved mental health for young gamers. Four of the pilot clubs offer physical activities at the clubs and digital activities on Discord, while one pilot club is entirely digital. The ambition is for digital youth work to bridge the gap between digital and physical offerings to recruit children and young people at risk of physical and digital exclusion.
Methodology
The Ph.D. project will be based on physical and digital fieldwork and interviews with young people. The goal is to better understand the youths’ digital communication, communities, and the challenges they face related to gaming culture. The data will shed light on how the youths’ relationship with gaming is shaped by various social factors, such as parental mediation and peer thoughts about the activity.
By delving into these aspects, the project aims to provide valuable insights that can inform future social policies and methods in social work, ultimately contributing to a safer and more inclusive digital upbringing for all children and young people.
a-darmel | pexels
Kilder
Arneberg, Edda J., og Kristinn Hegna. 2018. «Virtuelle grenseutfordringer». Norsk sosiologisk tidsskrift 2(3):259–74. doi: 10.18261/issn.2535-2512-2018-03-05.
Medietilsynet. 2022. «Spillfrelste tenåringsgutter og jenter som faller fra».
Moberg, Karolin Elisabeth, og Kristoffer Chelsom Vogt. 2022. «Gutters tidsbruk på dataspill og skolearbeid». Nordisk tidsskrift for ungdomsforskning 3(2):171–89. doi: 10.18261/ntu.3.2.3.
Author’s bio
Karolin Moberg is a Ph.D. candidate in social sciences at OsloMet. She is affiliated with the youth section at NOVA and conducts research on digital youth culture. In her doctoral project, she will examine the potential of video games as an arena for inclusion during adolescence, within the framework of Norwegian youth clubs.
Signe Beate Sveen Andresen leverte sin masteroppgave i helsevitenskap, studieretning helsesykepleie, våren 2024, med tittelen «Skoletilhørighet blant barn i familier med vedvarende lavinntekt.En kvalitativ intervjustudie av helsesykepleieres erfaringer fra skolehelsetjenesten i Oslo».
Studien er begrunnet i forskning som viser at det er en sammenheng mellom barns psykososiale helse, skoletilhørighet og gjennomføring av skolegang. Da barn i lavinntektsfamilier opplever mindre skoletilhørighet, kan helsesykepleieres arbeid med å styrke det psykososiale miljøet på skolen og barns opplevelse av skoletilhørighet bidra til å utjevne sosial ulikhet og forebygge at fattigdom går i arv. Likevel er helsesykepleiers arbeid med skoletilhørighet lite forsket på.
Oppgaven bygger på semistrukturerte intervjuer av åtte helsesykepleiere i skolehelsetjenesten på grunnskoler i Oslo. Dataene er analysert med Braun & Clarkes refleksive tematiske analyse og sett i lys av teori om helsesykepleiers helsefremmede arbeid i skolehelsetjensten, fattigdom i Norge og salutogenese.
Studien viser at informantene forstod skoletilhørighet som en del av barnas helhetlige situasjon der også andre faktorer utenfor skolen virker inn. Helsesykepleiere kan være en viktig aktør i arbeid med skoletilhørighet, der de gjennom støttesamtaler og en salutogen tilnærming kan fremme mestringstro og fremtidshåp. Samtidig er godt tverrfaglig samarbeid nødvendig, og helsesykepleierne ønsker mer tid og ressurser.
Hva vil det egentlig si å føle seg hjemme i en verden i stadig endring? Hvordan påvirker klær, mat og steder våre relasjoner – og vår følelse av tilhørighet? Til våren lanseres en ny bok basert på Belong-prosjektet som utforsker barn og unges komplekse opplevelser av tilhørighet. Gjennom levende eksempler viser boka hvordan mennesker, steder og materielle ting former følelsen av fellesskap og det å høre til. Fra skolegårdens dynamikk til digitale mediers innflytelse, illustrerer boka hvordan gjenstander, steder og sosiale bånd spiller en avgjørende rolle når barn og unge forhandler sin identitet og søker fellesskap.
credit: pexels | olia danile
Ulike forståelser av tilhørighetsbegrepet
Den kommende boka er en antologi, i den forstand at den bygger på selvstendige forskingsbidrag som på ulike måter studerer hvordan tilhørighet gjøres, oppleves og erfares blant barn og unge i Norge. Dette illustrerer ikke bare den empiriske bredden ved tilhørighetsstudier, men også hvordan ulike teoretiske bidrag søker å forstå hvordan tilhørighet kan begripeliggjøres og anvendes i forskningssammenheng. I boka viser vi hvordan begrepet har en lang tradisjon innenfor samfunnsvitenskapelige og humanistiske studier (Ögtem-Young, 2024), men også hvordan det har vært kritisert for å være vagt (Harris et al., 2021), underteoretisert (Antonsich, 2010), og beskrevet som selvinnlysende og selvforklarende (Allen & Ögtem-Young, 2020). Imidlertid er det mange bidrag som benytter begrepet for å illustrere hvordan tilhørighet kan forstås som et fundamentalt grunnleggende menneskelig behov. Mest kjent er kanskje Maslows behovspyramide, der opplevelser av tilhørighet utgjør ett av behovene i hans hierarkiske inndeling (Maslow, 1943, 1954). Felles for mye av tilhørighetsforskningen er at det nettopp springer ut av slike former for psykologisk motivasjonsteori (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). I boka viser vi også hvordan den mer samfunnsvitenskapelig orienterte forskningen er knyttet til ulike empiriske felt, som for eksempel studier av skoletilhørighet (Kuttner, 2023), kulturstudier (Pugh, 2009) og studier av praksiser og materialitet (Shove et al., 2012).
Den kommende boken er primært skrevet av samfunnsvitere og mange av bidragsyterne er forbruksforskere. Boka vil derfor være av særlig interesse for dem som er nysgjerrige på samspillet mellom det materielle og barn og unges tilhørighet til sine jevnaldrende. Denne innsikten er verdifull, fordi kunnskap om hvordan barn og unge opplever tilhørighet legger grunnlaget for å styrke deres trivsel, utvikling og aktive deltakelse i samfunnet. Slike perspektiv er også mangelfulle innenfor norsk samfunnsforskning.
credit: pexels | norma mortenson
Studier av barn og unges tilhørighet
Boka består av bidrag som studerer ulike sider ved barn og unges tilhørighet, med vekt på hvordan de opplever og bygger tilhørighet til sine jevnaldrende. På denne måten forsøker vi å samle ulike perspektiver på hvordan tilhørighet oppleves, gjøres og skapes blant barn og unge. De ulike bidragene viser hvordan tilhørighetsbegrepet er komplekst, og hvordan det kan belyses fra flere fagdisipliner og ved bruk av ulike metodiske tilnærminger. Forfatterne viser også hvordan tilhørighet kan forstås fra forskjellige teoretiske og praktiske ståsteder.
Bokens første del utforsker materiell kultur og hvordan forbruk påvirker opplevelser av tilhørighet. Her diskuteres for eksempel hvordan barn og unge benytter klær, mat og digitale produkter for å uttrykke fellesskap og tilhørighet til sosiale grupper. Klær og matpraksiser, samt kjøp av digitale elementer som «lootbokser», undersøkes som måter å etablere og opprettholde sosiale bånd på.
Videre fokuserer boken på hvordan steder, områder og ritualer påvirker opplevelser av tilhørighet. Organiserte aktiviteter, som fotballklubber, bidrar til å bygge identitet og fellesskap, mens ritualer som bursdagsfeiringer gir en arena for sosial tilhørighet. Samtidig viser bidragene hvordan slike ritualer kan ha en ekskluderende effekt når økonomiske forskjeller setter grenser for deltakelse. En egen del drøfter tilhørighetens skyggeside, der ungdomskriminalitet tolkes som en alternativ vei til fellesskap gjennom tilknytning til bestemte mennesker, steder og objekter.
De avsluttende kapitlene undersøker tilhørighet fra profesjonsperspektiver som er viktige for barn og unge. Sosialfaglige tilnærminger, helsesykepleierens rolle i skolen og lærerperspektiver diskuteres som profesjonelle innfallsvinkler til å fremme barns tilhørighet. Samlet gir boka en oppdatert innsikt i hva tilhørighet innebærer, hvordan det oppleves av norske barn og unge i dag, og hvordan ulike profesjoner kan spille en rolle i å fremme tilhørighet.
credit: pexels | a darmel
«Barns tilhørighet blant mennesker og ting» utgis til våren på Cappelen Damm Akademisk. Redaktørene er Anita Borch og Ola Røed Bilgrei. Øvrige bidragsytere er forskere og tidligere masterstudenter tilknyttet OsloMet – Storbyuniversitetet.
Litteratur
Allen, C., & Ögtem-Young, Ö. (2020). Brexit, Birmingham, belonging and home: the experience of secondary migrant Somali families and the dirty work of boundary maintenance. Safer Communities, 19(2), 49-59.
Antonsich, M. (2010). Searching for Belonging – An Analytical Framework. Geography compass, 4(6), 644-659.
Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 11, 497-529.
Harris, A., Cuervo, H., & Wyn, J. (2021). Thinking about Belonging in Youth Studies. Springer.
Kuttner, P. J. (2023). The Right to Belong in School: A Critical, Transdisciplinary Conceptualization of School Belonging. AERA Open, 9(1), 1-12.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-396.
Maslow, A. H. (1954). Motivation and personality. Harper.
Pugh, A. J. (2009). Longing and Belonging: Parents, Children and Consumer Culture. University of California Press.
Shove, E., Watson, M., & Pantzar, M. (2012). The dynamics of social practice: Everyday life and how it changes. Sage Publications.
Ögtem-Young, Ö. (2024). Belonging-assemblage: experiences of unaccompanied young people seeking asylum in the UK. Sociology, 58(3), 641-658.
Young people live in a world characterised by multiple crises and global emergencies in which a sense of belonging is increasingly difficult to achieve. Younger generations have experienced extreme levels of uncertainty in the context of the Global Financial Crisis and during the Covid-19 crisis. In addition, the digitalisation of young people’s everyday lives and new forms of communication have intensified the complexity that they have to deal with. In this context, the research project LOCUS “sociaL media, yOuth and Consumption of cUltural Spaces” (funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation, Greece) explores the role of cultural spaces in youth experiences and in the ways, young people come to belong to the society in which they live.
credit: pexels | weija ma
Belonging in the consumer society
It is within the consumer society that young people construct their identities in relation to their needs for distinguishing themselves among peers as well as belonging in groups. According to Featherstone (1991), it is the consumer culture that has played a great role in the transition to a way of life in which consumer choices are increasingly fluid and predetermined status groups are less significant. It could be argued that this point is linked with Maffesoli’s (1996) notion of neo-tribes. In this sense, young people’s self-identification consumer-related choices affect their ephemeral but meaningful membership to various groups. However, Bauman’s (1992) position is more critical in relation to neo-tribes as a source of collective belonging. In this way, young people are responsible for themselves as individuals and they have to manage the “sources of the market” accordingly in order to navigate in contemporary societies. From a different perspective, Warde (1994), suggests that group membership affects the selection of lifestyles as well as that belonging comes before identity formation. What is important here is that in their quest for belonging, young people are not only engaged in consuming products but also through the spaces and places of consumption.
credit: pexels | cottonbro
Space, place and the sense of belonging
It could be argued that mobility, digitalisation and globalisation have altered significantly the ways young people experience both temporal and spatial changes. Perhaps consumption has gained such importance in the contemporary ways of living in the city, so that young people are somehow engaged in a process of maximising the benefits from their urban experiences as a sense of affirmation. Urban spaces and the opportunities to consume might offer young people a spatial experience that they aspire to engage with. However, the role of consumption could be contested. It might be that spaces of consumption can intensify social divisions and uncover aspects of social exclusion within the city. The satisfactions that consumption provides are a fundamental element of young people’s relationship to spaces and places. This is something that I consider also really important in the context of the LOCUS project. In this work, we try to understand the role of consumption in relation to youth experiences (especially cultural experiences) in the city. In this way, I think it’s crucial to focus on the socio-cultural processes of how young people choose what to engage with and consume. In LOCUS, we are interested in cultural spaces in Greece and the ways young people interact and engage with such sites.
credit: pexels | cottonbro
Cultural spaces and youth experiences of belonging
Steven Miles (2021) points out the importance of understanding cultural spaces as crucial socio-economic entities in our contemporary societies as well as the effects of wider alterations around culture; cultural spaces are the contemporary sites in which performances of the experience society unfold. In the context of the research project, we began by focusing on three cultural spaces in Greece: the Onassis Stegi, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center and the Acropolis Museum. Our intention was to understand how young people consume such places, in what ways the feel they belong and how they construct their identities. In this multi-method project, young people during the photo-elicitation interviews expressed their views and feelings about their cultural experiences. It was really interesting that they highlighted how they enjoy being in such places due to the common interests with other people. For our young participants, visiting the specific places made them feel more relaxed, provide them with a safe environment and functioned as a source of inspiration. However, we need to be critical and take into account what Bourdieu and Darbel (1991: 112) argue about cultural sites; cultural spaces “reinforce for some the feeling of belonging and for others the feeling of exclusion”. Young people who possess the necessary cultural and socio-economic capital, through cultural consumption, might be able to benefit socially and culturally. At the same time, we need to question what this means for young people who are socially and culturally excluded and the impact of this lack of sense of belonging in relation to such cultural spaces in their lives.
Bio
Kostas Theodoridis is a Postdoctoral Fellow and Principal Investigator of the research project LOCUS in the Department of Communication, Media and Culture at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He completed his PhD in the Department of Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Funding note
The research project was supported by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.) under the “3rd Call for H.F.R.I. Research Projects to support Post-Doctoral Researchers” (Project Number: 7767).
References
Bauman, Z. (1992). Intimations of Postmodernity. London: Routledge.
Bourdieu, P. and Darbel, A. (1991). The Love of Art: European Art Museums and their Public. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Featherstone, M. (1991). Postmodernism and Consumer Culture. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Maffesoli, M. (1996). The Time of Tribes: The Decline of Individualism in Mass Society. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Miles, S. (2021). The Experience Society: Consumer Capitalism Rebooted. London: Pluto Press.
At religion kunne fungere som lim i samfunnet, altså som noe som skapte fellesskap og tilhørighet, var noe de aller tidligste samfunnsforskerne la merke til. Likevel dabbet interessen for religion i samfunnsforskningen gradvis ut. Årsakene til det er sammensatt, men en grunn var forestillingen om at religion som fenomen ville forsvinne. Og noe rett fikk de i dette, for i den europeiske konteksten ble religion stadig mindre viktig, både på individnivå og på samfunnsnivå.
Men religion forsvant ikke. I etterdønningene av sekulariseringa fikk religion isteden nye uttrykksformer, religion ble viktig på andre måter og på andre arenaer enn tidligere. Uansett begynte nå religion sin ferd under radaren for mange samfunnsforskere. Noe som har revitalisert interessen for religion i vår tid er økt globalisering og migrasjon, ofte med den sideeffekten at religion er noe «de andre» har. De som forsker på religion og samfunn i dag studerer fenomenet både i institusjonaliserte settinger, som for eksempel i moskeer og kirker, men også utenfor slike arenaer, som i populærkultur og i folks hverdagsliv.
credit: pexels | bianca gasparoto
I motsetning til de første pionerne innen sosiologi og antropologi, har man fått øynene opp for at religion like gjerne fungerer polariserende og segregerende som integrerende og fellesskapsbyggende. Når det er sagt, øker interessen igjen for å utforske religionens sammenbindende kapasitet. Dette gjenspeiles i fengende ordspill i religionssosiologisk litteratur der ordene «believing» og «belonging» settes sammen på ulike måter. Grace Davie begynte med uttrykket believing without belonging. Hun mente at dette var en god beskrivelse av situasjonen i Storbritannia, der man gjerne kunne tro på noe, men uten å koble seg på de store religiøse institusjonene.
Religionssosiologiske kollegaer i Skandinavia syntes derimot at dette ikke var betegnende for skandinaviske forhold. Majoriteten i disse landene var jo medlemmer i de daværende statskirkene, tross sine ganske sekulære oppfatninger om tilværelsen. De foreslo dermed at belonging without believing var en passende beskrivelse av religionens funksjon i Skandinavia. Religionen tilbyr da et fellesskap man kan høre til i, uten at tro eller religiøs praksis er nødvendige inngangsbilletter. Så gjorde religionssosiologen Abby Day en stor kvalitativ undersøkelse i Storbritannia. Det resulterte i en bok hun kalte Believing in Belonging (2011). Der argumenteres det for at tro for mange i dag er en tro på tilhørighet. Day henter fram igjen en del av de aller tidligste sosiologiske forestillingene når tro kobles så tett til hvordan folk hører til hverandre. Hun forteller at det er i de sosiale fellesskapene folk finner mening, glede, moral og tilhørighet, ting som ofte ellers blir tilskrevet «religion». Samlet sett viser disse ordspillene i litteraturen at koblingen mellom religion (believing) og tilhørighet (belonging) skjer på ulike måter ulike steder.
credit: pexels | gabby k
I min egen forskning er jeg opptatt av dynamikker mellom ungdom, religion og tilhørighet. En av de tingene jeg fant ut i doktorgraden min (om unge hindutamiler på Nordvestlandet) var at mange går glipp av å se hvordan religion er viktig for disse ungdommene. Religion praktiseres gjerne privat eller i rom ikke-hinduer sjelden befinner seg i. Det er ofte fordi ungdommene har oppfattet at nordmenn generelt ikke har så veldig sansen for synlig og offentlig uttrykt religion. Så for å opprettholde sin tilhørighet til det norske ungdomsmiljøet tones religiøsitet ned. Ungdommene forteller at de nok ikke er mer religiøse enn nordmenn flest, men at det å delta i de religiøse praksisene, som er sammenflettet med tamilsk kultur og språk, skaper en tilhørighet til det tamilske miljøet som er viktig for dem. Så både det å delta i og det å tone ned religiøs praksis bidrar til å skape tilhørighet til grupper som er viktige for disse ungdommene.
Noe jeg har skrevet om i det siste er buddhistisk konfirmasjon. Dette er et tilbud som har oppstått i Norge fordi mange ungdommer i denne tradisjonen har ønsket seg en buddhistisk versjon av et ritual med stor oppslutning i Norge. Buddhistisk konfirmasjon skaper en etterlengtet tilhørighet for mange ungdommer som har savnet venner som deler en buddhistisk livsoppfatning. Å etablere buddhistisk konfirmasjon handler også om en tilhørighet til det norske samfunnet. For ved å konfirmere seg buddhistisk, er man med på noe tilsvarende som rundt 75% av andre ungdommer på samme alder gjør i Norge.
Akkurat nå forsker jeg også på festen ETTER konfirmasjonen. Denne festen ser ut til å være ganske lik, uavhengig av hva slags livssyn eller religion man konfirmerer seg innenfor. Festen bygger opp om og viser fram konfirmantenes identitet, men det er også mye ved disse festene som styrker og synliggjør tilhørighet til familien. Konfirmasjonsfesten er nærmest en konfirmering av tilhørighet (belonging) til familien, ala Abby Day (2011). Jeg analyserer hvordan denne tilhørigheten uttrykkes gjennom pynting, taler og kakeutveksling. Om du skulle være interessert, så er det bare å følge med, for det kommer snart artikler basert på denne empirien!
Jeg er også med i et forskningsprosjekt som heter FAITHED. Der er vi blant annet er opptatt av trosopplæringa unge katolikker og unge muslimer deltar i. I likhet med konfirmasjonsopplæringa som skjer i regi av Den norske Kirke (Høeg 2017) er sosiale fellesskap og tilhørighet sentrale gevinster for de ungdommene som går på moskeskolen eller til katekesen, I tillegg opparbeider de seg en hel del andre kompetanser ved å delta disse stedene (Ta gjerne en kikk på nettsida til prosjektet og de publikasjonene vi allerede har gitt ut, en publikasjonsliste som vil bli lengre i løpet av 2025)
For å oppsummere vil jeg si at religion er en interessant og viktig inngangsportal for å forstå mer om ungdom og tilhørighet. Selv har jeg forsket på ungdom, religion og tilhørighet i organisasjoner som templer, kirker og moskeer. Det har jeg gjort vel vitende om at dette absolutt ikke er de eneste stedene religion finnes og uttrykkes og skaper tilhørighet. Forskning viser at religiøsitet like gjerne kommer til uttrykk når folk steller med hagen sin, sitter i pendlerkø eller går tur på fjellet.
Om Hildegunn Valen Kleive
Hildegunn Valen Kleive er førsteamanuensis i religion og livssyn ved Høgskulen i Volda. Hun forsker i skjæringsfeltet mellom religion, ungdom og samfunn. Hun er særlig opptatt av hvordan religion finner uttrykk i folks hverdagsliv og blant ungdommer som har bakgrunn i det som i Norge er minoritetsreligioner. Mye av undervisningen hennes skjer i ulike lærerutdanninger, dermed er også forholdet religion, skole og samfunn noe Hildegunn engasjerer seg i.
Litteratur
Day, A.(2011) Believing i belonging: Belief and social identity in the modern world. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Høeg, Ida Marie. «Engasjert ungdom? Konfirmanter i Den norsk kirkes bidrag til sivilsamfunnet.» Religion og ungdom, redigert av Ida Marie Høeg, 157-178. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2017
Kleive, H. V. (2019). Not that religious. A study of young Tamil Religiosity in North – Western Norway . Phd thesis.
Kleive, H. V., Horsfjord, V. (2023). Islamskoler i Norge: Om virkelighet og idealer. Prismet; Volum 74.(4) s. 293-311
Kleive, H, V. (2022) Buddhistiske konfirmanter. Kirke og Kultur, Volum 127 (3), s. 245-261
Kleive, H, V. (2022). Buddhistisk konfirmasjon. I: Møter og mangfold: Religion og kultur i historie, samtid og skole. Cappelen Damm Akademisk 2022 ISBN 978-82-02-75389-4. s. 109-128
In this blog I will address the phenomenon of social classification, here related to experience-near ethnic and racial categories among 12-year-old children in a suburb in eastern Oslo. This suburb has a majority population of families from non-western countries. In Norway as a whole, people from non-western countries are often categorized as foreigners both by themselves and others, as opposed to ethnic Norwegians, or just Norwegians. One boy expressed this well: “I don’t say I am Norwegian, mostly (name of parents’ country of origin). I don’t have any Norwegian blood in me, so I don’t understand why you (ethnic Norwegians) say I am “Norwegian”. I have a Norwegian passport, but”…….He looked upon himself as a foreigner like all the other children of non-western origin. The category foreigner includes only people from various non-western countries with different shades of coloured skin, and the people included in the category appear to experience belonging through this classification. This might be due to previous experiences with racism leading to their “othering” , which they appropriated and made a form of in their identity construction
credit: pexels | aleksandar069
In a study from 2023, in and around a football club in that suburb, I interviewed 14 boys and five girls, mostly about their football activity and other leisure activities. I also wanted to know about peer culture and friendship networks, and if racism and discrimination were existent issues. I entered these themes by asking the question: “Which words do you use when you are quarreling or fighting?” The answer from a conversation with three boys, two of them having African origin and the third Asian, brought forth the dynamic character of the social construction of ethnic/racial categories, which I will illustrate below.
credit: pexels | rdne
The boys told me that when quarreling and fighting, racist words were often used, such as the n-word or blackie (svarting), which indicates a possible hierarchy between the countries of origin. Earlier research shows that ranking in hierarchies put light skin on top, that is, the lighter the skin the better, which is also referred to as ‘colourism’ or ‘shadeism’. We were talking about which words and utterances they felt most humiliating when arguing and fighting, and it was motherfucker and the n-word which came out as the worst. However, it came forth that it was contextual whether the n-word was experienced as racist or not. They explained that if two havingorigin from African countries were close friends, they could call each other “negro” without it being racist, then it was only another way of saying “mate”, “friend”. But if a “white” person called them negro, the meaning being black slave, that was really racist. In this area people of Pakistani origin were in majority among the ‘foreigners’, and interestingly, the boys I interviewed defined Pakistanis as “white”:
Boy: Shall I tell you what we understand by ‘white’ person? It is not such ‘Norwegian person’, it is not them we understand here as ‘white’, but all those with white skin colour: Iraqis, Egyptians, Moroccans, Pakistani, all such persons who are white, they haven’t got the right to use the n-word.
Mari: But Pakistanis, are they “white” then?
Boy: They do not have the right (to use the n-word). They are not black.
credit: pexels | cottonbro
So, what he is saying, is first, that only people racialized as black, that is mostly those having origin from African countries (but not North African) are justified to use the n-word:
Because we were harassed about it and we can use it because it is something (slavery) that has happened to us, but if you say it, it is a word that denotes nothing that has happened to you, so if you for instance call me negro, it means “black slave”, but if I say this to Moa (the other black boy in the interview), it means “friend”, “mate” only.
In other words, the n-word is understood to belong to people racialized as black, and if all others use it on them, the word is understood as racist. And secondly, what he is implying is that their understanding of white is contextual, or has changed, as those they define as white in this context also are understood as brown in other contexts, and definitely five-ten years ago. The phenomenon may point to a change in categorizations, so that we are in the process of having two categories, white and black, white being more inclusive than before. So, if white becomes more inclusive, the category foreigner may become narrower, to include only people with very dark skin. In other words, the utterance above about who is white suggests that the categories of Norwegian and foreigner also may change with changing contexts. Most interestingly, the utterance is an utmost example of how racial categories are socially constructed and suggests that changes may be motivated by the wish to belong in changing or new social contexts.
I 2022 skrev jeg et innlegg på denne bloggen med tittel «Viktigheten av tingens skjulte betydning», der jeg, i lys av Allison Pughs begrep ‘economy of dignity’, konkluderte med at «de unge selv vet hva ting «betyr», hva det er viktig å ha og ikke ha for å oppleve tilhørighet. Vi voksne må forstå viktigheten av dette, selv om vi kan synes det både er trist og teit. Ting har koder, «skjulte» betydninger, og det er dem vi som forskere kan prøve å avdekke.»
credit: pexels | kampus
I dette innlegget skal jeg avdekke noe som kom fram i en ny studie blant 13-årige gutter og jenter rundt en fotball klubb på et sted i Oslo øst. Jeg snakket med barna om fotballutstyr og klær, både på og utenfor banen. Deres kompetanse på hva «ting betyr» viste seg i en fascinerende kompetanse på skillet mellom «ekte» og «fake» merkeklær. Utbredelsen av denne kompetansen har ikke vært synlig i tidligere feltarbeid, for eksempel i 2010 på samme sted, noe som får meg til å tro at eksistensen av fake merkeklær har økt de siste ti år, selv om merkeklær også da hadde høy status. Merkeklær får du bare i spesialbutikker, ikke i kjeder som H&M, Cubus eller Lindex.
credit: pexels | omar ramadan
Ifølge Akkan har stort salg og stor fortjeneste på visse produkter og merker ført til at piratkopiering av merkeklær har blitt vanlig, særlig i Asia. I flere land har ulovlig kopiering av andres design ført til en betydelig svart økonomi utenfor offentlig kontroll, og som knyttes til både trafficking og narkotikasalg. Det betyr at «fake» merker på klær i Norge er importert fra utlandet, fordi det er forbudt å produsere og selge dem i Norge (Akkan, 2024). Dette gjør det interessant at fake merkeklær virker så utbredt blant unge i Oslo øst fordi det betyr at disse klærne er kjøpt utenlands via nett eller på reiser. En god illustrasjon på en gutts opptatthet av merkeklær ble synlig da han kom for å se på en fotballkamp. Han hadde merkeklær fra topp til tå: fra lua, via en genser, til en baggy shorts til sokker og sandaler. Og en liten Gucci veske på skrå over skulderen, slik guttene på bildet viser. Jeg kunne selvsagt ikke se om denne gutten hadde ekte eller fake merker, jeg er ikke kompetent. Men den følgende samtalen viser tre andre gutters kompetanse på feltet:
Mari: Er det merkeklær som er de kuleste klærne? Mo: Hm, det er dem folk liker mest….så for eksempel Adidas, Nike, Jordans, Hugo Boss, Luis Vuitton, Puma, de topp tre er Nike, Adidas og Puma. Men akkurat for tiden er det som ungdommer liker mest Nike, Adidas og Jordans. Hamza: Vuitton også, og Adidas, jeg elsker Adidas. Bilal: Og mange har på seg Gucci bagger og chap stars (?) og sånn…..og Moncler.. men det er ikke så vanlig for det er så dyrt. Mo: Ja, det er så dyrt…. Det er ikke så mange som kjøper 2000 – 3000 kroners skjorter og bukser liksom….det er litt drøyt….Det som er billigst og finest, det er H&M og Cubus det…. Mari: Ja, riktig. Og så er det sånne fake merker…. Mo: Sånn som for eksempel H & M og Cubus,… Mari: Men de er ikke fake….. Mo: Nei, de er ikke fake men de er ikke ekte…. Hamza: Man blir mobba hvis… Mari: Blir mobba hvis man går med det? Hamza: Folk ler av deg og sånn. Mo: For eksempel denne her, det skulle være Adidas med to striper, men det skal være tre… Hamza: Ha ha, du har den også, du har den i blå…. Mo: Det betyr ikke at den er fake, den er bare laget på en annen måte…. Hamza: Det er bare en kopi av Adidas.. Mari: Jeg har snakket med flere og det er ganske kult med fake merkeklær også, er det ikke det? Mo: Hvis ingen ser det, liksom, for eksempel hvis det er Jordans, mesteparten er Jordans, det er ‘reps’ og sånne ting….det er kopiering der det er gjort noen justeringer, som har gjort at de har blitt billigere. Man kan se om det er fake, men hvis man ikke ser det, er de bare sånne normale kule som ingen bryr seg om. Det er sånn med Jordans sko for eksempel, hvis det er stor forskjell, hvis det ‘Jump man’ som står opp ned, da er det stor forskjell og folk vil mobbe deg og plage deg hele livet ditt og du vil angre på at du kjøpte dem. Men hvis det bare er små forskjell, da vil ingen tenke på det. Hamza: Og fake klær har dårlig kvalitet….. Mo: Så de kan bli ødelagt kjappere… Mari: Men fake klær har dårligere kvalitet, sier du. Men er det bedre å ha fake merkeklær enn å kjøpe klær på H &M eller Cubus? Hamza: Ja, jeg vil heller ha fake merkeklær…
Det som kommer fram her, er altså en kompetanse i merker på klær og hva som er ekte og ikke-ekte, noe som bidrar til fellesskap og tilhørighet i jevnaldergruppen. Betydningen av å ha de riktige klærne og sko vises også, i det at dersom det oppdages at noen har «feil» sko eller klær, «folk vil mobbe deg og plage deg hele livet ditt og du vil angre på at du kjøpte dem. Men hvis det bare er små forskjell, da vil ingen tenke på det», slik Mo uttalte over.
creidt: pexels | pixabay
Jentene jeg snakket med sa de var opptatt av klær, at Nike var et kult merke, «det er Nike som er greia», og en hadde Nike genser på under intervjuet. De sa de var opptatt av merkeklær, «for det er mange som har på merkeklær og hvis man ikke har på det så er man ikke kul». En jente i samme intervju fortsetter:
Lisa: En annen venn av oss, hun hadde sånn derre nye sko, og alle guttene kom for å se om de var ekte eller ikke, og hun begynte å føle seg ukomfortabel… Mari: Føler dere et press på å ha riktig sko, da eller? To i munnen på hverandre: Jeg bryr meg ikke så mye….. Lisa: Ikke jeg heller, men det er irriterende når de sier det er fake, fake, fake…..
credit: pexels | melvin buezo
For en godt voksen forskers blikk, er det nærmest umulig å skille ekte fra fake merkeklær, og i hvert fall ikke nyansene med «reps» og perfekt kopiering. Det kommer godt fram at det å ha «riktige» klær er viktig for opplevelse av inkludering, og at både merkeklær og kompetanse om disse og fake klær, kan sies å være inkludert i barnas economy of dignity på dette stedet.
Spørsmålet jeg stiller meg etter disse intervjuene, er om unge på Oslo vest deler denne kompetansen om ekte, reps og fake merkeklær? Kanskje neste innlegg i denne bloggen handler om det.
Referanse:
Akkan, I.B. (2024). Slik avslører Fretex falske merkeklær. https://www.nrk.no/norge/fretex_-metoder-for-a-identifisere-og-handtere-falske-merkevarer-1.16961740
