Abject citizenship – rethinking exclusion and inclusion: participation, criminality and community at a small town youth centre

Abstract

This article discusses the complex and contradictory nature of ‘abject citizenship’ as it is experienced by teenagers from a small town youth centre. Lines between inclusion and exclusion are blurred by these resilient youth as they re-appropriate central and accepted spaces as well as marginalized spaces to destabilize the categories of insider and outsider. This snapshot ethnography demonstrates how these young disadvantaged citizens create uneasiness for those who enjoy full citizenship and turn experiences of rejection into experiences of empowerment and belonging for the abject.