Performing the global through the local—globalisation and individualisation in the spatial practices of young East Germans

Abstract

This paper aims to show how young people in former East Germany respond to the globalising processes that are part of the transformation of their society from a statesocialist to a capitalist one. It focuses particularly on the differential ways in which young people perform their identities as global/local subjects through the uses that they make of urban space. While emphasising the agency of young people, the paper seeks to examine the dialectic between globalising forces that are largely beyond their control and the negotiation of these forces in everyday practices of identity-formation. Conceptually, the paper draws particularly on the work of Beck (2000), Beck and Gernsheim (2002) and Giddens (1994) in order to conceptualise the connections between globalisation and individualisation, as well as on feminist and recent geographical work on performativity order to gain an embodied understanding of the ways in which individuals construct themselves as global/local subjects.

Understanding youth transition as ‘Becoming’: Identity, time and futurity

“…Geographers have also commented on how space is integral to young people's experience of transition, with Hörschelmann and Schäfer (2005) examining performances of the global/local in ur-ban space in Germany, and the Telling Young Lives (2008) collection of essays exploring how global changes interact with young peo-ple's lived experiences. The spatiality of everyday life is also an important focus, with Valentine (2003, p. 48) arguing that geogra-phers' unique perspective can develop work done in sociology by 'explor[ing] the importance of different life spaces and the inter-connections between them (e.g.…”

Ethnographies of postsocialist change

“…In research on post-socialist societies, this reluctance to engage with the work and methods of ethnographers has been even more pronounced. Although geographers have been amongst the most ardent critiques of "transitology" (Pickles and Smith, 1998;Pickles and Unwin, 2004;Bradshaw and Stenning, 2004;van Hoven, 2004;Hörschelmann 2002), few have engaged in a sustained way with existing ethnographic research or have adopted it as a methodological approach to study the economic, political, social and cultural changes associated with post-socialist transformation (but see Pickles 2001;Dunn, 2004;Boren, 2005;Hörschelmann and Schäfer, 2005;Smith and Stenning, forthcoming;Stenning 2005). This is particularly surprising given the quantity of work in ethnography and anthropology on post-socialist change in recent years (Hann, 2002;Berdahl et al, 2000;Bridger and Pine, 1998;Burawoy and Verdery, 1999).…”

Use of photography as a research method in sociology

“…Коришћена је у истраживањима различитих тема: дечјег искуства и перцепције различитих ин-ституционалних окружења -обданишта (Clark, 2004;Einarsdottir, 2005), школе (Schratz and Steiner-Loffler, 2006), ваншколских клубова (Smith and Barker, 2000), суседстваи простора игре (Burke, 2005;O'Brien, 2003;RasmussenandSmidt, 2003); перцепције урбаног (јавног) простора и свакодневних просторних пракси деце (Buss, 1995;Clark-Ibáñez, 2007;Orellana, 1999;Young and Barrett, 2001); утицаја процеса глобализације на формирање идентитета (Hörschelmann and Schäfer, 2005)перцепције друштвених мрежа и контаката у суседству (Morrow, 2001); или, на пример, перцепције места и физичких активности у циљу ана-лизе прекомерне тежине деце (Darbyshire, Macdougall, and Schiller, 2005). PEI секористикаојединаметода (Burke, 2005;Clark-Ibáñez, 2007;Einarsdottir, 2005;Orellana, 1999;Rasmussen and Smidt, 2003;Rasmussen, 2004;Schratz and SteinerLoffler, 2006;Smith and Barker, 2004)или у комбинацији са другим квалитатив-ним, писаним и/или визуелним (Clark, 2004;Darbyshire et al, 2005;Hörschelmann and Schäfer, 2005;. Morrow, 2001;Punch, 2004;Wells, 2002;Young and Barrett, 2001)или пак квантитативним методама (O'Brien, Jones, Sloan, and Rustin, 2000).…”