Youth citizenship: An intersectional analysis

~ Mehret Biruk ~ 1 Comment

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Given the nature of citizenship, and it historical, social and political contentions, there remains a lack of consensus on what constitutes citizenship. The legal definition of citizenship defines the term as the position or status of being a citizen of a particular country, with elements such as a passport, or a national identity.

However, citizenship can also be conceptualized as a process that gives ways to relations of power and inequality within a given society that is “contingent upon the subordination of specific bonds of gender, race, class,” which shape the experience of the individual citizen. [1] In short, citizenship is the individual’s relationship with the wider society; it claims who belongs where, who has obligations, who benefits from rights, and who is entitled to services. [3]

Youth: “Citizens of Tomorrow, but Not Today”?

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Meaningful youth engagement: Multiple contexts, multiple realities, multiple approaches

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Meaningful youth engagement

“Meaningful youth engagement is an inclusive, intentional, mutually-respectful partnership between youth and adults whereby power is shared, respective contributions are valued, and young people’s ideas, perspectives, skills, and strengths are integrated into the design and delivery of programs, strategies, policies, funding.” – YouthPower Continue reading “Meaningful youth engagement: Multiple contexts, multiple realities, multiple approaches” →

Minimizing ‘the noise’: Why I deleted my LinkedIn account

~ Mehret Biruk ~ 2 Comments

What do you need to do when an online platform intended for professional networking and growing your career turns into a nuance to your everyday life?

You need to cut it.

My disdain for social media continues to grow more and more each day. I am completely, albeit a bit alarmingly, obsessed with the idea of living a social media free life. It is a personal revolution to opt out, to actively choose to check out from ‘the noise’ of online platforms and cultivate life on one’s own terms.

After deleting my Facebook account back in 2012, my Instagram and Snapchat in 2013, and my Twitter account in 2017, LinkedIn was my last standing social media account until very recently.

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Photo by Tracy Le Blanc on Pexels.com

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From tokenism to authentic youth involvement

~ Mehret Biruk ~ 1 Comment

Youth engagement has gained a lot of momentum in many fields that work closely with young people, including youth programs and services, youth organizations, schools, and other institutions working to help young people thrive. 

These organizations thrive to implement youth engagement practices that capture the voice of young people they serve. While it is important to recognize the importance of youth engagement, the issue of youth tokenism remains an important issue in the field of youth work. 

What is youth engagement?

Youth engagement is the practise of getting young people to participate in bettering their communities and the decisions that affect their lives. The recognition of young people as important resource for systemic improvement, and as active contributors to their communities, empowers young people to get involved in responsible and challenging actions to create positive social change.[1] Continue reading “From tokenism to authentic youth involvement” →

Meditations

~ Mehret Biruk ~ Leave a comment

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“At break of day, when you are reluctant to get up, have this thought ready to mind: ‘I am getting up for a man’s work. Do I still then resent it, if I’m going out to do what I was born for, the purpose for which I was brought into the world? Or was I created to wrap myself in blankets and keep warm?’ ‘But this is more pleasant.’ Were you born for pleasure— all for feeling, not for action? Can you not see plants, birds, ants, spiders, bees all doing their own work, each helping in their own way to order the world? And then you do not want to do the work of a human being— you do not want to hurry to the demands of your own nature.”

“… but there are many other qualities of which you cannot say, ‘but that’s not the way I am made’. So display those virtues which are wholly in your own power— integrity, dignity, hard work, self-denial, contentment, frugality, kindness, independence, simplicity, discretion, magnanimity. Do you not see how many virtues you can already display without any excuse of lack of talent or aptitude?”

— MARCUS AURELIUS