The ‘Problem’ of Youth 2012-13 - Participatory Action Research & Drama Workshops

An interrogation of contemporary representations of ‘youth’ in mainstream media and political discourse, and the effects of these representations on social policy interventions and the wellbeing of young people in Britain. The approach seeks to help participants develop a critical understanding of the way young people have been depicted in mainstream media, political and academic discourse. It aims to do this through encouraging a more authentic engagement with the topic, based on the participants' own lived experiences and reflections. This aim will be achieved by engaging them in techniques drawn from critical pedagogy and theatre performance applicable to student learning in relation to sociological problems – in our case, the ‘problem’ of youth.