Contested places: daily struggles to belong among disadvantaged youth in Latin America

In recent decades, the experience of the transition to adulthood has been radically transformed because of global changes in economic, cultural, and social terms. In this context, belonging has also become a less granted and fixed experience. This chapter is situated at the crossroads of these processes of social change affecting transitions and belonging. Focusing on Latin America, it explores the different ways in which young people from disadvantaged social backgrounds construct belonging in three different settings: school belonging, neighborhood belonging, and community belonging. The chapter concludes that youth belonging cannot be analysed without considering the profound inequalities that shape the ways and meanings of belonging. Young people are actively involved in its construction, navigating in this process social and subjective tensions that affect their wellbeing. The data comes from ethnographic studies carried out by the authors in Mexico, and the dialogue with other empirical studies conducted in other countries of the region.