Abstract

This presentation explores how South African youth from poor, urban neighbourhoods learn about themselves and the society in which they live, in an informal space that comprised a youth radio show at Africa’s oldest community radio station. ‘Space’ is conceptualized not as a preexisting entity, but as something that is produced through social processes: in this case the production of the Youth Amplified space had profound implications for ‘how’, ‘what’ and ‘why’ young people engaged with learning in this context.

Youth from four diverse high schools in the Cape Town metropole (three of which are substantially under-resourced schools), took part in the project. The radio show was intended to 1) provide young people with opportunities to engage with materials- such as documentary films, newspaper articles, popular music and their own opinions and 2) comprise a research process which could illuminate how youth learn in this kind of space.

Themes that emerged from the actual live shows and off-air interactions included ‘race and inequality’, ‘the manner in which the institutional cultures of youths’ schools infiltrated the Youth Amplified space’ and ‘learning to play a role as a participant in talk radio without resorting to personal attacks on others’.

Implications of the research for youth identity formation, learning and other more formal learning spaces, such as the classroom, will be discussed.