Violence, Borders, and Boundaries: Reframing Young People's Mobility

Abstract

This chapter discusses the notion of borders/boundaries in relation to young people’s mobility in different contexts, particularly as this relates to different types of violence. It is based first on the notion that how and where young people move and why and where they stop (i.e., their mobilities) are often related to violence in some way; second, that the relationship between violence and mobility is primarily enacted through borders and boundaries as these are put up, crossed, and negotiated; and third, that marginalized young people’s strategic mobilities may be best viewed as a complex balancing act of different kinds of harm. Using examples from the literature together with research by the author from Mexico and Central America, this chapter explores how young people’s geographies may be shaped by the interplay between violence, borders, and mobility, arguing that by continuing to study the lived complexities of young people’s lives in this way, more sense can be made of what it means to be in and move through these (violent) lifeworlds.