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At the intersection of idealized youth and marginalized almost-adulthood: how girls negotiate young motherhood in London, Ontario

Hamilton, P; Lawson, E; Gaudet, C; Chisholm, J; Kaur, J; Abercromby, S; (2018) At the intersection of idealized youth and marginalized almost-adulthood: how girls negotiate young motherhood in London, Ontario. Journal of Youth Studies , 21 (9) pp. 1182-1197. 10.1080/13676261.2018.1451628. Green open access

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Abstract

This article discusses how young mothers in London, a mid-size city in Canada, utilize a drop-in centre service while attending an alternative programme to acquire secondary school credits. The central arguments made here are informed by key concepts in the field of girlhood studies. With its attention to the interconnections between gender, age, and generation as well as other aspects of social identity, girlhood studies provides crucial insight into the lived experiences of young mothers who straddle the space between girlhood and adulthood. We interpret the experiences of the young mothers who participated in this study in light of shifting meanings and expectations of girls and girlhood in the neoliberal era. Drawing on the concept of the ideal neoliberal girl subject embodied in the ‘can do’ and ‘at risk’ girl, this paper highlights the tensions in accessing a drop-in centre, which functions as both a site of security and surveillance, for a group of young mothers receiving social services. The findings revealed how girls who are mothers struggle to live in the present to assert a legitimate maternal identity even as they are prepared for the future through neoliberal public policies and other disciplinary practices.

Type: Article
Title: At the intersection of idealized youth and marginalized almost-adulthood: how girls negotiate young motherhood in London, Ontario
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1080/13676261.2018.1451628
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2018.1451628
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Young mothers, maternal subjectivity, drop-in centres, girlhood, girlhood studies
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10091281
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