Risk, discomfort and disruption: experiences of (im)mobilitiesin public spaces among Swedish youth racialised as non-white

• Mobility can be understood as both an everyday part of, and a normative imperative in, young people’s lives. It is also an unequally distributed resource. Based on interviews and focus groups with people in their teens, this article analyses how young people racialised as non-white experience (im)mobility in public spaces in Sweden. Drawing on Sarah Ahmed’s theorising, the article discusses how spaces are experienced in the racialised social-spatial order of Stockholm and Malmö. The analysis shows that the negative reactions of others, such as ‘looks’ and ‘comments’, in places perceived as white (Swedish) makes the young people feel unwelcome and disrupt their mobility. The young people’s experiences correspond to overall societal patterns of racialisation and segregation within these cities and Sweden as a whole. The analysis also shows that the young people express aversion towards visiting certain spaces or talk about complete withdrawal from spaces seen as risky. To analyse such responses of ‘being stopped’ we introduce the concepts of ‘socio-spatial reluctance’ and ‘socio-spatial withdrawal’. The article concludes that youth spatial mobilities must be understood as restricted by racialised structures, which affect not only where this category of young people feel safe to go but also what they can do.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Work (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Young people

public spaces

(im)mobility

racialisation

‘being stopped

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)