Social History Blog entry entitled "Special Journal Issue on ‘Youth and Internationalism in the Twentieth Century’"

Citation

Papadogiannis N & Laqua D (2023) Social History Blog entry entitled "Special Journal Issue on ‘Youth and Internationalism in the Twentieth Century’". [Blog post] 30.03.2023. https://socialhistoryblog.com/special-journal-issue-on-youth-and-internationalism-in-the-twentieth-century-by-daniel-laqua-and-nikolaos-papadogiannis/

Abstract
First paragraph: Our special issue explores the intricate relationship between youth, activism and internationalism in the twentieth century, covering a variety of national, international and global contexts. We focus on youth for several reasons. Firstly, young people were among the pioneers of several international initiatives. Their role in the global protests of 1968 is arguably the most famous example, yet – as the contributions to our journal issue show – there is a rich and diverse history of youth action in the international realm. Importantly, the phenomenon in question cannot be confined to protest. For instance, recent work has highlighted the political dimensions of youth mobility, as illustrated by Richard Ivan Jobs’s conceptualisation of travelling youth as ‘backpack ambassadors’.[1] Secondly, a variety of political leaders and organisations pinned their hopes on young people, launching a range of international ventures – from scholarship schemes to organisations – that were aimed at them. Such interest in the potential of young people reflected a broader phenomenon: in a variety of political imaginaries, youth was deemed crucial for building a future society. As Luisa Passerini has put it, it was also a ‘metaphor for social change’.[2] To feature the voices of young people involved in internationalist projects, our authors draw on a wide array of sources, encompassing travel accounts, memoirs, the records of youth organisations, films and much more.