– interpreting the city: visions, skills and creativity +++ Sisimiut/Greenland; CIRCUMPOLAR, Inuit, culture, rhythm & everyday life, moments & situations, situations in a moment ...
KNR - GREENLAND NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY has (re)launched a YOUTH CHANNEL 1st episode -Arctic Spirits is the new rock band from Qeqertarsuaq Greenland... (greenlandic vers.) http://www.knr.gl/index.php?id=4756
Premiere: Dec 2008 - SISIMIUT Produced by: ItsumarloParlo Starring: Henrik H Jeremiassen, Nukaaka Berthelsen, Arne Hansen, Jacob Barselajsen & Ujarneq Fleischer Plot: community, friendship ...
Discovering the beauty of teenagers by John Hasyn YES! Online: For Teachers & Students
"The first line of the chorus from the song “Teenagers” by the band My Chemical Romance is, “Teenagers scare the living sh*t out of me.”
For most of my adult life, this could have been my mantra. Quite frankly, I found teenage coolness intimidating and always dreaded or avoided interacting with them. I’m also of an age where I can barely remember the details of own adolescence.
Today, I actually really want to be around young people. That’s been a big change for me. I’ve learned I can connect with a teenager. I never thought that would be possible until I discovered Nunavut.
I first visited the region in 2006 in search of something good. Ever since Nunavut became a part of Canada just under a decade ago, there were reports only of its socio-economic failures. Generally, when I only see bad, I know there is something good just around the corner. It didn’t take me long to find it................."
Friday, October the 10th I'll be participating in a poster competition of Univ. of Copenhagen, Faculty of Humanities. The poster is in Danish 70x100cm.
Content: about "Youth & the City: investigating urban youth culture in Sisimiut, Greenland - visions, skills and creativity." - backgorund - collected data - methods applyed - topic relevant statistics Text, layout, images by Jakub Christensen Medonos (2008) & John Doe (2004).
Consisting of 23 short stories, this book gives a picture of what it is like to be young and to be student at the High School in Nuuk. The stories are printed in the language in which they have been written. None of them are translated.
8 Greenlandic 4 Danish 11 English
Go out and buy it! You'll find out why "Victory tastes like Prince Cookies"...............
Published in 2008 by Eskimoslottet, Nuuk. Box 1067, 3900 Nuuk. Contact: ll@gu-nuuk.gl
Not particularly a post concerning youth although the image sets the stage (what?#¤*^**). I was asked to contribute with SK8 images for the IWGIA publication: "UTIMUT - Past Heritage - Future Partnerships. Discussions on Repatriation in the 21th Century" by Mille Gabriel and Jens Dahl (2008) (eds.) . One of them made it on the backcover.
”There can be no city without centrality, no urbanity without a dynamic core, without a vibrant, open public forum full of lived moments and ”enchanting” encounters, disengaged from exchange value” (A. Merrifield 2006:71 [on the French phylosopher H. Lefebvre]).
Youth and youth culture play an important role here.
Based on my research: "Youth and the City - investigating urban youth culture in Sisimiut, Greenland: visions, skills & creativity", I apply following hypothesis inspired by Lefebvre's conceptualisation of "The Right to the City":
1. Urbanity – manifestation of the right to the city 2. Youth accentuate important aspects of urban self-reflection 3. Manifestation of the right to the city takes place in both institutional and non-institutional spaces.
Elements. It’s all about elements. Different elements. The board, the place, the clothe you wear. Lifestyle. It’s about the body, kicking the board and kicking it right. It’s about light and motion. To capture that motion. Not about gender not about age. Dedication and timing instead. A rage of concentration in exercise. Permission and payback in DVD’s sent back. Regrets in not having the skills to capture the strength and concentration. Regrets. In not succeeding on selected tricks. The light, focus and the wind. Fix points in an evening of coincidence, curiosity and participation. That’s what it’s about –space, lived space. It takes about five minutes to find out who they are. Confrontation. The elements are either there, in their right place, or they pass by you like fright train tuned into the rhythm. Skate tracks. This is it. A selection of moments from two and a half hour of amazement and not so amazing at all. Feet. Look what they’re capable of. Why and when? Control stands against the flow. Practice by minutes and seconds.
Visit the ALIANAIT website for more info: "...It all began one spring day when Alianait President Heather Daley looked out of her office window at the big, grey, ugly wall across the street: “We have to do something about that wall!” Two local artists happened to be in her office at the time and presto! The Alianait mural was born. The mural was........ "(http://www.alianait.ca/mural_2007.html).
... beencollecting graffiti from theArcticsinceyear 2000. Alwayswonderingwhythereisn'tanynativemotives in those tags, peaces, stencils, street arts etc. My master thesis is aboutIlulissat Graffiti. You know, the place with the "melting icebergs" during summer. Youcanview part ofmycollection at: www.77jcm.net Thanks to the artists and manyfriends sending me images ofArctic graffiti. Herearesome from Iqaluit - courtesyofKGH.
Ifyou'reaskingyourself; "..is there a lotof graffiti in Iqaluit?" Theanswer (according to mysources) is no.Oneofthereasonsmaybethe 50+ police force, active & visibleduringtheday/night, which ...... tagging is thoughsupposed to bepopular... And yes, themasterpiece is sponsored by theauthorities; it's legal. Unfortuanatelly I do not knowthenameofthe artist. My bestguess is Jonathan Cruz (local artist) or someone from downsouthdoing a workshop for thelocalyouth.
Parkour documentary by Julie Angel following Dan Edwardes and Forrest from Parkour Generations as they teach parkour to young people in schools and community groups across London
National Inuit Leader Mary Simon, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, speaks in Canada's House of Commons following the Apology to students of Residential Schools delivered by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on June 11, 2008.
The artist _____ says following about the image. "in --- out Knud Rasmussen, the danish polar adventourist... Our political election is a month away, so only a sample. Comments are appreciated". Nuuk, 2005 Source: stencilrevolution.com Se more Greenlandic StreetArt at 77jcm.net
Abstract: Using three student reports as sources of information about young people’s encounter with urban places in Sisimiut, this article investigates how questions related to localities interlink with questions of private and public responsibilities. “Smoking on school premises”, “A view from a skidoo” and “Playgrounds in Sisimiut”, are presented as examples of young people’s perception of institutional and leisure arenas. The student reports from the local Technical School raise questions about health issues, security and accessibility, elaborated in a context of personal narratives, and correlated with localities such as the school, playground and those appropriated by the skidoo. Within different modes of appropriating space, private and public responsibilities are addressed by demarcating the smoking localities in an educational environment, raising awareness about playground security and accentuating the feasibility of a widespread urban space – accessed by innovative skidoo accessory. The student reports not only offer interesting insight to young people’s appropriation of space on different localities, but also insight to different levels of private and public responsibilities, accentuating important aspects of understanding urban space as a social and multi-scaled construct. By highlighting the importance of narratives in spatial analysis, I argue that localities interlink with questions of private and public responsibilities, as articulated configurations of socio-spatial relations - in the student’s reports, conceived as scales of indications, expectations and access.
Keywords: youth, space, narratives, urbanity
This article will be available in fall 2008 as part of proceedings of IPSSAS 2007 seminar in CPH/DK
"...100 Inuit teens, 10 Hip Hop dancers and 5 days in the remote Hamlet of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.Capitalizing on the popularity of Hip Hop, Social Worker and longtime B-boy Stephen Leafloor has brought positive Hip Hop workshops to the north...."
More and more Inuit youth in the Arctic communities on Baffin Island are getting excited about Hip Hop dance. Learn about the power of Hip Hop through Will Steger's Expedition to the Canadian Arctic... Dancing has been part of Inuit culture for centuries. Kilaujaq, the traditional drum dance of the Arctic, is an excellent example of this. "Square dance, hip hop, drum dance, it's all the same...to be happy with other people" explaines Inuit elder Marie Airut. Read more at: http://www.youtube.com/user/hwydeven
Friday, today. Opened my mail and got really, really excited. Thanks Buddha!
"A 1 hour feature documentary by Randy Kelly will be on Global TV - April 19th at 7 PM Eastern Standard time. This will be an in-depth story of our BluePrint projects (Social Work through Hiphop) and how traditional Inuit culture is integrated as they find their own voice. It will be an incredibly positive story that follows a number of Inuit youth into their homes. Please help spread the word by forwarding this email to your contacts -we want to get all of Nunavut and the rest of Canada tuning in.
Lets all celebrate the spirit of these kids who don't give up on life !!! And bring Hiphop back to what it was always meant to be ! More info can bee seen on our projects at http://blueprintforlife.ca
Klaus Berthelsen (Sisimiut, Greenland) has posted following on YouTube. "This is one of my Barbershop songs yet again, took me a while to get the tones right, the most diffelcult part must be low G note in Base. This music was encoded in Sonar Calkwalk 3. This was made by: Klaus Berthelsen "
Just want to add a short info on thesisimiut movie by Aka Maria Koch Hansen - shot for my PhD research: the movie is now available in full lenght on theISUMA.TV portal for Indigenous Filmmakers. Visit www.isuma.tv
"The development of urban youth cultures in Europe proves that despite their mostly US origin, they often function as channels for voicing national and local concerns. There are many European experiences to be explored and shared. Phenomena such as street fashion, independent publishing and hip hop have the potential to open up European elite-driven paradigms of quality, culture and citizen participation", Tommi Laitio states in his article. The commercial sector has been quick to realise the value of youth cultures and now widely supports them. Politics and the mainstream media however have been late to realise this value and now have a lot of catching up to do. The interest of those institutions is often driven by fear and not by real curiosity. Public authorities also run into the difficulty of supporting youth activities which are considered illegal (parties/festivals, posting, graffiti). According to Laitio, European media and public bodies should recognise the artistic and positive aspects of subcultures and apply this recognition beyond the mere use of youth cultures when issues of, for example, integration are discussed. In addition, more needs to be done at the public level to cultivate the conditions in which youth cultures can thrive.Tommi Laitio is a journalist and cultural worker living in Amsterdam.EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Superlocal Identities - the value of European urban youth cultures
SuperLocal Identities also relevant in the Arctic? Yes would be the answer in my opinion. Emerging youth cultures throughout the Arctic show that despite their inspiration from US or European culture, they very often function as channels for voicing local and national concerns. I'm not sure that I would use the term superlocal identities, although I use the term glocal (combination of global and local) which may/may not be about the same thing. The phrasing maybe different in Tommi Laitios article but I agree, that local enterpreneurs in the Arctic have opened up for contemporary quialities of urban cultures/subculters. I also agree that media have done very little in promoting contemporary cultural streamings. The priority maybe A) first self-determiantion b) on our own premisses c) about who we are.
Examples from the Canadian Arctic: BluePrint for Life - connecting with Nunavut Youth through HipHip. Check the project website and read about the support from local authorities. BlueprintforLife
Examples from Greenland: Prussic - HipHop trio from Greenland's capital raised a number of issues on their "Misiliineq siulleq" CD. Issues concerning values of family life, use of illegal substances, political engagement and nepotism etc. Other rappers such as PeandEL or TuuMotz (formerly Nuuk Posse) adress critical issues considering contemporary conditions in Greenland.
Examples from my own research in Sisimiut (urban community in Greenland, situated above the polar circle; approx. 6000 citizens): In my dissertation (officially due in 2009) I'll have many examples of global cultural streams raising local issues. For the moment there is peticularly one issue which pups up - the issue of MotoCross activities outside the city, raising a problem involving the local museum (preservation of cultural values), municipality & police (dealing with motorbikes in/out the city, polution, rights and laws), nature guide (promoting cooperation and awarness) and the youth club. I'm not going to tell the whole story here, but it can be summed up in following lines. Many young people are skilled and dedicated motocrossers but have not got any place to pursuade their activity in Sisimiut. Through debates with local authorities, representatives of young people raised issues about the lack of arenas for motocross, skateboarding, bmx etc. The debate was not a clash of opinions, but joint effort to find a way, money and organisation which would support different cultural activities (next to dog-sledging, skidoo riding, sports etc...) Suma summarum - despite different opinions about youth cultural activities, not only do young people use their "lifestyle" to raise issues about good life in their hometown, but also receive a great deal of support from local authorities. I think I can reveal, that the planned motocross/bmx/shooting arena hasn't yet become a reality but I'm confident that it will. The process has started.
So true. In relation to our lives as young we all had dreams (maybe still have) about becoming a star. To be in the centre of everyone's attention. This wonderfull commercial(?) sets the topic into a multicultural frame and additionally, in pleasant way, sets the drama of becoming a star into the perspective of wonderland.
(The tune: Sweet child o'mine by Guns n' Roses, from Hollywood, California!)
"...There is a little sense of him studying them...."
"...the limiting of distance between "expert" and the subject, the trust that is built up and the ethical foundations of such research, which enable those who are its subjects to influence the agenda (Kehily (ed.) 2007:53 - Understanding youth. Perspectives, identities and practice. SAGE.)
2008 - the year I concentrate on writing my dissertation. Workingcurrently on few case studies and MindMaps. Friend of mine has recommended interesting publication on youth research. Yes, it's a hint. I think that "Understanding youth. Perspectives, identities and practice" is a brilliant book. Not only it give insight in to different research strategies but includes also exercise orchestrated along relevant questions.