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Background to the Conference:
In September 1998, members of The Street Organization Project,
based at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, organized a
three-day conference entitled: "Alternative Perspectives on Gangs and
the Community." Despite minimal funding and relatively little
publicity, the conference attracted over 350 researchers, community
leaders, street organization members, educators, criminal justice
professionals, and media workers from all parts of the United States.
During the conference more than 50 presentations were given at 14 panel
sessions, three film documentaries were shown and two prize-winning photo
exhibits were installed. The impacts of this event went beyond anything the
organizers could have hoped for as educational, sociological and criminological
researchers discussed their ideas and findings with practitioners in the
field and representatives of the youth. In the discussion that closed the
conference it was generally agreed that we needed to go further with our
focus on street youth and that a more international event should be
organized to take into consideration:
- The transnational
character of the newly emerging street youth cultures;
- The interlocking nature
of the informational, technical and production revolutions that are
pushing lower class youth even further into the margins; and
- The speed and depth of the
globalizing forces of cultural production and exchange that are
feeding the processes of youth empowerment, youth identity and the
social control of youth.
The above conference will be the first of its kind in
recent years and is a follow-up to the successful “Alternative Perspectives
on Gangs and the Community” conference held in September 1998. The event
will include keynote speakers, presentations, photo exhibits, a day of
documentaries, an evening of multi-cultural performance, visits to youth
empowerment projects, and the opportunity to network with activists,
researchers and cultural workers from across the globe. We are soliciting
abstracts, photos, and films/documentaries relevant to the conference
themes. For a full outline of the program and a statement of the philosophy
behind the occasion please follow the links to the left of this page.
To talk directly to the organizers, please call:
D.
Brotherton, Tel: 212-237-8694 or
Juan
Esteva, Tel: 212-237-8201,
Send all your inquiries to:
Globalizing the Streets Conference
C/O
Street Organization Project
Department
of Sociology
John
Jay College of Criminal Justice
City
University of New York
899 Tenth Avenue Suite 520
New
York, NY10019.
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