Youth policies and youth participation: from beneficiaries to actors

Recent research shows that young people tend to be scarcely involved in political matters, thus remaining invisible. There are indeed forms of youth activism, but they tend to involve different ways of participation. Participation has gradually become a more central issue at the political level, but the question remains of its relevance from the point of view of young people. Youth work is a privileged setting for the analysis of youth involvement. The paper first reviews the Italian debate on youth participation and youth policies. Secondly, it focusses on two contexts of informal aggregation in the Emilia Romagna region, to assess their value in terms of participatory experience, non-formal education and youth work. The analysis highlights how youth work experiences enable young people to participate more actively in social life, as they promote critical awareness and empowerment. Collective motivation also plays an important role, since acting together allows more vulnerable individuals and groups to gain more strength and power

University Students With Migrant Background in Italy. Which Factors Affect Opportunities?

The paper reflects on the access of students of migrant origin to Italian universities, focusing on the choices and opportunities that these students encounter and the factors that can affect this transition. At the beginning, it presents a brief review of the international literature on this topic. Then, mainly based on a qualitative case study, the article highlights the influence of limited economic resources, social and cultural capital, type of secondary school diploma and information bias on these students’ opportunities. The analysis highlights the positive impact of the permeability of Italian school system and the negative one of the weak school guidance policies. The policy implications are discussed at the end

At the Margins : Challenges for Sociologists of Education in Southern Europe

The aim of this Special Issue of the Italian Journal of Sociology of Ed-ucation, published at the same time of the n. 3/2019 of RASE (Revista de Sociología de la educación), is to reflect on Sociology of Education from a Southern European perspective. Undoubtedly, the starting point is the well-consolidated international debate on the so-called "Theories of the South" (Connell, 2007) or "Epistemologies of the South" (Santos, 2007), and the call for a "Global Sociology" (Burawoy, 2016) also in a postcolonial per-spective (Bhambra, 2014). These approaches have made visible the need to seek new theoretical and empirical contributions to think about the social realities of the Global South outside the Euro-American area, which as arisen over the last 40 years in response to social movements and to the emergence of different sociological voices all around the world

Three-Year Clinical Follow-Up of Children Intrauterine Exposed to Zika Virus

Congenital Zika virus (ZIKV) infection may present with a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations. Some sequelae, particularly neurodevelopmental problems, may have a later onset. We conducted a prospective cohort study of 799 high-risk pregnant women who were followed up until delivery. Eighty-three women and/or newborns were considered ZIKV exposed and/or infected. Laboratory diagnosis was made by polymerase chain reaction in the pregnant mothers and their respective newborns, as well as Dengue virus, Chikungunya virus, and ZIKV serology. Serology for toxoplasmosis, rubella, cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus, and syphilis infections were also performed in microcephalic newborns. The newborns included in the study were followed up until their third birthday. Developmental delay was observed in nine patients (13.2%): mild cognitive delay in three patients, speech delay in three patients, autism spectrum disorder in two patients, and severe neurological abnormalities in one microcephalic patient; sensorineural hearing loss, three patients and dysphagia, six patients. Microcephaly due to ZIKV occurred in three patients (3.6%). Clinical manifestations can appear after the first year of life in children infected/exposed to ZIKV, emphasizing the need for long-term follow-up

I soggetti della ricerca e i percorsi migratori

La ricerca analizza i percorsi di socializzazione di studenti stranieri e italiani nelle scuole medie di Moden

A Participatory Approach to Research with Migrant Working Adolescents

Child-centred approaches focus on the children’s perspective and on participation.Participatory action research can be a fruitful methodology for investigatingdelicate topics such as child labour in migrant communities. This articlepresents a peer research project conducted in Rome (Italy) which actively involveda group of foreign working young people over two years and employeda variety of methodologies. Research methods will be illustrated and criticallydiscussed, with a particular focus on the benefits for the migrant youths involvedand ethical questions arising from this type of research. A brief summaryof the main findings will also be provided