Conceptual Threads

This chapter analyses the multiple meanings and uses of the concept of belonging, its contradictions and affordances. It highlights the foundational work of Yuval-Davis in setting out definitions of the concept which have informed youth studies through a focus on the everyday; the relationship between identity and belonging, and ontologies of belonging. It discusses ontologies of belonging, which shift the focus from the everyday to forms of belonging that are anchored in a people’s collective, historical relationship with ancestors and the land through a spiritual connection, the binaries of subject/object, human/non-human. These discussions reveal the uses (and challenges) of the concept of belonging as a tool for analysing the complex, often messy worlds of young people.