Young people's rural multicultures: researching social relationships among youth in rural contexts

This paper argues for the need to better understand intercultural relationships among rural youth. Altered relations of labour, finance and power have seen the growth of international migrant labour across rural spaces of the Global North from the Global South, notably nations of the Pacific, Asia and Africa (Argent, N. 2011. “What's New about Rural Governance? Australian Perspectives and Introduction to the Special Issue.” Australian Geographer 42 (2): 95–103). This paper focuses on Australia, where labour relations, humanitarian programs, visa categories and mobility desires have led to new rural futures (Hugo, G. 2014. “Immigrant Settlement in Regional Australia: Patterns and Processes.” In Rural Change in Australia: Population, Economy, Environment, edited by R. Dufty-Jones and J. Connell, 52–82. Farnham: Ashgate). Young people are at the forefront of these changes, with youth forging pathways and relationships for themselves and their families. However, within the burgeoning literature of rural intercultural relations we know little about young people’s social relationships within these transforming places. This paper outlines a framework to progress such an agenda and focuses on conditions, capacities and identity resources within rural trajectories. It argues that empirical scholarship on these intersecting concepts may generate insights into young people’s relationships within today’s transforming rural multicultures.