“It’s Not Real Life”: Liminality and Summer Camp Employment

2021 ◽  
pp. 074355842110559
Author(s):  
Victoria Povilaitis ◽  
Jim Sibthorp ◽  
Robert P. Warner

Liminal spaces occur separately from everyday life and are important to human development. Due to increased technological connectivity, young people are rarely separated from their home lives. Understanding young adulthood is a transitional time and summer camps can be settings for development, the purpose of this study was to understand the nature of summer camp employment as a liminal space. Individuals from a national (USA) study of summer camp employment ( n = 77, Mage = 21.3) participated in in-depth interviews. Participants were 77.9% White ( n = 60), 9.1% Black or African American, 9.1% Multi-Racial, 2.6% Asian, and 1.3% Latinx. About 64.9% identified as female ( n = 50), 33.8% identified as male, and 1.3% identified as gender non-conforming. Interview transcripts were inductively analyzed using thematic coding. Participants described camp as a liminal space with four dimensions of separation: physical, psychological, social, and technological. They also described experiencing a liminal time of life. In combination, the separation and time-of-life dimensions created an experience of liminal intensity manifested through a closed social system, blurred boundaries between work and non-work life, and increased autonomy. A revised conceptualization of liminal space is suggested and considerations regarding liminal intensity for young people are discussed.

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 18-36
Author(s):  
Cait Wilson ◽  
Jim Sibthorp

Young people can learn from success and failure. Such experiences are useful in developing skills (e.g., perseverance and coping), and remain essential facets of youth programming. However, success and failure can also impede development. Appraisal theory has been used widely to examine youths’ experiences with success and failure in school and sport, yet summer camps represent an important setting where success and failure may look and feel different. In camp settings success or failure are often more subjective and less dependent on objective performance indicators such as grades, wins, or losses. Because of these contextual differences, little is known about youth experiences with success and failure at summer camp. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to use summer camp as a context to describe youths’ appraisals of success and failure experiences and the associated development. Findings explain how success and failure at camp can contribute to the positive development of self-efficacy, effective coping, and perseverance. Furthermore, some youth exhibit unproductive responses to failure at camp which may obstruct opportunities for growth. Implications for practice are recommended to help camp staff support young people through failure experiences and to maximize the positive developmental potential of both failure and success at camp.   


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 24-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mandi Baker

Summer camps provide a special time and space for youth growth and transformation. This growth is possible, in part, due to the physical and social isolation that contribute to the liminality of traditional residential camps. Camps act as a sort of ‘bubble’ in which alternative realities, norms and identities emerge. For many campers and camp counsellors, the community and personal relationships that develop at camp produce feelings of acceptance and belonging. Positive camp experiences do not occur by happenstance and as such, youthful camp counsellors often feel immense pressure to deliver on the promises that camps offer. This article explores the challenges faced by counsellors as they seek to create and maintain this liminal space. This paper discusses camp counsellors’ own reflections on their personal struggles with social isolation and the need to be accepted, effects of gossip in the close-knit community of camp, a lack of private time or space, and the emotional demands of caring for campers. The article concludes by suggesting how we might reconsider camp counsellor experiences and offers strategies to support counsellors as they navigate and negotiate camp experiences for both themselves and their campers.


Author(s):  
Vincenzo Cicchelli ◽  
◽  
Sylvie Octobre ◽  

This article explores the passion of young French people for the Hallyu, within the framework of an analysis of the contribution of the “consumption of difference” (Schroeder 2015) to the formation of the self through the figure of the 'cosmopolitan amateur' (Cicchelli and Octobre 2018a). We will first look at the reasons for the success of Hallyu in France then discuss the different forms of empowerment stemmed from the consumption of Korean products, among young people (74 in depth-interviews with young fans aged 18-31) with no previous link with Korea, which nurture their biographical trajectories.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0192513X2199385
Author(s):  
Iris Hoiting

Persistent economic inequality between men and women, combined with differences in gender expectations and growing inequalities among women globally, has resulted in families “outsourcing” childcare by employing migrant domestic workers (MDWs). While studies have addressed the intimacy and complexity of “mothering” in such contexts, the agentic position of child-recipients of such care have seldom been explored. This article increases our understanding of care-relationships by examining their triangularity among children, MDWs, and mothers in Hong Kong. Drawing on in-depth interviews with young people who grew up with MDWs, alongside interviews with MDWs themselves, this article describes processes through which care work transforms into what Lynch describes as “love labor” in these relational contexts. In these contexts, commodified care from MDWs can develop, through a process of mutual trilateral negotiations, into intimate love-laboring relationships that, in turn, reflect larger dynamics of familial transformation that are endemic to “global cities.”


2016 ◽  
Vol 07 (04) ◽  
pp. 1154-1167
Author(s):  
Jaycelyn Holland ◽  
Stuart Weinberg ◽  
S. Rosenbloom ◽  
Laura Kaufman

Summary Background Approximately one fifth of school-aged children spend a significant portion of their year at residential summer camp, and a growing number have chronic medical conditions. Camp health records are essential for safe, efficient care and for transitions between camp and home providers, yet little research exists regarding these systems. Objective To survey residential summer camps for children to determine how camps create, store, and use camper health records. To raise awareness in the informatics community of the issues experienced by health providers working in a special pediatric care setting. Methods We designed a web-based electronic survey concerning medical recordkeeping and healthcare practices at summer camps. 953 camps accredited by the American Camp Association received the survey. Responses were consolidated and evaluated for trends and conclusions. Results Of 953 camps contacted, 298 (31%) responded to the survey. Among respondents, 49.3% stated that there was no computer available at the health center, and 14.8% of camps stated that there was not any computer available to health staff at all. 41.1% of camps stated that internet access was not available. The most common complaints concerning recordkeeping practices were time burden, adequate completion, and consistency. Conclusions Summer camps in the United States make efforts to appropriately document healthcare given to campers, but inconsistency and inefficiency may be barriers to staff productivity, staff satisfaction, and quality of care. Survey responses suggest that the current methods used by camps to document healthcare cause limitations in consistency, efficiency, and communications between providers, camp staff, and parents. As of 2012, survey respondents articulated need for a standard software to document summer camp healthcare practices that accounts for camp-specific needs. Improvement may be achieved if documentation software offers the networking capability, simplicity, pediatrics-specific features, and avoidance of technical jargon. Citation: Kaufman L, Holland J, Weinberg S, Rosenbloom ST. Medical record keeping in the summer camp setting.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Janan J. Dietrich ◽  
Millicent Atujuna ◽  
Gugulethu Tshabalala ◽  
Stefanie Hornschuh ◽  
Mamakiri Mulaudzi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The uptake and adherence of daily oral PrEP has been poor in high-risk populations in South Africa including young people. We used qualitative research methods to explore user preferences for daily and on-demand oral PrEP use among young South Africans, and to inform the identification of critical attributes and attribute-levels for quantitative analysis of user preferences, i.e. a discrete choice experiment (DCE). Methods Data were collected between September and November 2018 from eight group discussions and 20 in-depth interviews with young people 13 to 24 years in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Using a convenience sampling strategy, participants were stratified by sex and age. Interviewers used a semi-structured interview guide to discuss several attributes (dosing regimen, location, costs, side effects, and protection period) for PrEP access and use. Group discussions and in-depth interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated to English. We used framework analysis to explore context-specific attributes and attribute-levels for delivering oral PrEP in South Africa. The adolescent community advisory board, expert and study team opinions were consulted for the final DCE attributes and levels. Results We enrolled 74 participants who were 51% (n = 38/74) male, had a median age of 18.5 [Interquartile range = 16–21.25] years, 91% (n = 67/74) identified as heterosexual and 49% (n = 36/74) had not completed 12th grade education. Using the qualitative data, we identified five candidate attributes including (1) dosing regimen, (2) location to get PrEP, (3) cost, (4) route of administration and (5) frequency. After discussions with experts and the study team, we revised the DCE to include the following five attributes and levels: dosing regime: daily, and on-demand PrEP; location: private pharmacy, public clinic, mobile clinic, ATM); cost: free-of-charge, R50 (~2GBP), R265 (~12GBP); side effects: nausea, headache, rash; and duration of protection: fulltime protection versus when PrEP is used). Conclusions There is limited literature on qualitative research methods describing the step-by-step process of developing a DCE for PrEP in adolescents, especially in resource-constrained countries. We provide the process followed for the DCE technique to understand user preferences for daily and on-demand oral PrEP among young people in South Africa.


2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
NADIA BAIESI ◽  
MARZIA GIGLI ◽  
ELENA MONICELLI ◽  
ROBERTA PELLIZZOLI

Abstract This essay explores how a place of memory can be used as a crucial tool in peace education activities with students from elementary to high school. It draws on the work of the Peace School of Monte Sole and specifically focuses on the “Peace in Four Voices” summer camp, which brings together youth from conflict regions to foster a culture of peace. The camp is a major activity in the Peace School project, since it is from this ten-year-long experience that the idea of a “Peace School” was conceived of and developed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 079160352110684
Author(s):  
Patti O’Malley

The multiracial family and the existence of mixed race children have come to be a regular feature of Irish familial life. Yet, nation-building discourses have promulgated notions of ethnic and religious homogeneity with Irish identity being racialised exclusively as white. Moreover, to date, there has been a dearth of academic scholarship related to racial mixedness in the Irish context. Through in-depth interviews, this paper sets out, therefore, to provide empirical insight into the lives of fifteen black (African) – white (Irish) mixed race young people (aged 4 to 18) with a particular focus on their experiences of racialised exclusion. Indeed, findings suggest that, as in other majority white national contexts, the black-white mixed race young people are racialised as black in the Irish public domain and as such, are positioned as ‘racialised outsiders’. In fact, their narrative accounts shed light on everyday encounters saturated by ‘us-them’ racial constructs based on phenotype. Thus, these young people, who are not fully recognised as mixed race Irish citizens, are effectively deprived of a space in which to articulate their belonging within the existing statist (i.e. inside/outside) framework.


Author(s):  
HALYNA BODNAR

The paper highlights the environment of the generation of independence in the Revolution of Dignity, studies the motivation of participation, moods, ideas and expectations, their transformation with the development of events, experiences and lessons of the Maidan. We have 59 in-depth interviews with natives of all regions of Ukraine and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which have become a basis for the research. Regional groundwork allowed us to take a closer look at the activities of local Maidans, when the contrast between the capital and the regions, new experiences and challenges faced by local activists, gender differences, post-Maidan (non)-transformations in the regions were clearly visible. The paper also focuses on the recollections of the events of February 2014 and the image of the Heavenly Hundred. The young people appreciated the «inner world» of the revolution — the unity, mutual understanding, support and help they found among the Maidan residents. They were not ready to face the death on the Maidan. After two or three years, their personal stories and lessons taken of the Revolution of Dignity, visions of their future and the country as a whole are still fresh and allow to reveal the post-Maidan Ukrainian society from the perspective of the generation of independence.


Author(s):  
Linda Brooks

Linda Brooks examines the impact of the current government austerity measures experienced at a local charity based in the borough of Castle Point in Essex. Linda draws from first-hand experience of working with young adults to provide valuable insights into the direct impact of austerity measures as lived under social suffering. She employs ethnographic and biographical approaches to show real life examples of the impact of government austerity measures, which increase social disadvantage for young people within the local communities.


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