Taking back control: a study on young people’s agency to overcome a violent neighbourhood context

Abstract

This paper examines the complex dynamics of youth agency and resilience in violent contexts based on a qualitative longitudinal analysis of young people’s trajectories in a Brazilian slum neighbourhood. We followed young people engaged in community sports programmes over six years to investigate how and why they move away from and offer resistance to community violence. An in-depth analysis of their strategies to deal with violence and create alternative future pathways demonstrates how they develop a highly tuned set of different levels of (perceived) agency and the dynamic interplay between internal and external factors. Building on dynamic and critical perspectives on agency and resilience, the analyses show how despite the undermining impact of violence on agency, young people’s determination to gain control and transcend constraints expresses resistance towards violence and social stigma attached to the neighbourhood. Encouraged by a shared moral discourse, their participation in community sports fostered not only individual agency but also provided a collective resource for resilience and resistance. Finally, the paper considers how educational (sports) interventions can enhance opportunities for the agency to overcome structural constraints while creating ways to challenge disempowering social systems.