youth culture

The 91�Թ� grad started STEPS Initiative, the award winning public arts organization behind eye-catching projects like the eight storey mural at Yonge and St. Clair avenues by British artist Phlegm.

“I’ve always been passionate about art for community building and social change,” says Kane Speer, who completed her undergrad in urban studies and sociology, and a Master’s degree in geography and planning from 91�Թ�.

Her passion took her to Indonesia where she spent time with artists who used their craft as an outlet for activism. A North American road trip, in partnership with Toronto’s Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), helped her find grassroots initiatives in Canada and the United States where people were reclaiming public space through creativity.

Kane Speer felt like it was a disservice not to put this newfound knowledge into practice in Toronto. So in 2011, with the help of CSI, she founded STEPS, a charitable organization that takes on small and large scale public art projects.

(STEPS' well-known art installation called the "World's Tallest Mural," photo by AshtonPal via Flickr)

“It feels good to be able to see the change that we’re involved in and see it visually on any mark we leave on the city in terms of public art, but also socially when we’re able to work in neighbourhoods that aren’t already oversaturated with other community groups doing similar work,” says Kane Speer.

STEPS has made strong connections with Toronto communities like Thorncliffe Park and St. James Town, says Kane Speer, with an emphasis on engaging young residents.

“[They are] two neighbourhoods that haven’t historically had access to welcoming, vibrant public spaces,” she says.

It was in St. James Town where STEPS completed one of their biggest – and tallest – projects: the World’s Tallest Mural in 2013. They saw the 32-storey social housing building at the corner of Wellesley and Sherbourne as a blank canvas, transforming its façade into a soaring phoenix.

“That’s a reflection of the youth we worked with who felt like the neighbourhood was quite grey and didn’t reflect the vibrancy of local residents,” says Kane Speer.

And yes, the year it was completed – at least unofficially – Guinness World Records did confirm its record-breaking claim, Kane Speer says.

The giant mural at Yonge and St. Clair by U.K. street artist Phlegm, was created in collaboration with StreetARToronto.

“We did a considerable amount of community engagement where we connected with hundreds of community members to identify local landmarks and feelings they conjured when they think of the area,” says Kane Speer.

(Phlegm's Yonge and St. Clair mural, photo by Views From Lisa via Flickr)

STEPS has also launched the PATCH Project, a social enterprise that works with developers and landowners to put up art in underutilized spaces like construction sites.

While STEPS aims to impact communities with art projects, it has also had a profound influence on its volunteers and staff.

Ananna Rafa is a second-year photography student at Ryerson University. She’s been working with STEPS since she was in high school.

Not only has the initiative inspired her to pursue a career in the arts, but as a newcomer to Canada, it helped her find community.

“STEPS allowed me to go to all of these community consultations and talk to my neighbours and people in my community and do art projects with them,” Rafa says. “It allowed other youth in the community to get involved and gain valuable skills and friendship and ownership of the place they live in.”

From hip-hop to handshakes, 91�Թ� anthropologist studies youth culture in Kenya

lavende4 — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 19:36:07 +0000

From hip-hop to handshakes, 91�Թ� anthropologist studies youth culture in Kenya

lavende4 Mon, 08/22/2016 - 15:36

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Sarah Hillewaert lived in Lamu for three years, documenting how Lamu’s young people are responding to the economic, political and cultural changes in their community (Blake Eligh photo)

Blake Eligh

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Blake Eligh

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From a secret language that parents don’t understand to the complexities of a not-so-simple handshake, 91�Թ� Mississauga anthropologist Sarah Hillewaert studies how young Kenyans negotiate the interaction between traditional and global cultures.

The Belgian anthropologist originally considered becoming a professional dancer, but her training with African dances led instead to an undergraduate degree studying African languages and cultures at Belgium’s Ghent University.

A backpacking trip to Kenya to practice Swahili introduced her to Sheng, a youth language that developed in the slums of Nairobi. Hillewaert was intrigued by the way the language, spoken mainly by young Kenyans, crossed ethnic and economic barriers. “I researched the development of Sheng—how it is used and its linguistic structure,” she says. “I also looked at how Sheng was used in underground hip-hop and how it became an identity marker for urban youth. Sheng represented a new identity that moved away from ethnic stereotypes and crossed ethnic lines.”

Hillewaert, who speaks five languages, went on to earn her master’s degree and PhD in linguistics and anthropology at the University of Michigan. Now an assistant professor with UTM’s Department of Anthropology, Hillewaert has become an authority on youth cultures in Kenya.

Her most recent research focuses on youth culture in Lamu, a town of about 10,000 people on an island of the same name just off the coast of Kenya in the Indian Ocean. Hillewaert describes the Muslim community as an “island paradise” with white sand beaches and architecture that dates back to the 1500s. “Lamu was once a prosperous trade centre, trading with the Arab world and India, but in the last few decades, the island’s economy has fallen on hard times,” she says. “The community is very poor. Beautiful mansions are now crumbling because no one has money to look after them, so ex-pats buy the houses, which is turning the area into a haven for Westerners.”

Hillewaert lived in Lamu for three years, documenting how Lamu’s young people are responding to the economic, political and cultural changes in their community. Two generations ago, their conservative Muslim grandmothers lived in total seclusion, Hillewaert says, and many observant women still wear niqabs or cover their faces with a veil, known locally as a buibui, when out in public spaces. But as the younger generation tries to build a future in Lamu, they must interact in new ways with westerners as they take jobs in traditional offices and in the growing tourism trade.

Girls studying in a madrasa in Lamu, Kenya. (Photo by Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

“That contrast fascinates me,” Hillewaert says. “For young women, integration in the employment and education arena is quite recent. They want to contribute financially, but that exposes them to new social interactions, such as working with men,” she says. “Their grandmothers lived in seclusion, and their mothers were also segregated. How do these young women maintain respectability for themselves, and with their family, while at the same time do their job well? They are trying to negotiate that.”

Hillewaert details some of these complex interactions in her recent paper, which describes the intricate semiotics of a simple handshake in Lamu. “How a young woman interacts with people in the office can become the subject of gossip to her community outside of work," Hillewaert says. “Do you shake hands? You’re not supposed to touch members of the opposite gender, but in a professional work environment, one shakes hands."

Another recent publication looks at cultural notions of morality and servitude and what those assumptions mean for young Muslim men working in Lamu's tourism industry as sailors and 'beach boys.'

“Lamu's young people are consciously contemplating different aspects of their identity, like religion, fashion choices, employment and relationships with their parents, while being concerned with what it means to be a virtuous person in a rapidly changing society," Hillewaert says. "It's exciting to show how they are dealing with very complex issues and dilemmas, as other young people do around the world. Their struggles are recognizable and yet very different."