Researchers examine youth culture in structurally weak areas – Bavaria

What helps against the emigration of young people from the countryside to the cities and how protection against right-wing extremist appropriation in the countryside can be achieved are the topics of a study by the universities of Bamberg and Eichstätt. The Catholic University of Eichstätt (KU) announced on Thursday that they want to look at self-organized projects in the border triangle of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia.

The researchers wanted to see how youth culture works in structurally and financially weak rural areas. In the regions, the focus will be on maintaining customs and traditions, music scenes such as hip-hop and sports such as biking or skating. “Young people often pursue all these activities on their own and thus shape their own upbringing and their region,” said Professor Rita Braches-Chyrek from the Department of Social Pedagogy at the University of Bamberg. Franziska Imhoff (KU) and Tilman Kallenbach (University of Bamberg), who are responsible for the project as research associates, said that it could have democracy-strengthening effects if such youth cultural activities were given more recognition.

This is important because attempts by right-wing extremists to appropriate youth cultures can be observed in the border triangle. Right-wing martial arts events, concerts by right-wing extremist bands, conspiracy-theoretical demonstrations or ethnic camps are very attractive to young people and pose a serious threat to a democratic community.

The regions examined are mostly in a tense macroeconomic situation, explained Andreas Kallert from the Chair of Economic Geography at the KU. In a separate project, he wants to examine how the requirements for debt help for municipalities affect the quality of life. In Germany, around 90 percent of cultural funding would flow into urban areas, where only 30 percent of the German population lived, said Kallert.

source site