Youth and Politics in Democratic Argentina: Inventing Traditions, Creating New Trends (1983–2008)
This article has three objectives. First, to present the trajectories of youth studies, in particular about youth and politics, in Argentina from 1983 to 2008. This section is the centre of the article and it is organized in three axes, we will first show the link between the historical context and the possibility of research on youth, both for their appearance as objects of study and for the development of social sciences in Argentina. Then we will detail this background that constitutes what we call ‘the invention of tradition’, and we will pass on to a characterization of current tendencies in the field of youth studies and politics. The second objective is to present through a case study (participation in secondary schools) some discussions regarding the link between youth and politics. Finally, we will discuss youth and politics as an academic and societal preoccupation in the light of the aforementioned processes.