Revolutionary Entanglements: Radical Youth Work and the Politics of the Common

This address will engage the contested field of youth/adult collaboration within the broader field of conflict and struggle often delineated as politics. Deploying Marx, Hardt and Negri as well as Deleuze and Guattari, the paper will propose a praxis of radical youth work, defined as adults and youth working together for common political purpose. To do this, it will be argued that it is necessary for adults to deconstruct their own social privilege and meet young people as political allies free of the developmental stigma of adolescence. This deconstruction allows for a growing recognition of mutual political interest and common struggle against the impinging force of global capitalism.