Topic: Beyond ‘Time pass’ and ‘Dream Zones’: Youth aspirations and innovations in skill development in Gujarat, India 

This talk will examine how lower middle-class youth with limited education and cultural capital cope with conditions of economic precarity in the post-liberalisation Indian economy. What are the factors that influence aspirations for social mobility and skill development in the informal economy? What role do caste and community networks play in youth embrace of new skills and occupations? I examine these questions through a focus on the unique occupational trajectories of pastoralist or maldhari youth in the western Indian state of Gujarat. I draw on analysis of maldhari popular culture reflected in songs and music videos on social media, interviews of youth, elders and activists and participant observation in maldhari community gatherings.

Speaker:

Professor Mona Mehta

Associate Professor,

School of Arts and Sciences,

Ahmedabad University, India

Topic: “Involution” and “Lying Flat”: Examining Chinese Youths’ Career Struggles from the Perspective of Higher Education Massification

“Involution” and “lying flat” have been two prevailing words among Chinese youths to describe their struggles in the unnecessary over-competition and the give-up for the competition. Many reasons regarding China’s economy, society, and culture are behind these two phenomena, and this talk will take an angle of China’s higher education development. Particularly, this talk will examine how the massification of China’s higher education since the 1999 expansion shapes Chinese youths’ career struggles. I hope this talk can bring more ideas for future research studies on this topic.

Speaker:

Professor Xiong Weiyan

Research Assistant Professor,

School of Graduate Studies,

Lingnan University,

Hong Kong