Reflections on Social Intervention with Youth Movements
Description
This paper presents a critical reflection on social intervention processes directed toward youth movements, drawing upon findings from a qualitative case study of the 2021 social uprising in Cali, Colombia. The study explores how institutional actors, community organizations, and young participants negotiated power relations through everyday practices of resistance and adaptation. Informed by Foucault’s conception of power as relational, De Certeau’s notions of tactics and strategies, and Scott’s theory of hidden transcripts, the analysis reveals that interventions are not neutral practices, but political processes embedded in the social fabric of everyday life. Results suggest that while social intervention can institutionalize grassroots resistance, it can also open dialogical spaces for subversion and redefinition of institutional norms. The discussion underscores the ambivalent role of intervention: simultaneously a mechanism of control and a potential field for emancipation.
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Steps to reproduce
The study adopted a qualitative design grounded in ethnographic and phenomenological approaches. Data was collected through participant observation and in-depth interviews with ten participants, including both institutional actors (public officials, social workers, and educators) and members of youth movements. Fieldwork was conducted between 2021 and 2023, focusing on public activities such as community kitchens, cultural performances, and peace dialogues. Data were analyzed through content and theoretical coding using ATLAS.ti 25, following an abductive logic that integrated empirical narratives with theoretical constructs (Saldaña, 2015).
Institutions
- Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia
- Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha Departamento de Historia