Youth Identities and Public Space Focus of Geography Lecture

The UNM Geography Colloquium Series features John Carr, visiting professor in Communication and Journalism, presenting, “The Political Grind: The Role of Youth Identities in the Municipal Politics of Public Space,” Friday, April 25 from 11 a.m. to noon in Bandelier West room 104.

In the talk he examines how the identities of a particularly problematic group of youthful users of public space – namely urban skateboarders – have effectively served as the battleground over which a variety of political projects related to public space have played out in Seattle, Wash., including ongoing efforts to maintain racial residential segregation in Seattle’s neighborhoods.

Carr, a graduate of Albuquerque Academy who went on to earn a JD at the University of Texas at Austin, has been a skateboarder for many years. He became interested in the issue surrounding youth and skateparks when he was attending the University of Washington, where he earned his PhD in geography last year.