Youth and Construction of Qualitative Identity: Concerns and Praxes
Dr. Baskar Antony, S.J.
Adolescence and youth are the crucial stages of human life that can be compared to a cat on the wall. According to the World Youth Report of the United Nations in 2020, the youth population, aged 15 to 24, marks 16 percentage of the global population with 1.2 billion roughly. Given the Indian scenario, there are 356 million youngsters, who make the world’s major youth population. The discerned choices that they make, the dreams they dwell and the ambiance they prefer become defining factors not only of their personal lives, but also of the contemporary generation across the world. The three big questions with which the present youth challenged are: ‘Who am I? What is the destiny of my life? What is an authentic life?’ These questions are the key touchstones that enable the youth to move towards the culture of self-critiquing and to construct a qualitative identity for themselves and a better world. Unfortunately, there are very many factors that hinder the youth in addressing these questions and experiencing their youthfulness fully. Hence, this paper attempts a discussion at the initial level on some crucial challenges that the youth face today by analysing complex contextual concerns that confront youth today. In addition, it also highlights two concrete praxes towards the construction of their qualitative identity in youth today.
2. Youth and Complex Contextual Concerns
With the enormous innate talents and acquired potentials, the youth are generally motivated by dynamism, heroism and vibrancy that drive them towards the construction of qualitative identity. Their quest for discoveries and inventions pave the way towards achieving fresh heights in science, technology, sports and the humanities today. However, the contemporary youth is challenged by a complex environment, which is totally different from all other generations down the histories of the world. The absence of healthy atmosphere, emotional struggles in inter-personal circles and misguidance pose serious threats to their integral growth all over the world. The influence of Artificial Intelligence, social media, corporatism, alcoholic culture, socio-cultural ideologies and diverse political views and various other phenomenal events affect the course of the youth beyond imagination. Moreover, inflation, unemployment, migration, wars, religious conflicts, poverty, climate change and famine are some of the natural and human-made factors that threaten the youth with the feelings of uncertainty and depression. Amidst all these unaviodable contextual realities, proactive interventions are to be evolved for the youth, with the youth and by the youth today for a better world.
3. Youth with ‘Humane’ Sensibilities
Modern electronic gadgets have become integral part of our present generation. Computers, smartphones, tablets have become essentials for better connectivity and convenience. The youth amaze the world in virtual platforms by sharing their success and failure stories. They reach out to different circles of global communities based on their personal interests and convictions in terms of education, research, social concerns, religious beliefs, job opportunities and sharing online resources with the others. In spite of responsible use of these technologies, the alarming concern is the digital addiction that affect the course of the integral growth of the youth. Involvement of the youth in cyber bullying, wide circulation of pornographic contents are digital arrest scams are some of the perturbing concerns that are to be addressed. Hence, there is a need for awakening the conscience of the youth from crooked mindset. Blessed Carlo Acutis of this millennium, who had a short-lived life of 15 years, is an inspiration to the youth of this generation. In spite of his fatal disease leukaemia, he made use of technology to catalogue the Eucharistic miracles that took place all over the world. Similarly, many people from all walks of life inspire one another with their contents that are life-affirming, socially-oriented and optimistic. Use of the technology should not be treated as a mere income-generating tool. Instead, it should become a value-generating platform that lay a foundation for nourishing the global society.
It is a wakeup call for the youth to wriggle themselves out of their tendency to be a consumer of information passively. Youth should become the agents of radiating newness with their creative production of knowledge with human sensibilities. Had Jesus confined Himself just to the level of consumption of Scriptural knowledge, a radical and liberating understandings of Scriptures would not have been generated. Jesus’ thorough immersion into the contextual realities and His response to oppressive misinterpretations of the Bible by the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Scribes were the transformative forces, that lay foundation to the just world of communion. Can we take up the challenge of Jesus and become the producers of Good News, knowledge and wisdom?
4. Youth with Critical Consciousness
Superficiality is one of the major problems of today’s society. It exists in our understanding of the history, relationships, politics, race, class, gender, castes and in all realms of life. The youth seem to be easily satisfied with a minimum understanding of the above areas of life. In addition, divisive ideologies, fabricated histories, hate politics and fundamentalist world views are quickly processed and accepted by the youth as a value system without sufficient reflections from different perspectives. Thus, they become not only the victims of the inadequate reasoning capacity, but also the agents, who eventually perpetuate divisions that cause pandemonium. So, there is need to develop critical consciousness in the youth and generations to come. How are we going to achieve it?
As Paulo Freire points out in the book ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ that human minds tend to journey through three successive stages, namely magical consciousness, naive consciousness and critical consciousness. Magical consciousness tends to dwell on false beliefs that lacks logical reasoning and practical solutions. Naive consciousness accepts anything, such as ideas, value system and ideologies without self-retrospection and deeper analysis of the content. The critical consciousness propels in individuals deeper understanding of the self, family, society, marginalized, God, the global communities and above all life itself. It is this enlightened awareness that motivates the youth to think dynamically for an egalitarian society, which is nothing but the reign of God. It also enables the youth to fight against evil structures.
5. Conclusion
In the present-day context of scientific advancement, multi-faith encounters, growth of Artificial Intelligence and socio-cultural clashes, the youth should not remain as silent spectators accepting evil ideals that harm the self and the global society. There is a need for awakening the culture of self-critiquing and community-introspection by every youth. Their potentials are to be channelized into constructive orientation that nurtures life. Their roles and contributions towards the welfare of the self, family and civil society must be carefully researched and documented periodically. At the same time, the people of all ages have the challenging responsibility to analyse where the youth erred and failed to build humane and fraternal communities transcending cultural, racial, religious and linguistic prejudices.
[Dr. Baskar Antony, S.J. is a professor of Systematic Theology. He is the Dean of Studies and the Director of Laity Theology at Arul Kadal — Jesuit Formation Centre of Theology. He writes regularly in several magazines in Tamil and English.]
