Bromford Dreams – Bromford Dreams – Social Exclusion and Graffiti SpiritualitiesSocial Exclusion and Graffiti Spiritualities

The Bigger PictureThe Bigger Picture• The nature of Social Exclusion• The contested ‘N.E.E.T’ acronym• Debates about Secularisation and ‘Belief’• The nature of a ‘N.E.E.T Spirituality (in

Bromford and as seen on the Cube)

Social ExclusionSocial Exclusion‘...a short hand term for what can happen when

people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime,

bad health and family breakdown.’

(Social Exclusion Unit, 1998)

Social ExclusionSocial ExclusionEconomic Cultural/Political

factors

Cultural factors Moral factors

Unemployment Little political

participation

Low

skills/education

Family

breakdown

Poverty Little civic

engagement

high crime Teenage

pregnancy

Inequality Racism/Religious

prejudice

Isolation Anti-social

behaviour

Not in

training

Perception of youth

as problem

Poor health Few positive

role models

Poor housing Gendered prejudice Drugs/Alcohol Existential

alienation

The Bromford…The Bromford…

The Bromford…The Bromford…

N.E.E.T or Not?N.E.E.T or Not?15.6% of 16-24 year olds are not in education, employment or training– more than 1.1 million young adults designated N.E.E.T (the highest rate, at 20%, being in the West Midlands).

Status Zer0 & Underclass…

‘...the term “NEET” is imperfect…its use as a noun to refer to a young person can be pejorative and stigmatising...’

Thinking about ‘Belief’• ‘Believing and belonging’: ‘Belief’ can denote personal

assent to formalised propositions about the purpose of life and involvement in religious communities.

• ‘Believing not belonging’: increasingly people affirm Judaeo-Christian theological themes but do not connect this ‘private faith’ with any need to publicly belong to a faith group.

• ‘Believing in Belonging: ‘Belief’ can be seen more as a means of expressing a communal identity than individual existential questioning.

From ‘Belief’ to ‘Spirituality’ - From ‘Belief’ to ‘Spirituality’ - A Bromford Tale A Bromford Tale

• ‘The subjectivities of each individual become a…unique source of…meaning and authority...The goal is not to defer to a higher authority but to…forge one’s own inner-directed…life.’ (Heelas and Woodhead)

• ‘Spiritualities of life’ (Lynch)• Individualised, disengaged from religious narratives,

‘D.I.Y’ rather than ‘pre-packaged’ and focused around immanence rather than transcendence.

NEET SpiritualitiesNEET Spiritualities• ‘I believe in God but He doesn’t live round here.’

• ‘Bromford’s shit and God’s a Bastard’• ‘I’d build a bridge across the M6 so I could go to HMV.’• ‘I believe in Bromford and in my music I’m trying to tell

our story.’• ‘If you got talent then use it. Don’t sell drugs sell

music. You only have one life so don’t lose it.’• ‘Love is the basis of reality.’• ‘No struggle, no progress, no limits.’• ‘Value life’.• ‘More than money.’

Bromford Dreams….Bromford Dreams….• Not a piece of public art but an organic expression of

anger, love, fear and hope – this is what it’s like to be young in Bromford in 2012 – raw, real and rooted.

• a spirituality that arises from social exclusion but refuses to remained imprisoned by it - fear, prayer, violence, unemployment, hope, solidarity, powerlessness and resistance mark it’s sides.