Bromford Dreams Social Exclusion and Graffiti Spiritualities The

Bromford Dreams – Social Exclusion and Graffiti Spiritualities

The 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 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 Exclusion Economic Cultural/Political Cultural factors Moral factors Little political Low Family participation skills/education breakdown Little civic high crime Teenage factors Unemployment Poverty engagement Inequality Racism/Religious pregnancy Isolation prejudice Not in training Perception of youth behaviour Poor health as problem Poor housing Gendered prejudice Anti-social Few positive role models Drugs/Alcohol Existential alienation

The Bromford…

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 Zer 0 & 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’ 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 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 M 6 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…. • 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.