Jaye Johnson Thiel
This theoretical essay (data-story) analyzes monstrous acts of rebellion performed by a group of 16-year-olds at a community makerspace. Focusing on three specific incidents when youth – (1) drew a penis on the side of the community center building, (2) set off firecrackers on the center playground, and (3) demolished picnic tables at the center – I explore how these actions can be understood as infrastructural resistance. These acts of rebellion are framed within the context of youthhood, which is often undertheorized in childhood geographies, particularly in terms of how youth lived experiences are often excluded from the planning and shaping of public spaces. Drawing on the indeterminacy of atmospheres and maneuvers of detachment, I explore how affective encounters pressed upon the lives of the youth in ways that reconfigured the geographies of the community center, producing affective geographies that resisted normative expectations. Conceptually, I challenge assumptions that youth rebellion is inherently monstrous and instead highlight their role as active participants in the production of public space.