_EVEN MORE_ COMPLICATED: THE NETWORKED LIVES OF TEENAGERS IN A CONTEXT OF EXCLUSION IN BRAZIL

Abstract

This paper stems from a chapter of my Doctoral dissertation. It borrows from the work of boyd (2014) on the experiences of teenagers in social media. In this paper I will present the different usages of the internet and social media by teenagers that live in a context of exclusion. I will focus on teenagers that are placed in care institutions in Brazil, and their struggle with everyday forms of stigma and oppression. To live in a care institution, a.k.a shelters, is a unique experience that is the consequence of rights violations against children and teenagers (Brazilian Statute of the Child and of the Adolescent, 1990). The placement in a shelter is an extreme measure that remove children from their families and communities. To legitimate the state intervention and highlighting the exceptionality and temporality of that measure, the law prioritises family and community conviviality. This is not the case for most of teenagers, as it is unlikely they will be adopted or return, and they will spent most of their teen years there. I will present the narratives of institution and especially teenagers, with which I highlight the link between their experiences of exclusion, the formation of identity and their digital personas. For such, I will use the concept of reflexive identity (Giddens, 1991) and the script approach (Akrich, 1992) to portray how their actions show some kind accomodation and appropriation of the affordances of social media to seek stability in a context of high uncertainty.