糖心TV

Most theories of psychological development refer to a crisis taking place in adolescence due to physical, cognitive and psychosocial changes. Little research has however explored how young people experience this psychological crisis in the context of today’s broader financial, socio-political and ecological crises. While a crisis indicates a period of intense difficulty, it can also be understood as the turning point when a difficult or important decision must be made – which involves the possibility for the emergence of radical novelty. Drawing on post-vygotskian and post-structuralist grounds I aim to explore in my presentation the challenges and possibilities for youth development in this frame. I will propose a differentiation between two modes of human development: development of concrete skills (potential development) and development of new societal relations (virtual development, which is at the same time individual and collective). I will reflect on the significance of this differentiation by exploring research materials from my recent projects with disenfranchised youth in Greece, Germany, US and Brazil. Last but not least, I will expand the discussion on virtual development to consider recent technological developments that enable the multimodal communication and transnational collaboration among young people from diverse linguistic and geographical contexts.

Dr. Michalis Kontopodis’s background comprises social psychology, educational science, and youth studies. He accomplished his PhD at the Free University Berlin and is currently working as a Senior Lecturer in Education Studies at the Faculty of Education, University of Roehampton in London. Before that, he worked at the Humboldt University Berlin and at the University of Amsterdam and was a visiting professor at the City University of New York; New York University, Moscow State University, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, and Jawaharlal Nehru University in India. Michalis Kontopodis is a former Secretary of the International Society for Cultural and Activity Research, expert evaluator of the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program of the European Union, expert evaluator of research proposals for the Danish Council for Independent Research and external advisor of the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (National Council of Scientific and Technological Development) in Brazil. He has until recently coordinated the international research project DIGIT-M-ED "Global Perspectives on Learning and Development with Digit@l Video-Editing Media". His book "Neoliberalism, Pedagogy and Human Development" has recently been published as a paperback (second edition) with Routledge. For updates and recent publications see: