Senior year of high school: boundaries of youth reading practices

Abstract

In this article the identifications surrounding reading practices and cultural appropriation processes of high school students are reconstructed. In the context of the post-COVID-19 pandemic and within the framework of a qualitative methodological strategy, semi-structured interviews were conducted during 2023 with 16 students from a state school in the city of La Plata, Buenos Aires province, Argentina. Through the conceptual category of boundary, the authors analyze the identifications as readers, the assessments of reading inside and outside of school, and reading interpellations and mediations. It also investigates the preferences and tensions around the reading medium: paper and screens. The choice of High-school Senior year is linked to the notion of boundary as it represents a space-time edge and transition. A tension was identified between the obligation and the taste for school and extracurricular readings. Based on these voices, concrete proposals are analyzed to generate opportunities and favorable conditions that motivate the habit of reading. Finally, some interpretative keys are presented to promote reading in schools spaces.