GROWING UP IN THE SUBURBS: STORIES OF AT-RISK ADOLESCENTS AND THEIR MAESTRI DI STRADA

In order to read the bio-psycho-social articulation of the construct of health, this study will refer to the psychoanalytical perspective of Kaës (2012) and to his reading of the hypermodern society. It will then present a work of action-research (Colucci, 2009) which sustains the healthy growth of the adolescents living in a metropolitan suburb, - the eastern outskirts of Naples – who show a complex relationship with school and with a social fabric filled with violence. School is considered to be an elective setting for the “promotion of health” (Vecchio et al., 2013), but the hypermodern school is in turn a “special infirm” itself (Ancona, 2004) and it too often hinders the mental and physical health of young people and adults (Parrello, 2014). The action-research, which is conducted continually, is the result of the well-established cooperation between university and third sector (DSU – Department of Humanistic Studies of the University of Naples Federico II and MdS – no-profit Association Maestri di Strada), inspired by theoretical and methodological principles which try to overcome the traditional separations between action and knowledge, between nomothetic and idiographic, knowing that in order to comprehend the complex developmental processes which are realised in school, one should both widen and narrow the focus of the research each time, and, above all, immerse oneself in the context, building significant relationship which allow to see, understand and transform at the same time. The study will present the results of the textual analysis of a corpus composed of observational reports of multivision groups (Balint, 1957; Ancona, 2004; Pergola, 2010) realized with the operators of Maestri di Strada, which add valuable elements of knowledge on the drop-outs, collected by becoming part of their stories.