This collection of original essays focuses attention on the actual practices of twenty-first century youth in the brave new world of globalization - a world in which iPods, camera phones and Xboxes exist alongside grinding poverty, declining employment opportunities, and worsening life conditions for many. As a whole, the collection seeks to address the possibilities and dangers of young people's transnational, commodified identities; how society and educational institutions might respond to these new identities; and the consequences for democratic practices and the public sphere. Drawing together contributions from the work of both well known and emerging scholars, this collection highlights the practices of youth's identities in the context of broadly defined educative sites, including schools, media and popular culture, community organisations, cyberspace, music, and urban landscapes.