摘要：This book is one of the outcomes of a cultural studies research project, ‘Doing Social Sustainability: the utopian imagination of youth on the margins’ (2006-08), funded by the Australian Research Council and conducted by University of South Australia researchers Simon Robb, Patrick O’Leary, Alison Mackinnon and Peter Bishop. The aim of this research project was to investigate what ‘hope’ and ‘the future’ mean to marginalised youth, and the participants (aged between 13-18) were drawn from two alternative education schools in South Australia. It is not clear from the preface how many students and teachers were involved in the project, or whether there was a selection process for material included in the book. What is evident is that many of the young participants were living in difficult circumstances and dealing with major emotional or behavioural problems. Some were involved in criminal activities, or affected by substance abuse, and living with the impact of these decisions on their lives. It is important to clarify, both for the purpose of this review and for the aims of the research project, that these students were not being approached as a problem to be solved and are not judged by, or blamed for, their individual circumstances. The approach of the researchers was to enlist the students as collaborators in the project.豜
