Mobility and belonging – A case from provincial Denmark

Young people in rural areas are gradually convinced that they have to leave their homes for education. They move, and hereby amplify the problem of local economic and demographic decline. The article explores the role of education as well as the social dynamics behind this process in a minor community in Denmark. Drawing on children and young people’s perspectives, the article examines how children gradually come to doubt on the local opportunities and become alienated to local lifeforms. Based on an anthropological fieldwork, the authors show how day-care institutions, schools and youth education play an important role in this process.