Elena Sanchez

In this article, the authors address the content of the presentations and subsequent debate of the international online meeting “From Genes to Cosmos: Broadening Contexts in the Study of Happiness.” Four guest speakers talked about the main implications their respective research backgrounds have for well-being and happiness as a field of study. The ideas defended by the speakers can be grouped into these points: a) the basic outline of a framework for thinking about scholarship on this topic in general; b) a plea in favor of a shift in paradigm, from a well-being society for some to a society based on well-being for all; c) a critique of the Western-centric orientation of research on these topics; d) arguments for the need of mutual enrichment between Humanities and Social Sciences in the study of well-being and happiness, and e) some ideas from neuroscience and psychology about how well-being and happiness are related to education, and about the role that mindfulness can play in this area. In their conclusions, the authors express their concerns about the future research agenda in the field of well-being and happiness and offer some questions and proposals about the broadening of the field.

The chapter analyzes the political engagement of the youth in Egypt and Tunisia, two countries where the Arab uprising apparently succeeded. Based on an inclusive definition of political participation, where informal participation practices used by young people in the Global South are applied, three main questions will be considered in the chapter: which are the general patterns of political participation among young people?; what are young people doing to participate politically?; and to what extent is youth creating a new political arena? The chapter first reviews the three main components of the political engagement, considering individual characteristics: place of residence, gender and education. Second, it analyses two case studies: youth political participation in civic organizations in Egypt and the significance of rap for political dissidence and resistance in Tunisia. Qualitative and quantitative analyses was conducted with SAHWA project’s data during three years in the framework of a project funded by the European Commission mixing qualitative and quantitative analysis. The main finding is the low levels of participation of young people in conventional participation, accompanied by new forms of political participation, which consolidate a common political arena outside of the traditional one.