Adolescence is a crucial phase in life, as it is the phase where young people develop an individual and singular identity (Erikson 1994, Hall 1969, King 2004). It plays an important role in the face of complex and rapidly changing requirements for young people all over the world (King/Koller 2006, Philips Swanson et al. 2010). And on the other hand this phase is deeply entangled in social and cultural structures and contexts (Arnett 2001, Mead 2001). Within these environments young people have to find their own ways to cope with individual problems and learn to participate in designing future societies. Even though the specific situations differ greatly between different parts of the world and might not be comparable, dealing with diversity, heteronomy, and specific social differences is a global issue. And it seems to be important to look for global and local mechanisms and answers especially in order to support those who are at risk of being excluded. Hence, on the one hand adolescence can be understood as a global phenomenon, which might become even more unique given the growing mobility and globally shared outcomes of globalisation (Beck 2007), and on the other hand there are cultural differences that not only have impact, but structure adolescence at it is faced by young people itself (King 2004). When it comes to qualitative research on young people, particularly those at risk, mostly either nationally limited approaches are chosen (e. g. Wischmann 2010) or ethnographical perspectives have been used (Mead 2001, Erikson 1994). The majority of the studies are quantitative, because they the base on assumed objective data, that overcomes the cultural differences. In view of this ambivalent structure cross-cultural research on youth at risk and the meaning for the individuals it is necessary to explore new ways of cross-cultural qualitative approaches. Two studies from an inner European context showed that it is a promising field to learn more about adolescents – who often grow up in cross- or inter-cultural contexts themselves – in different situations, but also to develop new research-strategies, which are not one-way but rather reciprocal (Tromann & Jeffrey 2008; Colin et al. to appear in print). Hence, the research itself takes place in a cross- and intercultural context. From a pedagogical perspective this kind of research is crucial, first, to gain knowledge about cross-cultural demands on educators who work with youth at risk and who often are located in various trans-cultural contexts (Gogolin 2006) and second, to explore in depth the risk and chances of adolescence today in terms of educational achievement. And here another aspect has to be mentioned: Young people’s potentials have to be focussed on without denying the risks of being in a marginalised social position (Wischmann 2010). From this perspective the adolescent’s own strategies can be taken into account to develop new ways to support young people from and in various contexts. To illustrate the concept a case study from a cross-cultural research context will be presented: a narrative interview with a young Xhosa man conducted in South Africa by a German student.

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