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Just Participatory Research with Young People Involved in Climate Justice Activism

journal contribution
posted on 2024-08-16, 05:41 authored by Eve MayesEve Mayes, Dena Arya
AbstractThis commentary reflects on the tensions inherent in enacting creative, co-produced, and participatory methods with younger co-researchers who are also climate justice advocates. Whilst participatory research with young people involved in climate justice work has the potential to build intergenerational networks of solidarity, such research is contoured with complexity. The authors, two university-based researchers, juxtapose the social justice agenda at the foundation of participatory research, with the climate justice agenda, and consider the resonances and tensions between research and social movements. They advocate for an intersectional climate justice approach to participatory research that positions young people as co-researchers and co-authors, aiming to counter epistemic injustices and amplify the voices of those first and worst affected by climate change. Simultaneously, the felt value-action gap (between the justice sought and the injustices that persist within research) generates questions about the profound differences, even incommensurability, between university-generated research and the pursuit of climate justice in movement spaces. A series of questions are offered to those engaged in participatory research with younger people to prompt collective reflection on research processes and practises. The commentary concludes with a call for university-based researchers to engage critically with the power structures within academia and to prioritise the needs and goals of younger climate justice advocates over institutional demands.

History

Journal

Journal of Applied Youth Studies

Pagination

1-11

Location

Berlin, Germany

ISSN

2204-9193

eISSN

2204-9207

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Publisher

Springer

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