Performing Department
Human Devel & Family Studies
Non Technical Summary
This study will advance understanding of how young people in local and rural communities engage in activities to combat climate change and support environmental justice.This study will also advance significant theoretical and programmatic knowledge about contemporary youth political practices both globally and locally. It expands academic studies of youth by examining their political practices in both spaces of power (the United Nations) and at the grassroots community level.Findings and implications from this research will better inform national and international programs and policies for young people at local, national, regional, and international levels.
Animal Health Component
10%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
90%
Applied
10%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
Objective 1 is to produce a book length manuscript, Youth and the Making of Global Citizens, and articles for dissemination.Objective 2 is to conduct research for Localizing Global Youth Dissent that examines how young people in local, rural, and regional areas working outside of the global UN system are battling climate change and fighting for environmental justice. The purpose to examinehow these local movements are connected to (and can be linked to) global youth participation initiatives.
Project Methods
Adding a recently approved protocol to this currently-active project.This study employs qualitative method of ethnography: interviews and participant observation. AnInstitutional Review Board approval is in place for this project.Objective 1The main objective will be to produce publications including a book and articles. The book, Youth and the Making of Global Citizens ,will consist of six total chapters: Introduction, Chapter One: The Politics of Global Youth Empowerment, Chapter Two: Empowering the Empowered Global Citizen, Chapter Three: The Consensus and Dissent of Compulsory Action, Chapter Four: Enacting Peace, Security, and Shared Governance, and Conclusion. I will also prepare two separate articles and submit them to referred journals for publications.This study builds on previous ethnographic research conducted since 2011. For the past six years, I have closely followed global youth empowerment initiatives and conducted ethnographic participation at key global youth-specific conferences sponsored at the UN in New York, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Jordan, and Sri Lanka. My ethnography focused on five international youth organizations and presents a nuanced understanding of how youth participation and governance is both asserted and incorporated by these actors. This was supplemented with over fifty interviews with youth, UN personnel, and NGO workers. Additionally, I critically evaluate and conduct discourse analysis of the numerous declarations, policies, statements, reports, and websites pertaining to global youth empowerment by the UN, development agencies, research organizations, and youth organizations.The completion of the book will also involve follow up interviews. Interviews will be conducted either online (through Skype or similar platform) or in person. I will also need to travel to the UN headquarters in New York at least once a year to collect data (interviews and ethnographic participant observation) on any new and relevant developments for this research. Data collection will likely occur at the UN ECOSOC Youth Forum in the winter and the High Level Forum on Sustainable Development in summer, two events in which the various international actors and agencies targeted in my study gather in one space.Objective 2The objective for Localizing Global Youth Dissent is to examine how young people in local, rural, and regional areas who work outside of the global UN system are battling climate change and fighting for environmental justice. The purpose is to examine how these local movements are and can be linked to global youth participation initiatives. This will involve ethnography of local youth groups and networks that also work in collaboration with global climate justice movements. Local organizations targeted for this project include the Leadership Development for the Sustainable Self Determination of Little Village in Chicago, Illinois (urban and local), Hawaii Peace and Justice in Honolulu, Hawaii (rural and regional), the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice in Seattle, Washington (urban and rural), and the Black Mesa Water Coalition in Flagstaff, Arizona (rural and regional). These organizations work in collaboration with global justice movements and networks such as the Grassroots Global Justice and Climate Justice Alliance.