Paper short abstract:

The interlinkages between urban and rural Amazonia in the climate crisis. The paper reflects on how changes in flood patterns push seasonal migration in a Shipibo village. It will focus particularly on the manifold impacts of frequent floods on Shipibo children's livelihoods and aspirations.

Paper long abstract:

In Peruvian Amazonia, climate change has been altering the flood patterns of the Ucayali River. Although the Shipibo people has traditionally resided in floodplains, inundations are now harsher, longer and unpredictable. This affects crop production and, consequently, families’ livelihood strategies. In villages more exposed to floods, adults and adolescents migrate to cities for several months to earn an income, particularly during the rainy season. However, children are left behind with their grandparents to reduce the costs of city living and to remain enrolled in the village’s public school. This phenomenon has several practical and subjective consequences in children’s lives, which this paper is set to investigate. Based on 8 months of participant observation in Ucayali, the paper will trace a comparison of children’s routines before and during a harsh flood to reflect on the impact of climate change on their social and economic lives. When asked about the floods, children emphasise not only the boredom of being left ‘with no one to play, and not even a hook to fish’ but also the toll of taking over their sibling’s subsistence workload. Drawing insights from arts-based interviews and focus groups, I will reflect on how the distress caused by the floods can justify children’s aspirations to urbanise their village. The paper will argue that understanding the link between environmental and social change is crucial to make sense of intergenerational agency in Amazonia.

Paper short abstract:

Based on preliminary results from an ongoing international research project, the paper analyzes how young Brazilians living in urban vulnerable communities participate in the development of community-based strategies and intergenerational practices to adapt in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Paper long abstract:

Brazil is a continental country, strongly pervaded by class, race, and gender inequality. Vulnerable young people in urban poor settlements are one of the social groups who suffer the most from this historical intersectionality of exclusion. The multiple crises installed with the pandemic of Covid-19 emerged in unequal conditions of risk, protection, and care in all dimensions of life, which affects young people living in urban vulnerable communities.

This paper is based on preliminary results from an ongoing international research project, conducted by researchers from the University of São Paulo, the University of Birmingham, and the University of the Free State. We seek to overlook the complex challenge of these multiple crises provided in vulnerable young people’s lives from a nexus approach in order to understand their intertwined participation in adaptation strategies during the Covid-19 pandemic, mainly on the scarce access to food, education, and play/leisure.

We analyzed some interviews with Brazilian NGOs, social movements, and public agents, and sought to capture the process of community-based social learning in intergenerational practices that generated positive changes in communities in São Paulo. The results revealed the centrality of the challenge of food insecurity for families in the early months, followed by mental health issues among youth in later years. To ensure the survival of the communities, the relevance of networking combining multiple levels of agency with internal and external actors, the use of social media to raise funds and disseminate information, and the dimension of care work and self-care were highlighted.

Paper short abstract:

Drawing on focus group data with Finnish young people, this paper examines the significance of reverse pedagogical methods for fostering intergenerational communication and empowering young people to develop their sense of agency as they face a future defined by climate crisis.

Paper long abstract:

Young people today have only ever known a world defined by climate crisis. Accordingly, studies show that young people are not only engaging with climate knowledge, but are having to navigate new emotional challenges (Hickman et al., 2021; Beaumont, 2021). Older generations therefore have a responsibility to support younger generations to navigate ongoing climate issues. Critically, we need to foster opportunities for two-way relationships of learning, allowing for older generations to learn from the experiences, perspectives, and knowledge of young people. Our paper considers opportunities for intergenerational communication through ‘reverse pedagogical relationships’, which reverses the typical teacher or parent/carer-led style of learning. Drawing on data from focus groups (six groups of 27 students) with Finnish young people (aged 15-18) we examine their experiences and thoughts on reverse pedagogical relationships. Since power is manifested in the pedagogical relationship and reverse pedagogy challenges this balance of power, we analysed this through a Foucauldian discourse analysis. Our findings reveal that, in light of the obstacles which traditionally hinder such a pedagogical relationship, there is a need to develop reverse pedagogy methods and consider what support both younger and older people require to engage in such relationships. Our paper argues that reverse pedagogical relationships are unparalleled for empowering young people; we show how this approach offers an opportunity to develop young people’s agency whilst not requiring them to be in adult dominated situations, thus supporting them to express their views and learn from one another as they live through a time of climate emergency.

Paper short abstract:

The paper presents the project of participatory mapping of the Ajuá River in São Paulo. Based on the action-research methods, we aimed to map living conditions and socio-environmental issues with students from a local elementary school, undergraduate students, researchers and social movements.

Paper long abstract:

In the metropolitan Brazilian peripheries, there is a nexus between social and environmental issues. The district of Jaraguá, less than 20 kilometers northwest of São Paulo downtown, is an example. There, the topography works as a limiting factor for the expansion of the urban occupation and, because of this, a low-income population that has no access to formal housing and is forced to occupy its risk areas.

Therefore, with funding from the "Climate-U: Transforming universities for a changing climate" program, the Center for Institutional Evaluation of the Faculty of Education of the University of São Paulo (NAI-FEUSP) proposed a project focused on young students from a local public school and undergraduate students from USP in the areas of education and health. The proposal was to build a collective learning field based on the territory (SANTOS, 2000), bringing together the experience of the local community and the academic knowledge to investigate origins and ways to address these problems. To this end, the living conditions around the Ajuá river, nearby the school, was taken as the axis of this action-research.

The program consisted of six meetings, three tours - one of them to a settlement of a housing movement; conversation rounds with universitary researchers; attempts at virtual mapping; interviews with residents; and the production of cartographies about the place and their experiences.

This paper aims to share methodological learnings about the experience of a community-based mapping with youth, as well as its theoretical implications for socio-environmental studies in socio-ambiental vulnerable urban spaces.

Paper short abstract:

To explore the wellbeing strategies of Syrian-Armenian children, young people and their families who have not only experienced displacement due to the Syrian war, but continue to be surrounded by multiple crises as well as narratives and expectations around what wellbeing has to mean

Paper long abstract:

This contribution seeks to put the spotlight on the wellbeing strategies of Syrian-Armenian children, young people and their families who have and continue to experience multiple crises: displacement due to the Syrian war and subsequent move to Armenia, the COVID-19 pandemic, the second Nagorno-Karabakh war, and even the repercussions of the war in Ukraine. I specifically explore how children in this context navigate, manage and shape various expectations and narratives by intergenerational family members, (transnational) peers, and other social actors, including those in the child welfare and migration system around their status as migrants or ‘refugees’, but also around what it means to be ‘good’ children and to do well in life.

The contribution is based on nine months of qualitative research in Yerevan, Armenia. The lived experiences of children and young people are explored through ethnographic, visual and participatory child-centred methods, which include play, draw-and-tell and photovoice. I investigate the wellbeing strategies of children of various ages and gender (from 3 through to young people aged 20) and the role of their family members, social workers, and other actors in the migration and child welfare fields. The research approach and methods were tailored to the abilities, preferences, and ages of the respondents, to account for power dynamics and ethics.

Paper short abstract:

This paper contributes to the panel theme of 'critical hope' and transformation as necessary societal responses to the interconnected threats of climate change, disaster risk and uneven development. It explores post-disaster conscientisation as a pathway of such transformations.

Paper long abstract:

This paper draws on Paolo Freire’s theory of conscientisation to understand pathways and expressions of citizenship formation in a post-disaster context, as evidence of ground-up social transformation. The paper draws on a case study of tsunami-affected communities in the Andaman Islands, South India. Against the islands’ history of state dependency and political disenfranchisement, the paper observes an emergence of heightened political activism and civil society engagement in the years post-tsunami. Geographies of relief and reconstruction contributed to this in several ways: (i) uneven distribution of aid/housing served as a socio-spatial magnification of pre-existing inequalities, exclusions and hierarchies, exacerbating contestations over the equity of business-as usual development; (ii) heightened exposure to state institutions and funding rendered the state more visible and navigable than before; and (iii) the mass arrival of rights-based civil society organisations provided a “language of rights” for local people to articulate pre-existing injustices. The paper observes that post-tsunami rehabilitation contributed to an emergent praxis of citizenship formation wherein local people felt motivated and able to seek out the state in new ways, and in turn were empowered by their performance of political agency. This praxis powered a positive cycle of reflection-action-empowerment, wherein altered imagined social contracts fed (and were fed by) shifts in practiced social contracts. These findings contribute new theoretical understanding of the implications of post-disaster interventions for emergent imaginaries and performances of citizenship. Beyond disasters, it identifies geographies of conscientisation as a valuable lens on social transformations at the scale of the political self.

Paper short abstract:

To place children at the heart of issues that impact them, this research explores child-centred methodologies to enhance knowledge generation from children’s perceptions on risk narratives and to communicate their vision of a risk-free world.

Paper long abstract:

Children have the right to be heard and listened to, as stated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child (UNCRC 1989), yet their voices rarely contribute to policy or practice despite being a marginalised group. Through children’s perceptions we can understand their everyday lived experiences in the context of chronic and interconnected crises and positively transform lives through intergenerational practices and relationships.

This research explores everyday disaster risks children are exposed to in their primary school and neighbourhoods in an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, such as open sewage and insecurity. Knowledge generation was through a child-centred approach, capturing children’s memories and experiences of risk to build a future that is healthy, safe and free. The approach aims to produce a rich narrative, not only of children’s risk perceptions but also of ‘critical hope’ to improve health and wellbeing. Community-based social learning is demonstrated through a participatory arts-based methodology where children are active participants and co-constructors of knowledge.

Data collection during October 2022 completed eight different activities with 36 primary school children which included drawing, deep mapping, walking interviews, and modelling, resulting in high engagement, dimished power imbalances and freedom of expression. The follow-up visit intends to explore innovative solutions to address shared risks and communication strategies to enable children’s voices to be heard, supported and empowered. Initial findings reveal the magnitude of chronic risks children are exposed to in this environment and the importance of applying appropriate child-led methods for a grounded narrative.

Paper short abstract:

We seek to show how participatory approaches such as participatory mapping can help engage young people from peripheral communities in developing a local socio-environmental diagnosis and also in mapping complex issues that are not obvious at first, such as the right to the city.

Paper long abstract:

This research presents the results of a participatory research conducted in the vulnerable neighborhood of Novo Recreio, city of Guarulhos, Brazil, more precisely the application of participatory mapping as an instrument to diagnose access to basic resources such as water, energy and food. The main objective of this research was to make an initial diagnosis of the neighborhood involving adolescents and discussing the infrastructure and access to basic resources. But this paper proposes a deeper analysis of what else is possible to map. Besides evaluating the local urban infrastructure and mapping tangible elements like those mentioned, the vulnerability situation of the neighborhood shows hidden and complex problems behind it all. The situation of the local streets, which are not paved, for example, affects the mobility, and therefore the autonomy, of young local residents, which also reflects their right to the city. Other mapped elements connect to violence or lack of hope. Thus, this research seeks to engage young people in local participatory mapping, seeking to bring to light complex issues such as autonomy, violence, geographical and social exclusion, and consequently, the right to the city of peripheral youth, mapping elements that are not visible at first but intrisically related. We also recommend future actions for the participation of young people in the planning of their neighborhoods, in order to improve the quality and the multilayerd perspectives of their lives, and engaging on the topic of community-based social learning approaches.

Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to examine youth agency in a semi-urban settlement in northern Sierra Leone. Based on the extensive ethnographic fieldwork it analyses experiences of young leaders as well as their abilities to negotiate the access to resources in a traditional gerontocratic society.

Paper long abstract:

Sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing the “youth bulge” and about 70% of its population is under 30 years old. While these demographic trends cause some degree of concern within national governments and international development community, there are also reasons for optimism as young people may prove to be agents of change that could support positive transformation of their societies. This paper aims to examine youth agency in a semi-urban settlement in northern Sierra Leone. While endemic poverty, unemployment and environmental degradation are prevalent in the area, young people try to improve their lives and the lives of their communities through collective actions. Based on the extensive ethnographic fieldwork the paper discusses community programmes initiated by young people. It analyses experiences of youth leadership, motivations of young leaders as well as their abilities to negotiate the access to resources in a traditional gerontocratic society.

Paper short abstract:

We examine the experiences of young environmentalists in an informal settlement in Nairobi, drawing on qualitative data collected over a three-year period. Young people in Korogocho employed diverse strategies to navigate everyday crises. We critically discuss the concept of “chronic crisis”.

Paper long abstract:

Recent literature has questioned the notion of crisis as a temporary rupture, showing that, for many, conflict, violence and suffering are part of the social fabric. This paper draws from qualitative data collected between 2020 and 2023 in Korogocho, an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. We particularly examine the experiences, over this three-year research period, of members of a local group of young environmentalists.

Engaging with arguments around the slow violence, we explore their experiences of climate change activism, livelihoods, struggles for survival and inequality in an area that was previously regarded with fear and disdain. In the context of huge everyday challenges such as hunger, health, housing and schooling, which were compounded during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as environmental changes such as flooding, we show that young people in Korogocho employed diverse strategies to navigate and cope with everyday crises. These strategies were often supported by strong community ties and solidarity that have been strengthened during the transformation from high levels of crime and insecurities to what some residents have described as ’paradise’. The greening of Korogocho in particular has impacted on group members’ senses of place attachment and belonging. Based on these findings, we conclude by critically discussing the notion of chronic crisis and its applicability to the lived experiences of young people in Korogocho.