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Paper short abstract:

Based on my ongoing doctoral research, I will reflect on the process of knowledge co-production and mobilising academic scholarship in fighting for climate justice within an emerging youth-led social movement.

Paper long abstract:

In the course of my PhD research project I aim to co-produce alternative narratives of climate justice with young climate activists fighting on the frontlines of the climate crisis in the Philippines. This paper discusses my ongoing journey navigating what I experience as two parallel pathways - satisfying the academic requirements of doctoral research while also seeking to co-create knowledge with a purpose of contributing to the fight for climate justice. I dissect my research design and methodological choices by considering both the trade-offs and the synergies of knowledge co-production and collaboration within an emerging youth-led social movement.

Young people have taken centre stage in recent years to demand transformative climate action in the face of a deepening global climate crisis. Our understanding of this movement is largely based on Global North mobilisations and direct action. It is essential to recognise and highlight diverse youth climate activism experiences in the Global South, where communities are facing not only climate impacts but also social injustices and human rights violations in the context of climate action. In increasingly authoritarian contexts, everyday activism offers more dynamic and less risky ways into resistance that meets individuals' means and lived realities. By working collaboratively with young activists I consider the parallels between the injustices of the climate crisis - caused by the Global North and most impactful to the Global South - and the traditional power imbalances between knowledge production, researcher-subject dynamics, and the tensions between grassroots activism and academic scholarship.