Paper short abstract:

This research—global in scope—is based on a series of long-form interviews with youth activists from marginalized groups. The aim is to better understand the barriers to and strategies for successful social and political change, as perceived by young activists from 11 countries.

Paper long abstract:

This research—global in scope—is based on a series of long-form interviews with youth activists from marginalized groups. The aim is to better understand the barriers to and strategies for successful social and political change, as perceived by young activists from 11 countries.

The project comprises 45 long-form interviews from 11 countries on five continents. Together with a geographically expansive literature review, this qualitative research gives us a clearer understanding of the strategies used by marginalized youth activists and the obstacles that they face as social and political change agents. We find that these are remarkably consistent in the literature and across all of our samples. These obstacles include age-based hierarchies, weak communication between youth and elites or older adults, criminalization of youth culture or activism, discrimination, outsider interference, hollow lip-service from adult leaders and governing elites, and the role of parents. Based on this collection of challenges, we concluded that: the process of creating change is 1) mediated by outside actors; 2) captured before it can begin; 3) a political performance; and 4) rife with epistemic injustice (Kosko et al, JHDC, 2022, presented at HDCA in 2022).

Yet young people are famously resilient and our 45 interviewees report employing a variety of strategies to get around, or at least confront, those challenges. These strategies include bypassing the state; leveraging digital media to facilitate resistance; employing English language skills to gain access to international platforms and audiences; embracing more horizontal leadership and membership structures; expanding their networks well beyond national borders; and building alliances across intersecting causes. The consistency among these strategies across vastly different geographies and cultures suggests that there may be a coherent set of capabilities important for youth to engage in social and political activism. These might include capabilities to be creative, to accept discomfort, to connect with peers across social barriers, to build alliances, and to learn new skills quickly.

While the interviewees employ a stunning array of tactics to defeat the many barriers thrown in their way, a great deal of frustration and pessimism remained. Said one Moldovan activist “Valori şi principia, valori şi principia – values and principles, values and principles. It’s all [the political elite] want to talk about, but they do nothing for the people. We are trying to do something, but they don’t hear us. They are only talking to each other.”