Author: JustFutures

Daniela Ferreira da Silva and Anabela Carvalho participated with presentations related to the tasks of the JustFutures project at the XIII SOPCOM Congress, which took place in Braga from January 24 to 26, 2024.

Daniela Ferreira da Silva gave a talk on “Youth Climate Activism: Participatory Methodologies in Promoting Political Imagination among Young People” during the session on crisis communication and activism. The presentation focused on a literature review of participatory methodologies used with young people in discussing alternative futures and political imagination.

Anabela Carvalho presented her work related to “Environmental Communication and Environmental Journalism: The Ethics of a Disciplinary Field Confronted with Existential Threats” in the ethics and deontology session, addressing the need for ethical guidance in the work of journalists dealing with issues related to climate change. Anabela also presented the study on “The Interaction of Television Voices in Shaping the Climate Debate among Young Activists and Other Social Actors” in the journalism and society session. This work focused on the analysis of the intermodal interactions to delegitimise the actions on young climate activists on a television reportage.

At the invitation of the organizers of the seminar series on ‘Discourse and Sustainability,’ Anabela Carvalho presented a seminar titled ‘Political imaginaries and climate change’ on December 15, 2023, via video conference. In addition to exploring the concept of political imaginaries and the theorization of related matters, the presentation analyzed a set of recent protests by the groups Climáximo and Greve Climática Estudantil Lisboa (GCE-Lisboa), their websites, and press articles written by activists from GCE-Lisboa.

The ‘Discourse and Sustainability’ series is led by Michael Farrelly from the University of Hull and Michael Kraenert from the University of Southampton. It is part of the working group with the same title within the DiscourseNet network, a collaborative network focused on Discourse Studies.

On October 10th, Carla Malafaia participated in the Roundtable “Researching Activisms in the Portuguese Context” (conducted in English) on behalf of the JustFutures Project. She presented the main contributions of the project in the field of climate activism, focusing her intervention on two dimensions: Mobilization and Action; Representation and Imagination. This roundtable, which also featured the participation of Rosa Cabecinhas, Ricardo Campos, and Sofia Caldeira, discussed research on activist practices through various methodological approaches. The seminar, organized by the FEMglocal Project, took place at the Lusófona University (University Center of Porto) and MIRA FORUM (Porto) and aimed to foster spaces for discussion and sharing about activism, communication strategies, media representation, and research related to social movements.

On October 27th, Anabela Carvalho presented a communication titled “Climate Movement in Portugal: A Portrait in Various Dimensions,” co-authored with Maria Fernandes-Jesus, Carla Malafaia, and Mehmet Ali Üzelgün at the 5th Sustainable Campus Conference (CCS 2023), an event organized by the Sustainable Campus Network in Portugal. This year, the conference was hosted by the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo and took place on October 26th and 27th, 2023, at the School of Technology and Management of the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo. The overarching theme of the event was “Empowering Climate Action: From Campus to Community,” with youth activism being one of the subtopics. It was published in the conference proceedings, an extended summary that can be accessed here.

The conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) took place this year in Lyon, France, between July 9th and 13th, under the title “Inhabiting the Earth: Challenges for Communication, Media, and Beyond.” Addressing these themes, Anabela Carvalho delivered a presentation entitled “Politics for future Earth: young people’s imaginaries in their own voices and in television news,” co-authored by Daniela Ferreira da Silva, Tânia R. Santos, and Maria Fernandes-Jesus. The presentation was part of the Environment, Science, and Risk Communication Working Group of IAMCR.

On July 5th, Ana Garcia participated with a presentation at the COMbART – International Conference on Art, Activism, and Citizenship at Colégio Almeida Negreiros, Nova University Lisbon.

The communication titled “Cool Kids Saving a Hot Planet: The Role of Eco-Activism in Expressing Political Imaginaries of Young Climate Activists”, co-authored by Carla Malafaia, explored how artistic expression practices are appropriated by young activists as strategies for mobilization, co-creation of imaginaries about the future, social change, and amplification of their voices. This analysis was conducted in the context of an ethnographic study carried out with groups of young climate activists.