Category: Publicações EN

Carla Malafaia and Maria Fernandes-Jesus published the chapter “Communication in Youth Climate Activism: Addressing Research Pitfalls and Centring Young People’s Voices,” in December 2024. The chapter appeared in the recently released book “Environmental Communication”, published by De Gruyter Mouton (“Handbooks of Communication Science” series).

Anabela Carvalho, the coordinator of the JustFutures project, co-edited the book together with Tarla Rai Peterson (University of Texas El Paso). This book is intended for scholars, students and professionals in communication, environmental policy, environmental sociology, and environmental studies.

Below, you can find one of the chapters.

The latest article published by the JustFutures project is entitled “Intersectionality in youth climate activism as educational practice: political, pragmatic, and pedagogical dimensions”, and was published in the journal Frontiers in Education on January 1, 2025.  This work is part of Task 5 of the project (understanding on-the-ground experiences of collective action) and investigates the value of intersectionality practices developed by the School Strike for Climate in two Portuguese cities. The study reinforces the potential of intersectionality in political socialization and collective learning, challenging hegemonic educational practices.

Below, you can find the final version of this work. You can also access it via this link.

We are delighted to announce that the article titled “Reporting on Young Climate Activism: How Journalistic Multimodal Choices on Television Can Delegitimise Disruptive Dissent” was published in Journalism Practice on November 27, 2024. This article builds on previous work analysing Portuguese television news and the representation of young climate activists. It focuses on an in-depth report broadcasted following the school occupations demanding an end to fossil fuels in November 2022. The analysis highlights how media coverage frames youth-led disruptive actions and contributes to the ongoing discussion around such movements. The article critically examines the editorial decisions made by media professionals and their implications for journalism practices in addressing pressing social debates.

Below, you can find the post-print version of this work. You can also access it through this link.

The scientific article “Political Imaginaries in the Climate Movement: Youth-Led Groups Constructing Plural Views of the Future” was published on November 6, 2024, in the journal Sociological Research Online. Developed as part of Task 2 of the JustFutures project (analysis of young people’s narratives on climate change), the article presents an analysis of the political imaginaries of four climate activist groups in Portugal – Climáximo, Greve Climática Estudantil Portugal, Ambiental-IST and LIDERA a Década do Clima – through a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of texts published on their websites and social media. The analysis shows the plurality of political imaginaries of youth-led climate groups and their commitment to exploring alternative ways of governing climate change.

Below, you can find the final version of this work. You can also access it through this link.

The scientific article “Prioritising communities: barriers to climate activism and political imagination among minoritised youth groups” was published on November 4, 2024, in the journal Journal of Youth Studies. Developed as part of Task 4 of the JustFutures project (eliciting imaginaries of climate and the future), the article presents an analysis of how minoritized young people (with a migrant background and/or underserved communities in Portugal) conceive their involvement with climate change issues, the barriers that constrain their engagement with climate activism and the challenges in the political imagination of the future. The findings suggest that minoritized youth would like to have a voice in political debates about climate change and that more inclusive dialogues about climate futures could help bridge existing territorial and social divides.

Below, you can find the final version of this work. You can also access it through this link.

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 promoted by the Sustainable Campus Network, Portugal. An extended summary has been published in the conference proceedings.

Reference: Carvalho, A., Fernandes-Jesus, M., Malafaia, C. e Üzelgün, M. A. (2023). Movimento climático em Portugal: Um retrato em várias dimensões. In Ferraz, A., Curado, A., Nogueira, J., Abrantes, J., Nunes, L., Laranjo, M., e Tomé, M. (coords.) Capacitação para a Ação Climática: Do Campus à Comunidade, Livro de Atas. 5^a Conferência Campus Sustentável, (p. 3-4) Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, https://prometheus.ipvc.pt/conferences/ccs2023/livro-de-resumos/

The scientific article “Young climate activists in television news: An analysis of multimodal constructions of voice, political recognition, and co-optation” was published on September 4, 2023, in the journal The Communication Review. Developed as part of Task 3 of the JustFutures project (focused on media), the article presents an analysis of Portuguese television news and the ways in which young climate activists were represented between 2018 and 2021. The analysis demonstrates that young climate activists received visibility on major Portuguese channels, but it also highlights that their calls for systemic change were not sufficiently explored. Below, you can find the pre-print version of this work. You can also access it through this link.

The research team of the JUSTFUTURES project has released a report analyzing 22 focused groups with 154 young people aged between 13 and 34. The focused groups took place between September 2022 and April 2023 in Braga, Greater Porto, Greater Lisbon, Olhão, and Faro. The participants discussed how they deal with climate issues, their perspectives on climate activism, and their imaginaries of future political alternatives, as well as their role in shaping them. We hope that this analysis offers interesting perspectives to reflect on diverse forms of participation and political engagement regarding climate issues, based on the current and future visions of the young participants.

On the January edition of Nature Climate Change, volume 13, Anabela Carvalho published a commentary emphasising how discourses matter in climate change and their potential for creating alternative futures. The full commentary can be read here.