Abstract:
This commentary reflects on the tensions inherent in enacting creative, co-produced,
and participatory methods with younger co-researchers who are also climate justice
advocates. Whilst participatory research with young people involved in climate
justice work has the potential to build intergenerational networks of solidarity, such
research is contoured with complexity. The authors, two university-based researchers,
juxtapose the social justice agenda at the foundation of participatory research,
with the climate justice agenda, and consider the resonances and tensions between
research and social movements. They advocate for an intersectional climate justice
approach to participatory research that positions young people as co-researchers and
co-authors, aiming to counter epistemic injustices and amplify the voices of those
first and worst affected by climate change. Simultaneously, the felt value-action gap
(between the justice sought and the injustices that persist within research) generates
questions about the profound differences, even incommensurability, between
university-generated research and the pursuit of climate justice in movement spaces.
A series of questions are offered to those engaged in participatory research with
younger people to prompt collective reflection on research processes and practises.
The commentary concludes with a call for university-based researchers to engage critically with the power structures within academia and to prioritise the needs and
goals of younger climate justice advocates over institutional demands.
