Broadening the Meanings of Youth Climate Activism : A Review of the Literature from Asia
(2025) In Youth 5(3).- Abstract
- It is by now a common trope that youth climate activism has become a ‘global phenomenon’. Yet, it also has significant regional variations. This literature review analyses eighteen academic articles on the topic of youth climate activism in Asia. We found that the literature from Asia overall had ambitions to contextualise and nuance international scholarship on youth climate activism. This was achieved by emphasising social and cultural constructions of youth in different Asian contexts; by exploring inequality-related barriers for young people to enter into climate activism; by emphasising solidarity across classes and ages as a particular aspect of much Asian youth climate activism; and by showcasing the political restrictions in many... (More)
- It is by now a common trope that youth climate activism has become a ‘global phenomenon’. Yet, it also has significant regional variations. This literature review analyses eighteen academic articles on the topic of youth climate activism in Asia. We found that the literature from Asia overall had ambitions to contextualise and nuance international scholarship on youth climate activism. This was achieved by emphasising social and cultural constructions of youth in different Asian contexts; by exploring inequality-related barriers for young people to enter into climate activism; by emphasising solidarity across classes and ages as a particular aspect of much Asian youth climate activism; and by showcasing the political restrictions in many Asian states, which inhibit (scholarship on) activism. We conclude that Asian avatars of youth climate activism have evolved in response to their distinct social, cultural, and political contexts, and that they challenge not easily transferable concepts such as ‘school strike’ and ‘future generations’. At the end, we offer suggestions for future research, including the need for going beyond desk studies when documenting discrete movements and for conceptualisations of youth climate activism that are inclusive of diverse contexts. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/10a6a05c-6ba7-4cda-9f19-10a09bf9d73b
- author
- Boje Mortensen, Therese LU and Dadhich, Timisha
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- youth climate activism, literature review, Asia, ageism, youth climate movement, future generations, solidarity, digital activism, Fridays for Future
- in
- Youth
- volume
- 5
- issue
- 3
- article number
- 67
- pages
- 16 pages
- publisher
- MDPI AG
- ISSN
- 2673-995X
- project
- Children's right to political participation: the case of rights-based climate activism in India
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 10a6a05c-6ba7-4cda-9f19-10a09bf9d73b
- alternative location
- https://www.mdpi.com/2673-995X/5/3/67
- date added to LUP
- 2025-07-13 20:34:16
- date last changed
- 2025-07-17 16:27:17
@article{10a6a05c-6ba7-4cda-9f19-10a09bf9d73b,
abstract = {{It is by now a common trope that youth climate activism has become a ‘global phenomenon’. Yet, it also has significant regional variations. This literature review analyses eighteen academic articles on the topic of youth climate activism in Asia. We found that the literature from Asia overall had ambitions to contextualise and nuance international scholarship on youth climate activism. This was achieved by emphasising social and cultural constructions of youth in different Asian contexts; by exploring inequality-related barriers for young people to enter into climate activism; by emphasising solidarity across classes and ages as a particular aspect of much Asian youth climate activism; and by showcasing the political restrictions in many Asian states, which inhibit (scholarship on) activism. We conclude that Asian avatars of youth climate activism have evolved in response to their distinct social, cultural, and political contexts, and that they challenge not easily transferable concepts such as ‘school strike’ and ‘future generations’. At the end, we offer suggestions for future research, including the need for going beyond desk studies when documenting discrete movements and for conceptualisations of youth climate activism that are inclusive of diverse contexts.}},
author = {{Boje Mortensen, Therese and Dadhich, Timisha}},
issn = {{2673-995X}},
keywords = {{youth climate activism; literature review; Asia; ageism; youth climate movement; future generations; solidarity; digital activism; Fridays for Future}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
publisher = {{MDPI AG}},
series = {{Youth}},
title = {{Broadening the Meanings of Youth Climate Activism : A Review of the Literature from Asia}},
url = {{https://www.mdpi.com/2673-995X/5/3/67}},
volume = {{5}},
year = {{2025}},
}