Prioritising communities: barriers to climate activism and political imagination among minoritised youth groups

Abstract

Minoritised youth voices are often underrepresented in climate action research. Despite the increasing interest in youth climate activism, there is still an overall lack of attention to the perspectives of young people struggling with discrimination, poverty, and other social injustices. In this article, we focus on a diverse group of minoritised youth in Portugal to explore their experiences of climate activism, perceived agency, and political imaginaries of the future. We conducted a qualitative study involving seven focus groups with 55 participants, including young people with a migrant background and/or living in underserved communities in Portugal. Based on a Reflexive Thematic Analysis, we generated three main themes that illustrate participants' ways of engaging with climate change issues, the barriers that constrain their engagement with climate activism and the challenges in the political imagination of the future. Our findings suggest that minoritised 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.

Full text

Journal of Youth Studies
ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/cjys20
Prioritising communities: barriers to climate
activism and political imagination among
minoritised youth groups
Dora Rebelo, Ana Dias Garcia, Tânia R. Santos, Anabela Carvalho, Carla
Malafaia & Maria Fernandes-Jesus
To cite this article: Dora Rebelo, Ana Dias Garcia, Tânia R. Santos, Anabela Carvalho, Carla
Malafaia & Maria Fernandes-Jesus (04 Nov 2024): Prioritising communities: barriers to climate
activism and political imagination among minoritised youth groups, Journal of Youth Studies,
DOI: 10.1080/13676261.2024.2419928
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2024.2419928
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Prioritising communities: barriers to climate activism and
political imagination among minoritised youth groups
Dora Rebelo
a
, Ana Dias Garcia
b
, Tânia R. Santos
c
, Anabela Carvalho
d
,
Carla Malafaia
b
and Maria Fernandes-Jesus
a,e
a
Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL), CIS-Iscte, Portugal;
b
Centre for Research and Intervention in
Education (CIIE), Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal;
c
Institute of Social Sciences, University of Minho, Minho, Portugal;
d
Department of Communication Sciences,
University of Minho, Minho, Portugal;
e
School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Sussex, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT
Minoritised youth voices are often underrepresented in climate
action research. Despite the increasing interest in youth climate
activism, there is still an overall lack of attention to the
perspectives of young people struggling with discrimination,
poverty, and other social injustices. In this article, we focus on a
diverse group of minoritised youth in Portugal to explore their
experiences of climate activism, perceived agency, and political
imaginaries of the future. We conducted a qualitative study
involving seven focus groups with 55 participants, including
young people with a migrant background and/or living in
underserved communities in Portugal. Based on a Reexive
Thematic Analysis, we generated three main themes that
illustrate participants’ ways of engaging with climate change
issues, the barriers that constrain their engagement with climate
activism and the challenges in the political imagination of the
future. Our findings suggest that minoritised 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.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Received 19 September 2023
Accepted 11 October 2024
KEYWORDS
climate change; minoritised
youth; activism; climate
justice; agency; political
imagination
Introduction
Recent literature on youth-led movements, such as the ‘School Strike for Climate (SSC)’
and ‘End of Fossil Occupy!’, has given visibility to youth climate activism (Malafaia and Fer-
nandes-Jesus 2024; Pickard 2022). Since the first SSC back in 2018, there has been a sig-
nificant increase in youth climate activism research (Neas, Ward, and Bowman 2022). Yet,
until now, very few studies have focused on the voices and experiences of minoritised
youth in climate activism (e.g. Barnes 2021; Walker 2020; Neas, Ward, and Bowman
2022). It has been suggested that young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds
are concerned with global and local environmental issues (e.g. Walker 2020; Wilson and
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s)
or with their consent.
CONTACT Maria Fernandes-Jesus m.fernandes-jesus@sussex.ac.uk School of Psychology, Pevensey 1, University
of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RH, United Kingdom
JOURNAL OF YOUTH STUDIES
https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2024.2419928

Snell 2010), although activism and grassroots campaigns led by these communities are
barely represented in mainstream media or in research (Neas, Ward, and Bowman 2022).
Against this background, this article focuses on the experiences of minoritised youth,
which are essential to fully comprehend the dynamics and processes involved in youth
climate activism (Malafaia and Fernandes-Jesus 2024; Neas, Ward, and Bowman 2022).
We use the term ‘minoritised youth’ to acknowledge the active and unequal processes
that are involved in the allocation of power and resources (Selvarajah et al. 2020) and
to foreground the multiple and intersecting forms of oppression often faced by
dierent youth groups (Savage et al. 2021). These inequalities are often related to
social factors such as class, migratory status, race, and gender and are being amplified
in the face of climate change (e.g. Mikulewicz et al. 2023). Thus, taking an intersectional
climate justice approach can help to examine the agency of people often portrayed as
‘vulnerable’ to climate change impacts and the forces of global capitalism (Mikulewicz
et al. 2023). Specifically, we ask: How do young people from minoritised groups
engage with climate change? How do they perceive their agency in shaping climate
futures? What barriers do they face when engaging with climate change and political
imagination? Supported by literature on youth climate activism (Bowman 2019; 2020;
Neas, Ward, and Bowman 2022; Pickard, Bowman, and Arya 2022; Walker 2020), political
imagination and climate futures (Anderson, Aushana, and Collins 2022; Bowman 2019;
Cattell 2021; Finnegan 2021; Machin 2022), we discuss the findings of a qualitative
study using focus group discussions to explore minoritised youth’s experiences,
agency, views of the future and forms of climate activism. Our findings contribute to a
better understanding of the experiences of minoritised youth in relation to climate acti-
vism and of the ways in which youth perceived agency shapes their climate activism and
imaginations of the future.
Youth climate activism, agency and political imaginaries
Youth are among the groups most aected by climate change (e.g. Spannring and Hawke
2022; Sanson and Bellemo 2021), already suering multiple political, social, environ-
mental, and economic disparities due to climate change, as well as several impacts on
their well-being and climate anxiety (Ojala 2005; Wilson and Snell 2010). As a strong
case of intergenerational injustice (Barford et al. 2021), climate change also aects
dierent youth groups dierently. Specifically, it is well established in the literature
that youth from minoritised groups and communities in countries in the so-called
‘Global North’ and youth in the ‘Global South’ are being particularly aected by climate
change (e.g. Newnham, Titov, and McEvoy 2020; Sanson and Bellemo 2021). Structural
inequality and power dynamics have also been observed to have an impact on the
way certain activist actions and movements are more visible than others in mainstream
media and in research (Barnes 2021; Bowman 2020). Existing research often ignores the
diversity and political potential of young people’s actions, particularly of those from min-
oritised groups (Fernandes-Jesus and Malafaia 2014; Neas, Ward, and Bowman 2022;
Spannring and Hawke 2022). We argue that to understand how minoritised youth
engage with climate change, research needs to pay more attention to their everyday
actions (Neas, Ward, and Bowman 2022; Walker 2017) and interpersonal experiences
(Hayward 2012; Pickard, Bowman, and Arya 2020). Additionally, identity factors such as
2 D. REBELO ET AL.

race, gender, and social class cannot be overlooked (Börner, Kraftl, and Giatti 2021;
Bowman 2019; Collins 2021; Navne and Skovdal 2021; Wood 2020). Thus, our research
acknowledges the importance of looking at climate-related issues from an intersectional
climate justice approach (e.g. Amorim-Maia et al. 2022; Mikulewicz et al. 2023; Patterson
et al. 2018). An intersectional climate justice approach implies recognising the dispropor-
tionate and intersecting impacts of climate change and climate policies on historically
marginalised groups and communities (Amorim-Maia et al. 2022; Sultana 2010). In this
study, we will look at how age, migrant background, and living in underserved commu-
nities may shape how youth engage with climate change. For example, based on previous
research with young immigrants and their participation experiences (e.g. Fernandes-
Jesus, Ribeiro, and Malafaia 2012; Ribeiro et al. 2014a), we expect that young people
with an immigrant background will encounter several possibilities and constraints
when engaging in climate action. On the one hand, drawing from their lived experience
in more than one country, they may be more aware of climate injustices and can oer
important contributions to climate politics based on their lived experiences. On the
other hand, they may face structural obstacles (e.g. lack of access to opportunities and
resources to participate, experiences of discrimination, and existing prejudice and bias
towards immigrants) that constrain their political agency in hosting countries (Fer-
nandes-Jesus, Ribeiro, and Malafaia 2012; Fernandes-Jesus et al. 2014; Ribeiro et al.
2014a, 2014b). Such structural barriers may lead to a preference for forms of engagement
beyond the conventional definitions of the ‘political’, using their everyday life practices
(Skelton 2010; Punch and Tisdall 2012). Within forms of action which typically go unno-
ticed, such as local initiatives of environmental care (Kallio and Häkli 2011, 2013; Kallio,
Häkli, and Bäcklund 2015; 2020; Skelton 2010), young people can be concerned about
ecological degradation, and be critical of the inaction of political leaders (Walker 2020).
In diverse interactions with communities, family, friends, and even within themselves,
emotionally and psychologically (Trott 2021), they can demonstrate care and concern
for the environment through intentional practices in both private and public spaces
(Walker 2020). These everyday practices (e.g. cleaning up common spaces in neighbour-
hoods or schools) can have a transformative potential for youth, and need to be under-
stood within the social complexities and ambiguities that shape young people’s lives
(Bowman 2019; Wood 2020). Previous research has suggested that climate activism is
inuenced by structural and relational dimensions in young people’s lives, including
social dynamics and power relations (Malafaia and Fernandes-Jesus 2024; Mitchell and
Elwood 2012). In this way, it is not merely a reection of an individual’s engagement in
social interactions, but also linked to the political world. To reproduce and reframe the
social and political worlds, individuals’ actions are conditioned by several barriers and
structural binds (Barnes 2021; Holloway, Holt, and Mills 2019). Youth can actively mobilise
their agency to address the structural constraints and negotiate their positions, actions,
and desires (Barnes 2021). Therefore, understanding youth’s agency (i.e. simply put,
their capacity to act) (Sanchini, Sala, and Pongiglione 2019) requires looking at their
actions as ‘informed by the past, but also oriented toward the future, as a capacity to
imagine alternative possibilities’ (Emirbayer and Mische 1998, 963). Sitas et al.’s study
(2022) with youth living in underserved communities showed that working with future
imagination can help to identify diverse pathways for social change while creating safe
spaces for co-learning and connection. Subjective ideas about what could happen in
JOURNAL OF YOUTH STUDIES 3

the future and how we can make it happen (Cattell 2021) are inuenced by cultural and
material contexts and may help to preserve well-being in times of rapid and unpredict-
able global change (Shaw et al. 2009; Wiek, Binder, and Scholz 2006). By focusing on pol-
itical imagination, we seek to explore how young people envision alternative political
futures and conceive their agency in shaping such futures. Political imagination refers
to those ‘imaginings of political order, of how power works and should work’ (Jae
2018, 1099). As a concept, it highlights not only the alternative futures that can be
found to address climate change and other societal challenges but also the ways by
which such solutions can be developed and our roles in shaping the futures (Duncombe
and Harrebye 2021). Importantly, political imagination is often considered a driver of
action and a key factor in societal transformation (Khasnabish and Haiven 2012; Machin
2022). However, several psychological and structural barriers, such as current political
and economic structures and existing societal norms and values, tend to constrain our
imagination (Herbert 2021; Solnit 2012). As research on political imagination among mar-
ginalised groups and communities is particularly scarce, in this study we will focus on min-
oritised youth in the Portuguese context to explore views and perceived barriers in
envisioning political alternatives and engaging with climate change. While a contested
term, political imaginaries refer to those ‘dynamic constructions of political reality that
enable practices, orientate expectations, inform decisions and determine what is politi-
cally legitimate, feasible, and valuable – and what is not’ (Machin 2022, 2). Political ima-
ginaries are often limited by hegemonic discourses (including those found in media
and popular culture) that may constrain youth’s ability to imagine and build political
alternatives (Herbert 2021).
Minoritised youth and climate activism in the Portuguese context
While the perspectives of minoritised young people are still considered a recent concern
in Portugal (Raposo 2022; Raposo et al. 2019), how they engage with social and political
issues has been the focus of some studies in the last decade (e.g. Fernandes-Jesus, Ribeiro,
and Malafaia 2012; Fernandes-Jesus et al. 2014; Ribeiro et al. 2012; Ribeiro et al. 2014a).
More recently, scholars have started to look at young people’s views and experiences
of activism with climate-related issues (e.g. Diógenes-Lima et al. 2023; Malafaia and Mer-
iluoto 2024; Kowasch et al. 2021). However, following the international trend (Neas, Ward,
and Bowman 2022), to our knowledge, none have focused on the experiences of minori-
tised youth. Our study addresses this gap by focusing on two groups of minoritised youth:
young migrants from Brazil and Angola living in Portugal, and young people living in
underserved peripheral neighbourhoods of Lisbon and Porto. Migration wise, Portugal
has always been oscillating between being a ‘sender’ and a receiving country (Augusto
et al. 2022). Diasporic communities from Portuguese-speaking countries, such as
Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and Brazil, were, for many years, the
majority of migrants settling in, which can be explained by the country’s colonial
history (Ribeiro et al. 2012). Research with young descendants of migrants from Angola
and Brazil suggests that their political participation has often been curbed by a lack of
opportunities to engage with civic and political issues (Fernandes-Jesus, Ribeiro, and
Malafaia 2012; Fernandes-Jesus et al. 2014; Ribeiro et al. 2012; Ribeiro et al. 2014a). Fur-
thermore, young people with a migrant background identify several barriers to social
4 D. REBELO ET AL.

inclusion, such as racism or lack of access to information and education about citizenship
and rights (Ribeiro et al. 2012). These and other obstacles are likely to shape their partici-
pation in social and political issues (Fernandes-Jesus, Ribeiro, and Malafaia 2012), includ-
ing on climate-related issues.
As to the underserved communities included in the study, these were neighbourhoods
historically aected by systemic discrimination over the last decades, including precarious
housing conditions, poor standard public services (e.g. schools, roads, transport), and high
levels of unemployment. These contexts have often been related to public discourse (e.g.
from mainstream Portuguese media and political institutions) that criminalise and associ-
ate those who live in underserved neighbourhoods with violence (Raposo et al. 2019).
One of our community partners in this research, Choices Programme (Programa Escolhas),
was created by the Portuguese Government in 2001 under media narratives of ‘social
alarm’ and instigated by damaging portrayals of suburban youth (Raposo 2022). The
program has funded thousands of community-based social inclusion projects, targeting
Roma youth, migrant communities and other minoritised groups. In Portugal, Roma
youth seems to be particularly impacted by multiple barriers to their participation, includ-
ing an added vulnerability to marginalisation and exclusion (Ie and Ursin 2022).
Concerning youth climate activism in Portugal, SSC has developed recently in multiple
locations with a concentration in the urban areas of Lisbon and Porto (Kowasch et al.
2021; Carvalho et al. 2022). Social justice concerns are present in the discourses of the Por-
tuguese climate activist movements (Kowasch et al. 2021; Malafaia, 2022). Their discourses
also call for a whole society approach to the climate struggle (Rebelo et al. 2023), yet they
do not specifically address the social inequalities that disproportionately aect minori-
tised youth groups – such as immigrants, Roma people, and Black and racialised youth.
It is also important to understand how minoritised youth, at their end, perceive and
relate to climate activism, and whether they acknowledge the discourses and actions pro-
posed by youth climate movements.
Methodology
As part of a large interdisciplinary research project, we developed a qualitative study
aiming at exploring young people’s perspectives on climate change, their perceived pol-
itical agency and modes of engagement with this issue. Between October 2022 and April
2023, we conducted 22 Focus Group Discussions (hereafter FGDs) with a diverse group of
155 young people, including climate activist and non-climate activist youth, as well as
young people from a minoritised youth background. The focus groups were conducted
between October 2022 and April 2023. For this article, we focused on the FGDS conducted
with young people from minoritised youth groups (aged 15–34) to highlight their views,
experiences and concerns. This involves a total of seven FGDs, with 55 participants (aged
15–34), with migrant youth from Angola and Brazil and young people living in under-
served neighbourhoods of Lisbon and Porto (see Table 1).
As the main inclusion criteria, participants had to be young people between 15 and 35
years old. Reecting on the intersectional barriers disproportionately aecting under-
served neighbourhoods and minoritised communities (Salleh 2017), we intentionally
reached out to young people in underserved neighbourhoods and communities in the
metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto. To recruit participants, we established contact
JOURNAL OF YOUTH STUDIES 5

with grassroots and local organisations with experience working in underserved commu-
nities (e.g. Programa Escolhas) and/or with minoritised youth groups (e.g. Association of
Angolan Students; Association of Brazilian Students). During our contact with these
organisations, we asked for their advice on mobilising potential participants, recruiting
participants, determining the best time to schedule the FGDs, and finding suitable
locations for running the focus groups. An initial meeting was set up with each potential
group to establish rapport with the participants and provide a space to clarify any doubts.
The focus groups were conducted in Portuguese and co-facilitated by two members of
the research team. Following previous recommendations (e.g. Kitzinger 1994), the facili-
tator was responsible for leading the discussion while the co-facilitator focused on observ-
ing nonverbal cues and group interactions. Previous research combining photo elicitation
and focus groups (e.g. Walstra 2020) found that using images helped establish rapport
among participants and contribute to the collective construction of meaning. A semi-
structured guide, including a photo-elicitation task, was used. Participants could either
bring one photo/image with them or, in case they forgot, the moderators would
provide a preselection to choose from. With this, we were able to collect each participant’s
personal views on climate change before asking questions. This was followed by a set of
questions focused on participants’ views on actions and measures to tackle climate
change (e.g. How would you describe your involvement with this issue?). The second part
of the discussion aimed at eliciting participants’ imagination with questions focused on
alternative futures (e.g. Try to imagine a future where it has been possible to deal with
climate change in a better way. What does it look like?). All focus groups were audio-
recorded and transcribed verbatim.
Analytical procedure
Transcripts were analysed using Reexive Thematic Analysis (RTA), an analytical approach
that seeks to identify patterns of shared meaning across the data (Braun and Clarke 2006,
2021). RTA recognises that the researchers have an active role in knowledge production
and encourages engagement with reexivity and researchers’ subjectivity (Braun and
Clarke 2019; 2021; Byrne 2022). We followed Braun and Clarke’s proposed phases
(2006, 2019, 2021) to guide our analysis. We approached the analysis as an iterative
process involving several cycles of coding, naming, renaming and defining themes.
The first author led the analytical process and was also one of the facilitators in all the
seven FGDs considered in this analysis. She started by reading all the focus group tran-
scripts and making initial familiarisation notes. The second phase involved coding all
Table 1. FGDs with minoritised youth.
No. Participants Background Age Gender Region
M F Other
FGD1 8 Underserved neighbourhood/Choices Program 15–29 3 5 Lisbon
FGD2 9 Highschool students from underserved communities 17–19 2 7 Porto
FGD3 10 Underserved neighbourhood/Choices Program 15–18 6 4 Porto
FGD10 10 Young migrants from Angola 18–30 7 3 Porto
FGD11 5 Young migrant women from Brazil 22–34 5 Porto
FGD12 8 Underserved neighbourhood/Choices Program 15–20 4 4 Porto
FGD17 5 Highschool students from underserved communities 17 5 Porto
Total 55 22 33
6 D. REBELO ET AL.

the data, while the third involved generating initial themes. She coded the dataset manu-
ally using MAXQDA software and then developed initial themes. Codes and initial themes
were mostly developed inductively, which means that a bottom-up and data-driven
approach was followed (Braun and Clarke 2006; 2021). All phases of the analysis were dis-
cussed with the last author via regular meetings to explore the challenges faced during
the analytical procedure, jointly reect on our assumptions and bias about the data
and share initial impressions on shared meanings across participants and FGDs. Once a
set of initial themes was developed, the analysis was discussed with all co-authors
involved in this study and then presented to a youth advisory committee, which provided
complementary feedback based on their experiences. Based on these discussions, the first
author returned to the analysis and revised and redefined the initial themes. Following a
bottom-up and inductive approach throughout the analysis helped us to engage deeply
with the views and perspectives of our participants and facilitated a collaborative,
thoughtful and reexive analytical process.
Analysis
The analysis generated three main interrelated themes related to our research questions.
The first theme, ‘First, we have to care about people: prioritising communal care’ illustrates
that, although participants do worry about environmental issues, they often prioritise social
justice and communal care as their focus of action, without making a connection between
dierent struggles. The second theme, ‘I think everything is a big barrier: feeling disempow-
ered,’ captures perceived obstacles to change, including the inaction of conventional poli-
tics, the lack of access to education on climate, and adultism. The third theme, ‘We lack a
space to dream: the challenge of imagining the future’, illustrates how participants envision
the future, highlighting perceived barriers to political imagination.
‘First, we have to care about people’: prioritising communal care
Initially, the youngest participants (15–18 years) demonstrated some resistance to dis-
cussing issues related to climate change. According to them, although not entirely unfa-
miliar, the topic was almost absent from their daily conversations. However, during the
focus groups, several local environmental concerns and forms of action were identified.
Worries about the accumulation of garbage in their neighbourhoods, in their schools,
and on the nearby beaches and woods were prevalent among the groups. Many partici-
pants listed individual actions they were taking, either at home or at school, to protect the
environment. These included recycling habits, minimising the use of plastic bags, saving
energy, and reducing the consumption of unnecessary items (e.g. new phones). There was
some sense of guilt among participants associated with the perception that young people
may, at times and unknowingly, be doing ‘more harm than good’ to the environment (e.g.
Elvira and Cidália, FGD1). Older participants (particularly university students and those
older than 18 years) added other concerns, such as excessive consumerism and diculties
in ‘avoiding fast fashion’ (Arminda, FGD10). Green mobility choices were also mentioned,
with some participants discussing the importance of using a bike instead of taking the bus
(e.g. Elvira, FGD1). These discourses raised the question among some participants of who
could aord to become an ‘environmentally conscientious citizen’, as some of the
JOURNAL OF YOUTH STUDIES 7

‘demands’ to be environment-friendly require access to products and services that are less
available to underserved communities. Nevertheless, some participants, particularly those
from underserved communities, felt responsible for contributing and even ‘policing’ their
younger peers on pro-environmental behaviours, as shown by Joana and Natália in the
following extract:
Facilitator: So, to what extent does this photo [photograph of a group of young people
cleaning their common space in a community-based project] relates to the way you deal
with climate change?
Joana: The fact that I don’t throw garbage on the oor, the fact that I tell them [looking at
the younger participants] not to throw garbage on the oor, the fact that I separate the
garbage …
Natália: We force them to pick up the garbage from the oor … .
Joana: … we force them to pick up the garbage from the oor …
Facilitator: And when you say ‘they’, who are ‘they’?
Joana: Them! Them! [pointing to the younger peers in the group and in the photograph].
(FGD3, Joana, 17 and Natália,16)
Other participants mentioned that they are taking more collective forms of action invol-
ving working together to improve their neighbourhoods or schools, such as painting,
cleaning the woods, cleaning up local beaches, or repairing damaged walls and buildings.
They referred to these community-based forms of action as opportunities to learn and
sensitise their local communities about the need to protect the environment, ‘raising
[their] conscientiousness’ (Natália, FGD3). Such discussions were particularly common
among high school students from underserved communities.
Older participants with a migrant background talked more extensively about the
eects of global inequalities and how those relate to climate change. Taking into con-
sideration the climate injustices observed in their own countries (e.g. the actions of multi-
national corporations in Brazil, Angola and the Congo), their concerns extended from land
degradation to exploitation of labour, and the global repercussions of natural resources’
extractivism:
Aníbal: I come from the east of Angola (…) which is heavily exploited for wood, we have
(…) 80% of the soil with diamonds (…) we have companies (…) that do the extraction.
What happens? Taking what my colleague said before, about holding people who do
these things accountable … It’s one thing for us to extract and that’s okay, if it’s to generate
revenue, to transform, that is making the country develop (…) but my province and the
neighbouring region suer too much from the ravines. That is, we have open-air explora-
tion, with bombs and explosions and all that, so you can get to the diamonds. (…) Unfor-
tunately, there are people in outlying areas who have houses near or on the edge of the
ravines [and suer the impact] (…) and then we have Congo, which exploits cobalt …
it’s the children who extract it with buckets. And if we look at the amount of people in
the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a smartphone, or with an iPhone, it does not
match this exploitation and risk exposure (…)
Leopoldo: The Congo issue is a complex one; it’s not just a question of human exploita-
tion, it’s a geopolitical issue, where the rulers themselves feed it. Congo is destined to be
in the coming years, a centre of war. Why? Because the United States, the European
Union, in particular, and also other partners, need cobalt (…) so often, it’s not just
having very good ideas and wanting to raise awareness, but it’s about the bigger
8 D. REBELO ET AL.

structures …
(FGD10, Aníbal, 25, Leopoldo, 30)
Consistent with previous studies focusing on minoritised youth (e.g. Fernandes-Jesus
et al. 2014; Walker 2020), our analysis suggests that many young people are concerned,
interested and care about environmental and other issues. While young migrants with
lived experience in the Global South discussed the consequences of climate change at
the global level, such was less explored among those participants who were born in Por-
tugal. Many participants showed that they are responding to their concerns through their
everyday actions in their communities. They are simultaneously trying to be ‘agents of
change’, trying to raise pro-environmental awareness among their communities, and
making suggestions on how they and others can respond to the challenges (Wilson
and Snell 2010).
Notwithstanding, participants brought up a diverse array of concerns and actions,
showing their own ways of engaging with politics (Banaji 2008; Henn, Weinstein, and
Wring 2002). Some were involved in campaigns against bullying, while others were stand-
ing up against racism and discrimination. They engaged with these and other social chal-
lenges by organising debates, conferences, exhibitions, and performances. Other
participants shared ideas on addressing poverty and the increased cost of living, which
they believed to be disproportionately aecting marginalised communities in Portugal.
Although, as we have seen, environmental concerns were present in minoritised
youth’s everyday lives and discourses, they claim that ‘first, we have to care about
people’ (Guilherme, FGD12). In this excerpt, Guilherme expands on this idea, while
Paula shows her pessimism over the possibilities of changing the root of the problem:
Co-facilitator: Guilherme, […] you talked about children who starve to death? […] What
does this mean? Does it mean that there are causes that are more important than others?
(…)
Guilherme: (…) first, we have to care about people, because without people we wouldn’t
be fighting climate change. So first dealing with people, and then dealing with climate
change … By not treating people first, climate change would get worse (…)
Co-facilitator: Do you agree?
Paula: I agree, but I don’t know if it’s possible to have a world where no one goes hungry.
Sincerely … Because there are people with a lot of money who could end hunger in the
world, and why doesn’t it end?
(FGD12, Guilherme, 19; Paula, 17)
In this interaction, we can see how Guilherme and Paula interpret political priorities while
remaining sceptical of the possibility of changing ‘the world’. Older participants expanded
on this idea, arguing that although climate change is seen as a problem, it is not necess-
arily their political priority. Some young migrants reected on the need to look at climate
actions in a more holistic way, embracing various political struggles and moving beyond a
Eurocentric lens:
Taís: I think it relates a lot with … who can exist? (…) I think that deep down, the
struggles, like anti-oppression, in general, we separate it because there are markers
that separate them, but we are talking about … who can survive and exist in this
planet? Right? Which are the lives and bodies that can exist? So, I think the whole
JOURNAL OF YOUTH STUDIES 9

point is defending humanity as a whole, its possibility of existing, an umbrella of all
struggles …
Facilitator: Right, an intersectional perspective?
Taís: Exactly, it is a very intersectional struggle, and mainly because within our way of
thinking, we seek, in the epistemologies of the South, to look at this issue, the importance
of us looking at ancestral, indigenous knowledges, black authors … When we shift our
gaze a little from the Eurocentric lens and so on, these issues were already there. It’s
not just now, just because they started calling it the climate justice movement.
(FGD11, Taís, 29)
Taís, a young immigrant woman from Brazil, retained the word intersectionality after the
facilitator proposed it, showing her familiarity with the concept. We observed that this
term was only used by older participants who identified as activists (Taís identified
herself as a feminist activist) but was uncommon among younger and non-activist partici-
pants. Her point eloquently illustrates what some participants hinted at in other groups:
that all social struggles should be acknowledged when considering climate activism.
However, as we have seen above, most of our participants did not make a clear connec-
tion between climate activism and other social struggles.
‘I think everything is a big barrier … ’: feeling disempowered
Despite recognising global inequalities (i.e. migrant youth) and the need to put people first
(i.e. youth from underserved communities), participants in our study did not see themselves
as holding enough power to inuence political decisions or transform reality. Likewise, most
participants generally perceived a lack of ‘enough information’ about climate change. Dis-
cussions on this matter revolved around criticism of the educational system for not includ-
ing opportunities to debate and act on climate change. Participants called for more
intentional climate education, which could make a significant dierence in their ability to
understand the problem and take informed action. This is consistent with recent studies
that found a disconnection between climate change education and action (McGimpsey,
Rousell, and Howard 2023) and call for reframing the relation between the educational
structures and young people in a way that recognises them as political citizens.
Another barrier to engaging with climate action was a perception of a lack of account-
ability in conventional politics. As previously found in the literature (e.g., Fernandes-Jesus
et al. 2014; Malafaia et al. 2018; Pontes, Henn, and Griths 2018), several young people
participating in our study shared negative views about politicians and political parties.
Participants from Brazil and Angola went further, connecting institutional politics to
global capitalism, conveying that, in their view, political change was dicult, if not
impossible (e.g. Taís, FGD11). Inaction from governments and their lack of interest in
people and nature, were perceived as strong disincentives to youth climate action:
Facilitator: Ok, so you think there is a lack of unity, would you say that is the main barrier?
Melena: (…) I feel like I can’t do anything about it, (…) and if everyone thinks like that
what’s the point? [laughs] if I were president of the country, but …
Facilitator: (…) Do you feel the same? (…)
Taís: I feel (…) they’re political barriers really, you know (…) I think it’s, I’m thinking here
of things that I heard recently in a debate about another COP, (…) to discuss climate
change and then, (…) they invited, supposedly activists, people from civil society to
10 D. REBELO ET AL.

come in there, but then at the tables where they make decisions the activists can’t be
there. (…) I think debating climate justice without debating models of capitalist develop-
ment is a trap (…)
Facilitator: Heidi, do you agree with that?
Heidi: Yes, I think we were talking until now about many barriers: individualism, ego, capit-
alism, everything is political, I think everything is a big barrier that makes us not think
together, and does not see nature as something that has to be preserved (…)
(FGD11, Melena, 23, Taís, 29, Heidi, 22)
Interestingly, this rich interaction with three young Brazilian women shows different per-
spectives on the responsibility to address climate change. On the one hand, Melena
signals her lack of belief in the power of individual action. On the other hand, Taís and
Heidi underline their disbelief in the will of politicians and political institutions. The gen-
eralised disbelief in the efficacy of political institutions was extended to other political
actions, such as demonstrations, as exemplified in the following excerpt from a focus
group with younger participants living in an underserved neighbourhood:
Bernardo: There are demonstrations …
Joana: Demonstrations to get to the … .
Bernardo: But often they [politicians] readily silence us, they try to silence us, but we can
make many demonstrations. Some, like, they hear this stu …
Joana: Yes, yes. It’s this thing, this thing of listening but doing nothing …
Bernardo: They listen, they listen, but then they don’t do anything … There’s something in
that saying … if you want something done well, you might as well do it yourself …
Natália: Of course, for there to be change, it doesn’t necessarily have to be, it doesn’t
necessarily have to come from a policy or someone … slightly superior … you see … of
course, it can and should start from us, society, with these small examples that each of
us gave: how to save water, save energy, do not throw garbage on the oor, recycle, sen-
sitise and raise awareness … so, I think that these types of activities for awareness and
sensitisation are extremely important. The simple fact of informing … because there
are people who do nothing, or that do not want to do anything, just because they are
not informed, they simply do not have information about it …
(FGD3, Bernardo, 17, Joana, 17, Natália, 16)
This excerpt illustrates a lack of perceived power to change things through protests and dem-
onstrations. Bernardo, Joana and Natália, all high school students from underserved commu-
nities, ended up concluding that politicians ‘listen but do nothing’. Thus, the best pathway to
inuence change is – they believe – to raise awareness, share information and keep doing
what they already do within their own local contexts and through individual actions.
Additionally, many participants in our study expressed that they did not have a space
to express their concerns. At the ‘adults’ table,’ they are not ‘taken seriously’, and access to
politicians is scarce. Most participants agreed that their opinions were utterly underesti-
mated, just for being young:
Mariana: This also happens because the Government does not have people as young as
it should have. The Government, most of the Government, the largest percentage are
people of a certain age. They don’t have our current mindset.
Facilitator: That’s what I was going to ask you. If there were people aged 16, like you,
voting and being part of the decisions …
Gualter: It would help!
JOURNAL OF YOUTH STUDIES 11

Fiona: It would help a lot, because most of them are seniors and I think there are seniors
who still, hum, are very apologists of Salazar’s time (Portuguese dictator)
Mariana: But that also [it has a lot to do]
Fiona: [That’s why]
Mariana: [Being born in a century] dierent from ours
Gualter: It’s true …
Mariana: We grew up in this century, we have another vision.
(GDF2, Mariana, 18; Gualter, 17; Fiona, 19)
In summary, regarding perceived barriers, we found a strong lack of perceived power to
engage and inuence climate action. Many participants believed their actions were insuf-
ficient or that their participation could not make any difference. This sense of powerless-
ness was found in all focus groups but was particularly strong among younger
participants and those living in underserved communities. One positive conviction was
the perception shared by many participants that youth could bring fresh perspectives
and unique knowledge to political-related issues based on their own lived experiences.
Ultimately, despite their feelings of disempowerment and their scepticism in conventional
politics, our participants seem to reclaim more opportunities and spaces to collectively
create political alternatives and imagine different futures.
‘We lack a space to dream’: the challenge of imagining the future
The dialogues among the participants were more uid when they addressed the issues
that were aecting them in the present. The task of imagining future political alternatives
was more challenging, particularly among younger participants. Young people living in
underserved neighbourhoods often mentioned that they ‘couldn’t imagine’ what an
alternative future could look like at all (e.g. Bárbara, FGD17). Barriers to political imagin-
ation of the future included current feelings of disempowerment, ‘I can’t do anything
about it’ (Carlos, FGD12), or notions that they lack key resources to change the way
things are, such as enough information or critical education about climate change. The
‘lack of a space to dream’ was how a young migrant (Heidi, FGD11) described her
diculty in thinking about the future.
As can be seen in the interaction below, often participants would ‘return’ to the present
moment, citing current concerns and issues hindering their daily lives:
Gualter: I, I think that in relation to what they were talking about [better futures], for
poverty in Portugal, for example, I think they should increase both pensions and salaries,
because I see stories of elderly people who, after the increase in the rents, did not have
money to pay. I saw a case last week on television of a 76-year-old elderly person who
ended up [going to]
Iris: [To the street]
(…)
Mariana: My mother now does not work, [my nuclear family] it is just me, my mother and
my brother. How is my mother going to support a house and two children with the prices
as they are?
Jamila: I’m the same, too. It’s my grandmother, my mother, and me. And my mother
works … poor thing, [works for us all].
(FGD2, Gualter, 17, Iris, 17, Jamila, 18, Mariana, 18)
12 D. REBELO ET AL.

When we explored more thoroughly how participants envisioned a pathway into ‘just
futures’, many answers mentioned collective action, showing that minoritised youth’s pol-
itical imaginaries revolve around sharing responsibilities and overcoming ‘individualism
and selfishness’, as expressed below:
Facilitator: But how do you look to the future? How do you see the world, if you could
put into practice the things you said …
Natalia: Green everything! Healthy, beautiful I guess, like, amazing even! …
Bernardo: … Yeah, beautiful! And everyone was going to be so much happier, happier
…
Co-facilitator: What would that imply in terms of … How do we have to relate to each
other to get there?
Natalia: We couldn’t be so individualistic.
Alice: Working as a group …
Joana: Because the biggest problem … or rather, maybe it is not what causes climate
change, but a part of it, is greed, individualism, selfishness …
Bernardo: Human beings are always very self-centred … even if we in the future surpass
it … There will always be problems. Even if we put this problem beyond, there will always
be people with their minds set on the wrong direction.
(FGD3, Natália, 16, Bernardo, 17 Alice, 16, Joana, 17)
The ‘advancement’ of society was envisioned alongside imaginaries of social equality and
more support available to vulnerable communities. More cooperation between countries
towards a fairer and more sustainable global development was a desired change men-
tioned by a few participants. Among young migrants, a few decolonial perspectives
were also discussed. ‘Buen Vivir’ (Good Life), an indigenous-based ideology from South
America, and African philosophy ‘Ubuntu’ (I am because you are) were cited as inspirations
to reimagine a more just world:
Leopoldo: I think we need to go through a paradigm shift. [Um:um]. We in Africa have
one, we have a consciousness that says UBUNTU, that is, I am because we are ((various
voices: Hum:um)). That is, unity is going to be very paramount in the sense that, if I
lack water, I know that he will give me water. If I need a ride to go to work, I know
you’ll give me a ride. That is, we need to look more at the question of unity with other
eyes, to leave a little bit the question of capitalism behind, because if we continue to
be moved by material wealth we will not get there. If resources are finite in the planet,
resources will not last for long, then we have to have another solution, we have to join
hands (…)
(FGD10, Leopoldo, 30)
Anticipations of what could happen in the future gave youth opportunities to examine
potential alternatives and practices to build a new society. In our study, these alternatives
were inextricably linked to notions of a revitalised democracy, centred in community care,
equality and social justice. Participants had difficulties imagining how to get there, but
they were consensus that they should be a part of the debate. For this to happen, struc-
tural inequalities affecting their communities and territories need to be acknowledged
and addressed.
JOURNAL OF YOUTH STUDIES 13

Conclusion
In this article, we sought to explore how minoritised youth engage with climate change
and how they perceive their agency in shaping and imagining political alternatives. This
has been an underexplored issue in previous literature (Neas, Ward, and Bowman 2022;
Malafaia and Fernandes-Jesus 2024), and our findings contribute to a better understand-
ing of how minoritised youth engage with climate change despite the multiple barriers.
Overall, our analysis suggests three main relevant findings that relate to prioritising com-
munity needs, barriers to youth climate activism and the challenge of political
imagination.
Firstly, we saw that participants tend to privilege forms of action based on their local
communities’ needs. They shared several environmental concerns and were seeking to
respond to such concerns through everyday individual and localised forms of actions.
From their perspectives, there is a need to prioritise action focusing on community’s
needs rather than climate change issues. Most did not see a clear link between climate
and social justice, which may be leading them to prioritise other political causes,
namely dealing with pressing local diculties and injustices. We argue that this may
help explain their lack of engagement with climate activism. In contrast, previous research
with youth climate activists found a strong awareness of the intersectionality of causes
and struggles (e.g. global and local) (e.g. Kowasch et al. 2021; Malafaia 2022). In our
study, only a few older participants explicitly connected climate change with global
dimensions of social justice and saw climate change as an intersectional issue. These
were participants with lived experiences in countries in the Global South and/or with
experiences of activism in other causes (e.g. feminism). In our view, these findings also
suggest the importance of giving more centrality to the voices of young people with
diverse lived experiences, as their informed perspectives can help to bring new and
more inclusive contributions to the climate debate.
Secondly, our analysis suggested that minoritised youth perceived several barriers to
engaging in climate activism and felt disempowered in many ways. Confronted with
daily structural obstacles (e.g. cost of living crisis, housing precariousness) aecting
their families, schools and communities, our participants express several pessimistic
views on the possibilities of eecting political changes. This was associated with a
shared sense of abandonment by conventional politics and distrust in political institutions
and politicians, a pattern often found in studies with young people and political partici-
pation (e.g. Barrett and Zani 2014; Dahl et al. 2018; Fernandes-Jesus et al. 2014). Likewise,
participants, particularly the youngest from underserved communities, shared a broad
sentiment of being unprepared to engage politically with climate change. They reclaimed
more spaces to learn about climate change and emphasised a lack of knowledge in
relation to this issue. Furthermore, several participants argued that their perspectives
and lived experiences are often subbed and invisibilised in spaces of political participation
and that adults (particularly but not only politicians) do not take them seriously. Similar
findings have been found with minoritised youth groups in other contexts (Walker
2020) as well as with activists (e.g. Malafaia 2022). To counteract their feelings of disem-
powerment, some participants turn to localised actions, such as modelling pro-environ-
mental behaviours in their communities, or organising communal care initiatives, as
shown in previous studies (Walker 2020; Wilson and Snell 2010). In dierent ways and
14 D. REBELO ET AL.

through diverse experiences, minoritised youth in our study showed that they envision a
society that puts social justice and the needs of communities at the forefront of politics.
Thirdly, many of the barriers associated with disengagement from climate activism are
relevant to understanding the lack of political imagination found in our study. Several par-
ticipants struggled with the questions related to the future. Lack of perceived power and
inability to eect change were common perceptions among the participants. Additionally,
they conveyed the idea that more opportunities and resources were needed to exercise
their citizenship fully and equally. Our analysis suggests that pessimistic views of conven-
tional politics, adultism, and lack of access to key resources such as education on climate
change shape how minoritised youth see themselves as political agents, as well as their
ability to imagine dierent futures (Bowman 2020; Fernandes-Jesus, Ribeiro, and Malafaia
2012; Malafaia et al. 2018; Malafaia and Fernandes-Jesus 2024). Although these findings
align with previous research with white and middle-class youth activists (e.g. Kowasch
et al. 2021), we argue that these obstacles are particularly ubiquitous for minoritised
youth. Underserved communities in Portugal are aected by structural disadvantages,
struggling with unequal access to housing, transportation and education, among other
challenges. These inequalities limit their access to spaces of climate action and activism,
which is likely to make their demands and the richness and complexity of their lived
experiences prone to being excluded from political participation.
It is important to highlight at this point that minoritised youth is a diverse group, and
while we considered dierent types of structural disadvantages, more research is needed
with other youth groups and across dierent territories. For example, future research
could expand the analysis to the perspectives of minoritised youth living in the Portu-
guese Islands and/or in rural communities, as these contexts are often associated with
high levels of poverty and social exclusion (Rodrigues 2023; Simões, do Carmo, and Fer-
nandes 2023). Overall, more attention is needed to how existing structural contextual
inequalities limit access to opportunities to imagine and create alternative futures.
Additionally, young people living in underserved communities have specific particulari-
ties and singularities that were not fully examined in this study. For example, Roma
youth often live in underserved territories and are exposed to multiple and intersecting
forms of discrimination in areas such as housing, employment and education (e.g.
Magano and D’Oliveira 2022). While some participants in our study identified as Roma
people, we did not look at the specific challenges faced by this youth group. Similarly,
immigrant youth communities are a diverse group experiencing dierent barriers to
their participation and integration on the basis of their class, gender and race (Fer-
nandes-Jesus, Ribeiro, and Malafaia 2012, 2014; Ribeiro et al. 2014a). While we acknowl-
edged the importance of employing an intersectional lens when exploring climate
activism and political imagination among minoritised groups, these structural barriers
were not fully examined in our analysis. Future research should seek to present disaggre-
gated data (e.g. by dierent genders), which is likely to lead to a more comprehensive
understanding of the role of social categories and identities in shaping experiences of
climate activism among youth groups.
Another important limitation in our study relates to the shortcomings in how the discus-
sions around climate futures and political imagination evolved. For some participants, ima-
gining and discussing alternative futures was dicult, which suggests that future studies
should move towards more participatory and arts-based methods. Specifically, participatory
JOURNAL OF YOUTH STUDIES 15

and arts-based methods (e.g. photovoice) may be more eective in eliciting and fostering
political imaginaries, surpassing existing representations and barriers of what the future
may look like. These types of methods rely on creative and engaging techniques that
may enhance young people’s expression, reexivity and imagination (Sitas et al. 2022).
Despite some limitations, our research oers key contributions to the understanding of
the conditions and barriers that shape how minoritised youth relate to climate activism
and political imagination. Importantly, our research shows that minoritised youth want
a voice in the political debates about climate change, but they face many structural bar-
riers that constrain their agency and sense of power. At a policy level, these findings illus-
trated that more opportunities should be created for young people to inuence the design
of climate change mitigation and adaptation policies. Moving our societies towards
climate justice futures requires including minoritised groups and communities in the
design, participation and implementation of climate solutions (e.g. Mikulewicz et al.
2023). From an educational perspective, our findings suggest the importance of rethinking
the role of schools in facilitating knowledge and action towards climate change. Climate
community profiling, for example, is a promising approach to promoting youth partici-
pation in climate adaptation (Pinheiro et al. 2024). The climate movement would also
benefit from mobilising minoritised youth groups to the climate debate. Young people
from marginalised contexts and backgrounds may be prioritising social justice rather
than climate-related action. This does not mean, however, that they are not interested
in climate change. Minoritised youth groups may benefit from campaigns and interven-
tion programmes that raise awareness of the intersectionality involved in climate
change while addressing and intervening in such intersecting struggles (e.g. climate
and racism). Bringing their voices and experiences to climate activism spaces would con-
tribute to increasing diversity and inclusion among social movements, which may lead to
the construction of more inclusive radical climate imaginaries. These practices could help
our societies to envision opportunities for more equitable future communities (Mikulewicz
et al. 2023) and more inclusive dialogues about such desired climate futures could help to
bridge territorial and social divides, contributing to strengthening climate justice.
Disclosure statement
No potential conict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia: [Grant Number PTDC/COM-
OUT/7669/2020].
ORCID
Dora Rebelo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0911-0375
Ana Dias Garcia http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4723-8561
Tânia R. Santos http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4686-7489
Anabela Carvalho http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7727-4187
Carla Malafaia http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5490-1187
Maria Fernandes-Jesus http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8868-1968
16 D. REBELO ET AL.

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