Young people � citizens in times of climate change? A childist approach to human responsibility
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Date
2021
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Abstract
The matters of climate change are presently of concern existentially and ethically to the children
and the youth. Worldwide school strikes in 2018�2019 and the Fridays for Future movement
demonstrate how the young citizens assume socio-political responsibility. However, what
possibilities do children and young people actually have to influence global discourse? Are
adequate thought structures in place for them to be taken seriously in matters of concern to them?
Given that children and youth engage with the issues of climate change, with a concern for
their own future and that of our planet, the aim of this article was to take a child-centred
ethical perspective and to theoretically explore conditions for intentional inclusion of children
and their ethical concerns. In such a critical exploration, aspects of identity politics and
intersectionality are reviewed. Empirical results from an interview study with children aged
between 10 to 12 years are presented demonstrating that climate changes are of existential and
ethical importance to them. Thereafter, a �childist� perspective is introduced and discussed.
The interviews were carried out during 2019 in eight schools in South Africa and Sweden. The
children were individually interviewed with a method allowing for open responses. The
schools in both countries were located in areas where a lack of water had been experienced. In
this article, a theoretical framework is developed based on the ethical recognition of a
commonly shared human responsibility and using the concept of �empowered inclusion�. It
recognises children in their own right and identifies vulnerability and interdependence as
being foundational to human existence.
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Keywords
Citizenship, Identity politics, Childism, Climate change, Young people
Citation
Sporre, K. et al. (2021). Young people � citizens in times of climate change? A childist approach to human responsibility. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 77(3), a6783. https://doi. org/10.4102/hts.v77i3.6783