• ‘The Oceans are Rising and So Are We’: Exploring Utopian Discourses in the School Strike For Climate Movement

    Author(s):
    Heather McKnight (see profile)
    Date:
    2020
    Group(s):
    Environmental Humanities, Utopian Studies
    Subject(s):
    Protest movements, Utopias, Climatic changes, Youth--Political activity, Sustainability, World politics, Environmental policy, Human rights, Youth
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    school strikes, 'Fridays for Future, youth democracy, utopian discourse analysis, resistance as anticipation, anxiety
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/y2d2-cx60
    Abstract:
    This article offers some provisional analyses of the discourses presented by participants in the School Strike for Climate movement, which (since it began in 2018) has been organised variously under the banners Fridays for Future, Youth for Climate and School Strike 4 Climate.1 This paper contends that the movement goes beyond just presenting a vision of an inescapable future, or a simple request for adults to listen to science.2 Instead, their vision is constructive of a better world, as participants challenge the failures of politicians and arguably the adult public, demanding to play an active role in policymaking when it comes to the climate crisis. This movement is constructed upon a critical utopian discourse, expressed through complex temporalities, which define the role of resistance as anticipation. This article also considers how the anxiety in the School Strike movement creates a militant optimism, and how its narratives are demonstrative of an open-ended utopian process.
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    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Publisher:
    CHASE
    Pub. Date:
    March 2020
    Journal:
    48B:251 E4-064.5:( | V0). 4, N0. 1‘The Oceans Are Rising and So Are We’: Exploring Utopian Discourses in the School Strike For Climate MovementHeather McKnightThis article offers some provisional analyses of the discourses presented by participants in the School Strike for Climate movement, which (since it began in 2018) has been organised variously under the banners Fridays for Future, Youth for Climate and School Strike 4 Climate.1 This paper contends that the movement goes beyond just presenting a vision of an inescapable future, or a simple request for adults to listen to science.2 Instead, their vision is constructive of a better world, as participants challenge the failures of politicians and arguably the adult public, demanding to play an active role in policymaking when it comes to the climate crisis. This movement is constructed upon a critical utopian discourse, expressed through complex temporalities, which define the role of resistance as anticipation. This article also considers how the anxiety in the School Strike movement creates a militant optimism, and how its narratives are demonstrative of an open-ended utopian process.
    Volume:
    4
    Issue:
    1
    Page Range:
    48 - 63
    ISSN:
    2514 - 0 612
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    1 year ago
    License:
    Attribution
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