Socially Just Research with Young People

This book bridges the fields of critical youth studies, community psychology, and sociology to offer a transdisciplinary analysis of youth voice, participation, and activism, as well as of creative and inclusive knowledge-making practices. Presented in three parts, the book traces our journey of praxis as we documented the narratives and testimonies of young people and then mobilised this knowledge to co-imagine and co-create a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) collective aimed at fostering connection and healing during the stringent lockdowns of 2020 in Victoria, Australia. Community building and art-making became central to memorialising their experiences of grief and loss, whilst also opening up new ways of seeing, being and doing. With no end in sight to our current coalescence of crises, this book serves as an invitation to those working alongside young people to consider what we must carry with us if we are to reimagine and remake our world.

Alison Baker is Associate Professor of Youth and Community Studies in the College of Arts and Education and a Principal Research Fellow with the Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities (ISILC) at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. Anchored in community and liberation psychologies, her research focuses on intercultural relations, youth subjectivities, community building and activism through participatory and documentary arts research and practice.