Conference Program

This communication examines how socially and economically marginalized youth enact political agency in relation to socio-ecological crises. In line with the symposium’s focus on youth as political actors, the study challenges the tendency to position young people as compliant and responsibilized future citizens rather than present participants in democratic life. It adopts a critical posture aimed at giving voice to youth, recognizing the diversity of their concerns, and exploring the spaces where they feel heard—as well as those where they experience frustration, invisibility, or political disregard (Gaudet et Caron, 2024).

The presentation draws on preliminary findings from an ongoing collaborative research project conducted in the Outaouais region (Quebec, Canada). The research team has worked with youth centres, animation teams, and facilitated group discussions with young people aged 12 to 17 across urban, rural, and peri-urban sectors.

In Quebec, youth centres (Maisons de jeunes) are non-profit community organizations dedicated to supporting adolescents aged 12–17 in becoming critical, active, and responsible citizens. Rooted in proximity-based and participatory approaches, they emphasize empowerment, voluntary and egalitarian relationships between youth and adults, and active involvement in decision-making processes. These spaces, therefore, offer a particularly fertile terrain for examining youth political agency beyond the formal structures of schooling (Cantin, 2023).

Data collection followed a bricolage methodology (Kincheloe, 2001), combining dialogic activities, collective mapping, visual artifacts, informal conversations, and recorded group exchanges. This methodological flexibility was designed to respect the needs and specificities of each youth centre and the lived realities of participants, rather than imposing a uniform research protocol. The approach aligns with the project’s commitment to epistemic justice and to recognizing youth as legitimate co-constructors of knowledge.

Rather than presenting definitive findings, the paper reflects on emerging analytical directions. Initial discussions suggest that youth articulate environmental concerns in ways closely intertwined with everyday experiences of inequality, territorial belonging, and recognition. The research pays particular attention to how youth describe moments of collective dialogue, instances of feeling politically ignored, and situations in which they perceive opportunities for action. Drawing on the capability approach (Deveaux, 2021), the study conceptualizes political capabilities as collectively constructed capacities to interpret shared conditions, deliberate about common concerns, and imagine transformative responses.

By situating youth centres as democratic spaces beyond school, this contribution expands the democratic imaginary to include socially and economically marginalized youth as present political actors. Recognizing their voices, tensions, and forms of resistance is not merely descriptive; it constitutes a normative commitment to renewing democracy in contexts marked by deepening socio-ecological injustice.