I am thrilled to share this paper, just published, which I have been working on the past year.
Youth Practitioners Can Counter Fascism: What We Know and What We Need
- By me, Sarah Burnham, Duane de Four, and Heather Cronk.
This paper integrates antifascism with youth development practices to present three ways in which youth development practitioners can stop fascist, White nationalist, and misogynist groups from recruiting young people into their ranks.
Download the full pdf from the Journal of Youth Development:
http://jyd.pitt.edu/ojs/jyd/article/view/20-15-5-FA-01
Please share with anyone who spends time with youth — as a teacher, parent, coach, mentor, religious leader, or friend.
Please also share with anyone who might want to join my lab to get a PhD in developmental psychology while working on this stuff 🙂
Share widely! Use #YouthEquitySexualityLab on social media.
I welcome any feedback, questions, or reflections you have in response to this paper. I know it is deeply imperfect. This paper, or any paper, will not in itself stop fascism. I hope this paper helps some people take action in ways that will contribute to the fight against fascism. I hope.
P.S. Words cannot express my eternal gratitude for my co-authors on this project, each of whom made this paper significantly better than it could have been without them. My first-ever doctoral student mentee, Sarah Burnham, jumped right in to help significantly on the background research and crafting of the ideas. My longtime friend-colleague Duane de Four contributed his deep experience and keen analysis. And Heather Cronk — thank you for the many conversations that helped conceive and deepen this paper, and for your ongoing mentorship, friendship, and encouragement that helped me feel these risks could be worth it.
