Choosing to be political: some reflections on youth activism in the US

Abstract

This article explores youth activism in the US, not through the lens of collective action, but as the product of personal choices. By drawing on existentialism, and particularly on the work of Jean-Paul Sartre, this article proposes to shift the focus of the debate from youths’ collective action to the self – a conscious self that observes, perceives and makes sense of the surrounding world through personal experience. It is this conscious self that decides how, and whether, to intervene against the ‘wrong’ that the self experiences. In this perspective, it is not only the acts (of citizenship) that matter, but the conscious process through which the self chooses to become political. Such an understanding will ultimately help uncover not only how the undocumented act and how to conceptualise their acts but also how they perceive and experience their current status and who they want to become.

Keywords:

• Undocumented
• youth activism
• US
• Sartre
• freedom
• responsibility

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers as well as the editorial team at Citizenship Studies for their constructive comments and suggestions made on the earlier version.

Notes

1. DREAM Act: Development, Relief, Education for Alien Minors.

2. This is not to suggest that all youths are well-performing students.