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Dear colleagues and friends, 

Vincenzo Cicchelli and Sylvie Octobre, the co-editors of the Brill Journal titled Youth and Globalization, have asked me to edit a special issue on the topic of 'Youth and Interculturality in Grave Times'. See the CFP below. Looking forward to receiving exciting proposals! Do not hesitate to spread the word about this call!

Best wishes,

Fred

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Youth and Globalization

Volume 7.2: October 2025

Issue 7.1: “Youth and Interculturality in Grave Times”, edited by Fred Dervin, University of Helsinki, Finland

• Launch of call for paper: 1st May 2024
• Deadline for Abstracts: 15^th July 2024 – The abstract and title should be sent directly to the guest editor: [log in to unmask]
• Paper submission deadline: 15^th December 2024 - Articles for publication in Youth and Globalization can be submitted online through Editorial Manager: please click https://www2.cloud.editorialmanager.com/yogo/default2.aspx
• Deadline for amended version: 15^th April 2025
• Publication: October 2025

Call for papers

Our post-pandemic world is witnessing what could be described as ‘grave times’: Wars and conflicts, (repeated) political and economic crises, uncertainties, climate catastrophes, further injustices, (re-)polarization between the ‘East’ and ‘West’, etc. These are certainly not new phenomena but they appear to have gained strength during the difficult COVID-19 years. This special issue interrogates the links between these grave times, the youth and interculturality.

The notion of interculturality has been used in different fields of research and languages for some decades and is competing today with ‘companions’ such as multicultural, transcultural, cross-cultural and even global. What interculturality refers to is often deemed unstable in research and education. In wider societal contexts, the notion is rarely used. In different parts of the world and in different economic-political-linguistic spheres interculturality might refer to encounters across national borders and/or to diversities from within national borders (‘ethnic groups’, Indigenous people, ‘minorities’, ‘migrants’…). Although the notion contains culture, it goes well beyond this broad and somewhat contested concept to include other aspects of who we are as social beings trying to meet, live, experience and e.g., work with others (see Dervin, 2016, 2022, 2023). In this special issue interculturality is what the author(s) wish to make of the notion as long as they are transparent about the meaning(s) they attach to it and their reasons for choosing to position the notion as they do.

Grave times like ours are not unique in our long histories but what they do to us as people living on the same planet often triggers singularities for different times. Interculturality is and will always remain around and with us, although we might resist it. Interculturality will always trigger change in us willy-nilly. But it is important to remember that interculturality cannot but have to do with politics and the economy. The world now could appear to be more divided than ever across (regional) borders and from within. China, Russia, the Middle East and the ‘West’ constantly engage in hostilities. Complex nationalisms and ideological divides invade implicitly and/or explicitly (economic, political) decision-making, social media, the news, education, everyday life.

These are the main questions that this special issue aims to address. How do the youth deal with these complexities? How do they experience them? How do they embrace interculturality in such grave times and how does interculturality materialize for them? In other words, how is the idea of interculturality meaningful for the youth in different corners of the world? What do they make of it today?

Authors should clearly position their own take(s) on interculturality in grave times, applying the notion to any of the following topics (or others) in relation to the youth. Papers offering empirical findings or exploring theoretical and methodological frontiers are particularly encouraged.

• What does interculturality look like post-pandemic for the youth? What is it about? Are there ‘new’ forms of interculturality especially for the different youths of the world (e.g., through AI)? What does interculturality ‘do’ to the youth, where and how? What do the youth do to interculturality?
• Do the youth’s global struggles against climate emergencies and inequalities (racism, LGBTQ+) lead to forms of interculturality?
• How do the youth deal with impossibilities and failures of interculturality (e.g., political polarization, economic-political divides) as experienced directly or mediated through e.g., social media? How do they resist and/or embrace interculturality? How do they ‘do’ interculturality underground when it is not allowed for instance during conflicts? What and who seems to influence the youth?
• How do the youth deal with the current ‘economic-politicization’ of interculturality in education and (social) media in different corners of the world, whereby interculturality is taught or discussed as e.g., democracy in Europe or cultural confidence in China? As a notion that cannot but be treated ideologically since it depends on glocal economic-political perspectives, how to ensure that interculturality is ‘expandable’ as an experience, a phenomenon and a scientific construct?
• In research and education, we now witness pushes for reconceptualizing and working with interculturality beyond ‘Western-centric’ approaches. How could e.g., perspectives from the ‘Global South’ help us complement and enrich our takes on the youth and interculturality?

About the journal

Youth and Globalization (Brill) invites contributions from scholars and advanced researchers that promote dialog in a way that resonates with academics, practitioners, policy-makers, and students as well as the general reader. The journal publishes peer-reviewed articles (8,000-9,000 words), book reviews (up to 1,200 words), and interviews/conversations (not to exceed 2,500 words). Website: http://www2.brill.com/gys

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