Dr. Sonia Rosen, assistant professor of Education, published her first co-edited volume, Contemporary Youth Activism: Advancing Social Justice in the United States, about the history of youth activism and its current state, and how this type of activism effects changes.

The volume was released at the end of September and is co-edited by Jerusha Conner, associate professor at Villanova University.

“It’s fun for me to read the stories of how young people have acted agentively in the world and brought their concerns to the forefront of change—many times in ways that adults don’t expect them to,” Dr. Rosen said. “[This book] is partly a documentation of what youth activism is in this country, and it is also partly a guide that scholars can use to study and understand what it is that youth activists do.”

Building upon the youth activism book Beyond Resistance, Contemporary Youth Activism provides updated information for a rapidly changing field. While Beyond Resistance, originally published in 2006, has become a staple for youth activism researchers, Dr. Rosen said that, after a decade, it needed some updates.

“Our idea behind this book was that it would almost be a follow-up to Beyond Resistance, where 10 years later we’re documenting the state of youth activism,” Rosen said. “We definitely referenced that book and see this as capturing a historical moment. It’s a field that changes a lot in very short periods of time.”

Contemporary Youth Activism can be purchased on the publisher’s website or on Amazon.