Young people’s lives are increasingly shaped by digital media, yet public and academic debates about youth, social media and well-being are often dominated by fear-based narratives that frame online spaces as inherently harmful. Against a backdrop of rising concerns about youth mental health and widespread anxieties about social media use, this book offers a critical and timely intervention into how we understand young people’s political and civic engagement in the digital age. Drawing on in-depth interviews with youth activists involved in the international climate change movement and the American gun control movement, alongside analysis of their social media practices, the book challenges binary distinctions between online and real-world activism. Rather than treating digital participation as superficial or ineffective, it foregrounds young people’s own perspectives on activism, demonstrating how digital platforms function as meaningful spaces for connection, organizing and political expression. Situated at the intersection of youth studies, sociology, media studies and political engagement, the book builds on and extends existing literature on digital activism by centring youth voices and lived experience. It offers a counter-narrative to the persistent “slacktivism” critique, arguing that such framings not only misunderstand contemporary activism but risk delegitimizing young people’s contributions to civic life. Written in an accessible style while grounded in rigorous social research, this book will be of interest to scholars, post-secondary students and practitioners working in education, youth work, child and youth care, social services and community organizing. It is suitable for classroom adoption, scholarly reference and professional reflection, and provides valuable insights for anyone seeking to better understand how young people are reshaping political participation in a digitally networked world.

In a world permanently changed by the COVID-19 pandemic, 'Reimagining Work' offers a timely and urgent exploration of how work is being reshaped—and how it should be. This interdisciplinary volume brings together scholars and practitioners from communication, leadership, education, psychology, and organizational development to confront the challenges and possibilities of the evolving workplace. More than a reflection on remote and hybrid trends, this book is a call to rethink foundational questions: How do we honor human dignity in technologically mediated environments? What leadership strategies are needed to navigate generational dynamics, digital fatigue, and rapid innovation? How do communication technologies both enable and constrain productivity, connection, and inclusion? With historical depth and forward-looking insight, the contributors examine four central themes: (1) the theoretical and historical underpinnings of communication in digital workspaces; (2) the unique strengths and tensions of multigenerational teams; (3) the influence of communication technology on collaboration and performance; and (4) the ethical responsibilities of leaders in shaping a future of work that is both innovative and humane. At its core, 'Reimagining Work' centers the human experience. It argues that while AI and digital platforms are vital, they must serve—not replace—empathy, agency, and community. Leaders and organizations must design systems that are not only efficient and adaptable but also inclusive, equitable, and responsive to diverse needs. Whether you are an academic, a manager, a student, or a policymaker, this volume equips you with insights and frameworks to actively shape a future of work where technological advancement and human flourishing go hand in hand.

This book explores gender-based violence in Southern Africa, specifically focusing on male violence against women, children, and the LGBTQ+ community. It examines how women in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, particularly in South Africa, utilize media technologies to mobilize, organize, raise political awareness, and amplify protests. Key to this discussion are hashtags such as #MenAreTrash, #AmINext, and #SayHerName, which shed light on various forms of violence, including intimate partner violence, community violence, and state violence. The book situates these practices within the historical contexts of colonialism and apartheid, framing violence as a communicative act that shapes everyday life in the region. It further links the practices of digital activism to broader traditions of social movements and feminist struggles. In agreement with African feminists, it posits that feminism on the continent is an action-oriented practice that arises from women’s collective efforts toward liberation. This viewpoint lays the groundwork for understanding digital Black feminism in Southern Africa as part of a larger trajectory of cyberfeminism and Black feminist theory. By utilizing the term Africana, the book stresses the connections between Africa and the African diaspora, emphasizing the significance of transnational linkages in ongoing struggles for liberation. The book explores the persistence of male violence and proposes practical solutions aimed at guiding policy development and promoting societal reform. As such, it represents a significant contribution to feminist scholarship and enriches the body of feminist literature from the SADC region by incorporating the advancements in media technologies in the pursuit of social justice.

'The Gendered Self: LGBTQ+ Narratives in Global Media, Volume II' challenges the restrictive frameworks that have long defined gender and sexuality. Moving beyond simplistic dichotomies, this volume explores how LGBTQ+ identities are shaped, represented, and contested across diverse cultural, historical, and political contexts. Through case studies from Turkey, the United States, China, and India, contributors reveal the lived complexities of queer experience. Chapters trace transgender journeys of identity transformation, dissect the weaponization of queer bodies in moral panics, and analyze the digital self-representations of Chinese gay men. Others investigate how Indian OTT platforms and Malayalam cinema expand space for queer narratives, while historical accounts of activists like Paula Grossman illustrate the fraught relationship between representation, activism, and backlash. Across these explorations, the volume highlights how media, politics, and cultural traditions simultaneously affirm and erase queer lives. It uncovers the deep roots of erasure in mythology and religion, while also showing how digital platforms and popular culture create new opportunities for resistance and recognition. This collection insists that the “gendered self” must be understood as fluid, intersectional, and culturally situated, pushing readers to reimagine identity beyond binaries and toward broader visions of inclusion and justice.

'The Gendered Self: LGBTQ+ Narratives in Global Media, Volume I' explores how media serves as a powerful arena for visibility, identity formation, and social change. Across global contexts, the chapters uncover how LGBTQ+ lives are framed, celebrated, silenced, or contested in television, film, news, advertising, and digital platforms. Contributors examine themes such as queer infrastructures in cinema, televised celebrations that disrupt tradition, the erasure and recovery of queer histories, and the lived experiences of Indigenous Two-Spirit and Māhū identities. Other chapters address the role of international law in shaping sexual rights, the tensions of representation in Muslim-majority societies, and the ways advertising and talk shows negotiate inclusivity. The volume concludes with a critique of how sitcoms both challenge and reassert patriarchal masculinity. The collection highlights that representation is never neutral. Media can validate identities, expand imaginaries, and amplify marginalized voices, yet it can also perpetuate stereotypes, erase histories, and reinforce exclusion. This volume brings these tensions into focus, revealing how the gendered self emerges at the intersection of culture, politics, and storytelling, and why media remains central to the global struggle for equality.

Through the presentation of various perspectives, this collection of essays addresses some of the intersections of race and communication. The topics addressed include, but are not limited to, how we communicate about race, what our race communicates to others, how we can do a better job of educating others on race-related issues, and how we can better define certain terms often utilized in conversations about race. The perspectives shared in this volume contribute much-needed depth to the discussion of the philosophical and practical considerations of race and communication, broadly.

Looking at COVID-19 infection through a gendered lens reveals its deep impact on individuals in vulnerable positions, especially women. It raised new concerns about gender equity and inclusion, particularly when gender intersects with other identity markers such as religious affiliation. This intersection creates a “double vulnerability,” heightening the risk of discrimination, violence, hate speech, and harassment against women. In various legal contexts, women bear multiple roles and responsibilities. The interaction between gender, law, religion, and the pandemic has often resulted in disempowerment in shaping female identity. This is evident both in Western countries—where migrant women struggle for full integration—and in their countries of origin, where they often face the consequences of normative pluralism and insufficient state legal responses. The pandemic has generated not only a health crisis but also exacerbated social and economic issues, including increased gender-based violence in family settings and growing inequalities in access to fundamental rights such as healthcare, education, employment, and justice. In this complex framework, religious leaders face new challenges and must provide effective responses. Female leadership within religious contexts can play a crucial role in advocating for new paradigms that address evolving social, cultural, and legal needs. Religious actors are thus called upon to offer both guidance and support to vulnerable and marginalized members of their communities and to collaborate with governments in shaping a future where religious freedom, gender equality, gender justice, and freedom from discrimination are upheld. This volume aims to investigate the pandemic’s impact on women within faith communities, examine emerging balances between female religious/cultural claims and public welfare imperatives, and develop gendered, intersectional perspectives that promote women’s full integration, equality, and participation in civil society.

'Star Trek' provides an opportunity to explore the final frontier of leadership through its nearly six decades of series and films. With its basis in Enlightenment thinking (reason coupled to compassion) and its encouragement of diversity in its myriad forms, 'Star Trek' offers guidance on how to improve the human condition that has application in leadership across academic and professional fields. Leaders are constantly called upon to solve problems, direct institutional growth, and, on occasion, even solve humanitarian crises. Leadership development need not be complicated or overly staid. It should be engaging. 'Star Trek' provides us a venue through which to make it so. This book explores the application of 'Star Trek' to the practice of leadership across a diverse array of professional and academic fields. 'Second Star to the Right: Essays on Leadership in Star Trek' provides a set of exceptional chapters from a diverse range of scientists, professionals, writers, and thinkers. It will help you to utilize the wealth of 'Star Trek' canon applied across a robust array of fields to broadly inform the practice of leadership for a better world.

With a focus on the transpacific and transnational relationship between North America and Asia, 'Emerging from the Rubble: Asian/American Writings on Disasters' explores Asian/Americans’ complex and nuanced involvement in disastrous events. Included in this purview of disaster are not only the damages and threats of current ongoing climate change but also the long-lasting ruining effects inflicted by imperialism, neo/colonialism, wars, and these historical components’ entanglement with global capitalism that have generated both spontaneous and slow and/or prolonged violent effects. Moreover, disasters can be acknowledged as manifestations of the Anthropocene — an epoch shaped by human activity — or what scholars like Jason W. Moore and Donna J. Harraway term the ‘Capitalocene,’ a paradigm where nature and capitalist society are deeply intertwined, co-creating an intricate web of life. Asian/American involvement in such a web has never been simple but convoluted: some of them have experienced tremendous losses, whereas others have perpetuated obfuscation of the truth and/or induced violence, often contingently with or without acknowledging the facts. When considering Asian migrants including refugees from Southeast Asia who had little option but to seek asylum in the U.S., and Asian Americans who have pursued their “happiness” under the U.S.’s capitalist premise of constant progress, protection of “human rights,” and freedom of “choice,” it is important to note that Asian migrants and Asian ‘Americans’ have become simultaneously active players and exploited individuals within the context of U.S. racial capitalism. Acknowledging the impossibility of clearly differentiating natural and human-made disasters, scholars who contribute to this volume note the reciprocal influences between nature and civilization. They examine how the entanglements of natural and human-made disasters lead to the acceleration and expansion of damage. This volume explores how Asian Americans’ connections with their ancestral origins along with their particular racial positions, social classes, and socio-historical backgrounds in North American societies force them to experience and witness disastrous events differently from the mainstream discourse on eco-crises.