DEMO-Youth is a research project dedicated to strengthening knowledge on how to prevent and respond to hate and polarization among young people. The project also aims to increase understanding of youth political participation and the conditions that shape their engagement. A key objective is to support capacity building in the education sector, enabling educators and institutions to better address these issues. DEMO-Youth places strong emphasis on developing research that is responsive to young people’s own perspectives and real-life experiences. The project is led by the University of Agder. Segerstedt Institute at the University of Gothenburg is a partner in the project
About DEMO-Youth
Demo-Youth is a research project connected to the initiative Democratic Mobilisation in Education at the Department of Education at the University of Agder, and to the research centre Udforsk.
DEMO‑Youth explores how hate speech, racism, and antisemitism manifest in young people’s everyday life, including in school, and how these issues can be understood and addressed in more systematic and constructive ways. The project also places emphasis on political participation among youth and how young people experience, navigate, and interpret their own civic engagement – in addition to conceptual work aimed at strengthening the understanding of participation among children/youth within pedagogy and education.
The aim is to generate knowledge that sheds light on the connections between youth culture, belonging, and rising polarization, while identifying educational practices that foster democratic education and active youth citizenship.
Methodologically, Demo-Youth works primarily with qualitative approaches, oriented toward ethnographic fieldwork and theoretical inquiry.
Project team
Project leader:
Lene Sirevåg, associated professor, department of Education, University of Ader
Rest of the team
Kristin Endresen-Maharaj, associated professor, department of Education, University of Ader Agder
Aslaug Kristiansen, Professor Emerita, department of Education, University of Agder
Activities
- Empirisk forskningsseminar – Dubrovnik metoden – 18.11.25 -19.11.25. Sted: UiA
- Antijødiske forestillinger i det norske samfunnet i ny og gammel innpakning, 15.11.24. Sted: UiA.
Publications/dissemination
- Sirevåg, L.C.H, Endresen-Maharaj, K. & Kristiansen, A., (2025). Antisemittic expressions (& other forms of racism) in a Norwegian lower secondary classroom. Experiences with anti-semtism and anti-democratic speech in everyday school life. Paper invited symposium SIG13. University of Graz in Austria, from 25 - 29 August 2025. (Sirevåg presenting author)
- Sirevåg, L.C.H., Endresen-Maharaj, K. & Kristiansen, A. (2025). Exploring expressions of antisemitism in Norwegian schooling: A qualitative field study. Conference Lund: Beyond Polarization and Instrumentalization: Antisemitism and Other Racisms, 7-8th April.
- Sirevåg, L.C.H, Endresen-Maharaj & Kristiansen, A. (2025). Antisemittisme i klasserommet. Eksempel fra en norsk landsbygd skole. Conference Gothenburg: Antisemitism and Jewish Life: Focusing on Youth, 22-24th October, (Kristiansen, presenting author).
- Sirevåg, L.C.H., Endresen-Maharaj, K. & Kristiansen, A. (2026, forthcoming). Ethnographic Insights into Navigating Polarisation and Fostering Democratic Education in Norwegian Schools. EARLI SIG 13 & 19 Conference 2026, Kristiansand: Navigating Polarisation and Fostering Civic Engagement through Education, 3-5 June.
- Sirevåg, L.C.H., Endresen-Maharaj, K. & Kristiansen, A. (2026, forthcoming). Tilhørighet, utdanning og ungdom – forebygging av og arbeid for å komme videre fra hat og polarisering. Mobilisering av demokrati og ungdom (DEMO‑YOUTH), Universitetet i Agder. Lærerutdanningskonferansen, Thon Hotel, Oslo Gardemoen, 30th April.