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Avoidance, fear, helplessness: young Africans contemplate a future shaped by climate change

Mehita Iqani

Communication Theory2025https://doi.org/10.1093/ct/qtae025article
ABDC A
Weight
0.41

Abstract

This article considers, and theorises, the negative emotions expressed in discussions about climate change in a project that sought to understand how young adults in Mozambique, South Africa and Kenya articulated their thoughts and feelings on the topic. A literature review synthesises key work on climate communication, emotions and youth in Africa. A detailed discussion of methods (qualitative interviews) is offered. Empirical findings show that three key negatives feelings were expressed: avoidance, fear, and helplessness. Participants claimed to not think about climate change due to other pressing concerns in their lives. Nevertheless, they admitted that they are aware of climate change and deeply fear its impact. Although they know suffering lies ahead, they feel helpless to stop climate change. These sobering findings should be considered in climate change communication research in Africa. The article concludes by theorising the communicative weight of negative emotions as African climate pessimism.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/ct/qtae025

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@article{mehita2025,
  title        = {{Avoidance, fear, helplessness: young Africans contemplate a future shaped by climate change}},
  author       = {Mehita Iqani},
  journal      = {Communication Theory},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/ct/qtae025},
}

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Avoidance, fear, helplessness: young Africans contemplate a future shaped by climate change

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Evidence weight

0.41

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.25 × 0.4 = 0.10
M · momentum0.55 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.