Panel 1: Working with Minoritized Youth: Global Perspectives in the Aftermath of COVID-19.
Discussants: Fernanda Coelho Liberali, Michalis Kontopodis, Eduardo Vianna
Moderation: Till Manderbach

While COVID-19 has created a very difficult situation for most children and young people growing up today, it has been particularly devastating to the marginalized. There will be a long-lasting impact of the pandemic in terms of underfunded education and welfare systems, unfortunately, as well as in terms of precarious livelihoods, poverty, increasing rates of unemployment, forced migration and violence around the world. Indeed, the crisis has accelerated existing dynamics of oppression and exclusion - as related to class, gender, racial, cultural, religious and geographical aspects. On the other hand, the struggles for equality and inclusion are continuing and are being transformed in face of the pandemic situation. Education was and is a key battlefield in this regard, a place where cultural hegemony is contested in between dominant and oppositional powers. The contributors work provides vivid examples of how emancipatory research and activism in education and psychology can look like - during and beyond the pandemic.

The panel brings together internationally diverse scholarship that is understood as a continuation of Vygotsky’s project. It aims to open a discussion about the role of research in psychology and education with regards to struggles for societal transformation. Is it possible to generalize some key dimensions of the minoritized youth condition during times of multiple crisis? What are the peculiarities of the different local contexts present in the contributors works? How can strategies to overcome limitations - imposed by dominant forces - to the work of educators, psychologists and social workers look like?

Konferenzraum BigBlueButton


Michalis Kontopodis,
Prof. Michalis Kontopodis is a Chair in Global Childhood and Youth Studies at the School of Education, University of Leeds. Prof. Kontopodis's scholarship aims at (a) addressing challenges related to global debt, poverty and marginalisation; (b) innovating pedagogies with new media and digital technologies; (c) deciphering the multiple links between child health, ecology and technoscience. In collaboration with a wide network of academics, practitioners, NGOs, community organisations and policy makers, Prof. Kontopodis conducts research on inclusive and equitable quality education, digital transformation and globalisation “from below”. His books, edited volumes and journal articles have been published in 6 languages; for further details please visit https://mkontopodis.wordpress.com/

Till Manderbach,
Till Manderbach, MSc, studied Psychology in Klagenfurt, Austria. His master's thesis dealt with agency and political orientation in the context of social exclusion and right-wing populism. He is currently working in a project for adolescents and young adults with special needs at a social welfare facility in the area of Berlin, Germany.

Fernanda Coelho Liberali ,
Fernanda Coelho Liberali is a teacher educator, researcher, and professor at the PUCSP. She holds a master's and a doctorate degree in Applied Linguistics and Language Studies from PUCSP, and three postdoctoral degrees from the University of Helsinki, the Free University of Berlin and Rutgers University. She is a Brazilian representative of the international committee of the International Symposium BILINGLATAM, an associate with Eastside Institute, a member of Global Network of the University of Leeds, the general coordinator of the Digitmed Program and the Brincada Project and co-founder of the Global Play Brigade.

Eduardo Vianna,
Eduardo Vianna earned a Ph.D. in developmental psychology at the CUNY-Graduate Center in 2007. Drawing on Vygotskian cultural-historical activity theory, his research and publications focus on connecting teaching-learning and development to promote social justice and development among underprivileged groups. He received an M.D. in 1991 from the Federal Fluminense University in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1995, he completed his residency in Child Psychiatry, during which he became interested in studying and promoting human development from a cultural-historical perspective. In 2009 his book Collaborative Transformations in Foster Care: Teaching-learning as a developmental tool in a residential program was published. [Retrieved from https://www.laguardia.edu/socialscience/faculty-and-staff/ ]