Cover not available

In:Geopolitics and Activism in Children’s and Young Adult Literature
Edited by Giuliana Fenech and Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak
[Children’s Literature, Culture, and Cognition 18] 2026
► pp. 171–187

Chapter 11
Relational agency and geopolitics in life writing by William Kamwamba, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, and Greta Thunberg

This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Childhood studies underwent a transformative shift in the 1980s, when scholars challenged the prevailing developmental perspective viewing children as preparing for adulthood. Recognizing children as socially constructed agents, this shift nevertheless oversimplifies agency as an intrinsic trait of individuals, neglecting its dependencies on geopolitical, socio-cultural, and material contexts. Drawing on new materialism, this study explores the agencies of three young adults — William Kamkwamba, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, and Greta Thunberg — through the readings of their life writings. In addition to tracing how their agencies emerge through networks of human and non-human forces, it examines how they are narratively constructed and performed through their life writings. This approach encourages a reconsideration of agency beyond human subjects, offering insights into how diverse contexts and forces both limit and empower individuals.
Article outline
  • Approaching young people’s agency
  • Complex assemblages shaping young adults’ agency
    • William Kamkwamba: The school dropout who generated electricity and hope
    • Xiuhtezcatl Martinez: A young warrior
    • Greta Thunberg: From solitary school strike to global climate advocacy
  • Geopolitical and cultural contexts shaping young adult heroes’ agency
  • Agency, voice, style, and the writing self in life writing
  • Conclusion
  • References
References (33)
References
Primary sources
Ernman, Malena, Ernman, Svante, Beata & Thunberg, Greta. 2020. Our House Is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kamkwamba, William & Mealer, Bryan. 2019. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Young Readers Edition. New York: Puffin Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martinez, Xiuhtezcatl. 2017. We Rise: The Earth Guardians Guide to Building a Movement That Restores the Planet. Emmaus, PE: Rodale.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thunberg, Greta. 2019. No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference. London: Penguin Random House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Secondary sources
Abebe, Tatek. 2019. Reconceptualising Children’s Agency as Continuum and Interdependence. Social Sciences 8 (3): 81. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bartos, Ann E. 2016. Children and young people’s political participation: A critical analysis. In Politics, Citizenship and Rights, Kirsi Pauliina Kallio, Sarah Mills & Tracy Skelton (eds), 113–132. Singapore: Springer Singapore. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bennett, Jane. 2009. Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Durham NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benwell, Matthew C. & Hopkins. Peter. 2016. Introducing Children’s and Young People’s Geopolitics. In Children, Young People and Critical Geopolitics, Matthew C. Benwell & Peter Hopkins (eds), 1–27. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burkitt, Ian. 2016. Relational Agency: Relational Sociology, Agency and Interaction. European Journal of Social Theory 19 (3): 322–339. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burman, Erica. 2023. Child as Method: A Device to Read the Geopolitics of Childhood. Teknokultura. Revista de Cultura Digital y Movimientos Sociales 20 (2): 243–250. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Conrad, Rachel. 2021. Youth Climate Activists Trading on Time: Temporal Strategies in Xiuhtezcatl Martinez’s We Rise and Greta Thunberg’s No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference. The Lion and the Unicorn 45 (2): 226–243. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Couser, G. Thomas. 2012. Memoir: An Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Douglas, Kate & Poletti, Anna. 2016. Life Narratives and Youth Culture: Representation, Agency and Participation. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eakin, Paul J. 2008. Living Autobiographically: How We Create Identity in Narrative. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Esser, Florian, Baader, Meike S., Betz, Tanja & Hungerland, Beatrice. 2016. Reconceptualizing Agency and Childhood: An Introduction. In Reconceptualising Agency and Childhood: New Perspectives in Childhood Studies, Florian Esser, Meike S. Baader, Tanja Betz & Beatrice Hungerland (eds), 1–16. New York, Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gallagher, Michael. 2019. Rethinking Children’s Agency: Power, Assemblages, Freedom and Materiality. Global Studies of Childhood 9 (3): 188–199. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gamble, Christopher N., Hanan, Joshua S. & Naile, Thomast. 2019. What Is New Materialism? Angelaki 24 (6): 111–134. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hammersley, Martyn. 2017. Childhood Studies: A Sustainable Paradigm? Childhood 24 (1): 113–127. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heywood, Colin. 2001. A History of Childhood: Children and Childhood in the West from Medieval to Modern Times. Cambridge, UK & Malden, MA.: Polity Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hopkins, Peter, Hörschelmann, Kathrin, Matthew C. Benwell & Studemeyer, Catherine. 2019. Young People’s Everyday Landscapes of Security and Insecurity. Social & Cultural Geography 20 (4): 435–444. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klocker, Natascha. 2007. An Example of ‘Thin’ Agency: Child Domestic Workers in Tanzania. In Global Perspectives on Rural Childhood and Youth: Young Rural Lives, edited by Ruth Panelli, Samantha Punch & Elsbeth Robson (eds), 83–94. London & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maynard, John R. 2002. The Bildungsroman. In A Companion to the Victorian Novel, Patrick Brantlinger & William Thesing (eds), 279–301. Oxford: Wiley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oswell, David. 2012. The Agency of Children from Family to Global Human Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Philo, Chris & Smith, Fiona M.. 2003. Guest Editorial: Political Geographies of Children and Young People. Space and Polity 7 (2): 99–115. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robson, Elsbeth, Bell. Stephen & Klocker, Natascha. 2007. Conceptualizing Agency in the Lives and Actions of Rural Young People. In Global Perspectives on Rural Childhood and Youth: Young Rural Lives, Ruth Panelli, Samantha Punch & Elsbeth Robson (eds), 135–148. London & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith, Sidonie & Watson, Julia. 2016. Life Writing in the Long Run: A Smith & Watson Autobiography Studies Reader. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2024. Reading Autobiography Now: An Updated Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spyrou, Spyros. 2018. Disclosing Childhoods Research and Knowledge Production for a Critical Childhood Studies. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Talbot, Margaret Murray. 2011. Why Jephthah’s Daughter Weeps: A Child-Oriented Interpretation. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tisdall, E. Kay M. & Cuevas-Parra, Patricio. 2022. Beyond the Familiar Challenges for Children and Young People’s Participation Rights: The Potential of Activism. The International Journal of Human Rights 26 (5): 1–19. < >Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valentine, Kylie. 2011. Accounting for Agency. Children & Society 25 (5): 347–358. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vaughn, Margaret, Sotirovska, Vera, Darragh, Janine & Elhess, Mohamed. 2022. Examining Agency in Children’s Nonfiction Picture Books. Children’s Literature in Education 53 (1): 33–51. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wall, John. 2022. From Childhood Studies to Childism: Reconstructing the Scholarly and Social Imaginations. Children’s Geographies 20 (3): 257–270. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue