Projects

SHIFT-GEN · HORIZON-MSCA

SHIFTting the narrative of the climate GENeration

ecology, emotions, and critical thinking in young adult contemporary climate fiction

SHIFT-GEN investigates how narratives of climate change can affect young generations, proposing the first extensive study of young adult climate fiction (YA cli-fi) in English (2000-2023; interest age: 13-19 years). Emerging studies reveal that the chronic fear of environmental catastrophe is particularly affecting young people's daily life (Hickman et al. 2021). Feelings of climate anxiety and ecogrief are amplified by a sense of intergenerational injustice, with the so-called climate generation (Ray 2020) often portrayed as an innocent victim that adults are failing to protect.

By adopting an ecocritical perspective, my research will examine whether YA cli-fi portrays young adults as assertive leaders and protagonists, shaping their own future. Moreover, combining recent developments in ecocriticism (namely econarratology, affective ecocriticism, and empirical ecocriticism), this project will investigate whether YA cli-fi is able to prompt the development of ecological citizenship, communicate fears and hopes about the future, and inspire creative thinking and long-term action. This three-year action will be undertaken under the supervision of Prof. Erin James and Prof. Jennifer Ladino (UIDAHO), Prof. Raffaella Baccolini (UNIBO), and Prof. Marco Caracciolo (UGENT).

Funding support was provided by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 101152568.

Outputs

2027

Xausa, Chiara. Eco-Anxiety and the Politics of Futurity in Contemporary Fiction. Under contract with Bloomsbury Academic for the ‘Environmental Cultures’ series. Forthcoming 2027.

2025

Xausa, Chiara. “‘Focused Anger’ and ‘Radical Hope’ in Young Adult Climate Fiction. An Affective Reading of Lauren James’s Green Rising.” In Narrating Multiplicities in Motion: The Transformative Power of Storytelling in Anglophone Cultures, ed. by Elena Ogliari Anna Pasolini and Carla Tempestoso, pp. 179–194, New York: Routledge, 2025 (book chapter).

2023

Xausa, Chiara. “Coming-of-Age as Ecocitizens in Young Adult Climate Fiction: Saci Lloyd’s The Carbon Diaries 2015 and 2017.” Ilha do Desterro: A Journal of English Language, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies 76 (2), pp. 295–312, 2023 (journal article).

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Xausa, Chiara. “Learning to Live with Fire: Young Adult Fiction and Narratives of Climate Adaptation.” Oxford Intersections: Climate Adaptation (“Narratives of the Future” section), ed. By Kiu-wai Chu and Adeline Johns-Putra, forthcoming (journal article).

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Baccolini, Raffaella, Arianna Preite and Chiara Xausa. “The Affective Politics of Repair: Navigating the End of the World through Storytelling and Care in Lindsey Drager’s The Avian Hourglass.” In Feminist Ecological Citizenship, ed. by Dipanwita Pal, forthcoming (book chapter, invited).