October 22, 2025

Oct 27, 2025 10:00 AM | A Reverse Time Capsule: What Unpacking Youth Futures Tells Us About Our Present

This research explores how young people in the Global South envision their futures in the context of the social challenges posed by climate change. Based on preliminary multimethod research with Ecuadorian youths, findings indicate that many foresee adverse societal impacts from a changing climate and doubt the government’s capacity to respond effectively to intersecting crises. Although group dialogues generated more optimistic and collaborative visions, individualistic strategies—especially migration—predominated. These results suggest an urgent need for educational and civic spaces where young people can engage in collective reflection and envision shared pathways toward more just and sustainable futures.

When: Monday, October 27, 2025 10:00 AM – 11:20 AM

Where: Calcia Hall, Room 140

Please RSVP here

Speaker

Stephen Ruszczyk, Associate Professor, received a PhD from the City University of New York. He has four ongoing research projects. The first, which uses longitudinal ethnography, is a comparison of undocumented youths coming of age in Paris and New York and their local contexts of immigrant “illegality.” This project was supported by the “Settling into Motion” Bucerius Ph.D. Scholarships in Migration Studies and the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies of the City University of New York. Publications on this theme have appeared in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, American Behavioral Scientist, Law & Society Review, Comparative Migration Studies, Metropolitics, Sociological Forum, and Migration Studies.

Moderator

Timothy Gorman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology. He conducts research on global development, food, agriculture, climate change, and migration, with a regional focus on Southeast Asia. At Montclair State, he teaches courses such as “Environmental Sociology,” “Sociology of Rich and Poor Nations,” and “Sociological Theory: A Critical Analysis.” He received his PhD from the Department of Development Sociology at Cornell University in 2018.

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