who we are
About Rising Advocates
Rising Advocates is a research–education initiative that examines how narrative shapes young people’s moral imagination, peace consciousness, and ecological responsibility. We see storytelling as a way of knowing, one that helps children to make sense of ethical tension, relationships, and their place within a wider human and ecological community.
Grounded in interdisciplinary scholarship in peace studies, narrative inquiry, developmental psychology, and children’s rights, we focus on the upper-formative years (9-12) as a pivotal period of meaning-making. Rising Advocates’ mission is to create and advance conceptual frameworks and ideas that will illuminate how narrative supports more humane, just, and sustainable ways of seeing and being in the world.
Our Mission
Rising Advocates explores how storytelling shapes and nurtures children’s ways of seeing, moral imagination, relational awareness, and shared responsibility needed for more just and peaceful futures.
Every Child Deserves Spaces Where Their Perspective Matters
Rising Advocates
Our Commitments
Our work focuses on three interconnected commitments: inquiry, learning, and imagination
Inquiry
Examining how children engage with moral dilemmas and diverse ways of knowing in stories
Learning
Sharing insights from research, practice, and global perspectives to strengthen peace-oriented approaches to childhood education
Imagination
Nurturing the creative and ethical possibilities that emerge when children encounter narrative as a way of understanding themselves and others