Childhood and Youth
Personal Relationships
Political Participation
Education
Creative and Participatory Methods
Current Projects
What does it mean to become a political subject? How is political agency envisioned and enacted? In what ways do children and youth navigate socio-political norms and seek to enact social change?
My new research project will examine children and youth’s activism through a relational lens, meaning the ways that their relationships with peers and adults shape and are shaped by their political dis/engagement. The project will be based on a multi-method qualitative study of Israeli children and youth’s myriad forms of engagement with recent protest movements across the political spectrum. The project will illuminate the relational aspects of political agency, socialization and participation as well as the inter- and intragenerational dynamics that play out in protest movements. It will also underscore how children and youth might contribute to the preservation and flourishing of democratic societies.
Curriculum Vita
Fellowships and Grants
2024-2025, Post-Doctoral Fellowship, the Child and Youth Rights Program, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2023-2024, Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Communication and Journalism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2019-2022, Fully funded PhD scholarship: Graduate School of Social and Political Science International Award Scholarship and College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science College Research Award Studentship, University of Edinburgh
Prizes
2019, Israeli Anthropological Association’s Max Gluck Memorial Prize for Best Master’s Dissertation
2017, Jonathan Shapiro Fund Scholarship for a Master’s Research Proposal, Tel Aviv University
2016, Rector’s Excellence in Teaching Award for academic year 2015-2016, Tel Aviv University
Education
2019-2024, PhD, Sociology, University of Edinburgh
2015-2018, M.A., Sociology and Anthropology; Track: Socio-Cultural Anthropology, Summa Cum Laude, Tel Aviv University
2012-2015, B.A., Sociology and Anthropology; the Multidisciplinary Program in the Humanities, Summa Cum Laude, Tel Aviv University
Publications
Chapters in books
Assan, T.T. (Forthcoming September 2025). Researching girls’ politics of friendship through digital creative workshops. In F. Howard, B. Bowman, K. Moore, B. Hanckel, J. Suppers & S. Atherton (Eds.), Researching with young people: An introduction to youth-centred research methods. Bloomsbury.
Assan, T.T. (In press). ‘It didn’t come from the heart’: Enactments, meanings and assessments of girls’ friendship performances. In P. Mallory & L. Eramian (Eds.), Critical friendship in the modern world. Under contract with Cambridge University Press.
Peer-reviewed articles
Assan, T. T. (Accepted for publication). ‘Letting it slide’ and ‘dropping’ friends: Black girls in Scotland navigating everyday racism in friendship. Sociology.
Assan, T. T. (2024). ‘Once you bond […] you want to create social change’: Interpersonal relationships in youth activism. Children & Society 38(3), 789-803.
Assan, T. T. (2024). Chosen and collective friendship: Negotiating contradictory social ideals and demands at an Israeli elementary school classroom. The Sociological Review 72(3), 633-650.
Presentations
2025 Racialised Young People Challenging White Gender Norms through Anti-Racist Youth Work, British Sociological Association Annual Conference, University of Manchester.
2025 Methodological and Ethical Considerations in Researching the Politics of Friendship, Friendship: Continuities and Social Change Workshop, Centre for Families and Relationships, University of Edinburgh.
2024 The Role of School in Students’ Political Socialisation and Activism in Times of Socio-Political Crisis and Beyond, First Annual ChYRP International Conference on Children’s Rights, Hebrew University. With Levy, G. and Massalha, M.
2024 Examining the Friendships of Marginalised Youth through a Political Lens, Fourth Journal of Youth Study Conference, Ulster University.
2023 Intra-Generational Relationships in Marginalised Youth’s Political Participation, Political Studies Association Annual Conference, University of Liverpool.
2023 ‘Once You Bond You Want to Unite Forces and Create Social Change’: Friendships and Peer Relationships in Girls’ Political Engagement, Israeli Sociological Society Annual Conference, Tel Aviv University.
2022 Exploring Relational Aspects of Girls’ Political Participation through a Multi-Method Approach, Researching Youth Methods Seminar Series: Creative Methods, British Educational Research Association.
2021 Exploring Intersections of Friendship and Political Participation in Girls’ Lives, Sociologically DistancED: New Directions Conference, Sociology Department, University of Edinburgh.
2019 ‘It Didn’t Come from the Heart’: Intersections of the Emotional Discourse and the Friendship Discourse in Elementary School, Israeli Anthropological Association Annual Conference, Beer Sheva.
2017 ‘She is Not a True Friend’: Drawing Social Borders through the Discourse of Friendship in an Israeli Elementary School, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion International Conference, Brunel University London