Kenny Andejeski has dedicated his career to exploring issues that unite, divide, and compel us. Now, through the Interactivity Foundation’s 2024/25 Sustained Discussion Fellowship, Kenny is turning his focus to a topic close to his heart: rites of passage for young men in an era marked by isolation, loneliness, and radicalization.
Kenny’s project, From Boys to Men, seeks to understand how an absence of healthy rites of passage in America is contributing to societal challenges, including rising suicide rates and extremism among young men. His interest stems from his own journey to understand his masculinity and manhood, and “ending up in a place where I feel pretty good about it.” That said, he reflects that “if it weren’t for certain interventions in my life, I would have ended up in much different places.”
Through his fellowship, Kenny wants to ask some of the big questions society often overlooks. As disconnection and loneliness grow, how are boys and young men being left behind? How does their alienation impact our society? How might our views of masculinity exacerbate or mediate these trends? And, could effective rites of passage offer a pathway to belonging and acceptance?
“All of these things that we’re seeing have harmed society at such a staggering level, and I think it’s worth allocating the resources and capacity–or at least having a discussion of what we can do about it in a proactive and inclusive way.”
One of the big questions Kenny wants to explore is how society can reframe journeys to masculinity in a way that’s both healthy and inclusive. “We don’t have these clear, identifiable things that young men can do to know they’re on the right path, or to gain the approval and acceptance of society,” Kenny reflects. He recalls his own experience as a college athlete: “If I wasn’t playing college sports, how vulnerable would I have been to something like radicalization?”
“Sports was the thing I could apply myself to and see these milestones and breakstones and achievements.”
Kenny plans to gather a diverse group of participants, beyond those who are working with boys and men every day. He believes that “having someone from say the Girl Scouts or Girls on the Run, and a rabbi, or a Mormon faith leader, an athletic coach, a social worker, a teacher. Having those folks come to the table and being like, ‘I’m curious enough about this topic to engage in it in good faith’” will help to develop common knowledge and understanding.
“I want this to be the conversation we have with our fathers, our sons, our cousins, our friends. It’s the ‘how are you doing?’ conversation and actually meaning it–and then being prepared to hear what comes up.”
Ultimately, Kenny hopes that his work will contribute to broader societal conversations about masculinity, inclusion, and belonging. “I wish I could step into a room where everyone was like, ‘I can facilitate if you don’t want to,’” he adds, so that these conversations can become a normal part of our lives.
Learn more about Kenny’s project here.
Are you interested in participating in Kenny’s group? Fill out the interest form here to let him know.
About the Sustained Discussion Fellowship
The Interactivity Foundation’s Sustained Discussion Fellowship is designed to support independent, exploratory discussion projects that focus on under-examined areas of public concern. The Fellowship, running from September 2024 to June 2025, invites a select group of Visiting Fellows to lead discussions that aim to expand thinking and understanding around emerging issues.
Each project not only produces new insights but also aims to inspire positive social change by encouraging meaningful conversations that might otherwise remain taboo. Fellows therefore help to expand the boundaries of public imagination, while creating publicly-available tools and plans that can support discussions elsewhere.
Make sure you connect with us on social media for insights and reflections throughout the Fellowship, and learn more about the work of our Fellows here.
Follow along:
