Book contents
- Africa’s Urban Youth
- Africa’s Urban Youth
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Theorizing Urban Youth and Everyday Citizenship
- 2 Manifesting Citizenship through Local and Distinct Actions
- 3 Engaging the State
- 4 Confronting Economic Marginalization
- 5 Contesting Citizenship through Religious Identity
- 6 Affirming and Challenging Patriarchy
- 7 Channeling Frustration through Exit, Exclusion, and Engagement
- Conclusion
- Book part
- References
- Index
Conclusion
Challenging Marginalization, Claiming Citizenship
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 August 2023
- Africa’s Urban Youth
- Africa’s Urban Youth
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Theorizing Urban Youth and Everyday Citizenship
- 2 Manifesting Citizenship through Local and Distinct Actions
- 3 Engaging the State
- 4 Confronting Economic Marginalization
- 5 Contesting Citizenship through Religious Identity
- 6 Affirming and Challenging Patriarchy
- 7 Channeling Frustration through Exit, Exclusion, and Engagement
- Conclusion
- Book part
- References
- Index
Summary
Youth citizenship manifests in complex, contentious ways, as youth continuously negotiate the meaning of citizenship through actions and relations with peers and elders. Citizenship plays out through lived experiences, ranging from the police encounters, to the sociality of voting, to carework for a neighbor. Income, church attendance, gender identity, and country context shape these experiences, leading everyday citizenship to vary widely. Extending the book’s lessons to other marginalized populations through survey data on rural youth in Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda, we discover that, in comparison to urban youth, significantly more rural youth attend community activities, vote, and advocate, though they are less legalistic. We urge future research on how these patterns play out through localized words and deeds. In conclusion, despite the severe constraints of economic inequality, gerontocracy, patriarchy, repression, and corruption that many African urban youth face, youth are agentic, creative, and eager to lead their communities and countries.
- Type
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- Information
- Africa's Urban YouthChallenging Marginalization, Claiming Citizenship, pp. 199 - 207Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023