Back in Youth: Social Unbecoming in the Study of West African Masculinities
African youth became a central research theme in anthropology and related disciplines in the early 2000s, drawing renewed attention to the lives and aspirations of a segment of the continent's population that, since the independence era, has become increasingly demographically dominant but soci...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Africa Spectrum |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397231211615 |
| _version_ | 1797400965866848256 |
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| author | Jesper Bjarnesen |
| author_facet | Jesper Bjarnesen |
| author_sort | Jesper Bjarnesen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | African youth became a central research theme in anthropology and related disciplines in the early 2000s, drawing renewed attention to the lives and aspirations of a segment of the continent's population that, since the independence era, has become increasingly demographically dominant but socially and politically marginalised. Reflecting on an extended case study of male ex-combatants in urban Burkina Faso, this paper offers a critical reading of the anthropological scholarship on African youth, emphasising, first, that much of this literature is most usefully read as studies of diverse (West) African masculinities and, second, that the literature has underplayed the extent to which achievements of social progression tend to be acutely reversible in contexts of precarity or radical social change, throwing the unfortunate, as it were, back in youth. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T02:02:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-aecb8eb6ffed46a686e1f4b5a702c812 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0002-0397 1868-6869 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T02:02:04Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Africa Spectrum |
| spelling | doaj.art-aecb8eb6ffed46a686e1f4b5a702c8122023-12-08T04:33:18ZengSAGE PublishingAfrica Spectrum0002-03971868-68692023-12-015810.1177/00020397231211615Back in Youth: Social Unbecoming in the Study of West African MasculinitiesJesper BjarnesenAfrican youth became a central research theme in anthropology and related disciplines in the early 2000s, drawing renewed attention to the lives and aspirations of a segment of the continent's population that, since the independence era, has become increasingly demographically dominant but socially and politically marginalised. Reflecting on an extended case study of male ex-combatants in urban Burkina Faso, this paper offers a critical reading of the anthropological scholarship on African youth, emphasising, first, that much of this literature is most usefully read as studies of diverse (West) African masculinities and, second, that the literature has underplayed the extent to which achievements of social progression tend to be acutely reversible in contexts of precarity or radical social change, throwing the unfortunate, as it were, back in youth.https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397231211615 |
| spellingShingle | Jesper Bjarnesen Back in Youth: Social Unbecoming in the Study of West African Masculinities Africa Spectrum |
| title | Back in Youth: Social Unbecoming in the Study of West African Masculinities |
| title_full | Back in Youth: Social Unbecoming in the Study of West African Masculinities |
| title_fullStr | Back in Youth: Social Unbecoming in the Study of West African Masculinities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Back in Youth: Social Unbecoming in the Study of West African Masculinities |
| title_short | Back in Youth: Social Unbecoming in the Study of West African Masculinities |
| title_sort | back in youth social unbecoming in the study of west african masculinities |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397231211615 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jesperbjarnesen backinyouthsocialunbecominginthestudyofwestafricanmasculinities |