Pathways to Resilience III: Beyond Nature vs. Nurture

Youth Resilience and Social Protest in Africa
Speaker: Alcinda Honwana
Africa is the world’s youngest continent. Although in the past decades the continent has experienced considerable economic growth, this has not translated into job creation and greater equity. Massive unemployment and lack of sustainable livelihoods have severely affected the younger generation who find it difficult to carve out a decent future. Most young Africans are living in a period of suspension between childhood and adulthood that I call ‘waithood’. In this state of limbo, young people create their own 'youthscapes' to cope with the daily challenges in their lives. In the past few years, youth street protests are challenging the status quo and contesting socioeconomic policies and governance strategies that exacerbate poverty, heighten social inequalities, and deny them basic freedoms. Counteracting the idea that youth are apathetic, young men and women struggling with waithood, in Africa and elsewhere in the world, are emerging as active social agents. What will be the result of these youth movements? Will young people be able to sustain them beyond street protests and hold onto the promise for more equitable societies?