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REBELLIOUS YOUTH IN COLONIAL AFRICA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2006

RICHARD WALLER
RICHARD WALLER
Affiliation:
Bucknell University
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Abstract

‘That rebellious youth’ alarmed colonial authorities and elders alike is increasingly an issue for historians. This article surveys the issue as an introduction to the two studies that follow. It considers both the creation of images of youthful defiance as part of a debate about youth conducted largely by their seniors and the real predicaments faced by young people themselves. Concern revolved around the meanings of maturity in a changing world where models of responsible male and female adulthood, gendered expectations and future prospects were all in flux. Surviving the present and facing the future made elders anxious and divided as well as united the young. The article concludes by suggesting a number of areas, including leisure and politics, where the voice of youth might be more clearly heard, and proposes comparisons – with the past, between racial groups and between ‘town’ and ‘country’ – that link the varied experiences of the young.

Keywords

gendercolonialgenerational conflictmasculinityyouth
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , March 2006 , pp. 77 - 92
Copyright
2005 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Several papers, including those by Fourchard and Summers that follow, were presented on a panel at the 2003 ASA Conference in Boston. My thanks to Tim Parsons, the other panelists and discussants and an anonymous reader for their valuable suggestions.