Youth

Women, Youth, and the Egyptian Arab Spring

Citation:

ALl, Fatuma Ahmed, and Hannah Muthoni Macharia. 2013. “Women, Youth, and the Egyptian Arab Spring.” Peace Review 25 (3): 359–66.

 

Author: Fatuma Ahmed Ali

Abstract:

The article assesses the impact of women and youth in promoting positive peace in the wake of the Egyptian Arab Spring. It explores the interlinked relationships between the involvement of women and youth in the uprising, the role of social media and their access to mediums of communication. A number of factors were found to contribute to the success of the uprising including a feeling of discontentment, as well as intercultural experiences, and demands for freedom and social justice.

Keywords: women, youth, peace, history, social media, communication, liberty, social justice

Topics: Age, Youth, Civil Society, Gender, Justice, Peacekeeping Regions: Africa, MENA, North Africa, Asia, Middle East Countries: Egypt

Year: 2013

The War Experiences and Psychosocial Development of Children in Lebanon

Citation:

Macksoud, Mona S., and J. Lawrence Aber. 1996. “The War Experiences and Psychosocial Development of Children in Lebanon.” Child Development 67 (1): 70–88.

Authors: Mona S. Macksoud, J. Lawrence Aber

Abstract:

This study examines the number and types of war traumas children face growing up in a war-torn country and the relation of such traumatic experiences to their psychosocial development. A sample of 224 Lebanese children (10-16 years old) were interviewed using measures of war exposure, mental health symptoms, adaptational outcomes, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The number and type of children's war traumas varied meaningfully in number and type by their age, gender, father's occupational status, and mother's educational level. As predicted, the number of war traumas experienced by a child was positively related to PTSD symptoms; and various types of war traumas were differentially related to PTSD, mental health symptoms, and adaptational outcomes. For example, children who were exposed to multiple war traumas, were bereaved, became victims of violent acts, witnessed violent acts, and/or were exposed to shelling or combat exhibited more PTSD symptoms. Children who were separated from parents reported more depressive symptoms and children who experience bereavement and were not displaced reported more planful behavior. Lastly, children who were separated from parents and who witnessed violent acts reported more prosocial behavior. Implications for program interventions and directions for future research on the effects of war on the psychosocial development of children are explored.

Topics: Age, Youth, Armed Conflict, Girls, Boys, Health, PTSD, Trauma, Violence Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Lebanon

Year: 1996

Going to the ‘Men's School'? Non-Heterosexual and Trans Youth Choosing Military Service in Finland

Citation:

Lehtonen, Jukka. 2015. "Going to the ‘Men's School'? Non-Heterosexual and Trans Youth Choosing Military Service in Finland." NORMA 10 (2): 117-35. doi:10.1080/18902138.2015.1050861.

Author: Jukka Lehtonen

Abstract:

Military service is obligatory for those who are legally men in Finland, and the majority of men do their service, although there is the possibility for women to apply for voluntary military service. In this article I analyse the experiences and stories of non-heterosexual men, non-heterosexual women, transfeminine and transmasculine respondents in relation to their military service. My data are from a survey with 1861 responses from trans and non-heterosexual people under 30 years of age. I analyse what kind of significance they give to gender and sexuality in their perceptions of military service. Military service is often seen in their stories as a ‘men’s school’ from which they distance themselves or which they see as a way to prove their masculinity. The four respondent groups reacted differently towards military service in many respects. Their reasons given for deciding to avoid military service included pacifist concerns on the part of some, but concerns relating to gender and sexuality were far more frequent in decisions to avoid military service. The army was often seen as best suited for heterosexual man, and military culture was seen as sexist and homophobic.

Keywords: masculinity, Transgender, non-heterosexual, heteronormativity, military service

Topics: Age, Youth, Gender, Masculinity/ies, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexuality Regions: Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe Countries: Finland

Year: 2015

'We Do It So That We Will Be Men': Masculinity Politics in Colonial Namibia, 1915-1949

Citation:

McCullers, Molly. 2011. “’We Do It So That We Will Be Men’: Masculinity Politics in Colonial Namibia, 1915-1949.” Journal of African History 52 (1): 43-62. 

Author: Molly McCullers

Abstract:

This article examines struggles for masculinity among Herero elders, South African colonial administrators, and the Otruppa, a Herero youth society that appropriated a German military aesthetic, in Namibia between 1915 and 1949. As previous scholars have argued, masculinities are mutually constituted through competitions for authority, though dominance is rarely achieved. Such contestations were integral to processes of Herero societal reconstruction following German rule and during South African colonial state formation, beginning in 1915. Different generational experiences of colonial violence and the destruction of the material resources that undergirded elders' authority led to conflicts between elders and youths over how to define Herero masculinity and negotiate authority in a rapidly changing colonial milieu.

Topics: Age, Youth, Armed Conflict, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Gender, Boys, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Violence Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Namibia

Year: 2011

Swines, Hazels, and the Dirty Dozen: Masculinity, Territoriality, and the Youth Gangs of Soweto, 1960-1976

Citation:

Glaser, Clive. 1998. “Swines, Hazels, and the Dirty Dozen: Masculinity, Territoriality, and the Youth Gangs of Soweto, 1960-1976.” Journal of South African Studies 24 (4): 719-736. 

Author: Clive Glaser

Abstract:

During the 1960s and early 1970s, the youth gangs of Soweto, like their predecessors throughout the Witwatersrand in the 1940s and 1950s, developed a sense of masculine identity intimately linked to their territories. There was a great deal of cultural continuity between these exclusively male urban gangs and rural age grades: groups of male adolescents separated off from established households to experiment with their sexuality, hone their fighting skills and assert their independence. The social mobility of most city-bred black youths, however, was blocked and much of their masculine dignity was invested in their ability to dominate their local streets. Gang identity depended on an overlap of personal and spatial familiarity, which took time to develop. Gangs therefore usually emerged in fairly settled neighbourhoods. While there was relative continuity in gang formation in the older parts of Soweto, especially Orlando, gangs took longer to cohere in the newly resettled parts of Soweto like Meadowlands and Diepkloof.

Topics: Age, Youth, Clan, Gender, Men, Boys, Masculinity/ies, Tribe, Violence Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 1998

Trafficking in girls and women in Nepal for commercial sexual exploitation: emerging concerns and gaps

Citation:

Subedi, Govind. 2009. “Trafficking in girls and women in Nepal for commercial sexual exploitation: emerging concerns and gaps.” Pakistan Journal of Women’s Studies: Alam e Niswan 16 (1&2): 121-145.

Author: Govind Subedi

Abstract:

Trafficking in girls and women for sexual exploitation has a long history in Nepal. Its magnitude, processes and factors leading to trafficking have changed with the growing phenomena of urbanization, Nepal’s entry in the world labour market for carpet industry, armed conflict and the emergence of foreign labour market opportunities for Nepali youth especially after 2000. Utilising secondary data from different sources and narratives of the trafficking survivors, this article aims to critically review the contemporary trafficking situation in Nepal and Government’s and civil society’s efforts to combat trafficking and identify the new areas of concerns and gaps to combat trafficking in girls and women.

Topics: Age, Youth, Gender, Women, Girls, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Labor Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Nepal

Year: 2009

Rebellious Youth in Colonial Africa

Citation:

Waller, Richard. 2006. “Rebellious Youth in Colonial Africa.” The Journal of African History 47 (01): 77-92. doi:10.1017/S0021853705001672.

Author: Richard Waller

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: gender, colonial, generational conflict, masculinity, youth

Topics: Age, Youth, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Gender, Women, Men, Gender Roles, Political Participation, Race Regions: Africa

Year: 2006

Scripting the Macho Man: Hypermasculine Socialization and Enculturation

Citation:

Mosher, Donald L., and Silvan S. Tomkins. 1988. “Scripting the Macho Man: Hypermasculine Socialization and Enculturation.” The Journal of Sex Research 25 (1): 60–84.

Authors: Donald L. Mosher, Silvan S. Tomkins

Abstract:

Tomkins' (1979) script theory offers a coherent, heuristic, and elegant account of the macho personality constellation (Mosher & Sirkin, 1984), consisting of: (a) callous sexual attitudes, (b) violence as manly, and (c) danger as exciting. A script is a set of rules for interpreting, directing, defending, and creating the scenes making up the life of the macho man. The macho script organizes childhood scenes in which so-called "superior, masculine" affects–like excitement and anger–were socialized to be favored over so-called "inferior, feminine" affects–like distress and fear. Furthermore, both adolescent rites of passage in male youth social networks and processes of enculturation in the American culture and its mass media continue that hypermasculine socialization. The ideological script of machismo descends from the ideology of the warrior and the stratifications following warfare–victor and vanquished, master and slave, the head of the house and woman as his complement, the patriarch and his children. The personality script of the macho man and his ideology of machismo mutually amplify one another–simultaneously justifying his lifestyle and celebrating his world view. In his dangerous, adversarial world of scarce resources, his violent, sexually callous, and dangerous physical acts express his "manly" essence.

Keywords: Macho, hypermasculinity, Script, affect, Socialization

Topics: Age, Youth, Gender, Men, Boys, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Hierarchies, Masculinism, Sexuality Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 1988

Forced Marriage within the Lord’s Resistance Army, Uganda

Citation:

Carlson, Kristopher, and Dyan Mazurana. 2008. Forced Marriage within the Lord’s Resistance Army, Uganda. Somerville, MA: Feinstein International Center.

Authors: Kristopher Carlson, Dyan Mazurana

Abstract:

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)—a rebel movement fighting the government of Uganda—is estimated to have kidnapped over 60,000 Ugandan children and youth. Those abducted include one in three male adolescents and one in six female adolescents in northern Ugandan. While in captivity thousands of abducted young women and girls—most of whom are from the Acholi, Lango, and Iteso peoples—fought, cooked, carried supplies, fetched water, and cleaned for LRA fighters and commanders, including those who organized and carried out their abductions. Many of those abducted also served as forced wives to male members of the group. Half of those forced into marriage bore children. A minority of abducted females was forced to fight and some used violence against their own communities.

This report is based on in-depth investigation, primarily drawing on the testimony of 103 women and girls who were abducted and forced into marriage with LRA combatants. The authors also interviewed parents and family members of abducted females; ex-LRA combatants; religious, clan, and community leaders; local government officials; Acholi and Langi clan leaders and people responsible for customary law; lawyers, and local, national, and international NGOs working in northern Uganda. (Feinstein International Center)

Topics: Age, Youth, Armed Conflict, Gender, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups, Sexual Violence Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2008

Urban Youth in Africa

Citation:

Sommers, Marc. 2010. “Urban Youth in Africa.” Environment and Urbanization 22 (2): 317–32.

Author: Marc Sommers

Abstract:

It is widely assumed that most Africans reside in rural areas, that African cities make little economic sense and are unusually violent because so many unemployed young men live there, and that urban migrant youth can be drawn back to their former rural homes. This paper challenges all of these assumptions. In the process, it reviews dominant trends in Africa’s rapid urban expansion and examines what life is like for urban youth. I will argue that African cities are underserved and fiercely competitive economic environments that are negatively impacted by neoliberal development policies. Urban youth life tends to take place in worlds that are largely separate from the rest of society. The pressures and dangers facing male and female youth can be extreme, yet at the same time African cities are exceptionally stimulating places that provide opportunities for re-invention for many urban youth. The paper ends with recommendations for addressing the needs of the marginalized majority of Africa’s urban youth more effectively. Its primary focus is urban areas in the region of sub-Saharan Africa.

Keywords: Africa, conflict, employment, exclusion, gender, neoliberal, urban, youth

Topics: Age, Youth, Displacement & Migration, Migration, Urban Displacement, Development, Economies, Gender, Girls, Boys, Violence Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa

Year: 2010

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