Anthropology 235 - YOUTH IN AFRICA

Fall
2015
01
4.00
Alfred Babo
TTh 01:00-02:50
Smith College
21167-F15
HATFLD 106
ababo@smith.edu
This course aims to present an accurate picture of young people in contemporary Africa. We study their social, economic and political imaginings, initiatives and revolts, through which they seek to reinvent and change the world. Why are young people in Africa who are used to living under the power of adult and elderly domination seeking change? Most young Africans are living in a period of suspension between childhood and adulthood as a consequence of the collapse of their societies in the 1990s when all governments in Africa were subject to IMF and World Bank structural adjustment plans. This course explores how young people on the continent are trying to invent new ways for a better life. While some decide to leave Africa and migrate through the Sahara desert or across the Mediterranean Sea, those who remain in Africa decide to shake traditions and adulthood rules at economic, social and political levels. (E)
Not open to first-years
Permission is required for interchange registration during the add/drop period only.