HISTORY - Andrew Burton and Hélène Charton-Bigot, eds. Generations Past: Youth in East African History.Athens: Ohio University Press, 2010. vii + 301pp. Maps. Contributors. Index. $29.95. Paper.

Abstract

HISTORY Andrew Burton and Helene Charton-Bigot, eds. Generations Past: Youth in East African History. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2010. vii + 301 pp. Maps. Contributors. Index. $29.95. Paper.Originating at Kenyan conference in 2006, this collection examines youth and generation in East Africa (i.e., Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania) in historical perspective with nuanced insights drawn from anthropology. A well-argued introduction by Andrew Burton and Thomas Burgess leads to twelve chapters mostly by leading social historians trained in North American and British universities, whose seminal research is reflected here. Although these scholars have tackled some of the topics elsewhere, they are indeed essential to the volume's cumulative argument. One co-editor, who contributed chapter, is French historian; only two contributors-in literature and in religious studies-are from East Africa (Kenya).Drawing on extensive evidence (secondary works, state and missionary archives, oral sources, pamphlets, explorers' accounts, Swahili and English newspapers), the collection concentrates primarily on the twentieth century, with the first two chapters examining the precolonial period. This asymmetry might be explained by the lacunae of extant sources and by the scant studies of the earlier period, or it may stem from the book's thesis that colonialism engendered unprecedented tensions in generational relations in Africa, when adulthood had to be negotiated in new ways.The introduction sets the book's intellectual agenda in three key themes: the deep socioeconomic and political changes of the nineteenth century; the attempts by elders, colonial officials (often overlapping), and postcolonial authorities to control youth over the longue duree (18); and the methodology of studying youth and generation in Africa-is youth primary or secondary identity? is it homogeneous term? Although hardly straightforward and unproblematically defined grouping, youth is seen to be discrete social category that emerged mostly in the twentieth century. Besides being culturally specific, the notion of youth varies depending on the historical circumstances: when society experiences social crisis, new ideas of childhood and adolescence emerge.The shifting category of generation-which scholars should examine because it matters in African cultures-has long governed relations in the continent, where it has served to explain social and regulate customs (19). Gerontocracy and patriarchy served to maintain social order in Africa, where complex systems of obligations, submission, and sacrifice were used by seniors to exercise control over social subordinates. Although local differences make generalizations difficult, it is largely true that marriage in most agrarian societies afforded young man social advancement through access to women and reproduction. Generational tensions, then, resulted from changing expectations among youth regarding their obligations and responsibilities (18).Seen as marking turning point in relations between youth and elders, colonialism had significant repercussions for local ways of thinking about the generations. And yet colonialism notwithstanding, considerable continuities with the past and the resilience of local modes of thought persisted, particularly in rural areas where youth remained largely dependent on and deferential to elders.In the first chapter, Richard Reid shows that in the interlacustrine regions of Uganda and northern Tanzania the institutionalized exercise of violence and participation in war-often a young man's game- marked key moments of transition to adulthood amid the rapid changes of the nineteenth century. Across the region aggressive male youth were revolutionaries hubristically challenging the status quo, but without completely rejecting the existing social structure. Their recruitment of boys-at once victims and perpetrators of violence-is reminiscent of the seemingly recent phenomenon of child soldiers. …