Seeds of revolt. Intergenerational relationships in rural KwaZulu, South Africa

Alex Vailati

doi:10.1590/s0104-71832015000100014

Abstract

AbstractThe social role of youth, in the last twenty years, has become a key point of the political agenda of many African nations. In South Africa, the consequences of segregationist politics, market economy and migrations have profoundly shaped the social and cultural role of youth, both in urban and rural contexts. Moreover, the end of apartheid has opened a new period of wide transformation. Based on my ethnographic research in KwaMashabane, a rural region of South Africa, this article analyses how the social role of male youth is shaped by national state policy and by local dynamics. I will focus on the relationship between models of adulthood, and the strategies that youth adopt to cope with conflicts and continuities. This analysis will show how post-apartheid freedom and the constraints of the local social structure are negotiated, and how society is coping with the complex relationships between cultural reproduction and social change.

Highlights

The category “youth” is produced and used in a pioneering manner in South Africa, compared to other African countries, as it has been important in the national social and political arena, since the 1970’s
The social and cultural role of youth in South Africa has a particular role in the intersections between local cultural structure and global trends
Departing from the category youth, we find that the condition of adulthood seems to be marked by marriage

Summary

Alex Vailati

Baseado numa pesquisa etnográfica em KwaMashabane, uma região rural da África do Sul, este artigo analisa como o papel social dos jovens homens é moldado pelas políticas do Estado-nação e pelas dinâmicas locais. Mediante uma comparação entre os padrões de maturidades afirmados localmente e as estratégias que os jovens adotam para lidar com a condição deles, de “não adultos”, será possível evidenciar como a “liberdade” implícita da época do pós-apartheid lida com a estrutura sociocultural local e como a sociedade enfrenta a complexa dinâmica entre reprodução e mudança social. Palavras-chave: África do Sul, juventude, maturidade, KwaZulu

Introduction

Defining youth

Imagined adulthoods

Trickstering respect

Seeds of revolt