Youth and Social Change in Dakar, Senegal: Intergenerational Differences and Power Battles in Local Mosques

Abstract

Young people in the neighbourhood of Colobane in Dakar are significant political actors whose practices and discourses are co‐producing processes of change in a context of economic hardship and dissatisfaction with reigning elites. Youth are the most outspoken on the need for transparent, democratic and accountable politics. They openly criticise politicians, increasingly reject the practices of earlier generations and are more prone to questioning established authorities. In some of the mosques in Colobane, intergenerational differences and how young people struggle for influence and social change is particularly evident. Here, the discourse and aspiration towards democratic, accountable and transparent management politics and the questioning of habitual authority is manifest. These mosques have been arenas of intricate and silent power battles, as young men have been integrated in their management committees after challenging the previously automatic recognition of imams and notables in instances of mismanagement. When resourceful young men take on responsibilities and promote changes in religious, managerial and distributional issues, local mosques are experiencing intergenerational tensions and negotiations.