African Youth Gangs: The Marginalization of South Sudanese Young People in Melbourne, Australia

The South African youth faces multiple challenges that range from illiteracy, drug and alcohol abuse, crime and HIV/AIDS, to unemployment. These challenges and many other ills in society have led to interventions by government, and private and other civil societies. The government has established and initiated a number of programmes that aim at building capacity and helping the youth to cope with these multiple challenges. Some of the programmes are aimed at building leadership capacity among the impoverished youth in rural communities. A lot of money is being invested in these programmes, which are meant to develop young South Africans. However, there are some young people who do not participate in these programmes. They are also not in the formal education system, self-employed or employed elsewhere. And they are despondent. The government, private sector and non-governmental organisations are trying hard to bring these youths and others into the developmental arena, so that they can be active participants in the economy of the country in the near future. However, little research has been conducted to assess the broad impact of the various programmes in the country. The contribution that these programmes are making toward improving the livelihoods of young people has to be determined on a larger scale. Nevertheless, this article reports on an investigation that was conducted on a smaller scale, at the Lepelle-Nkumpi Local Municipality. The aim of the research was to explore the perceptions young South Africans have of the leadership development programmes that they have participated in. A mixed research approach was used to collect data and the key findings indicated that knowledge accumulated through participation in the programmes does not always translate into practical applications. However, the programmes were deemed to be valuable in instilling a positive life-view. The study recommends that support systems be established in the rural areas to assist young people with life challenges.

Download Full-text

Developing the Leadership Potential of African Youth Through Online Communities

10.4018/978-1-6684-4515-0.ch022 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 408-424

Author(s):

Lanoi Maloiy ◽

Jocelyn Cranefield

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Young People ◽

Civic Engagement ◽

Online Communities ◽

Youth Civic Engagement ◽

Leadership Potential ◽

Facilitating Factors ◽

Study Methodology ◽

African Youth ◽

Two Barriers

This chapter draws on the results of an explorative, qualitative study that investigated how online communities can facilitate civic engagement amongst Millennials. Based on the study's findings, the chapter explores how the use of online communities can assist and empower youth, particularly African young people, to overcome barriers, empower and foster civic engagement. This chapter begins with a review of key literature, and then a summary of the study methodology, followed by a discussion of the study findings and their potential for African youth. Results of the study indicated that five facilitating factors and two barriers were influential towards youth civic engagement in an online context. Adult perceptions of youth and the low credibility of online communities were found to act as significant barriers to online youth participation. Given these key findings from the study, the authors show how to employ online communities to engage African youth civic participation and decision making.

Download Full-text

Coloniality, Racialization and Epistemicide in African Youth Mobilities

The Oxford Handbook of Global South Youth Studies ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190930028.013.15 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Joshua Kalemba ◽

David Farrugia

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Labour Force ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Ways Of Knowing ◽

Black African ◽

Economic Transformations ◽

The World ◽

African Youth ◽

Colonial Violence ◽

Young Immigrants

This essay explores the experiences of Black African youth migrating to and working in an Australian regional town using the concepts of epistemicide and coloniality of labor. Drawing on qualitative interviews conducted with twenty Black African youth in Australia, colonial violence is highlighted by demonstrating how these young people negotiate Australia’s immigration regime which seeks to produce docile, colonial subjects of value to the Australian national labour force. This essay argues that aspects of epistemicide are enacted when young immigrants are required to position themselves as desirable residents under terms that eliminate their existing ways of knowing themselves and the world. Meanwhile they occupy devalorized positions critical to economic transformations taking place because of deindustrialization. Conclusions reflect on the value of producing knowledge from African youths’ position as a critical step toward uncovering colonial violence and realizing a decolonized Youth Studies.

Download Full-text

Mobile identities: photography, smartphones and aspirations in urban Nigeria

Africa ◽

10.1017/s000197201900007x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 89 (2) ◽

pp. 246-265

Author(s):

Juliet Gilbert

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Mobile Phones ◽

Urban Youth ◽

Personal Narratives ◽

Digital Photographs ◽

Private And Public ◽

New Ideas ◽

African Youth ◽

The Subject ◽

Public Archives

AbstractSince 2012, the influx of affordable smartphones to urban Nigeria has revolutionized how young people take, store and circulate photographs. Crucially, this ever-expanding digital archive provides urban youth with a means to communicate new ideas of self, allowing a marginalized group to display fortunes that often belie their difficult realities. Through gestures and poses, fashion and style, the companionship of others, or the use of particular backdrops and locations, these photographs contain certain semiotics that allude to the subject owning the means for success in urban Nigeria. Similarly, as youth constantly store photographs of themselves on their handsets alongside those of celebrities, patrons and friends, coveted commodities and aspirational memes, they construct personal narratives that place them at the centre of global flows and networks. With the ability to constantly retake, update and propagate photographs, the discrepancies between in- and off-frame identities become ambiguous. This article explores how young people in Calabar, south-eastern Nigeria, use digital photographs on their mobile phones to cultivate new visions of themselves. Arguing that these photographs not only represent superlative aspirations but are also integral to social becoming, the discussion examines how digital images allow youth to reposition themselves within (and beyond) Nigerian society. Ephemerality is central: digital photographs can be easily circulated and retain some permanence on social media, yet these immaterial objects can easily be lost from handsets. In thinking about the futures of African youth and African photography, this article therefore interrogates the tensions of private and public archives.

Download Full-text

Youth Gangs and Youth Violence in Australia

Violence and Society ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-0988-2.ch050 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 955-973

Author(s):

Rob White

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Social Factors ◽

Youth Violence ◽

Young Men ◽

Final Part ◽

Gang Violence ◽

Youth Gangs ◽

Positive Elements ◽

The Everyday ◽

Broad Overview

This chapter provides an introduction and overview of issues pertaining to youth gangs and youth violence in Australia. The first part features the voices of young people from around Australia describing their experiences of youth gang violence. The second part provides a broad overview of biological, psychological and social factors that together shape the propensities for young people, and young men in particular, to join gangs and to engage in youth violence. The final part of the chapter provides more detailed exposition of two gang members, 'Mohammad' and 'Tan', and the everyday complexities of their lives. The chapter concludes by noting that the gang does not have to be seen as an overwhelming influence in the lives of young people, and that their activities and behaviours are more diverse, and include positive elements, than generally given credit in mainstream youth gangs research and analysis.

Download Full-text

Seeking Identity — Township youth and Social Development

South African Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1177/008124639302300401 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 23 (4) ◽

pp. 157-166 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Melvyn Freeman

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Identity Development ◽

Social Development ◽

South African ◽

Psychological Functioning ◽

Personal Development ◽

Historical Perspective ◽

Political Change ◽

Change Agents ◽

African Youth

The potential of South African youth to play an economically productive and socially reconstructive role in society has been questioned. In this article it is argued that personal development is central to social development, and that appropriate intervention programmes which target the psychological functioning of youth will substantially enhance the chances of youth playing socially constructive roles in society. A framework for such interventions is suggested. The article applies Erikson's theory of identity development to township youth, first within an historical perspective and then to current youth. It is argued that both historically and currently, identity for many young people has been integrally linked with struggle for political change. A major challenge facing psychologists and other change agents is to help youth shift from this identity, to one in which youth see themselves as builders of and contributors towards a new democratic society. Key elements derived from Eriksonian theory which might facilitate this change are presented.

Download Full-text

Developing the Leadership Potential of African Youth Through Online Communities

Dialectical Perspectives on Media, Health, and Culture in Modern Africa - Advances in Religious and Cultural Studies ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-8091-1.ch011 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 184-205

Author(s):

Lanoi Maloiy ◽

Jocelyn Cranefield

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Young People ◽

Civic Engagement ◽

Online Communities ◽

Youth Civic Engagement ◽

Leadership Potential ◽

Facilitating Factors ◽

Study Methodology ◽

African Youth ◽

Two Barriers

This chapter draws on the results of an explorative, qualitative study that investigated how online communities can facilitate civic engagement amongst Millennials. Based on the study's findings, the chapter explores how the use of online communities can assist and empower youth, particularly African young people, to overcome barriers, empower and foster civic engagement. This chapter begins with a review of key literature, and then a summary of the study methodology, followed by a discussion of the study findings and their potential for African youth. Results of the study indicated that five facilitating factors and two barriers were influential towards youth civic engagement in an online context. Adult perceptions of youth and the low credibility of online communities were found to act as significant barriers to online youth participation. Given these key findings from the study, the authors show how to employ online communities to engage African youth civic participation and decision making.

Download Full-text

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Youth from violent families: easy victims of crime?

South African Crime Quarterly ◽

10.17159/2413-3108/2006/v0i16a998 ◽

2006 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lezanne Leoschut

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Young People ◽

Family Violence ◽

South African ◽

Institutional Support ◽

Children And Young People ◽

African Youth ◽

Victims Of Crime ◽

Violent Families ◽

Exposure To Family Violence

Crime and violence are pervasive in South Africa, and children and young people in particular are exposed to high rates of violence within their homes. This article demonstrates that exposure to family violence increases the vulnerability of young people to becoming victims of crime. Interventions are needed that aim to change behaviour within families, provide institutional support for children outside the home, and thus make a tangible difference to the lives of South African youth.

Download Full-text