Between Boredom, Protest, and Community

Ethnography of Young Activists in a South African Township

Bibliographic Data

ID2365604
AuthorsJérôme Tournadre (0000-0002-0635-3320, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume49
Issue3
Pages318-344
Publication date2020-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary Ethnography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0891-2416 • E-ISSN: 1552-5414
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0891241619891227
OpenAlexW2993704612
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited30

This article is based on an ethnographic study of the young activists of a South African poor people's movement. It questions the finding that some of the young poor people in the Global South are trapped by a boredom linked to their socioeconomic incapacity to fully enter into adulthood. Young people are here apprehended through their position within the collective, but also in the framework of the activism they deploy daily in their neighborhoods. The article shows that even though uncertainty has its place there, the lives of these young people cannot be reduced to idleness. Partly built on emotional bonds, their commitment structures their days and gives them access to a politicization that helps them to put their condition into perspective. Above all, it provides them with a valued role within the "community" and, therefore, helps them to fit into their most immediate social environment: their neighborhood

Boredom · Ethnography · Perspective (graphical · Position (finance · Sociology · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Psychology · Social Psychology · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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