Seminar: Youth in “Waithood”: Transitions and Social Change

This seminar examines the lives of young people struggling with unemployment and sustainable livelihoods in the context of widespread social and economic crisis. Failed neo-liberal economic policies, bad governance and political instability have caused stable jobs to disappear but without jobs, young people cannot support themselves and their families. Most young Africans are living in ‘waithood’, a period of suspension between childhood and adulthood. This state of limbo is becoming pervasive and is gradually replacing conventional adulthood. While focusing on African case studies, the seminar argues that youth in Europe, North America and other parts of the world are facing the same crisis of joblessness and restricted futures. This youth crisis is thus global. The ‘waithood generation’ possesses a tremendous transformative potential, as young people understand that the struggle to attain freedom from want requires radical social and political change. From riots and protests on the streets of Maputo, Dakar, Madrid, London, New York and Santiago to revolutions that have overthrown dictatorships in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, the ‘waithood generation’ appears to be conquering freedom from fear and fighting for their rights.