Youth Agency and Survival Strategies in Sierra Leone's Post War Informal Economy

Abstract

In postcolonial Africa, thousands of young people have successfully confronted the challenges presented by wars and political violence. Yet, in most cases, the experiences of African youngsters have been framed and analyzed only in relation to their potentially disruptive behaviors (Rashid et al. 2009; McIntyre et al. 2002). Adult skepticism about the younger members of African society has not only placed young people at the margins of society and of the political and economic processes, but it has also limited the focus of analyses. It has prevented a number of scholars from understanding the ability of the youth in handling their agentive possibilities. However, Honwana and De Boeck's (2005) and Christiansen et al.'s (2006) edited volumes are noteworthy exceptions. Their work has contributed to a more accurate portrayal of youth mobilization in nation-building in Africa. Both volumes explore the lives and experiences of youths who, enthusiastically or reluctantly, posit themselves as belonging to a socio-intergenerational category that is seeking to shape their lives in an affirmative manner in a young and troubled continent, Africa. They recommend that social research on young people situate them as social beings in the process of social becoming. It is on this duality of being positioned in and of navigating one's own socio-generational space that these researchers based their analysis of contemporary African youth.