Stuck: Rwandan Youth and the Struggle for Adulthood Contributor(s): Sommers, Marc (Author) |
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ISBN: 0820338907 ISBN-13: 9780820338903 Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Binding Type: Hardcover - See All Available Formats & Editions Published: February 2012 Click for more in this series: Studies in Security and International Affairs |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Political Science | International Relations - General - Political Science | Human Rights - Social Science | Children's Studies |
Dewey: 303.620 |
LCCN: 2011029962 |
Series: Studies in Security and International Affairs |
Physical Information: 0.81" H x 6" W x 9" L (1.31 lbs) 288 pages |
Features: Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Maps |
Review Citations: Chronicle of Higher Education 02/03/2012 pg. 18 |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Young people are transforming the global landscape. As the human population today is younger and more urban than ever before, prospects for achieving adulthood dwindle while urban migration soars. Devastated by genocide, hailed as a spectacular success, and critiqued for its human rights record, the Central African nation of Rwanda provides a compelling setting for grasping new challenges to the world's youth. Spotlighting failed masculinity, urban desperation, and forceful governance, Marc Sommers tells the dramatic story of young Rwandans who are "stuck," striving against near-impossible odds to become adults. In Rwandan culture, female youth must wait, often in vain, for male youth to build a house before they can marry. Only then can male and female youth gain acceptance as adults. However, Rwanda's severe housing crisis means that most male youth are on a treadmill toward failure, unable to build their house yet having no choice but to try. What follows is too often tragic. Rural youth face a future as failed adults, while many who migrate to the capital fail to secure a stable life and turn fatalistic about contracting HIV/AIDS. Featuring insightful interviews with youth, adults, and government officials, Stuck tells the story of an ambitious, controlling government trying to govern an exceptionally young and poor population in a densely populated and rapidly urbanizing country. This pioneering book sheds new light on the struggle to come of age and suggests new pathways toward the attainment of security, development, and coexistence in Africa and beyond. Published in association with the United States Institute of Peace |
Contributor Bio(s): Sommers, Marc: - MARC SOMMERS is an internationally recognized youth expert with research experience in over twenty war-affected countries. He has provided analysis and technical advice to policy institutes, donor and United Nations agencies, and NGOs. He also is the author of seven previous books, including Stuck: Rwandan Youth and the Struggle for Adulthood (Georgia), which received an Honorable Mention for the African Studies Association's Bethwell A. Ogot BookPrize, Islands of Education: Schooling, Civil War, and the Southern Sudanese (1983-2004), and Fear in Bongoland: Burundi Refugees in Urban Tanzania, which received the Margaret Mead Award. |
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