Ubuntu and Youth Studies in Africa

This book considers how the African philosophy of Ubuntu can contribute to the study of the youth in Africa. Reports from the UN indicate that by 2050, more than a third of young people globally will be in or from Africa. It will be important for researchers across the fields of philosophy, youth studies, sociology, and African studies.

This book considers how the African philosophy of Ubuntu can contribute to the study of the youth in Africa. Reports from the United Nations indicate that by 2050, more than a third of young people in the world will be in or from Africa. However, most existing youth studies remain framed by Global North paradigms, creating a risk of generalising or globally universalizing the stage of life between childhood and adulthood. This book challenges this imbalance by proposing an approach to youth studies that is grounded in Ubuntu, the philosophy that a person is a person through other persons. The book proposes an Ubuntu conception of youth as becoming: a relational and self-realizing approach to the stage of transition from childhood to morally fit personhood or adulthood. Moreover, the book seeks to imagine and engage issues affecting young people in Africa, covering topics ranging from education, development, migration, work, crime, politics, leadership, gangs, wars, technology, entrepreneurship, among many others. This incisive and expansive African perspective on youth studies expands our metaphysical, epistemological, and axiological understanding of the field. It will be an important read for researchers across the fields of philosophy, youth studies, sociology, and African studies.