Dealing with Elusive Futures

The time to come - as well as the exploration thereof - remains elusive for social actors and social scientists alike. The contributors accept the challenge to depict young men and women's future-creating activities in urban contexts of sub-Saharan Africa. Very consciously, they study young graduates having obtained a university degree and provide a vivid picture of their strategies to socially grow older by doing adulthood in contexts of great uncertainty. The examples include Burkina Faso, Guinea, Ethiopia, Mali and Tanzania, visually enriched through pictures taken by young Malian photographers.

Noemi Steuer (PhD) is a social anthropologist at the Centre for African Studies, University of Basel. Michelle Engeler (PhD) works at the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Basel. Her research interests focus on youth, political change and mobility, particularly in West Africa. Elísio Macamo (Prof.) is a sociologist at the Departement of Social Sciences and the Centre for African Studies, University of Basel.