8 - Youth Religiosity and Moral Critique: God, Government and Generations in a Time of AIDS in Uganda
Corresponding Author(s) : Catrine Christiansen
Africa Development,
Vol. 36 No. 3-4 (2011): Africa Development: Special Issue on ‘The Ideologies of Youth’
Abstract
This article stresses the centrality of youth questions in Uganda, whereby HIV, religious and political issues are contributing to changes in the societal landscape. The ‘youth question’ has become a very important focus in developmental aids, but its conceptualization still remains ambiguous. It is this ambiguity in the conceptualization of young people, as victims and agents, which informs efforts to involve youth in the work towards preventing the spread of HIV and mitigating the nega- tive impact of AIDS. The article demonstrates that young people largely consent to the lower social positioning of youth as they regard them- selves as persons still in the making, and they find this positioning a comfortable zone from which to criticise the older generations for not maintaining family solidarity and providing sufficiently for the younger generation. Based on a drama developed by a Catholic youth group, it shows how youth combine cultural values, child rights and Christian morality to present the selfishness and low morals of the older genera- tions, and themselves, as keepers of morality in the interest of the soci- ety as a whole. Drawing on the human rights framework, development agencies refer to young people’s rights to partake in matters regarding their own lives and entitlement, to grow up in safe spaces of socialization and develop skill. The concept used in this article tends to define ‘youth’ as a category of social being and social becoming where sexuality is becoming part of political discourse.
Keywords
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)BibTeX
- Allen, T. and S. Heald, 2004, ‘HIV/AIDS Policy in Africa: What has Worked in Uganda and What has Failed in Botswana?’ Journal of International Development 16 (8):1141-1154.
- Bjerk, B., 2005, ‘Building a New Eden’: Lutheran Church Youth Choir Performances in Tanzania, Journal of Religion in Africa 35(3): 324-354.
- Bledsoe, C. H., 1995, ‘Marginal Members: The Problem of Children of Previous Unions in Mende Households in Sierra Leone’, In S. Greenhalgh, ed., Situating Fertility: Anthropology and Demographic Analysis.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 130-153.
- Christensen, A. and P. Janeway, eds,2005, Faith in Action: Examining the Role of Faith-Based Organizations in Addressing HIV/AIDS. Washington DC: Global Health Council.
- Christiansen, C., B. C. Yamba, M. Daniels, 2005,. ‘Introduction: Growing up in an Era of AIDS’, Africa Journal of AIDS Research, 4 (3): 135-138.
- Christiansen, C., M. Utas, H. Vigh, 2006, ‘Introduction: Youth (E)scapes’, In C. Christiansen, Mats Utas and Henrik E Vigh, eds,.Navigating Youth, Generating Adulthood: Social Becoming in Contemporary Africa, Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute: 9-30.
- Christiansen, C. and S. R. Whyte, 2008, ‘Arenas of Child Support: Interfaces of Family, State, and NGO Provisions of Social Security in Uganda’ In A. A. Dani, and Arjan de Haan, eds, Inclusive States. Social Policy and Structural Inequalities,. Washington DC: The World Bank: 295-320.
- Christiansen, C., 2009a, ‘When AIDS is Part of the (Christian) Family: Dynamics between Kinship and Religious Networks in Uganda’, In C. Letloff-Grandits, Anja Peleikis, and Tatjana Thelen, eds, Social Security in Religious Networks: Anthropological Perspectives on New Risks and Ambivalences. New York: Berghahn Books: 23-42.
- Christiansen, C., 2009b, ‘The New Wives of Christ: Paradoxes and Potentials in the Remaking of Widow Lives in Uganda’, In F. Becker, and P. Wenzel Geissler, eds, Aids and Religious Practice in Africa. Leiden: Brill: 85-116.
- Christiansen, C., 2009c, ‘Conditional Certainty: Uganda Charismatic Christians Striving for Health and Harmony’, in L. Haram, and Bawa C. Yamba, eds, Dealing with Uncertainty in Contemporary African Lives,. Stockholm: Nordic Africa Institute: 48-71.
- Diouf, M., 2003, ‘Engaging Postcolonial Cultures: African Youth and Public Space’, African Studies Review, 46 (1): 1-12.
- Durham, D., 2005, ‘Just Playing: Choirs, Bureaucracy, and the Work of Youth in Botswana’, in A. M. Honwana, and Filip de Boeck, eds, Makers and Breakers: Children and Youth in Postcolonial Africa.. Oxford, Dakar: James Currey, Codesria: 150-171.
- Englund, H., 2007, ‘Pentecostalism beyond Belief: Trust and Democracy in a Malawian Township’, Africa 77(4): 477-499.
- Gifford, P., 1998, ‘African Christianity: Its Public Role’, London: Hurst & Company. Gusman, A., 2009, ‘HIV/AIDS, Pentecostal Churches, and the “Joseph Generation” in Uganda’, Africa Today, 56 (1): 67-86.
- Marshall-Fratani, R. (1998). ‘Mediating the Global and Local in Nigerian Pentecostalism’, Journal of Religion in Africa 28(3): 278-315.
- Maxwell, D., 1998, ‘Delivered from the Spirit of Poverty?’: Pentecostalism, Prosperity and Modernity in Zimbabwe’, Journal of Religion in Africa 28 (3): 350-373.
- Meyer, B., 1998, ‘Make a Complete Break with the Past.’ Memory and Post-colonial Modernity in Ghanaian Pentecostalist Discourse’, Journal of Religion in Africa 28(3): 316-349.
- Parkhurst, J. and L. Lush, 2004,. The political Environment of HIV: Lessons from a Comparison of Uganda and South Africa’, Social Science and Medicine 59(9): 1913-1924.
- Prince, R., 2006, ‘Popular Music and Luo Youth in Western Kenya: Ambiguities of Modernity, Morality and Gender Relations in the Era of AIDS’, in C. Christiansen, Mats Utas and Henrik E Vigh, eds, Navigating Youth, Generating Adulthood: Social Becoming in Contemporary Africa.. Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute: 117-152.
- Seidel, G., 1990,. ‘Thank God, I Said No to AIDS: On the Changing Discourse of AIDS in Uganda’, Discourse & Society 1(1): 61-84.
- Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2007, ‘Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 2006’, Kampala: Uganda Bureau of Statistics.
- Utas, M., 2005, ‘Victimcy, Girlfriending, Soldiering: Tactic Agency in a Young Woman’s Social Navigation of the Liberian War Zone’, Anthropological Quarterly 78 (2): 403-430.
- van Dijk, R., 1992,.’Young Puritan Preachers in Post-Independence Malawi’ Africa 62: 159-181.
- van Dijk, R., 1998, ‘Pentecostalism, Cultural Memory and the State: Contested Representations of Time in Postcolonial Malawi’, in R. Werbner. Memory and the Postcolony, London: Zed Books: 155-181.
- Vigh, H., 2006,. Navigating Terrains of War: Youth and Soldiering in Guinea- Bissau, New York: Berghahn Books.
- Whyte, S. R., and Michael A. Whyte, 1998, ‘The Values of Development: Conceiving Growth and Progress’, in H. B. Hansen, and Michael Twaddle, Developing Uganda.. Oxford: James Currey: 227-244.
References
Allen, T. and S. Heald, 2004, ‘HIV/AIDS Policy in Africa: What has Worked in Uganda and What has Failed in Botswana?’ Journal of International Development 16 (8):1141-1154.
Bjerk, B., 2005, ‘Building a New Eden’: Lutheran Church Youth Choir Performances in Tanzania, Journal of Religion in Africa 35(3): 324-354.
Bledsoe, C. H., 1995, ‘Marginal Members: The Problem of Children of Previous Unions in Mende Households in Sierra Leone’, In S. Greenhalgh, ed., Situating Fertility: Anthropology and Demographic Analysis.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 130-153.
Christensen, A. and P. Janeway, eds,2005, Faith in Action: Examining the Role of Faith-Based Organizations in Addressing HIV/AIDS. Washington DC: Global Health Council.
Christiansen, C., B. C. Yamba, M. Daniels, 2005,. ‘Introduction: Growing up in an Era of AIDS’, Africa Journal of AIDS Research, 4 (3): 135-138.
Christiansen, C., M. Utas, H. Vigh, 2006, ‘Introduction: Youth (E)scapes’, In C. Christiansen, Mats Utas and Henrik E Vigh, eds,.Navigating Youth, Generating Adulthood: Social Becoming in Contemporary Africa, Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute: 9-30.
Christiansen, C. and S. R. Whyte, 2008, ‘Arenas of Child Support: Interfaces of Family, State, and NGO Provisions of Social Security in Uganda’ In A. A. Dani, and Arjan de Haan, eds, Inclusive States. Social Policy and Structural Inequalities,. Washington DC: The World Bank: 295-320.
Christiansen, C., 2009a, ‘When AIDS is Part of the (Christian) Family: Dynamics between Kinship and Religious Networks in Uganda’, In C. Letloff-Grandits, Anja Peleikis, and Tatjana Thelen, eds, Social Security in Religious Networks: Anthropological Perspectives on New Risks and Ambivalences. New York: Berghahn Books: 23-42.
Christiansen, C., 2009b, ‘The New Wives of Christ: Paradoxes and Potentials in the Remaking of Widow Lives in Uganda’, In F. Becker, and P. Wenzel Geissler, eds, Aids and Religious Practice in Africa. Leiden: Brill: 85-116.
Christiansen, C., 2009c, ‘Conditional Certainty: Uganda Charismatic Christians Striving for Health and Harmony’, in L. Haram, and Bawa C. Yamba, eds, Dealing with Uncertainty in Contemporary African Lives,. Stockholm: Nordic Africa Institute: 48-71.
Diouf, M., 2003, ‘Engaging Postcolonial Cultures: African Youth and Public Space’, African Studies Review, 46 (1): 1-12.
Durham, D., 2005, ‘Just Playing: Choirs, Bureaucracy, and the Work of Youth in Botswana’, in A. M. Honwana, and Filip de Boeck, eds, Makers and Breakers: Children and Youth in Postcolonial Africa.. Oxford, Dakar: James Currey, Codesria: 150-171.
Englund, H., 2007, ‘Pentecostalism beyond Belief: Trust and Democracy in a Malawian Township’, Africa 77(4): 477-499.
Gifford, P., 1998, ‘African Christianity: Its Public Role’, London: Hurst & Company. Gusman, A., 2009, ‘HIV/AIDS, Pentecostal Churches, and the “Joseph Generation” in Uganda’, Africa Today, 56 (1): 67-86.
Marshall-Fratani, R. (1998). ‘Mediating the Global and Local in Nigerian Pentecostalism’, Journal of Religion in Africa 28(3): 278-315.
Maxwell, D., 1998, ‘Delivered from the Spirit of Poverty?’: Pentecostalism, Prosperity and Modernity in Zimbabwe’, Journal of Religion in Africa 28 (3): 350-373.
Meyer, B., 1998, ‘Make a Complete Break with the Past.’ Memory and Post-colonial Modernity in Ghanaian Pentecostalist Discourse’, Journal of Religion in Africa 28(3): 316-349.
Parkhurst, J. and L. Lush, 2004,. The political Environment of HIV: Lessons from a Comparison of Uganda and South Africa’, Social Science and Medicine 59(9): 1913-1924.
Prince, R., 2006, ‘Popular Music and Luo Youth in Western Kenya: Ambiguities of Modernity, Morality and Gender Relations in the Era of AIDS’, in C. Christiansen, Mats Utas and Henrik E Vigh, eds, Navigating Youth, Generating Adulthood: Social Becoming in Contemporary Africa.. Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute: 117-152.
Seidel, G., 1990,. ‘Thank God, I Said No to AIDS: On the Changing Discourse of AIDS in Uganda’, Discourse & Society 1(1): 61-84.
Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2007, ‘Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 2006’, Kampala: Uganda Bureau of Statistics.
Utas, M., 2005, ‘Victimcy, Girlfriending, Soldiering: Tactic Agency in a Young Woman’s Social Navigation of the Liberian War Zone’, Anthropological Quarterly 78 (2): 403-430.
van Dijk, R., 1992,.’Young Puritan Preachers in Post-Independence Malawi’ Africa 62: 159-181.
van Dijk, R., 1998, ‘Pentecostalism, Cultural Memory and the State: Contested Representations of Time in Postcolonial Malawi’, in R. Werbner. Memory and the Postcolony, London: Zed Books: 155-181.
Vigh, H., 2006,. Navigating Terrains of War: Youth and Soldiering in Guinea- Bissau, New York: Berghahn Books.
Whyte, S. R., and Michael A. Whyte, 1998, ‘The Values of Development: Conceiving Growth and Progress’, in H. B. Hansen, and Michael Twaddle, Developing Uganda.. Oxford: James Currey: 227-244.