Fada: Boredom and Belonging in Niger

Titre

Fada: Boredom and Belonging in Niger

liste des auteurs

Adeline Masquelier

Résumé

en Niger most often comes into the public eye as an example of deprivation and insecurity. Urban centers have become concentrated areas of unemployment filled with young men trying, against all odds, to find jobs and fill their time with meaningful occupations. At the heart of Adeline Masquelier’s groundbreaking book is the fada—a space where men gather to escape boredom by talking, playing cards, listening to music, and drinking tea. As a place in which new forms of sociability and belonging are forged outside the unattainable arena of work, the fada has become an integral part of Niger’s urban landscape. By considering the fada as a site of experimentation, Masquelier offers a nuanced depiction of how young men in urban Niger engage in the quest for recognition and reinvent their own masculinity in the absence of conventional avenues to self-realization. In an era when fledgling and advanced economies alike are struggling to support meaningful forms of employment, this book offers a timely glimpse into how to create spaces of stability, respect, and creativity in the face of diminished opportunities and precarity.

Provenance

Chicago

Editeur

University of Chicago Press

Date

2019

nombre de pages

264

Langue

Français

Type

Livre

Sujet

youth

masculinity

economics

urbanity

Wikidata QID

Q116148920

Couverture spatiale

Niger