Boys are tired! Youth, urban struggles, and retaliatory patriarchy
Date
2021
Authors
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Publisher
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
Abstract
Research in geography and allied disciplines on gendered experiences in Africa
have struggled to comprehend the nuances that make up young men's lifeworlds.
Influenced by theoretical orientations in urban studies, which demonstrate how
music offers a way to explore social dynamics in Africa, we examine the
thoughts, actions, and experiences of male youth in Ghana using Guru's popular
song “Boys abrƐ [Boys are tired].” Drawing on interviews and focus groups with
young people in Accra, the empirical findings and analysis illustrate how the
phrase “boys are tired,” and the dispositions it evokes, provides a subversive cri tique of and protest against the precariousness of contemporary Ghanaian urban ism. Problematically, “Boys are tired” also encourages the (re)calibration of
gender relations on patriarchal terms. These insights extend debates around
geographies of children and youth and gender relations in two novel ways. First,
the vernacular of “tiredness” generates fresh theoretical perspectives on a wider
set of questions about youth agency and contemporary gender relations, namely,
how young people are implicated in the reproduction of patriarchy. Through
doing so, we identify a set of troubling gender relations unfolding in Accra that
are conceptualised as “retaliatory patriarchy” which has three constituent ele ments: entitlement, resentment, and obliviousness. Second, the paper detects rea sons why young men in Accra are reluctant to support feminist action and
suggests how to counter this trend. These findings support wider efforts, within
and beyond the discipline, to better conceptualise and prevent the perpetuation of
inequity and oppression along gendered lines.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Africa, gender, patriarchy, qualitative