Abstract

Youth cultures have in the recent years become an area of interest for cultural and urban historians. While much of the existing literature captures the experience of youth in Western societies, a few studies exist on the youth cultures in Africa particularly within the context of urbanity. However for Malawi such studies are rare if not non- existent. To that end, this study examines the history of youth culture in one of the early urban centres in Malawi, Blantyre. It argues that from the point of urbanisation, youth made alternative dress, music and dance practices from what was offered by the dominant traditional society through their interactions with the urban environment and fellow youth locally and globally. Consequently, Blantyre was a sphere of contestations over identity, morality and culture between youth on one hand, society and the state on the other. As a social history the study borrows from two dominant schools. The first school is Karl Mannheim's theory of generations which argues that youth culture is significantly influenced by the major historical events of an era and the influences to which youth are subjected. The second one is Antonio Gramsci's theory of cultural hegemony which argues that dominant groups in society create and define hegemonic culture which serves to support and enhance their powerful position. In implicit resistance to this hegemony, common culture arises from the lives of other subordinate groups in those cultural places which hegemonic culture is unable to penetrate. Therefore the study contributes to the body of knowledge in urban history as well as the history of youth cultures. Through in depth interviews and an analysis of newspapers and archival material, this study uncovers the making of urban youth's dress, music and dance practices in Blantyre between 1952 and 2012. This study is relevant because youth represent an important demographic in Malawi as the country has always been a youthful nation. Moreover, in view of rapid urbanisation in Sub-Saharan Africa in general and Malawi in particular, urban youth culture can no longer be ignored.

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School	: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Issued Date	: 2017

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