Abstract
In this paper, I argue that both concepts of “youth” (arabic “šabāb”) and “generation” (arabic “ğīl”) are in different ways misleading and problematic when applied in empirical research on Tunisians of lower age. While they are not affirmatively used and partly even rejected by the latter, they also appear inadequate when employed as analytical categories. Instead, as I will suggest, (historical) “age cohort” is an adequate reference category that can be qualitatively described according to the shared perceptions and actions of its respective members. Thereby, the focus on self-concepts and self-narratives appears to be particularly helpful in understanding the contemporary condition of Tunisians of lower age and their social mobilization practices. It reveals, among other findings, that their movements are not primarily directed at political and social change, though conventionally assumed, but rather express a search for greater possibilities of mobility and autonomy beyond both state and societal boundaries.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Aufsätze – Articles – Articles
- Fatma Aliye Hanım: Gender Debates in Turkey
- Negotiating the Relationship Human – Non-Human as a Question of Meaning in Twentieth Century Iranian Authenticity Discourse: The Role of Ǧalāl Āl-e Aḥmad’s Essay West Infection
- ʿIlm al-kalām in Mauretanien anhand maurischer Kommentare zur Iḍāʾat ad-duǧunnafī iʿtiqād ahl as-sunna von al-Maqqarī (st. 1041/1632)
- Die Kopten und der Arabische Frühling: Zwischen politischer Emanzipation und Minderheitenstatus
- L’émancipation du zaǧal oriental de ses modèles andalous à l’ère mamelouke
- Altarabische Dichtung über Dattelpalmen aus dem Kitāb al-Fuṣūṣ („Buch der Ringsteine“) des Ṣāʿid al-Baġdādī (ca. 335–417/945–1026)
- A Critique of the Concepts of “Youth” and “Generation” as Applied in Empirical Research in Contemporary Tunisia
- Unfertige Studien 4: Skrupelhaftigkeit
- Rezensionen – Comptes rendus – Reviews
- Book Review
- Book Review
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Aufsätze – Articles – Articles
- Fatma Aliye Hanım: Gender Debates in Turkey
- Negotiating the Relationship Human – Non-Human as a Question of Meaning in Twentieth Century Iranian Authenticity Discourse: The Role of Ǧalāl Āl-e Aḥmad’s Essay West Infection
- ʿIlm al-kalām in Mauretanien anhand maurischer Kommentare zur Iḍāʾat ad-duǧunnafī iʿtiqād ahl as-sunna von al-Maqqarī (st. 1041/1632)
- Die Kopten und der Arabische Frühling: Zwischen politischer Emanzipation und Minderheitenstatus
- L’émancipation du zaǧal oriental de ses modèles andalous à l’ère mamelouke
- Altarabische Dichtung über Dattelpalmen aus dem Kitāb al-Fuṣūṣ („Buch der Ringsteine“) des Ṣāʿid al-Baġdādī (ca. 335–417/945–1026)
- A Critique of the Concepts of “Youth” and “Generation” as Applied in Empirical Research in Contemporary Tunisia
- Unfertige Studien 4: Skrupelhaftigkeit
- Rezensionen – Comptes rendus – Reviews
- Book Review
- Book Review