Rebellion as a lifestyle : representations of youth revolts in Cameroon

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research has used a critical discourse analysis approach encompassingpostcolonial theory and theory of media effects in order to investigate the influence ofpolitical discourse in the media upon youth's violence in Cameroon. As a result it hasbeen found that the use of private violence by young people in urban cities hasbecome ordinary. Such an attitude reflects among other some aspects of youth'slifestyle designed to cope with the hardship of their social status and to resist theelite's dominance. While no counter-narrative has been found in the independentpublications about the portrayal of youth's violence as criminal by the state-ownedpress, the young people nevertheless have produced through a street culture anarrative deconstructing the political discourse in the media and highlighting theirgrievances in a more or less violent tone. Thus the use of private violence during theriot in February 2008, is far from an isolated (re)action of angry young people , itobeys the very practicality of their existence and the political turmoil it might causeis incidental to the way of life in which it is embedded.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University