Hope Is Cut: Youth, Unemployment, and the Future in Urban Ethiopia (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781439904794)

How do ambitious young men grapple with an unemployment rate in urban Ethiopia hovering around fifty percent? Urban, educated, and unemployed young men have been the primary force behind the recent unrest and revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East. Daniel Mains' detailed and moving ethnographic study, a"Hope is Cut," examines young men's struggles to retain hope for the future in the midst of economic uncertainty and cultural globalization.

Through a close ethnographic examination of young men's day-to-day livesa"Hope is Cut"aexplores the construction of optimism through activities like formal schooling, the consumption of international films, and the use of khat, a mild stimulant.

Mains also provides a consideration of social theories concerning space, time, and capitalism. Young men here experience unemployment as a problem of timeOCothey often congregate on street corners, joking that the only change in their lives is the sun rising and setting. Mains addresses these factors and the importance of reciprocity and international migration as a means of overcoming the barriers to attaining aspirations.

Author: Daniel Mains
ISBN-10: 1439904790
ISBN-13: 9781439904794
Publisher: Temple University Press
Language: English
Published: 11/04/2011
Pages: 208
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.70d