Scholarship on youth in Africa has mostly focused on unemployed young
people, portraying them as a lost generation and exploring how states have
failed them. Literature on young employed Africans has been conspicuously
absent. This research portrays how a group of young professional Rwandans
who define themselves as “diaspora” living in post-genocide Kigali, are
redefining national belonging in economic terms. Many young professionals
have moved from the diaspora to Rwanda because the state offers them a
platform where they can find employment or start their own business: an
entrepreneurial citizenship. The city of Kigali is experiencing physical and
social transformation, and these young professionals are driving such
change. The young people in this study see Rwanda as a place where they
can belong by being cosmopolitan, and especially by becoming
entrepreneurs. They feel that in Rwanda they are able to be global citizens
more easily than in the Diaspora. This feeling of global citizenship is,
ironically, what inspires in them a sense of national identity. This research
explores the youth in the broader sense of economic activity and time and
their sense of belonging in everyday life, in the capital city of Kigali.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/13178 |
| Date | 02 October 2013 |
| Creators | Bangerezako, Haydee |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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