The Art of the Tactic: Youth Artists in Western Kenya

• In Event: 21.036 - Embracing the Tension: Identity and Positionality in Diverse Educational Spaces in Africa and the Caribbean

Abstract

Much of the literature on anthropological studies of youth focuses on how they end up reproducing their own circumstances, even as they resist structures that constrain them. Theories of cultural reproduction miss how individuals creatively respond to constraints through everyday practices. This study uses ethnographic data to examine how Luo youth in Western Kenya use a non-formal art school and participation in informal markets to navigate contradictions they face, secure livelihoods, express themselves, and imagine their futures. Through thick description of their experiences in Imani Art School, the marketplace, and their production of material culture - visual arts, poetry, playmaking, and storytelling – I show how youth choose art, not just to make a living, but as a means of becoming.

Author

• Betsy Okello, University of Notre Dame