Documenting youth participation in the South African anti-apartheid struggle, Youth and Identity Politics in South Africa examines identity construction and negotiation in the region of KwaZulu/Natal. Based on extensive interviews, Sibusisiwe Nombuso Dlamini presents life stories of survival and identity negotiation in a region and at a time where to be youthful and politically active was to be associated with membership in Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress – a potentially dangerous association.

Zulus are far from being an homogenous group. Dlamini examines the dynamics both of group identification – that of being a young Zulu – and of the differences, both class and regional. Further, she looks at the discourses of participation in the liberation struggle, and how these discourses intersect with KwaZulu/Natal identity and party politics. Youth and Identity Politics in South Africa shows how the youth identify variously as fans of jazz or hip-hop who espouse a none-racial national character, as athletes who feel a strong connection to traditional Zulu patriarchy, or in many other social and political subcultures. This is a rich and unprecedented youth-centred ethnography that paints a unique picture of the lives of South African youth.

S. Nombuso Dlamini is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education and holds the position of Research Leadership Chair at the University of Windsor. Her research encompasses youth, identities studies, postcolonial cultures, and critical race matters. She is the author of Youth and Identity Politics 1990-1994.

S. Nombuso Dlamini's profile page