Fashioning Futures

Uncertainty and Young Women's Livelihoods in Urban Nigeria
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-1-009-61853-3
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 304 Seiten

Reihe: The International African Library

Through vibrant ethnographic storytelling, this study reveals how young women capitalise on uncertainty in Calabar, southeastern Nigeria, to realise respectable futures. Exploring young women's daily activities across different sites from the house to church, sewing shops and beauty salons, Fashioning Futures examines the complex ways in which various forms of uncertainty permeate life in a city shaped by Pentecostal fervour and patriarchal conservatism. Juliet Gilbert demonstrates how young women actively engage with forms of uncertainty such as illusion, dissimulation and fakery to present themselves as respectable urbanites and work towards marriage. Revealing young women's centrality in the construction of urban lifeworlds in contemporary Nigeria, Gilbert re-casts youthhood in Africa, both as an analytical category and as a time of experience.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gilbert, Juliet

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; 1. In the house: managing double lives; 2. Church-going: discerning religious fakery; 3. Roadside encounters: navigating intimacy and the city; 4. Mobile phones: re-convening conviviality, re-constructing sociality; 5. Sewing shops: materialising individuality through imitation; 6. Beauty salons: applying artifice & artistry; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Gilbert, Juliet
Juliet Gilbert is an Associate Professor in Social Anthropology and African Studies at the University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on youth studies, religion, insecure livelihoods, and aspects of popular culture. Previous publications include journal articles in Africa, Ethnos and Journal of Religion in Africa.