Paper short abstract:

Driven by the assumption that the rising subcultures can be politically powerful models for youth to express their political concerns, this paper further argues that there is an unprecedented shift towards rhetoric styles to voice up new public needs among third-world youth

Paper long abstract:

Youth engagement has recently adopted an established model of contemporary mobilization in unveiling modes of rhetoric styles. This tends to boost young people’s empowerment, serving as a new forum for today's socialization and highlighting a discursive turn in producing (sub)cultures. In most African states, youths seek to assert their voices through hybrid and grassroots platforms, which enables them to socially address their cruxes while also wielding influence as agents of change to shape a just and equitable future for global development. This deconstructive act aims to decenter the tradition of the accepted paradigm, giving young individuals in the global south multiple platforms to voice up about new matters in public and also a chance to hold state actors accountable for their promises concerning issues involving larger power structures and public concern. This also seeks to restore social justice and dismantle hegemonic frameworks about young women by empowering them to demand more significant involvement in decision-making processes. This paper investigates how youth political activism in the global south confirms and challenges other nuances by unwriting the emphasis on the new media as a facilitator of social activism and hinting at the existing spaces of formal and informal youth engagement. As an attempt to discuss the interplay of new media, culture, politics, and youth, the paper is theoretically guided by global and local research to critically review the existing literature to show how the constant challenges and pressure of technological innovation and globalism are putting on many “southern” countries’ democratic conditions.