Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses the relative influence of families and peers on young people's views of state violence and repression in Zimbabwe, and their engagement in urban politics post-Mugabe.

Paper long abstract:

This paper analyses the relative influence of families and peers on young people's views of state violence and repression in Zimbabwe, and their engagement with politics post-Mugabe. The paper is based on qualitative case-study research in four cities. It paper discusses how older family members instruct youth based on their experiences with past episodes of violence, especially during Zimbabwe's 'crisis years' between 2000 and 2008, often warning them against political engagement. For those whose families were strongly affected by the 2008 peak in election violence, narratives of violence strongly shaped their attitudes towards politics while growing up. At the same time, peers and contemporaries play an equally important role when youth interpret current political developments, and decide on how to engage: stay aside, protest, join a group of violent party youth, or otherwise. How young Zimbabweans currently engage with politics is also shaped by other factors: where they are in the life course, and gender identity. Present-day political engagement, including in recent protests is the outcome of multiple social dynamics, both at home and in other social networks. The paper contributes to debates on youth politics in contexts of state violence and repression, and to an understanding of how experiences and notions of violence are narrated and reproduced in social networks. Ultimately, this influences how youth for cope with and respond to violent surroundings.