This episode explores the relationship between performance and selfhood in adolescent lives. Roaming from methodologies of writing and photography through questions of gender, social media and performativity, the participants share their experiences about the importance of story-telling and expression to adolescents in Africa and beyond. They reflect together on how image-making, performance, writing, film, dance and other forms of creative practice are both crucial to adolescent identity and highly productive methods for researching adolescence. Ultimately, the participants agree, any research on adolescence, and any intervention into their lives must begin in equal partnership adolescents themselves.

This episode was recorded during a three-day workshop on the theme of Understanding Adolescence in African Contexts, hosted at Rhodes House in Oxford.

Participants

Elleke Boehmer is Professor of World Literatures in English at the University of Oxford, and a prize-winning novelist and short-story writer.

Alude Mahali is a post-doctoral fellow/research specialist in the Human and Social Development (HSD) programme.

Alexandra Georgakopoulou is Professor of Discourse Analysis and Sociolinguistics at King’s College London

Kopano Ratele is a Professor in the Institute of Social and Health Sciences (ISHS) at the University of South Africa (UNISA).