Fada: boredom and belonging in Niger

261 Pages·2020·1.734 MB·English

by  Masquelier, Adeline Marie

Fada

Fada
Boredom and Belonging in Niger
ADELINE MASQUELIER
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2019 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief
quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the
University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2019
Printed in the United States of America
28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 62420- 4 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 62434- 1 (paper)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 62448- 8 (e- book)
DOI: https:// doi .org/ 10 .7208/ chicago/ 9780226624488 .001 .0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Masquelier, Adeline Marie, 1960– author.
Title: Fada : boredom and belonging in Niger / Adeline Masquelier.
Description: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2019. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2018051058 | ISBN 9780226624204 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780226624341 (pbk : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780226624488 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Young men—Niger—Social conditions. | Young
men— Niger—Social life and customs. | City dwellers—Niger. |
Masculinity—Niger.
Classifi cation: LCC HV1441.N55 M37 2019 | DDC 305.242/1096626—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018051058
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1 992
( Permanence of Paper).
The remedy for unpredictability, for the chaotic uncertainty of the future, is con-
tained in the faculty to make and keep promises. . . . [B]inding oneself through
promises serves to set up in the ocean of uncertainty, which the future is by defi -
nition, islands of security without which not even continuity, let alone durability
of any kind, would be possible in the relationships between men.
Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition

CONTENTS
Introduction / 1
ONE / Waiting for Tea / 29
TWO / The Writing on the Walls: Ma(r)king the Place of Youth / 58
THREE / Snapshots: Bringing (Invisible) Women into View / 93
FOUR / Hip- Hop, Truth, and Islam / 113
FIVE / Keeping Watch: Bodywork, Street Ethics, and Masculinity / 137
SIX / Dress and the Time of Youth / 161
SEVEN / Zigzag Politics: Tea, Ballots, and Agency / 186
Conclusion / 210
Acknowledgments / 215
Glossary / 217
Notes / 219
References / 227
Index / 241

Introduction
Hausa speakers in Niger have an expression to capture the sense of immo-
bility and powerlessness they associate with the failure to secure decent,
stable livelihoods: zaman kashin wando, which translates literally as “the
sitting that kills the pants.” Figuratively speaking, to “kill one’s pants” is to
wear them out. In the past, manual labor frayed, ripped, and distressed gar-
ments, but in the absence of jobs it is now stasis that wears out a person’s
trousers. “Zaman kashin wando, c’est la misère quoi! [it’s simply destitution/
misery]” is how a young man, sitting with friends in a street of Niamey,
Niger’s capital city, pithily put it. By evoking simultaneously the material
poverty and the mental distress he and his friends suffered as they just sat,
waiting for elusive jobs, his comment captures the dual sense of depriva-
tion and dislocation that characterizes the experience of many young men
in urban Niger whose prospects for employment are limited.
In the past three decades, the labor market’s ability to absorb emerg-
ing cohorts of job seekers has been undercut by economic reforms imple-
mented in the name of fi scal responsibility.1 Far from spurring economic
growth and encouraging foreign investments, these reforms have plunged
the country into economic insecurity, worsening many people’s lives and
shattering expectations of upward mobility. The state has shrunk social
services and now dispenses minimal and largely inadequate education,
healthcare, and security. Pressured to rely on cheap, fl exible, disposable
labor,2 it has stopped acting as a job provider. Permanent positions in
the civil service are scarce. Youths who sought upward mobility through
schooling can no longer expect to be automatically recruited by the state,
as was once the case. The private sector, insuffi ciently diversifi ed, offers few
opportunities for recent graduates. Though the mining sector has expanded