Conversion and Transformation

Children and Youth in Mission Contexts

Valentine Kozhuharov, Johannes J Knoetze

• Publisher: CLF Publishers
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781868044139
• eBook ISBN: 9781868045037
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Children and youth have not often been featured in discussions relating to mission and intercultural theology, so the topics and perspectives presented in the CYM Study Group at the 2016 IAMS assembly in South Korea and the resulting papers gathered herein constitute a new and important area of study for many in the IAMS community. All the authors of these papers have experience in biblical and philosophical-theological reflection on children as well as extensive back-grounds in both ministry to, for and with children and youths in various contexts.

Part One:

Regional Perspectives

1

The Millennial Generation and the MENA Uprisings:
Relationships and New Spaces in the Emerging Middle East

Arthur Brown

Abstract

There is general agreement that “the youth”, however they may be defined, played a significant role in the so-called ‘Arab Uprisings’. However, the nature and longer-term impact of that role and the conditions that led to youth participation in those “revolutions” are a matter of much debate. Significant work had been done
exploring the socio-economic and political conditions facing the younger
generations across the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region during the period leading up to the 2011 uprisings. The political economy of the region provides one useful lens for this examination, but likely not the only one. Generations have certain characteristics and personalities. The general qualities and characteristics – not to mention the sheer demographic size – of the MENA’s “millennial generation”, wedded to the contextually determined political economy of nation states within the MENA region, provided the unique conditions to make such uprisings a plausible alternative to the status-quo, and in many ways made them so effective. It is further suggested that, despite much disappointment with the post-revolutionary conditions in the aforementioned states, these uprisings, and those who were so active within them, have yet to fully appreciate their long-term implications. The historic revolutions and counter-revolutions observed in the MENA region and the role that youth played in them have changed not only the politics of the region and the world, but also the place of youth in MENA society. In conclusion, this paper asks questions about how the church and the theological college might respond to the lessons being learnt both through the twin lenses of generational characteristics and the region’s political economy.

Key words: millennial generation, social involvement, MENA region, youth participation in the church

“They are just kids holding up traffic; it will pass.” 1

1 Suzanne Mubarak, wife of Hosni Mubarak, quoted a few days before the fall of the Mubarak regime in Egypt on February 2011, cf. Nur Laiq, Talking to Arab Youth: Revolution and Counterrevolution in Egypt and Tunisia (New York: International Peace Institute, 2013), [Loc. 59 Kindle edition].

The MENA Millennials

There has been much comment on the role of the youth in the Arab Uprisings.
While the socio-economic and political realities played a critical role in determining recent events, this paper argues that certain “generational characteristics” within what is referred to as the “millennial generation” also played a central part in empowering and equipping the youth to play such a significant role in what took place on the streets of cities across the region.

The term “youth”, particularly within the MENA context,2 is difficult to
define, but is often associated with those between 15 and 30 years of age (Simonsen 2005: 7). As Wyn suggests, “Youth is a social process – a way of
defining individuals that is linked to complex social, political, and economic processes, much in the same way gender and class are also social processes”
(Wyn 2011:35). In the MENA context, the social process of marriage and
parenthood are often considered as rites of passage into adulthood. Many of
these processes and rites are culturally determined, as to make a clear definition of “youth” somewhat meaningless. For the purpose of this article, the focus is on the “millennial generation”.3 Millennials, as they are commonly referred to, were born between the late 1970s and 2000 (Cole 2014:1). As such, at the start of the uprisings4 across the MENA region, they were aged approximately 15-35.

2 MENA, as a geographical term, refers to the Middle East and North Africa region extending from Morocco to Iran, including all Middle Eastern Mashriq and Maghreb countries. Some use MENA as a synonym to the term the Greater Middle East, others would prefer the term the Arab World.

3 Also known as Generation Y or “Gen.Y” in contrast to their predecessors, Generation X.

4 There are diverse descriptions and labels for what was initially referred to as the “Arab Spring”. Each term has its supporters and detractors. A range of terms are used within this article recognising the meanings that may be drawn from them by different readers.

While much of the material written about the millennial generation stems from the examination of “Western”’ youth culture, Juan Cole clearly identifies
the role of the millennials within the context of the Arab uprisings (Cole 2014).
Global youth culture is pervasive across the MENA region and, while expressed differently within diverse contexts, has certain distinctive features significant in
any analysis of young people’s role in the regional uprisings. The millennial generation has been described as “confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change” (Pew Research Center: online). They are also the most “connected” generation of all time, and the most educated. All of these factors provide them with the skills and attitude to play a significant, increasing role in the forming of societies. In essence, this is a generation striving to become creators rather than consumers. What follows is a brief examination of some of the features of the millennial generation.

Focus on social involvement [social entrepreneurism]

Generations have personalities and wide-ranging features that identify and distinguish them from other generations. The conditions of late or high modernity, described by Giddens (1991) as a “post traditional order” and the consequences of globalisation are largely informative for the millennials (Giddens 1991:28). The term generation, according to Deeb and Harb, is “produced and defined both through shared experiences and understandings of particular historical and
cultural events, and through specific responses to those experiences and events” (Deeb and Harb 2011:307). As such, it is unhelpful to suggest that members of a particular generation will have the same worldview regardless of their socio-
cultural and geographical context. However, in a highly connected world, such generational features help us understand how young people participate in their particular social milieu.

Unlike the “modern individualistic” generation X’er, it has been suggested that the millennials have a strong leaning towards civic responsibility and involvement, both at local and global levels (Strauss and Howe: 2000:370). They have a far more optimistic outlook than their forebears who were influenced more significantly by modernity and enlightenment-era thinking. Millennials demonstrate confidence that may often be viewed as imperious as well as a greater tolerance towards those traditionally deemed “other”. Both of these features seem to have been a significant element of what enabled the “Arab youth” to play their part in recent MENA history. According to Jamshidi:

In countries impacted by the Arab Spring, civic entrepreneurism also reflects several new and important trends, including increased political and social awareness, a growing interest in collaborating with others on matters of common concern, a burgeoning commitment to self-expression and risk-taking, and a rejection of traditional social expectations, the politics of fear, and government intimidation. Collectively, these trends have profoundly shaped people’s behaviours, hopes, and dreams in ways that are equally as important as the outcome of parliamentary elections and the health of national economics. Both in the short and long term, they have made the Arab Spring a truly unique and unprecedented phenomenon (Jamshidi 2014:loc. 114).

These trends, however, must be seen in th...

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Part One: Regional Perspectives
• 1
• 2
• 3
• Part Two: Denominational Perspectives
• 4
• 5
• 6
• Part Three: Social Perspectives
• 7
• 8
• 9
• Part Four: Theological Perspectives
• 10
• 11