With 70 per cent of its people under the age of 30, Africa is the world's youngest continent. African youngsters have been largely characterized as either vulnerable victims of the frequent humanitarian crises that plague their homelands, or as violent militarized youth and 'troubled' gang members. Young people's contributions to processes of educational provision, peace building and participatory human development in Africa are often ignored. While acknowledging the profound challenges associated with growing up in an environment of uncertainty and deprivation, African Childhoods sheds light on African children's often constructive engagement with a variety of societal conditions, adverse or otherwise, and their ability to positively influence their own lives and those of others.

PART I: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CHILD SURVIVAL IN AFRICA: AGENCY, LABOR AND SUBSISTENCE African Childhoods: Education, Development, and Peacebuilding in the Youngest Continent; M.O.Ensor Are the Barrels Empty? Are the Children any Safer? Child Domestic Labor and Servitude in Ghana; C.N.Derby Matches but No Fire: Street Children and the State in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; C.M.Wagner , E.D.Lyimo & S.Lwendo Youth Agency and Survival Strategies in Sierra Leone's Post-war Informal Economy; J.I.Lahai Turkana Children's Contributions to Subsistence and Household Ecology in Kenya; T.Y.Watkins PART II: THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF AFRICAN CHILDREN: KINSHIP, HARDSHIP, AND COMMUNITY Children who Take Care of other Children in the Suburbs of Maputo, Mozambique; E.Colonna Seen but not Heard: African Orphanhood as Lived Experience; K.E.Cheney Militarization, Generational Conflict, and the Eritrean Refugee Crisis; T.M.R.Hepner PART III: THE HUMAN CAPITAL OF AFRICAN CHILDREN: YOUTH VOICES AND SCHOOLING IN THE YOUNGEST CONTINENT Representing Youth: School Dramas and Youth Authority in Ghana; C.Coe Conceptualizing the Child: An Analysis of Early Childhood Care and Education Policy in Tanzania; B.C.Wilinski Striving for Knowledge and Dignity:Young Qur'anic Students in Kano, Nigeria; H.Hoechner PART IV:AFRICAN CHILDREN AS POLITICAL ACTORS: CHILD-INCLUSIVE VIEWS ON PEACEBUILDING AND SOCIAL CHANGE Dinka Youth and the Culture of Formal Schooling in Post-conflict South Sudan; A.I.Epstein Educating Postconflict Societies: Lessons from Rwanda and Liberia; F.E.Godwyll & S.Magadla Our Voice: Public Health and Youths' Communication for Social Change in Sénégal; L.J.Felt & A.Rideau Painting a Picture of Expressive Arts Therapy for War-Affected Youth in Northern Uganda; J.R.Hanebrink & A.J.Smith The Next Generation of African Children; M.O.Ensor