Mungiki as youth movement

Abstract

Like many other African countries, Kenya has a large and growing youth population. Some of the youths are mobilized into militant and political networks; one of these is the Mungiki movement. The article explores Mungiki’s combination of politics, religion and Kikuyu traditions. Using the examples of snuff tobacco, revolutionary talk and generational exclusion, it is argued that one way of understanding the connection between the various elements is to look at specific youth practices that cut across apparently separate activities. This reveals that youth in the Mungiki discourse is a highly gendered concept.