VIOLENT POLITICAL CONTEXTS AND THE EMOTIONAL CONCERNS OF TOWNSHIP YOUTH

This article presents the findings of a series of studies that examine the perceptions of black South African youth about township life and the civil conflict and violence it encompasses. The studies were condu cted with comparable samples of 58-82 youth at 3 points in South Afric a's history, all characterized by high levels of violence but differin g in terms of their political contexts. These contexts were overt Stat e-community conflict, covert opposition and political repression, and intracommunity violence. The data revealed that in all 3 contexts yout h reported a high exposure to violence, but only when violence occurre d in the context of intracommunity conflict was it subjectively constr ued to be the most problematic. Reasons for this may include the real increase in more extreme forms of violence, including deaths, that occ urs in intracommunity violence and the blurring of the distinction bet ween political and criminal violence in this context.