Popular culture, gender relations and the democratization of everyday lifein Kenya

The article deals with young women's and men's appropriation of local and g lobal popular culture in a poor Nairobi neighbourhood. Local media articula te Christian ideals of marriage and gender relations, ideals that in the We st would be considered conservative. In a Kenyan context, the ideals suppor t the transformation of family systems, based on large collectivities and a clear separation of functions between generations and genders, into 'moder n' nuclear families, which are more fluid, and where power may be distribut ed more equally between sexes and generations. Influential global popular c ulture narratives, such as the TV soap opera, The Bold and the Beautiful, a nd several situation comedies featuring African American stars, also suppor t ideals of equality between the sexes and generations, implicit in the mod ern love marriage and nuclear family ideal. At the same time they may seem to encourage non-binding love affairs. The role of popular culture in centr al areas of life is increasing in tandem with a general social transformati on that renders the authority of older generations and also of church and s tate debatable. The arguments of the article base themselves on group and l ife history interviews, and surveys of work and leisure activities of a gro up of fairly well educated but mostly out-of-work or self-employed young me n and women. The sociological approaches are supplemented by reception anal yses of especially visual material. The conclusion of the article is that y oung women in particular make use of a public sphere, understood as a proce ss of articulation. The discursive spaces opened up by media do not have th e barriers which elsewhere keep women and poor people from taking part in d ebates on key social and moral questions, In that sense they contribute sig nificantly to the establishment of a democratic public sphere.