JayJay Karumzondo PhD upgrading seminar - 25/11/25 - 11:00 GMT

JayJay will be presenting at his upgrading seminar: 'An ethnographic study of the meanings and experiences of wellbeing among adolescents in Zimbabwe: Tribhoo'' on Tuesday the 25th of November at 11:00 GMT.

Please join over Zoom

Meeting ID: 898 4527 1039

Password: 560733

Abstract:

The concept of adolescent wellbeing has gained global attention, yet dominant frameworks often fail to capture the diverse lived experiences of adolescents in different cultural contexts. In Zimbabwe, adolescent wellbeing has recently become a key focus of national policies, strategies, and interventions, but in-depth understanding of what wellbeing means to adolescents in different settings, and the influence of socio-cultural and material factors, is missing. The study aim is to explore meanings and experiences of wellbeing among adolescents in Tsakare, Zimbabwe.

The study will be informed by theoretical framings including Foucault’s notion of biopower, cultural relativism, and the indigenous philosophy of Hunhu/ubuntu, to interrogate how power, culture and relational factors shape understandings of adolescence and wellbeing.

In this study, I will first critically trace the historical constructions of the concept of ‘adolescence’ during the period when ‘global health’ has been prominent, and as ‘adolescence’ came into Zimbabwe, interrogating its emergence and representation through genealogy. I will then explore what it means to ‘feel good’ or ‘do well’ as an adolescent in Tsakare rural community in Zimbabwe, seeking to understand wellbeing from the perspectives of adolescents themselves and the people in their lives or communities. This exploration will consider how everyday structures - including economic precarity, gendered labour, and access to care and resources - shape what adolescents perceive as ‘doing well’ or ‘feeling good.’

Using ethnographic methods, principally participant observation supplemented by iterative informal interviews and participatory workshops, the research aims to generate context-specific insights into adolescence and wellbeing. These insights will then be compared with, and potentially challenge, universalised assumptions of adolescence and adolescent wellbeing, ultimately informing culturally relevant strategies for improving adolescent wellbeing in Zimbabwe and beyond.