GENERATIONS OF CARE: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF YOUTHS’ SOCIAL GENERATIVITY AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN SHASHEMENE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

This ethnographic study investigates how youths in Bulchana Woreda, Shashemene city, actively generate social cohesion in a multidimensional urban context marked by political tension. Drawing on Giardiello’s concept of social generativity and Kearns and Forrest’s multidimensional model of social cohesion, the study examines the moral, relational, and structural dynamics shaping youth engagement. Data were collected through participant observation, Key informant interviews, and focus group discussions, and were analyzed thematically. Findings show that youths strengthen cohesion through four generative domains: voluntary mutual aid, cultural and religious peace activities, environmental initiatives, and informal education efforts. These practices cultivate reciprocity, solidarity, social trust, and shared values, supported by intergenerational relationships, parental moral socialization, religious institutions, and inclusive associations. Barriers such as unemployment, resource scarcity, and politicized youth structures limit sustainability. The study demonstrates that, even within conditions of uncertainty, Ethiopian urban youths act as moral agents who regenerate cohesion from below through everyday practices of care and collective responsibility. The findings advance anthropological debates on moral agency, youth civicity, and the micro-processes of cohesion in African urban contexts, highlighting how generativity operates as an ethical and relational force sustaining community life amid structural strains