“Bad Children” – Training to Kill in Wars and Armed Conflicts on the African Continent
Journal Title: Chorzowskie Studia Polityczne - Year 2016, Vol 11, Issue
Abstract
Training underage recruits to kill has been the central axis of many cases of military mobilization. Children and youth – forcibly recruited or voluntarily swelling the ranks of armies and armed groups – play a key role in these undertakings. The present text discusses the practices of training children to fight as soldiers and their aid in wars and armed conflicts on the African continent, with a particular focus on the last decade. The term “bad children” used in the title of the text has a twofold significance: firstly, it symbolizes the one-sided, stereotypical reproduction and media representation of child soldiers as evil, depraved, and threatening social order, i.e. those who have lost their place in society; the second meaning is a metaphor of an aberration which child “soldiers” experience and which they are submitted to in the process of being raised to kill – a process initiated by adults.
Authors and Affiliations
Urszula Markowska-Manista
Keywords
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