Becoming an Ovambo Adult: Growing Into Agentic Communalism in Sub-Saharan Africa

What does it take to become an adult in Africa? Life-span-development literature includes little exploration on this transition outside Western countries. A qualitative approach was used to identify locally relevant topics and variables in an understudied African context. Fifty 18- to 25-year-old Ovambo Namibians from rural and urban areas were interviewed. Results of reflexive thematic analysis suggest the significance of gender and birth order in defining adult roles and the completion of one’s education as a new rite of passage. Full adult personhood means providing for and engaging with a larger community as well as one’s children and extended family, reflecting the ongoing relevance of African communalism in today’s society. Youth in Namibia, and likely in sub-Saharan Africa more broadly, balance traditional and contemporary demands as they come of age in a postindependence, globalizing society. Our findings reflect the centrality of community and the intermingled nature of agentic and communal values in this process.