The Seduction of Football Youth and Sport for Development and Peace in Post-Conflict Liberia A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Holly Lindsay Collison School of Social Sciences Brunel University October 2013 Abstract This thesis considers Liberian youth and the concept of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP). Since the early 2000s the notion of SDP has been strongly advocated, accepted and inserted into UN led policies and intervention strategies for uniting societies divided by violent conflict. Whilst little has been done to monitor and evaluate such programmes the notion has grown at an unprecedented pace and has been adopted by the development and humanitarian industry with real vigour. In many ways football has become the face of development in post-conflict societies. However, this fashionable intervention remains a development assumption rather than a tested method of programming. Liberia is a post-conflict society with a large youth population, an active large UN peacekeeping force and a long footballing heritage with a plethora of local NGO’s using SDP initiatives. My intention in this thesis is to question the assumptions of SDP advocates as they are applied in Liberia, in order to provide a better understanding of the social effects of football for Liberia’s youth population. I pursue this goal through an ethnography of one Liberian youth football team, Zatti FC, the community from which the players are drawn and the Catholic youth centre where they play. This thesis is significant as, despite its popularity, SDP has rarely been subjected to academic scrutiny, especially using the detailed qualitative methods I apply here. I will argue that, in this context, SDP is highly counter- productive for the purpose of youth development and the re-building of a peaceful Liberian society because football constitutes and reinforces the marginal status of youth. Seductive images rather than rational argument are central to SDP’s implementation and growth. Aiming to engage and integrate youth in post-conflict Liberia, SDP actively confirms youth status in a competitive and exclusionary age- based hierarchy. i Contents 1. LIBERIA, CONFLICT, YOUTH AND FOOTBALL: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH FIELD AND FOCUS....................................................................................................................................................... 1 LAND OF THE FREE? THE ORIGIN OF CONFLICT ..................................................................................... 2 THE FOUNDATION OF LIBERIA ..................................................................................................................... 3 THE ‘TRIBAL’ PEOPLE: TRUE LIBERIANS? ....................................................................................................... 5 POLITICAL TRENDS .................................................................................................................................... 8 OUTBREAK OF CIVIL-CONFLICT .................................................................................................................. 11 INITIAL INTERVENTION ............................................................................................................................. 15 THE STRONGMAN: CHARLES TAYLOR .......................................................................................................... 17 POST WAR RELATIONS AND STRUCTURES .................................................................................................... 18 PROBLEM-SOLVING: POST-CONFLICT SPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE ................................ 25 LIBERIA’S FOOTBALL LEGACY ..................................................................................................................... 25 CONCEPTS AND THEMES ....................................................................................................................... 30 FOOTBALL ............................................................................................................................................. 30 YOUTH .................................................................................................................................................. 33 AGEING IN LIBERIA: TRADITIONS ................................................................................................................ 35 GOVERNMENTAL PERSPECTIVES ................................................................................................................ 37 CONSIDERATIONS OF YOUTH ..................................................................................................................... 39 DEVELOPMENT ....................................................................................................................................... 41 COMMUNITY.......................................................................................................................................... 45 SEDUCTION............................................................................................................................................ 51 SPORT AND ANTHROPOLOGY: LATE TO THE GAME ............................................................................ 54 MY JOURNEY .......................................................................................................................................... 58 BUILDING AN IDENTITY............................................................................................................................. 62 GENDER ................................................................................................................................................ 66 RACE .................................................................................................................................................... 69 JUDGING THE OBSERVATIONS: .................................................................................................................. 73 Consequences of My Race and Gender: Staging and Performances ............................................ 73 Adaptive Methods for Data Collection.......................................................................................... 75 Working with Youth and Marginal People.................................................................................... 77 Limitations and Reflections ........................................................................................................... 78 THE STRUCTURE AHEAD ........................................................................................................................ 80 2. IN PURSUIT OF THE WINNERS: FOOTBALL INTERVENTIONS IN POST-CONFLICT LIBERIA ............. 82 SPORT AND DEVELOPMENT: ADOPTION AND EVOLUTION ............................................................... 82 THE UNITED NATIONS AND SDP ........................................................................................................... 84 PEACEKEEPING: INCREASED DEMANDS – INCREASED FAILURE? ....................................................................... 84 THE NEED FOR A NEW STRATEGY ................................................................................................................ 87 UN, THE IOC AND SPORT ........................................................................................................................ 90 EVOLUTION WITHIN SPORT AND DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES............................................................................ 92 ii DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SPORT VS SPORT DEVELOPMENT............................................................. 97 PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION OF SPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................... 98 FUNDRAISING TO IMPLEMENTATION: EVOLUTION OF THE IDEAL .................................................................... 102 THE PRICE OF SPORT ............................................................................................................................. 106 SDP FOR SUCCESS STORIES: IMAGES IN BLACK AND WHITE ............................................................. 110 DON BOSCO HOMES AND ITS PARTNERS ................................................................................................... 112 A GOODWILL GESTURE: SHIRTS FOR THE CHILDREN, PHOTOS FOR THE DONOR ................................................ 117 3. MATADI: STRUCTURE AND POWER IN A POST-CONFLICT URBAN COMMUNITY ........................ 140 THE CONCEPT OF COMMUNITY: THOSE LIKE US?.............................................................................. 142 NEIGHBOURLINESS AND FORMING GROUPS ............................................................................................... 143 PALAVA VS LECTURE .............................................................................................................................. 144 YOUTH AND ADULTS.............................................................................................................................. 148 SPACES ............................................................................................................................................... 150 HOUSING ............................................................................................................................................ 153 EMPLOYMENT, MONEY-MAKING AND HUSTLING ....................................................................................... 157 FREE TIME ..........................................................................................................................................