This paper explores the role of coffee shops in cultivating youth political subjectivity. It does so through examples of internationally-sponsored processes of state consolidation in South Africa and Bosnia and Herzegovina. We examine how non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have sought to use coffee shops as means through which to cultivate youth citizenship. Reflecting their prominent role in the materialisation of the European public sphere, we examine the significance of civility within these caffeinated spaces, where intimate relations are used as the basis for the consolidation of new political identities. In contrast to those who may dismiss civility as a synonym for political quietism, we argue that the interactions in coffee shops constitute a form of 'intimacy-geopolitics', collapsing the rigid binaries between geopolitics and the interactions of individuals in everyday life. Drawing on qualitative data gathered over eighteen months in both countries we explore how coffee shops act as sites of civility where alternative ideas of political identity-and models of society-may be rehearsed.
Efforts to repair wounded social relations and rebuild political institutions typically target young people, who are viewed with a mix of hope and anxiety as the future leaders of the country. Efforts undertaken by civil society organizations, and funded by international donors, emphasize dialogue and tolerance through civic engagement. Dialogue, tolerance, and engagement aim at inclusive forms of peaceful community building and public togetherness, yet notions of what constitutes the political community are inherently contested. Moreover, tolerance efforts targeting youth often combine face-to-face forms of dialogue with the use of digital media aiming at broader public engagement, potentially introducing further anxiety over fraught forms of community and public-ness. This paper discusses a digital story/community mapping project conducted with two youth-led civil society organizations in Sarajevo/East Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although the youth organizations share an ethical commitment to dialogue promotion, the dialogue produced through this creative collaboration was fraught with conflicting views of how to commemorate past violence and different definitions of what constitutes community.
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