Vered Amit is a Professor of Anthropology at Concordia University. Her research has focused on a range of circumstances and locales including intra and interethnic boundaries among Armenians in London; youth cultures; ethnic lobbying; expatriacy in the Cayman Islands; transnational consultants and international student travel. She is the author or editor of ten books. Noel Dyck is Professor of Social Anthropology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. The author of several books on relations between Aboriginal peoples and governments, he has subsequently conducted field research on sport, childhood, and youth mobility in Canada. His books include Sport, Dance and Embodied Identities (2003, with Eduardo P. Archetti) and Games, Sports and Cultures (2000). He is currently completing studies of the social construction of children's sports.

"This volume provides important ethnography on an understudied phase of men's lives - youth - while also engaging in critical conversation with prior work that has exceptionalized young men' s experiences. By analysing these experiences in a political-economic context, this book provides a timely addition to conversations between masculinity studies and youth studies, undermining simplistic attributions of young men's problems to 'youth culture'or masculinity. A major strength of this volume is its cross-cultural scope. In addition to providing a broad view of how young men respond to shared global pressures in different local settings, the volume as a whole presents interesting similarities and differences between ethnographic cases." * JRAI "Because of this comparative cross-cultural approach, readers will attain a greater understanding of the structural and cultural challenges young men face as they negotiate the transition to male adulthood." * Choice "Knowledgeably compiled, [with an informed and informative introduction], and deftly edited by the team of Vered Amit and Noel Dyck, [this volume] is a 346-page compendium of studies and reports on contemporary issues facing young men 'coming of age' in various and diverse parts of the world - An impressive and seminal body of work, Young Men In Uncertain Times is strongly recommended for professional and academic library Social Anthropology reference collections in general, and Male Gender Studies supplemental reading lists in particular." * Midwest Book Review "[A] very well written, timely and scholarly collection on young men in changing times, in the context of a global perspective, written by notable scholars in the field - [It] has a very lively and contemporary feel, which connects both to key theoretical debates around youth and also to everyday experience mediated through difference, e.g., class and ethnicity, or in terms of gender relations. It is written in an accessible and engaging style but also written so that it does justice to the complexity of the ideas presented." * Victoria Robinson, University of Sheffield "The strengths of this book are multiple and quite obvious. The book gathers together an inter-disciplinary group of accomplished scholars around a clearly focused and crucially important topic. Careful editing has ensured a generally high quality of writing. There are no poor chapters in this volume. The global scope of the book, its reference to recent field research, and intelligent discussion of wider literature makes it stand out." * Craig Jeffry, St. John's College, Oxford

• Introduction. Pursuing Respectable Adulthood: Social Reproduction in Times of Uncertainty. Vered Amit and Noel Dyck PART I: JUST TRYING TO FIT IN Chapter 1. 'Shining' in Public: Masculine Assertion and Anxiety in Globalizing Kerala. Ritty A. Lukose Chapter 2. "There will be a lot of old young men going home": Combat and Becoming a Man in Afghanistan. Anne Irwin Chapter 3. Institutionalizing an Extended Youth Phase in Chinese Society: Social Class and Sex Differences in the Pursuit of the Personal and the Pragmatic. William Jankowiak, Robert Moore, and Tianshu Pan PART II: MAKING DO IN CHANGING TIMES Chapter 4. Young Men's Struggles for Adulthood in Urban Ethiopia: Unemployment, Masculinity, and Migration. Daniel Mains Chapter 5. Gendered Modernities and Traditions: Masculinity and Nationalism in the Society Islands. Deborah A. Elliston Chapter 6. Good Hearts or Big Bellies: Dzmak'atsoba and Images of Masculinity in the Republic of Georgia. Martin Demant Frederiksen Chapter 7. Being 'Made' Through Conflict: Masculine Hardening in Northern Ireland. Rosellen Roche PART III: DEALING WITH BEING 'TROUBLE' Chapter 8. Young Men, Trouble, and the Law: A French Case. Susan J. Terrio Chapter 9. Incarcerable Subjects: Working-Class Black and Latino Male Youths in Two California Cities. Victor M. Rios and Cesar Rodriguez Chapter 10. Managing Urban Disorder? 'The Street' and its Malcontents in the London Borough of Camden. Gary Armstrong and James Rosbrook-Thompson Chapter 11. Big Man System, Short Life Culture: Working-Class Boys and Street Violence in Southeast London. Gillian Evans Notes on Contributors

Vered Amit is a Professor of Anthropology at Concordia University. Her research has focused on a range of circumstances and locales including intra and interethnic boundaries among Armenians in London; youth cultures; ethnic lobbying; expatriacy in the Cayman Islands; transnational consultants and international student travel. She is the author or editor of ten books. Noel Dyck is Professor of Social Anthropology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. The author of several books on relations between Aboriginal peoples and governments, he has subsequently conducted field research on sport, childhood, and youth mobility in Canada. His books include Sport, Dance and Embodied Identities (2003, with Eduardo P. Archetti) and Games, Sports and Cultures (2000). He is currently completing studies of the social construction of children's sports.

"This volume provides important ethnography on an understudied phase of men's lives - youth - while also engaging in critical conversation with prior work that has exceptionalized young men' s experiences. By analysing these experiences in a political-economic context, this book provides a timely addition to conversations between masculinity studies and youth studies, undermining simplistic attributions of young men's problems to 'youth culture'or masculinity. A major strength of this volume is its cross-cultural scope. In addition to providing a broad view of how young men respond to shared global pressures in different local settings, the volume as a whole presents interesting similarities and differences between ethnographic cases." * JRAI "Because of this comparative cross-cultural approach, readers will attain a greater understanding of the structural and cultural challenges young men face as they negotiate the transition to male adulthood." * Choice "Knowledgeably compiled, [with an informed and informative introduction], and deftly edited by the team of Vered Amit and Noel Dyck, [this volume] is a 346-page compendium of studies and reports on contemporary issues facing young men 'coming of age' in various and diverse parts of the world - An impressive and seminal body of work, Young Men In Uncertain Times is strongly recommended for professional and academic library Social Anthropology reference collections in general, and Male Gender Studies supplemental reading lists in particular." * Midwest Book Review "[A] very well written, timely and scholarly collection on young men in changing times, in the context of a global perspective, written by notable scholars in the field - [It] has a very lively and contemporary feel, which connects both to key theoretical debates around youth and also to everyday experience mediated through difference, e.g., class and ethnicity, or in terms of gender relations. It is written in an accessible and engaging style but also written so that it does justice to the complexity of the ideas presented." * Victoria Robinson, University of Sheffield "The strengths of this book are multiple and quite obvious. The book gathers together an inter-disciplinary group of accomplished scholars around a clearly focused and crucially important topic. Careful editing has ensured a generally high quality of writing. There are no poor chapters in this volume. The global scope of the book, its reference to recent field research, and intelligent discussion of wider literature makes it stand out." * Craig Jeffry, St. John's College, Oxford

• Introduction. Pursuing Respectable Adulthood: Social Reproduction in Times of Uncertainty. Vered Amit and Noel Dyck PART I: JUST TRYING TO FIT IN Chapter 1. 'Shining' in Public: Masculine Assertion and Anxiety in Globalizing Kerala. Ritty A. Lukose Chapter 2. "There will be a lot of old young men going home": Combat and Becoming a Man in Afghanistan. Anne Irwin Chapter 3. Institutionalizing an Extended Youth Phase in Chinese Society: Social Class and Sex Differences in the Pursuit of the Personal and the Pragmatic. William Jankowiak, Robert Moore, and Tianshu Pan PART II: MAKING DO IN CHANGING TIMES Chapter 4. Young Men's Struggles for Adulthood in Urban Ethiopia: Unemployment, Masculinity, and Migration. Daniel Mains Chapter 5. Gendered Modernities and Traditions: Masculinity and Nationalism in the Society Islands. Deborah A. Elliston Chapter 6. Good Hearts or Big Bellies: Dzmak'atsoba and Images of Masculinity in the Republic of Georgia. Martin Demant Frederiksen Chapter 7. Being 'Made' Through Conflict: Masculine Hardening in Northern Ireland. Rosellen Roche PART III: DEALING WITH BEING 'TROUBLE' Chapter 8. Young Men, Trouble, and the Law: A French Case. Susan J. Terrio Chapter 9. Incarcerable Subjects: Working-Class Black and Latino Male Youths in Two California Cities. Victor M. Rios and Cesar Rodriguez Chapter 10. Managing Urban Disorder? 'The Street' and its Malcontents in the London Borough of Camden. Gary Armstrong and James Rosbrook-Thompson Chapter 11. Big Man System, Short Life Culture: Working-Class Boys and Street Violence in Southeast London. Gillian Evans Notes on Contributors