Renato Tomei – författare

This book reflects on ways that marginalized youth make sense of their lives under conditions of inequality, violence and exclusion. It includes six powerful counter-narratives from South Africa, Jamaica and Italy that challenge dominant portrayals of youth as dangerous, passive or voiceless. Through these stories, readers encounter critique of systemic violence and expressions of resilience, creativity and agency. The project emerged from a commitment to listen to youth voices. Their stories, told in English, Nigerian Pidgin, Jamaican, Afrikaans and Kaaps, challenge assumptions about crime, migration, imprisonment and social disorder. Young people reclaim narrative power and assert their rights in contexts shaped by colonial legacies, racialized capitalism and restrictive migration regimes. With its transnational focus, the volume appeals to scholars and students in sociology, sociolinguistics, cultural studies, anthropology, youth studies, migration studies and human rights, but also to educators, practitioners, policy makers and activists working with vulnerable communities. It provides a compelling resource to understand and resist the structural forces that marginalize youth globally.

This book is a survey of how law, language and translation overlap with concepts, crimes and conflicts. It is a transdisciplinary survey exploring the dynamics of colonialism and the globalization of crime. Concepts and conflicts are used here to mean ‘conflicting interpretations’ engendering real conflicts. Beginning with theoretical issues and hermeneutics in chapter 2, the study moves on to definitions and applications in chapter 3, introducing cattle stealing as a comparative theme and global case study in chapter 4. Cattle stealing is also known in English as ‘rustling, duffing, raiding, stock theft, lifting and predatorial larceny.’ Crime and punishment are differently perceived depending on cultures and legal systems: ‘Captain Starlight’ was a legendary ‘duffer’; in India ‘lifting’ a sacred cow is a sacrilegious act. Following the globalization of crime, chapter 5 deals with human rights, ethnic cleansing and genocide. International treaties in translation set the scene for two world wars. Introducing ‘unequal treaties’ (e.g. Hong Kong), chapter 6 highlights disasters caused by treaties in translation. Cases feature American Indians (the ‘trail of broken treaties’), Maoris (Treaty of Waitangi) and East Africa (Treaty of Wuchale).

This book offers a new perspective on the role played by colonial descriptions and translation of Caribbean plants in representations of Caribbean culture.