Hustling over the life course : reconciling cultural norms and socio-economic realities for young mothers in Nairobi, Kenya
Kim, Seung Wan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Sociologia)
Stoebenau, Kirsten (University of Maryland)
Omuya, Milka (African Population and Health Research Center)
Muthoni, Ann (African Population and Health Research Center)
Musyoki, Raphael (African Population and Health Research Center)
Nyambura, Rukia (African Population and Health Research Center)
Ambula, Victor (African Population and Health Research Center)
Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics

Date:	2025
Abstract:	This paper draws on qualitative interviews with 50 mothers and 31 fathers from the Jamaa na Afya ya Mtoto (JAMO) project to examine the role of "hustling" in romantic relationships and motherhood in low-income communities in Nairobi, Kenya. Using a life-course lens and grounded in the "doing gender" framework, we explore how young mothers engage in hustling to pursue socially recognized adulthood. Thematic analysis reveals two key forms: hustling in motherhood-balancing caregiving with income generation-and hustling in marriage-legitimizing unions through bridewealth involvement and endurance. In a context of economic precarity and limited institutional support, hustling becomes not only a survival strategy but also a gendered practice through which adulthood is performed, reinforced, and at times subtly contested. This study highlights how young adults navigate fragmented life-course trajectories amid shifting gender expectations and material conditions, ultimately reshaping emerging norms around gender, work, and family in low-income urban settings in Africa.
Note:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Note:	Altres ajuts: Eunice K. Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development R01HD20094536; Maryland Population Research Center P2C- HD041041
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Hustling ; Gender ; Mothers ; Low Income ; Urban ; Kenya
Published in:	Advances in Life Course Research, Vol. 65 (september 2025) , p. 100691, ISSN 1879-6974

DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2025.100691

8 p, 1.3 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Social and Legal Sciences > Centre for Demographic Studies (CED-CERCA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles