Abstract This article analyses how concerns about youth and violence intersect with the politics of managing religious coexistence in the coastal Kenyan town of Malindi. During extensive ethnographic research, I noticed that Muslim, Christian and ‘Traditionalist’ leaders, politicians and NGO officials often fear that the ‘idleness’ of young people leaves them susceptible to various immoralities, including political violence and ‘violent extremism’, that threaten peaceful ethnic and religious coexistence. The article explores how these concerns motivate leaders’ attempts to incorporate youth in development and peace projects, and how youth respond to these interventions. These projects are funded by Western donors, who often see ‘radical’ religiosity, especially among Muslim youth, as a security threat. Yet, leaders in Malindi accommodate donor policies to the (coastal) Kenyan context, and tend to understand immoralities and violence as resulting from a lack of religiosity among youth. The article argues that perceptions of ‘idle youth’ as potentially violent threats to peaceful religious coexistence and morality allow leaders to develop a ‘moral religiosity’ that is shared across religious divides. However, the ways in which youth strategically resist or comply with interventions to pacify them demonstrate that they do not necessarily agree with dominant moral and political constellations.

中文翻译：

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“无所事事”和“空腹”：肯尼亚沿海地区的青年、暴力和宗教多样性

摘要 本文分析了肯尼亚沿海城镇马林迪对青年和暴力的担忧如何与管理宗教共存的政治相交。在广泛的民族志研究中，我注意到穆斯林、基督教和“传统主义”领导人、政治家和非政府组织官员经常担心年轻人的“无所事事”让他们容易受到各种不道德行为的影响，包括威胁和平的政治暴力和“暴力极端主义”民族和宗教共存。本文探讨了这些担忧如何促使领导人尝试将青年纳入发展与和平项目，以及青年如何回应这些干预措施。这些项目由西方捐助者资助，他们经常将“激进的”宗教信仰，尤其是穆斯林青年中的宗教信仰视为安全威胁。然而，马林迪的领导人将捐助者的政策适应（沿海）肯尼亚的情况，并倾向于将不道德和暴力理解为青年缺乏宗教信仰造成的。文章认为，将“闲散青年”视为对和平宗教共存和道德的潜在暴力威胁的看法使领导人能够发展出一种跨越宗教分歧的“道德宗教信仰”。然而，青年战略性地抵制或遵守干预措施以安抚他们的方式表明，他们不一定同意占主导地位的道德和政治星座。文章认为，将“闲散青年”视为对和平宗教共存和道德的潜在暴力威胁的看法使领导人能够发展出一种跨越宗教分歧的“道德宗教信仰”。然而，青年战略性地抵制或遵守干预措施以安抚他们的方式表明，他们不一定同意占主导地位的道德和政治星座。文章认为，将“闲散青年”视为对和平宗教共存和道德的潜在暴力威胁的看法使领导人能够发展出一种跨越宗教分歧的“道德宗教信仰”。然而，青年战略性地抵制或遵守干预措施以安抚他们的方式表明，他们不一定同意占主导地位的道德和政治星座。