Introduction

I begin this book by raising concerns about the missing dimension of love in the social constitution of teenage sexualities in South Africa. I argue that a more substantive view of African teenage boys and girls is needed, one that is alert to their agency as romantically desiring sexual subjects, and that can provide fresh perspectives on the operation of power in teenagers’ conceptualisations of love and sexuality. My research is based on a case study involving focus group discussions with 16 and 17-year-old African teenagers in Inanda township, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. It situates teenage sexualities within wider social relations in South Africa where power relations are strikingly uneven. The book addresses the question of teenage Africans as active participants in their interpretation of love and desire as they navigate their social, cultural and material worlds. The chapter goes on to introduce the reader to the field site, offering a description of the social and school contexts from which the teenagers in this study emerge. The chapter ends with an outline of the structure of the book.