ABSTRACT
As global power inequities persist in the international development sector, so does the local knowledge that has made it possible for African people to survive and thrive through the oppression of colonialism and its afterlives. Navigating oppressive systems requires techniques of performance. This chapter examines the interACTions of youth civic actors engaged with the iNGO sector through partnership during the Ebola epidemic to demonstrate how youth developed citizenship skills, attitudes, and identities through their Ebola Free Liberia campaign. This case study analyzes the mechanisms of exchange between and among youth theater artists and the chapter authors (who served in leadership roles), international donors, and target communities in Liberia during the Ebola epidemic as an instantiation of the collective social and political agency of children and youth engaged in emergency response efforts within the international development landscape. The chapter argues that youth theater performers enact citizenship practices, enabling them to serve a powerful mediating function between the public and international development organizations in emergency response.
