Gary Barker

Dispatches from the frontiers of love

Tyler is in therapy. Katia and Goran are in love. On a summer trip to Zagreb, the couple discover an unusual museum that displays mementos of broken relationships. Inside, Goran stumbles upon an exhibit that seems to be addressed to him, from a girl he met in a Sarajevo refugee camp at age fourteen. What follows is a whirlwind summer of reconnecting with lost pasts: Goran confronts the youth he lost during the Yugoslav Wars, Katia heads to Brazil to find her roots, and Afghanistan veteran Tyler pours out his soul. Set against alternating backdrops of violent circumstances, this novel is a soulful testament to the resilience of the human heart.

One of the first comparative reflections of its kind, this book examines the challenges that young men face when trying to grow up in societies where violence is the norm. Barker, who has worked directly with low-income youth and witnessed first hand the violence he describes, provides a compelling account of the young men's struggles. He discusses the problems these men face in other areas of their lives, including the difficulty of staying in school, the multiple challenges of coming of age as men in the face of social exclusion, including finding meaningful employment, and their interactions with young women, including sexual behaviour and the implications of this for HIV/AIDS prevention. The book presents examples of evaluated programs that have been able to aid young men in rethinking what it means to be a man and ultimately focuses on 'voices of resistance' – young men who find ways to stay out of violence and to show respect and equality in their relationships, even in settings where male violence and rigid attitudes about manhood are prevalent.

One of the first comparative reflections of its kind, this book examines the challenges that young men face when trying to grow up in societies where violence is the norm. Barker, who has worked directly with low-income youth and witnessed first hand the violence he describes, provides a compelling account of the young men's struggles. He discusses the problems these men face in other areas of their lives, including the difficulty of staying in school, the multiple challenges of coming of age as men in the face of social exclusion, including finding meaningful employment, and their interactions with young women, including sexual behaviour and the implications of this for HIV/AIDS prevention. The book presents examples of evaluated programs that have been able to aid young men in rethinking what it means to be a man and ultimately focuses on 'voices of resistance' – young men who find ways to stay out of violence and to show respect and equality in their relationships, even in settings where male violence and rigid attitudes about manhood are prevalent.

This book offers practical approaches to improve and empower the lives of at-risk, low-income, urban-based girls and young women. It does this by presenting successful projects from around the world which clearly demonstrate what can be done on a broad range of fronts, and answers the two key questions: what do at-risk urban girls and young women need?; what kind of programmes have been successful in meeting those needs? The book begins with a comprehensive overview of the plight of young disadvantaged women, and defines who they are, why they need special attention and most importantly, the four main contributing factors working against these women: poverty, age, gender and ethnicity. In the rest of the book, the authors use real case studies and models based on projects from Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa and the USA, and illustrate how they have been successful in combating these four factors and empowering young women against them. These examples include income generation and vocational training schemes, formal and non-formal education programmes and health and mental well-being programmes. The book concludes with important and authoritative recommendations for both advocacy and service delivery work which will be essential reading for all agencies working with young women.