Fresh contact in Tamatave, Madagascar: Sex, money, and intergenerational transformation

ABSTRACT In this article, I explore practices of transactional sex among young women in contemporary Tamatave, Madagascar. As young men remain suspended in part‐time jobs, young women have been able to embrace the possibilities offered by the informal sexual economy, which links Tamatave to France, RÉunion Island, and beyond as well as creating complex redistributions of resources within Tamatave, shifting the balance of power in gendered and generational relations. Drawing on Karl Mannheim's concept of “fresh contact,” I argue that a focus on the ways in which youthful practice refigures relations between generations works to complicate and nuance recent discussions of youth culture and youth agency.