BaYaka forager and Bantu fisher-farmer adolescent engagement with intensifying market integration in the Republic of the Congo

A substantial body of anthropological research has investigated how subsistence communities engage with market-based economies. In this study, we contribute to this body of work by examining adolescent orientations towards intensifying market integration in the Congo Basin. Adolescence is characterized by enhanced capacities for abstract reasoning, creative thought, risk-taking, and exploration. Consequently, this life stage may represent a sensitive period for adapting to the novel social and material contexts that market integration brings. To explore adolescent engagement with market integration, we worked in three villages inhabited by BaYaka foragers and Bantu fisher-farmers with varying access to wage labour and market goods. We combined quantitative data on adolescent labour participation and purchasing behaviour with qualitative interview data capturing adolescent perspectives on market integration. Our findings indicate that intensifying market integration does not uniformly shape adolescent behaviour and consumption. Instead, it articulates with socialization practices, market access, resource availability, and the value adolescents place on self-reliance, resulting in unexpected variation across the three study villages. Additionally, adolescents may be contributing to shifts in norms regarding the sharing of money. Overall, our results suggest that BaYaka and Bantu adolescents are active agents in processes of intensifying market integration in the Congo Basin.