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“It does not allow you to be a man”(i ka na desjau sedu homi), Amadu said, when explaining to me what it is like to live in Bissau.“It,” the strangely unpersonified entity that he sees as restricting his movement into manhood, refers to the inhospitable social circumstances of his life.“Bissau is fucked [fudido],” he continued,“even if you struggle till you tire you will never succeed in being somebody.” Amadu’s grievance at being unable to reach “proper” manhood is a common complaint among young West African men (see Abdullah 1998; Bayart 1993; Hoffman 2006, 2011; O’Brien 1996; Richards 1995; Utas 2003; Vigh 2006a, 2008). His is a story of poverty and generational stagnation, one whose broad outlines have been encountered by many anthropologists working with youth on the continent. Yet the case of Guinea-Bissau is nonetheless an unusual one. The country has recently become infamous for its role in the …