African Diaspora Settlement: Opportunities and Challenges

African Diaspora Settlement: Opportunities and Challenges

The African diaspora is a growing presence globally. As a result of economic, political and social drivers, growing numbers of people are moving from African nations, settling permanently or temporarily in other countries. They come from a diversity of backgrounds, and bring a range of skills, cultures, experiences and perspectives. Many experience racist exclusion, perhaps less often based on explicit traditional ‘racial’ prejudices associated with ethnic nationalism, and more often in terms of civic exclusion, although these two categories overlap in complex, intersecting ways.

This session considers the range of raced, gendered, classed, and intersectional experiences of those who have migrated from Africa to countries of the global North and the global South.

Papers are particularly welcomed that use innovative methods or theoretical approaches.

Papers are invited on:

• Settlement experiences
• Identities
• Aspirations
• Belonging
• Differences in experiences based on visa category
• African/’mainstream’ relations
• African/Indigenous relations
• Religion as a unifier/divider
• Authoritarian structures of exclusion
• Mixed relationships/mixed race experiences
• Civic versus ethnic nationalism
• Undocumented migrants
• Transnational and diasporic relationships
• Community building