Africa in Movement

The Program on African Social Research (PASR) invites proposals to participate in a workshop on African migration to be held January 14-16, 2022, in partnership with the Department of Sociology at Rabat International University in Morocco.

Migration within and beyond African borders has accelerated rapidly in recent decades. According to the African Union, between 2008 and 2017, intra-African migration increased from 13.3 million to 25.4 million, with the top receiving African states being South Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ethiopia. In addition, migration within African countries has increased including both rural to urban migration as well as migration between rural areas. Finally, while the increased flow of migrants to Europe has been well documented, less is known about the increase in African migration to other regions including the Middle East, China and the Americas.

This workshop will look at the politics and economics of this mass movement of people within and across African state borders. What are the internal and external drivers of African migration? How do these migratory flows affect trade and economic development on the continent? How is intra-African migration linked to African migration to other parts of the world? Has the rise of populist movements in the West, and the securitization of the European Union’s  borders catalyzed greater cross-border migration within Africa? How do the countries of the Maghreb—which until recently served as a migratory bridge to Europe—fit into this intra-African dynamic? How do institutions like ECOWAS and the African Union facilitate migration on the continent (especially in light of the  2018 Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons, signed by 44 states)? Finally, how is intra-African migration shaping youth culture and knowledge production on the continent? This workshop aims to showcase the research of junior scholars based in Africa who are working on the politics and economics of African migration. If interested in participating, please send a 300-word proposal to africansocialresearch@gmail.comno later than September 30, 2021. Be sure to include your current degree or appointment status and institutional affiliation (where relevant).