Wealth is Not What You Own, but What You Give Away: Africa's Diasporas and Giving Back to Africa (original) (raw)
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Unfinished Migrations: Reflections on the African Diaspora and the Making of the Modern World
African Studies Review, 2000
This article engages the very definition/meaning of diaspora as a concept at a moment when scholars are rushing to embrace the field of diaspora studies. Much of the current discussion continues to suggest that diaspora is merely a logical manifestation of dispersion, no matter how the diaspora was created or how long it had been in existence. This essay argues that linkages that tie the diaspora together must be articulated and are not inevitable, and that the diaspora is both process and condition. As a process it is always in the making, and as condition it is situated within global race and gender hierarchies. However, just as the diaspora is made, it can be unmade, and thus scholars must explore the moments of its unmaking. Indeed, the efforts to unravel the constituent elements of the diaspora(s) raise significant questions concerning how Africa is conceptualized in relation to its diaspora. These efforts also underscore the need to examine overlapping diasporas from many historical locations. Resume: Cet article explore la definition et le sens meme de diaspora en tant que concept a un moment ou les chercheurs se pressent tous pour embrasser le domaine des etudes sur les diasporas. Une grande part des debats actuels continue a suggerer que la diaspora est tout simplement une manifestation logique de la dispersion, qu'importe la maniere dont cette diaspora ait ete creee ou depuis combien de temps elle existe. Cet article tente de demontrer que les relations qui lient la
“You can’t go Home no More”: Africans in America in the Age of Globalization
West African Migrations: Transnational and Global Pathways in a New Century, 2012
“owe lesin oro, bi oro ba sonu, owe l’afi nwaa. (Proverbs are the horses of words and language. When words are lost, it is with proverbs that we find them. Proverbs illuminate words and reveal the deep, underlying meanings in words.)” Yoruba proverb. There are many clichés about home – Home is where the heart is, for instance. However, since this is a contribution to a project on Transnational Africa and Globalization foregrounding how personal experiences, professional interests, and scholarship shaped experiences of Diaspora and Transnationality, I feel the necessity to return to Nigeria from my present location in North America, and will weave in scholarly ruminations on home, sojourn, and return, all within the context of how transnationality and globalism have shaped my experiences. Since I do not see myself as a passive victim of circumstances, I will also give some insight into how I have consciously and otherwise shaped my experiences of these worldwide phenomena, within the limits of my capabilities. I will do this through the use of my understanding of the Yorùbá language, and my experience and knowledge of the culture to explicate what these experiences and phenomena mean to me.
R.V. Dmitriev (ed). African Studies in Russia. Works of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Yearbook 2014–2016. Moscow: Institute for African Studies Press, 2017. P. 32-49 / Мировая экономика и международные отношения. 2015, № 4: 32-43., 2017
In 2013, the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences began a study of black communities in the USA. By now, the research was conducted in six states (Alabama, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania); in a number of towns as well as in the cities of Boston, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. The study shows that diasporas as network communities have already formed among recent migrants from many African countries in the US. These are diasporas of immigrants from individual countries; not a single “African diaspora”. On the one hand, diasporas as an important phenomenon of globalization should become objects of global governance by means of regulation at the transnational level of both migration streams and foreign-born communities norms of existence. On the other hand, diasporas can be agents of social and political global governance, of essentially transnational impact on individual societies and states, migrant sending as well as accepting. The evidence on the African diasporas in the USA confirm these arguments. Most American Africans believe that diasporas must and can take active part in the home countries’ public life. However, the majority of them concentrates on targeted assistance to certain people – their loved ones back home. The forms of this assistance are diverse, but the main of them is sending remittances. At the same time, the money received from migrants by specific people makes impact on the whole society and state. For many African states these remittances form a significant part of national income. The migrants’ remittances allow the states to lower the level of social tension. Simultaneously, they have to be especially thorough while building relationships with the migrant accepting countries and with diasporas themselves. Africans constitute an absolute minority among recent migrants in the USA. Nevertheless, directly or indirectly, they exert a certain influence on the establishment of the principles of social life and state politics (home and foreign) of not only native countries but also of the accepting one, the US. This confirms the argument that elaboration of norms and setting the rules of global governance is the business of not only political actors but of the globalizing civil society, its institutions and organizations either. The most recent example of this is public debates in the American establishment, including President Obama, on the problem of immigration policy and relationships with migrant sending states provoked by the 2014 US–Africa Leaders Summit. Remarkably, the African diasporas, in the persons of their leaders, actively joined the discussion and openly declared that the state pays insufficiently little attention to the migrants’ needs and insisted on taking their position into account while planning immigration reform. However, Africans are becoming increasingly less “invisible” in the American society not only in connection with loud but infrequent specific events. Not a few educated Africans who have managed to achieve a decent social status and financial position for themselves, have a desire to promote not just the adaptation of migrants from Africa, but to make their collective voice heard in American society and the state at the local and national levels. Their efforts take different forms but most often they result in establishing and running of various organizations of the diaspora. These associations become new cells of American civil society and in this capacity affect the society itself, and the institutions of government best of their ability. Thus, the evidence on Africans in the USA shows that diasporas are both objects (to date, mainly potential) and real subjects of global governance. They influence public life, home and foreign policy of the migrant sending African countries and of migrant accepting United States, make a modest but undeniable contribution to the principles and mechanisms of management of global phenomena and processes.
Transforming Anthropology, 2002
Crossing Boundaries: Comparative History of Black People in Diaspora. Darlene Clark Hine and Jacqueline McLeod (eds.). Bloomington, IN, and London, UK: Indiana University Press, 1999. xxv+ 491 pp. (Cloth US$29.95)The African Diaspora: African Origins and New World Identities. Isidore Okpewho. Carole Boyce Davies. and Ali A. Mazrui (eds.). Bloomington, IN, and London, UK: Indiana University Press, 1999. xxviii. 566 pp. (Cloth USS59.95)Globalization and Survival in the Black Diaspora: The New Urban Challenge. Charles Green (ed.). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1997. xiv. 396 pp. (Cloth US$25.95)Lamentation: An Immigrant's Dilemma. Cyril J. Orji. Matawn, NJ: Azbock Publishing, 1999. 301pp. (Paper USS 19.95)
Harnessing diaspora resources for Africa : overview
2009
African countries. including those in North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, have over 30 million international migrants. The size of the African dias para. including unrecorded migrants and second-and third-generation migrants. is significantly larger. Migrant remittances to Africa exceeded US$40 billion in 2010. providing a lifeline to the poor in many African cotlntries. The potential contribution of the diaspora to the continent's development goes much beyond personal remittances. Those contribll~ lions range from collective remittances that assist in philanthropic activi~ ties to knowledge exchange. increased trade links. and better access to foreign capital markets. It is estimated that the African diasporas save US$53 billion annually. most of which is currently invested outside Africa and which could potentially be mobilized for Africa via instruments such as diaspora bonds. This book is an attempt to understand various ways-investments. trade links. skill and technology transfer-in which diaspora resources (other than remittances) can potentially be mobilized for the develop ment of Africa. 'fhis volume is the outcome of the International Conference on Diaspora and Development. held at the World Bank headquarters in Washington. DC on July 13-14.2009. as part of the 2008-11 Africa Migration Project. Ali the chapters in this volume Were originally papers presented at 2 PlAZA AND RAniA the conference. The papers served as background material for a joint regional report of the African Development Bank and [he World Bank entitled "Leveraging Migration for Africa: Remittances. Skills, and Invest ments" (released in March 2011). Collectively. these chapters provide the unique perspective of African and other countries on initiatives to maxi mize the benefits of diaspora engagement and their contributions. The four sections of this overview will discuss the following areas: • Where the African diaspora is located • Benefits of the disapora, such as rernitlances, trade. various kinds of investment (induding foreign direct investment. investment by house holds. investments in capital markets. investment funds. and diaspora bonds). collective remittances. and the transfer of technology facilitated by diasporas • Policies that African and destination countries should consider to increase [he diasporas' contribUlion to development • Conclusions. Locating the African Diaspora Estimating the size of the African diaspora is difficult due to incomplete data and to difference, in defining both migrants and diasporas (see box I). In this overview, we use the narrow but convenient definition of diaspora as 'foreign-born population.' According to the Migration and Remitlances Fact book 2011. the stock of international emigrants from African nations totaled 30.6 million in 2010 (World Bank 2011). African Diasporas Within Africa Countries within Africa are the main destinations for Sub-Saharan African migrants. For other African migrants (including those from North Africa), destination countries outside Africa are equally impor tant. According to the Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011. African diaspora, living in Africa accounted for over 14 million people. or nearly half of all African diasporas. For example. large numbers of immigrants from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo 3
The Antinomies of Globalization: Causes of Contemporary African Immigration to the United States of
2005
Some people think the world population problem is over, ... No. This is a long-term issue and it's a very complex symphony-you have some countries declining, you have other countries growing rapidly, and you have some staying the same. When you add those up, you have a very complex world. [1] The U.S. lures black immigrants by telling them they'll be welcomed, that they are different from African Americans, who refuse to 'pull themselves up by their bootstraps.' &But no one immigrates to the U.S. to become part of a racially oppressed group, so it takes long personal experience with racism for even black immigrants to see that they are viewed as 'niggers' [2]
Unfinished migrations: reflections on the African diaspora and the making of the …
African Studies Review
This article engages the very definition/meaning of diaspora as a concept at a moment when scholars are rushing to embrace the field of diaspora studies. Much of the current discussion continues to suggest that diaspora is merely a logical manifestation of dispersion, no matter how the diaspora was created or how long it had been in existence. This essay argues that linkages that tie the diaspora together must be articulated and are not inevitable, and that the diaspora is both process and condition. As a process it is always in the making, and as condition it is situated within global race and gender hierarchies. However, just as the diaspora is made, it can be unmade, and thus scholars must explore the moments of its unmaking. Indeed, the efforts to unravel the constituent elements of the diaspora(s) raise significant questions concerning how Africa is conceptualized in relation to its diaspora. These efforts also underscore the need to examine overlapping diasporas from many historical locations. Resume: Cet article explore la definition et le sens meme de diaspora en tant que concept a un moment ou les chercheurs se pressent tous pour embrasser le domaine des etudes sur les diasporas. Une grande part des debats actuels continue a suggerer que la diaspora est tout simplement une manifestation logique de la dispersion, qu'importe la maniere dont cette diaspora ait ete creee ou depuis combien de temps elle existe. Cet article tente de demontrer que les relations qui lient la