Cloud on the Horizon: African Migration, Transnationalism, and Social Osmosis.

• Author: Bangura, Joseph J.
• Position: ARTICLE

Introduction (1)

This paper argues that intercontinental and transnational African migration, especially in the modern era is minuscule relative to global migratory trends. It states that Africa's transcontinental and transnational migratory phenomena from the medieval period to the post-modern era were a two-way street. While Africans migrated to other continents, the continent has also continuously served as a magnet for migrants since 146 BC when the Greeks and Romans invaded and annexed the territory that is part of modern Tunisia. In fact, between the 15th and 19th centuries, Africa became the site of one of the largest involuntary migrations in history. This event happened during the Atlantic Slave Trade which involved the forced transportation and transplantation of Africans to Europe and the Americas. In other words, the phenomenon of involuntary and voluntary migration has always been part of the fabric of Africa's historical development and political trajectory. (2)

On the basis of the above, the current trend of African migration can be attributed to colonial, neo-colonial and neoliberal policies adopted by European countries and the United States towards Africa since the mid-20th century. As a matter of fact, numerous scholars attribute Africa's post-independence economic and social malaise to colonialism. They argue that colonialism undermined and to some extent stifled Africa's organic progressive trajectory through the adoption of uncongenial colonial economic policies, persistent denigration and vitiation of the continent's entrenched value system including its sui generis historic democratic configurations. (3) Expressed another way, the policies adopted and executed by the colonial authorities hampered the continents capacity and potential to embark on economic development commensurate with its heterogeneous cultural aptitude since independence. The consequences of these policies resulted in the creation of porous borders leading to ethnographic and avaricious conflicts between African countries, lack of industrialization, lack of sustainable governance structures and viable institutions, and the facilitation of venal practices among African elites. The impact of these colonial policies did not disappear at the onset of independence or in the post-independence period. As a matter of fact, the policies took a different turn in the form of neo-colonial policies that contributed to civil strife, economic degradation, proliferation of weak states, perpetuation of warlord culture resulting in the emergence of those that Anders Themner refers to as "warlord democrats" and poor governance. (4)

The paper is organized into two major sections. Section one situates African migration in historic terms and underlines the importance of the continent's complex and longstanding relationship with the West. It shows that African migration is not a recent phenomenon. It highlights that Africa, Europe, and the Americas have had an interactive relationship through migratory exchanges since the making of the Atlantic world in the 15th century. (5) It assesses Europe's colonial and neo-colonial relationship with Africa that ramped up transnational and transcontinental migrations. The second section which constitutes the conclusion analyzes the factors that instigate the current African migratory trend and patterns. Succinctly put, Africans, Europeans, and Americans have experienced and continue to experience transatlantic migration in a variety of ways and for multifarious reasons. It is clear that African migrants seeking asylum and refugee status in western Europe and the United States persistently face heavy headwinds with inflammatory renunciations regularly directed against them while their various contributions to their host countries are patently disregarded.

Intracontinental African Migration in the Medieval and Early Modern Period

Migration has always been a distinct feature of Africa's sociocultural traditions and customs; this is because Africans regularly moved from place to place within and outside the continent. In the pre-medieval and medieval period, the availability of abundant and unoccupied tracts of lands made people incessantly move from region to region in search of socioeconomic opportunities; some of these migratory activities resulted in populating new lands. The prosperous kingdoms and empires of western Sudan--Ghana, Mali, and Songhai--rose and fell due to factors such as migration, geographic advantage, ability to control communication and strategic trading routes, and dominance of the Gold trade among numerous others. Put another way, the vast and verdant nature of the savannah zone attracted lots of migrants from different regions that contributed to the establishment of some of the biggest empires in medieval Africa. Equally important is the fact that the movement of large populations contributed to the demise of these empires in addition to insecurity, internal rivalry, and invasion from external aggressors. The collapse of the western Sudanese empires resulted in the displacement of a substantial number of people who traveled across regions. The disintegration of other major kingdoms and their economic infrastructures also triggered mass movements of people across swaths of territories in the continent. (6) Other causes of intracontinental migration included trade wars and power politics that comprised dictatorial heavy handedness and extraterritorial conflicts. These problems were exacerbated by Africa's early contact with Europeans and later the Americans.

It is worth noting that the relationship between Africa and Europe is historic and extensively intertwined since 146 BC when the Greeks invaded what is today north Africa because of the regions strategic commercial position. Subsequently, the Roman Empire dislodged the Greeks and annexed the entire northern half of Africa that later came to be known as Roman Africa. However, Roman presence and influence eventually declined in northern Africa. The decline of Greek and Roman influence was met with Portugal's rise as a European power interested in marine adventures. Thus, Portugal became the first European nation to explore and locate coastal communities in sub-Saharan Africa in the 15th century. In fact, the relationship between the two continents deepened when Portugal indubitably initiated a trade in human beings notoriously referred to as the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade made slave raiding a regular economic venture of considerable proportion and it became the single-most economic phenomenon that brought the tri-continents of Africa, Europe, and America together in a transcultural and macro-economic alliance that transformed the rarely used Atlantic Ocean into a highway of transportation and commerce. Together, Africans, Europeans, and Americans became the primary makers of the Atlantic world which to some extent formed the anchor for the economic prosperity of British North America, Portuguese and Spanish south, and central America. As the Atlantic slave trade became a hyper lucrative transaction, demands for slaves soared. The surge in demand for slaves led to the raiding of African villages, towns, cities, and poorly protected groups by powerful slave raiders. Ergo, slave raiding, and the slave trade became major sources of intracontinental and transnational migration. Africans were involuntarily shipped across two continents between the 15th and 19th centuries accompanied by hazardous consequences. It is plausible to argue that this forced migration of Africans to Europe and the Americas and the relationship that emerged between the three continents continue to influence contemporary migration of Africans to these...