Africa and its global diaspora : the policy and politics of emigration

380 Pages·2017·12.581 MB·English

by  Mangala, Jack

African Histories and Modernities
Series Editors
Toyin Falola
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas, USA
Matthew M. Heaton
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, USA
This book series serves as a scholarly forum on African contributions to
and negotiations of diverse modernities over time and space, with a
particular emphasis on historical developments. Specifically, it aims to
refute the hegemonic conception of a singular modernity, Western in
origin,spreadingouttoencompasstheglobeoverthelastseveraldecades.
Indeed,ratherthanreinforcingconceptualboundariesorparameters,the
seriesinsteadlookstoreceiveandrespondtochangingperspectivesonan
important but inherently nebulous idea, deliberately creating a space in
which multiple modernities can interact, overlap, and conflict. While
privileging works that emphasize historical change over time, the series
willalsofeaturescholarshipthatblursthelinesbetweenthehistoricaland
the contemporary, recognizing the ways in which our changing under-
standings of modernity in the present have the capacity to affect the way
wethink aboutAfrican andglobalhistories.
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AderonkeAdesanya, ArtHistory, JamesMadison University
KwabenaAkurang-Parry, History,Shippensburg University
Samuel O. Oloruntoba, History, University of North Carolina,
Wilmington
Tyler Fleming,History,University of Louisville
BarbaraHarlow,EnglishandComparativeLiterature,UniversityofTexas
at Austin
Emmanuel Mbah, History,Collegeof StatenIsland
Akin Ogundiran, Africana Studies, University of North Carolina,
Charlotte
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JackMangala
Editor
Africa and its Global
Diaspora
The Policy and Politics of Emigration
Editor
JackMangala
AreaandGlobalStudies
GrandValleyStateUniversity
Allendale,Michigan,USA
AfricanHistoriesandModernities
ISBN978-3-319-50052-2 ISBN978-3-319-50053-9(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-50053-9
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...effectivepartnershipbetweenAfricaanditsDiasporacallsforgreater
understanding, close cooperation,common vision and mutualdesign of
goals,objectivesandstrategiesforthere-unificationandrejuvenationof
the global Africanfamily.
–Reportonthe AfricanUnion DiasporaMinisterial Conference,
November16–18, 2007,Johannesburg, South Africa.
F
OREWORD
This book on Africa and its Global Diaspora: The Policy and Politics of
Emigration,comesatacriticaltimeinwhichAfrica’srelationshipwithits
diaspora is assuming serious momentum. Over a long period, the domi-
nant perspective has been to view emigration in purely negative terms as
brain drain and the diversion of skilled resources to developed countries,
which need them the least. The tendency is reinforced by the brutal
history of the forced transfer of African people during the period of the
slave trade. These images remain pertinent but there has been a gradual
shift towards focusing and using opportunities that are associated with
migrationflowsastherealizationtakesrootthatthediasporaofdevelop-
ing countries, particularly in Africa, can be a force for development
through the promotion of trade, investment opportunities, the flow of
remittances, research, innovation, volunteer support programs, and
knowledge and technology transfers. This is a strategy that the Indians,
Chinese,andIsraelishaveperfectedovertimebutisonlynowfloweringin
Africa.
TheassociationofAfricandevelopmentalprocesseswithitsdiasporaisa
potentialgoldminethathasbeguntoproduceresultsinflowsandtrickles.
If properly harnessed it should become a flood. Africa is confronted with
various socio-economic and political problems that are often tempered
withknowledgeandrecollectionsofhistoryandpastglory.Theincorpora-
tionofthediasporaintheframeworkofdevelopmentaleffortshasspin-off
and spillover effects because it connects Africa with its missing parts as a
captive constituency. Once the solidarity of the Afro-descendant is
assured, the continent will not be competing with others for their trade
vii
viii FOREWORD
and investment because the economics of that enterprise has an enabling
socialunderpinning.
Several African countries have developed diaspora policies to foster
linkages with their diaspora communities abroad to encourage them to
invest in their countries of origin and offer finance capital for develop-
ment. The decision of the African Union to embrace the diaspora as a
force for development reinforces this circle of effort and offers comple-
mentarity so that there will be an interlocking system of efforts that
envelops and reintegrates the diaspora as an enabling African resource.
ThateffortwillturndefeatintovictoryastheseparationofAfricanpeople
willbecome a forcefor Africanrebirthandrenaissance.
That realization underlines the attachment of the AU to the diaspora
question that was amplified in the policy contribution to this book. The
AUhasinvestedtime,effort,andresourcesinconnectingwiththeAfrican
diaspora. It has defined the diaspora as a force for African development,
engageditpersistentlyandheldregionalconsultativeconferencesallover
the world culminating in Global African Diaspora Summit that evolve an
agreedtemplateforaction.Thepactinvolvedfourmainactors,theAU,its
Member States, the African Diaspora and the Governments of the coun-
tries in which they are domiciled. Through this the AU is serving notice
andhassecuredagreementthatithasarighttoengageitsAfricanpeople
wherever they may be. The concordat serves the purposes of individual
AfricanStates aswell asthe Africanintegrationventure.
AsNigeria’sAmbassadortoEthiopiaintheperiodofthepreparationof
the Constitutive Act and later as Chief of Staff to two successive AU
administrations, I was present at the creation and at the consummation
of the Global Diaspora Summit. The Citizens and Diaspora Directorate
(CIDO) that led the process was under the direct supervision of the
Chairperson through my office as Chief of Staff. I was thus intimately
associated with all the processes. CIDO gave all it could to the program
but so also did the political leadership of the AU. Dr. Adisa commended
the inspirational leadership of Professor Alpha Oumar Konare and I fully
associate myself with this position. However, I wish also to highlight the
contributionsofDr.JeanPingwhosucceededhimaspayingattentionto
and fully supporting the program. I worked closely with Dr. Ping in this
regard and travelled with both him and Dr. Adisa on various diaspora
missions.TheconclusionoftheGlobalAfricanDiasporaSummitwasheld
underDr.Ping’swatchandheplayedakeyroleinrealizingtheoutcomes.
FOREWORD ix
At the national level, I was privileged to be a member of the Nigerian
National Conference, 2014 and I served on the Committee on Foreign
AffairsandDiasporaMatters.ThisCommitteerecognizedtheimportance
oftheNigeriandiasporatothecountry’sdevelopment.Itthereforemade
farreachingrecommendationsonhowtoinvolvethemillionsofNigerians
outsideitsshoresintheaffairsoftheircountry.Theseincludedthesetting
upofaDiasporaCommissionandgivingvotingrightstoNigerianiaspora.
Ibelieve most Africancountries aredoingthis.
ThisiswhyIamverypleasedwiththetrajectoryofDr.JackMangala’s
efforts.IhavehadvariousinteractionswithDr.Mangalaandhiscommit-
mentandscholarlybearinghavealwaysimpressedme.Moresignificantis
theconcernandloveforAfricawhichhasoccupiedthemainstreamofhis
scholarlyoutputs.Thisparticularbookisthefourthinaseriesofscholarly
outputs that x-ray and proffer options and solutions to address African
problems.ItcomesafterhisbooksonAfricaandtheEuropeanUnion:A
Strategic Partnership; Africa and the New World Era: From
Humanitarianism to a Strategic View; and New Security Threats and
Crises in Africa: Regional and International Perspectives. This book adds
anotherlayeronAfrica’scapacityfordevelopment.Hehasworkedwitha
carefullyselectedteamofscholarswhobringtheirhighreputationtobear
on the high standard of the book. I therefore recommend it heartily to
scholars andpolicy makersalike as well asAfricans andnon-Africans who
are interested in learning about Africa and supporting its processes of
development.
JKS& AssociatesLtd. AmbassadorJohn Kayode Shinkaiye
Abuja,Nigeria Chairman
FormerChiefof Stafftothe Chairperson,
AfricanUnionCommission,
February 2006–October 2012.
P
REFACE
DIASPORA: THE NEW ELDORADO
ThisvolumeisthefourthinapentalogyofcriticalissuesinAfricanpoliticsand
societythatIhavehadtheprivilegetoeditsince2010.Thefirstbook,Africa
andtheNewWorldEra(2010),focusedonthedynamicsandfactorsaffecting
Africa’sroleandstandingininternationalpoliticsagainstthebackdropofthe
ongoing tectonic power shift marked by deepening globalization, complex
interdependencies, and transnationalism. The second book, New Security
Threats and Crises in Africa (2010), sought to explore emerging security
threatsandenduringchallengesfacingAfricabyshiftingthecenterofgravity
ofthediscussionfromstate-centrictohumansecurity.Thethirdbook,Africa
and the European Union: A Strategic Partnership (2013), investigated the
changing nature of the historical relationship between Africa and the
European Union as embodied in the Joint Africa-EU Strategy adopted in
Lisbonin2007atthesecondEU-AfricaSummit.Thefifthbook,ThePolitics
of Presidential Terms Limit in Africa (2017), will discuss the question of
presidentialtermslimitanditsimplicationsfordemocraticconsolidationtwo
decades after the wave of constitutional reforms that swept across the con-
tinent at the end of the Cold War. Why a book on Africa and its global
diaspora?Whyfocusonthepolicyandpoliticsofemigration,andwhynow?
Thegenesisofthisfourthbookstemsfrommyparticipationintheproject
ExploringCriticalIssues:DiasporasundertheaegisoftheOxford-basedInter-
disciplinary.Net,aglobalnetworkandforumforexchangingandinteraction
ofideas,research,andpointsofviewthatpromotesbothinter-disciplinaryand
multi-disciplinaryscholarlyencountersthatcrosstheboundariesofintellectual
xi