With the aim of injecting nuance into the dialogue on African Migration, this Black History Month, the African Leadership Centre (ALC) invites you to a discussion on the complexity of migration through the individual migration stories of some of its students.

In 2015, the world began to pay significant attention to the patterns of migration of individuals from countries in West Africa, the Horn of Africa in Syria, in what quickly became known as the European Migration Crisis.

Since then there has been extensive coverage of the underlying dynamics and drivers of this migration, with the 2017 CNN undercover investigation led by Nima Elbagir shedding light on the devastating modern-day slave economy that has emerged in Libya because of the crisis.

As these dynamics have unfolded, notions of “African Migration” have largely become synonymous with the “European migration crisis”, to the neglect and silencing of other important, inspiring and compelling migration narratives from the continent. With intra-African migration still constituting a larger share of migration than extra-continental migration from Africa, there is a lot that we miss when the complexity of modern day African migration trends is not sufficiently acknowledged.

The discussion will consist of personal reflections on migration from two students at the African Leadership Centre, followed by small group discussions and collective workshopping on questions such as: What distinctions can be made in the definitions and treatment between a migrant and an expat? Are conversations about African migration today important for reflecting on Black History Month? How has media coverage of recent migration trends from Africa to Europe fuelled fear and discrimination?

Drinks and light snacks will be served.