20264 - Global African Migrations, Anti-Blackness, and Intersectional Justice

Description

Though the continent of Africa is central to the history of human migration, research on Africans and African descendant migrations remains relatively limited in US sociology. Even so, as a result of the Atlantic slave trade, the African diaspora is the largest forced migrations in human history. African and African descendants also constitute a growing and increasingly visible component of the populations in the Americas, representing what some call an “African immigrant paradox” in the United states given how migrants from African nations generally have high levels of educational attainment but low socioeconomic well-being. Sub-Saharan African and Black, African descendants from the Caribbean have also been increasingly traveling through Central and South America to reach the U.S.-Mexico border, where they face intersectional violence and barriers within the U.S. and Mexican immigration and asylum systems. Anti-Black, Islamophobic, sexist, and xenophobic dog whistle politics have also been taken up by right wing politicians in the US and Europe who look to garner support for their conservative agenda through the demonization of Black, African migrants and their communities. Meanwhile, nation-states outside of the African continent are increasingly reducing and eliminating pathways of immigration for Africans. This panel brings together a diverse group of scholars whose work centers on the myriad challenges faced by African and African descendant immigrants today, as well as the collective strategies taken up by this diverse community to fight for intersectional justice. Most centrally, the aim is to highlight how Black immigrants’ lives matter and how centering on the intersectional experiences of Black immigrants can offer important theoretical, empirical, and practical lessons on working towards justice for migrants worldwide.

Sub Unit

• Section on Race, Gender, and Class / Global African Migrations, Anti-Blackness, and Intersectional Justice

Presider

• Pamela Zabala Ortiz, Boston University

Panelists

• Fumilayo Showers, University of Connecticut

• Dialika Sall, CUNY-Lehman College

• Nikita Carney, Bentley University

• Ifrah Magan, New York University

• Onoso Ikphemi Imoagene, New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD)

Session Organizer

• Celeste Curington, Boston University