Political Activism and Democratic Norms in African Migrant Communities in the US

• In Event: State and Diaspora Policies on Ethnicity and Political Engagement

Abstract

The paper looks at under-studied sources of varying ethnic heterogeneity within single-nation-of-origin African migrant communities in the US, and how these shape the formation of their voluntary associations, commitments to democratic norms within them, and their domestic and transnational political activism. It will first explain how changing demographic and migratory patterns have shaped the very nature of associations formed by African migrant populations across several different U.S. “host” cities, leading to a new typology of groups that are characterized along a spectrum of “ethno-localism(s).” The paper will then show how variation along this spectrum is associated with changes in the balance of domestically/transnationally focused political activities in which they engage. Finally, the relationship between “ethnolocalism(s)” and commitments to democratic norms are discussed, both domestically within organizations and transnationally in their interactions with elites and institutions in their nation(s) of origin.

Author

• Charles Kevin Taber, Indiana University