Last week, I was at the Africa Ambassador Labour Mobility Summit organised by diaspora organisation Giving Africa a New Face (GAaNF) e.V. and the 360° Labour Mobility Alliance.

One thought from my side: working in and looking more closely at networks.

Previous posts in this series explored why giving back is a valuable process, what it means and discussed potential limits and constraints. Today, I want to shed light on potential success factors in the process of giving back to communities that researchers work with.👇

Welche Farbe hat Dekolonialisierung? Diese Frage kam beim dem Workshop von Lina Fustok beim #diasporasummit2024 in Berlin auf. Und die Reflektionen der Teilnehmenden waren spannend👇

Giving back in research settings is a continuous process between researchers & community members. The previous post in this series explored why giving back is such a valuable process & what it means. Today, I want to talk about the limits & constraints that are attached to processes of giving back.

Access to political spaces.

Who is considered a relevant agent or player is also mirrored in the vacant seats in powerful institutions. Who is not represented? For diasporas, we can observe that they are or have been missing in a few political spaces occupied by other civil society organisations.

A foreboding bad feeling after an interview, a sense of guilt after a participant observation, a frustration after giving a favour that felt too little for what was received in return.

Many researchers know these feelings - A series of posts about the topic of giving back in research.

Why should countries of residence engage systematically with diaspora groups in international matters?
 
In a mini-series of posts, I reflected on that question. If you have further answers please share them!
4 elements seemed especially important for me👇

Prof Gülay Caglar spricht in ihrem SCRIPTS @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social Vortrag von der Gleichzeitigkeit von inklusiven & exklusiven Mechanismen im liberalen Skript. Sie zeigt 3 feministische Haltungen zum Skript. Im Grundsatz könnten diese Haltungen auch für Diaspora-Gruppen gelten wenn👇

Another post in the reflection series: Why to engage with diasporas from a foreign policy view in countries of residence? Past posts hinted at diasporas' potential, the downside of diaspora activities & foreign policy goals. Today's post links foreign & domestic policies; it's about security.

“Ich sitze auf gepackten Koffern“, las ich vor einigen Jahren von einem Kommilitonen auf Facebook. Er sprach von dem beklemmenden Gefühl des rechtsradikalen Rucks in Deutschland.

„Aber wo wollen wir denn hin?“ erinnere ich mich aus Gesprächen mit Freund:innen und Verwandten.

Ein 🧵👇

Diaspora Professionalism is for me a two-edged sword.

➕ On the one side, a more professionalised diaspora organisation gets more attention from political decision-makers, potential (funding) partners & media. Professionalised structures make more resources available & help to increase the impact.

Happy New Year! I am back with my mini-series:

Why should countries of residence engage systematically with diaspora groups in international matters?

This is the second part of my African diaspora calendar 2023. I am looking forward to 2024 for more research, events and exchanges with #diaspora groups talking about #diasporaengagement in various policy fields.

Have a wonderful end of the year. See you in 2024!

As the year comes to an end it's time for me to look back & see what #diaspora relevant events happened. This is a non-exhaustive overview of key events from the perspective of African diaspora groups in Germany. The focus is on international topics.

Did I forget relevant events? Let me know 💡

Why should countries of residence engage with diasporas in international matters?

I reflect briefly on this topic in this series of posts. This is the 2nd post & the argument goes like this: if diaspora groups act as destructive forces it is important to know about their activities in order to act

More and more often I come across Diaspora Advisory Boards, so I made a quick research and the result is this non-exhaustive table that shall illustrate a few dimensions in which these boards might differ.

Why is this table interesting for you? 👇

Why should countries of residence engage systematically with diaspora groups in international matters?

I will briefly reflect on this in a mini-series where I tackle that question from the perspective of foreign policy institutions in countries of residence. First argument is the untapped potential

Hello Bluesky Community,

I am a doctoral researcher at SCRIPTS at Free University Berlin. My research is on African diasporas in International Relations. Connect with me if you are interested in diasporas, IR, post-colonialism, teaching...