Citizenship and Identities in Africa

Professor Mirjam de Bruijn

The recent political developments in Africa, youth movements, protests, new waves of oppression, combined with the occurrence of increasing mobility and migration, and the advancement of mobile communication technologies (ICTs), invite us to revisit questions around citizenship and identity, key factors in understanding ‘Africa’. The study of citizenship and identity counteracts the idea of ‘the invention of Africa’ as an exogenous process in a quest for ‘African agency’, i.e. (new) social and cultural expressions of citizenship and identity in Africa. This chair will study ‘agency’ from an angle of expression in the form of (non-) citizenship, social processes (movements, rebellion) and the arts (literature, music, popular culture).

Forms of expression
The study of the expression of citizenship and identity refers to the study of popular culture, the role of media, arts, language, and discourse. The advancement of connectivity in Africa has deeply influenced these forms of expression, i.e. protest music, street languages, the expression in language and discourse, and citizen journalism. How and for whom (social) media and ICTs make a difference in dynamics of citizenship and identity will be a core question for this chair.

Awareness raising and ICTs 
Citizenship and identity are about awareness. The link between awareness raising and ICTs as a ‘local’ effect of global technologies (social media and mobile telephones) is an important field of study. This implies that any project that introduces ICTs will develop a form of awareness and hence create citizenship, demands for rights, and well-being. This also brings this chair into the field of more hands-on topics, like the introduction of ICTs in health practice, or in schooling.

Central topics and approaches

1. Social and political movements, past and present.
2. Youth and generations.
3. Memory and forgetting in narratives, the arts (literature, music, songs) and on social media (as a new form of expression, discourse and narratives).
4. (Living) Archives. Archives are hidden in these memories. Archives are the documented expression of people and are key to the formulation of identities. They are the basis of our research and must be simultaneously created and critically assessed. Many African countries have not kept their archives (both national, personal, etc.) as they are often lost in the interaction with governance (war, conflict, negligence by the State).
5. Co-creation and Voice. A central question in this field of African Studies should be: how is the citizen’s voice heard? The idea of co-creation of knowledge has been reiterated in the debate around the use of technology in knowledge production (citizen academics). This chair will contribute to the development of co-publications and online publications that combine video, photos, and text and will allow voices of non-academics to be heard, and their images to be seen and experienced. It will use the methodology developed in the Voice4Thought programme (www.voice4thought.org; www.bridginghumanities.nl).
6. Engagement. The engagement of researcher and researched will  be critically evaluated and ethical questions scrutinized.
7. ICT and development: ICT4D and M4D (Mobiles for Development), the effect on awareness and understanding one’s rights.

Read the full text of the research intentions of this Chair.