We Are All Africans Here: Race, Mobilities and West Africans in Europe

Europe is often described as ＂flooded＂ by migrants or by Muslim ＂others,＂ with Western African men especially portrayed as a security risk. At the same time the intensified mobility of privileged people in the Global North is celebrated as creating an increasingly cosmopolitan world. This book looks critically at racialization of mobility in Europe, anchoring the discussion in the aspiration of precarious migrants from Niger in Belgium and Italy. The book contextualizes their experiences within the ongoing securitization of mobility in their home country and the persistent denial of racism and colonialism that seeks to portray the innocence of Europe.

Kristín Loftsdóttir is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iceland. Her publications include Crisis and Coloniality at Europe’s Margins: Creating Exotic Iceland (Routledge, 2019).