Call for Papers - REMHU, volume 35, 2027 (rolling pass)

DOSSIER 1 (2027): “Contemporary African diasporas: transnational mobility and relationalities” -

Andréa Lobo (UnB, Brasil), Claudio Furtado (UniCV, Cabo Verde) (eds.).

Deadline for submission of articles: 01.10.2026 - 31.05.2027.

Contemporary African diasporas are one of the most complex and multidimensional phenomena in the field of migration studies. Whilst, on the one hand, the dispersion of African populations across the world has increasingly been a focus of attention in the social sciences – with particular emphasis on approaches centred on identity, the formation of transnational communities and structural racism – on the other hand, the relational dimensions that underpin and redefine these processes have received a more uneven level of attention. This dossier proposes a theoretical and empirical framework for examining contemporary African diasporas through the lens of relationalities, understood as the set of ties, practices and negotiations that constitute, and are constituted by, processes of transnational mobility.

The concept of relationality, which has been applied in various ways in anthropology, sociology and feminist studies, enables us to capture the intrinsically relational dimension of the migratory experience: rather than simply considering who moves and where, it involves reflecting on how emotional, family, marital, community and care-based bonds are reorganised when individuals, groups and collectivities cross borders. In this sense, relationalities are both the foundation that makes migration possible and the territory that it transforms.

Among the analytical dimensions considered, gender plays a central role. Mobility is a deeply gendered experience, which gives rise to different subjectivities, different forms of agency and different vulnerabilities for men and women, adults and children, in different social and geographical contexts. At the same time, gender intersects with generation, class, racialisation and ethnic belonging in shaping the concrete conditions under which diasporas are formed and reproduced. This special issue is therefore concerned not only with the experiences of women – although these are central to many of the routes and arrangements that structure contemporary African migration – but also with masculinities, childhoods, mixed marriages, long-distance parenthood and the processes of ageing within the diasporic context.

This proposal comes at a particularly fruitful time for the field. Recent research has shown that contemporary African migration cannot be understood without considering the relational dynamics that underpin it, whether in decisions about who migrates and who stays behind, in strategies for the redistribution of care, in the tensions and reconfigurations of long-distance family and marital ties, or in the ways in which children move, are raised and develop a sense of belonging in contexts of dispersion. By proposing relationality as its central theme, this dossier seeks to bring together this diverse range of experiences around a common question: how does mobility transform, and is transformed by, the bonds that structure social life?

From a geographical point of view, the dossier takes a deliberately broad perspective. Without limiting themselves to Atlantic routes or the Americas, the editors propose to examine mobilities across the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, as well as intracontinental and South–South mobilities, which have been receiving increasing attention in the specialist literature. This approach makes it possible to highlight the internal diversity of African diasporas and to challenge hasty generalisations about ‘the African diasporic experience’.

From a disciplinary perspective, the dossier is guided by the interdisciplinary nature that defines REMHU. We welcome contributions from the fields of anthropology, sociology, demography, history and migration studies, provided they are grounded in original empirical research based on ethnographic fieldwork, the analysis of demographic data, historical research or innovative methodological combinations. The dossier is particularly keen to provide a platform for research produced by researchers from Africa and other regions of the Global South, thereby helping to shift the focus of knowledge production on the diaspora away from the traditional European and North American centres.

 

Thematic areas:

Articles submitted for this special dossier may be based on the following themes, although this list is not exhaustive:

— African transnational families: arrangements, practices and negotiations across borders

— Motherhood, fatherhood and parenthood in contexts of mobility and dispersion

— Mobility of children, fosterage and transnational African childhoods

— Care work, domestic work and mobility: women’s and men’s experiences

— Transnational marital relationships: affections, tensions and gender negotiations in the diaspora

— African masculinities in diasporic contexts

— Ageing, care for the elderly and mobility in transnational African families

— Intracontinental mobility in Africa: relational dynamics in local and regional migration

— Networks of reciprocity, solidarity and belonging in contemporary African diasporas

— African and Global South epistemologies on family, gender and mobility

— Research methodologies in African transnational networks: ethical and analytical challenges

 

Articles may be submitted in Portuguese, English, Spanish, French or Italian, in accordance with REMHU’s editorial policy. Particular value will be placed on contributions that combine rigorous theoretical perspectives with original empirical research, and that foster dialogue between diverse disciplinary and geographical traditions.