The changing composition and geography of Africa’s Diasporas, and the shifting re-composition of all aspects of the linkages between these diasporas and the continent, is one of the thematic areas at the core of the current intellectual agenda of the Council. The origins of Africa’s diasporas date far back into history but the size, composition, distribution and significance of these diasporas have always varied from period to period, as have the linkages between them and the continent, as well as the modes by which those linkages are refracted into various social, political, economic, cultural and ideological processes on the continent.

This CODESRIA TWG will seek to re-read the history of the dispersal of African peoples across the globe over the last few centuries with a view to capturing processes associated with the formation of African Diaspora communities in different regions of the world, the forces and factors that have shaped the nature of these communities, and the different types of linkages that they have established and maintained with the mother continent. The motivation for the launching of the TWG is underpinned by both intellectual and policy considerations that call for a deepening of our understanding of the complex histories and constructions of African diasporas, and their equally complex and sometimes contradictory and always changing engagements with Africa. From a political and policy point of view, the proposed TWG could not have come at a better moment than now when the African Union, other continental agencies, and national governments are seeking, for better or for worse, to build more productive relationships between themselves and various African Diaspora communities. The TWG will hold a methodology workshop in Dakar on 10-11 August 2007.