Research

The ERC project explores how African/Afrodescendant people in Romance-speaking Europe go online to gain visibility, raise their voices and re-appropriate the narrative of who they are, what groups and contexts they relate to and why. It conducts a qualitative analysis of representative case studies using a semiotic approach that unravels the texts and textures of diverse digital platforms to decode poetics of digital writing and to understand their impact in imagining Afrodiasporic self-positionings.

The project is situated within the framework of the current debate on migration from the Global South, a notable boost in Black activism in Europe (and beyond) and a rising discussion of Afrodiasporic identities in Europe. The slowly increasing visibility of Afrodiasporic communities in Europe through scholarship and activism is tightly linked to and fostered by the proliferating digital presence of these groups, increasing the urgency of studying these topical fields.

My pioneering project thus explores how individuals and collectives in Europe who identify as African/Afrodescendant use the internet to gain agency, establish digital alternative public spheres, and also navigate the racial hierarchies reproduced online.