Transnational lived citizenship: Practices of citizenship as political belonging among emerging diasporas in the Horn of Africa

It is increasingly acknowledged that the world is characterised by a high degree of mobility. Subsequently, social, political and economic processes and outcomes within nation states are significantly impacted by migration, making it untenable to understand political processes solely by looking at actors within states. In this context, many homeland states have developed diaspora engagement strategies.
In parallel, in the context of transnational movements, concepts of citizenship have expanded beyond the nation state, and citizenship is in various ways conceived of as a relational practice. In such an understanding, citizenship moves beyond legal status, but focuses on concrete, often everyday acts. Focusing on such acts of citizenship makes it possible to analyse citizenship as a practice related to homelands, hostlands or the wider transnational social field in often interconnected and overlapping ways.
In this project we bring a critical analysis of these strands of literature together, and in proposing a re-defined concept of transnational lived citizenship investigate how practices of citizenship among emerging diasporas constitute political belonging - to the homeland but also the hostland and the transnational social field. In a further step, we investigate what forms of political engagement may emerge from such practices.
In order to address the above theoretical and empirical gaps in the literature, we have chosen the Horn of Africa as a case study region, as the Horn is a prototypical example of an origin-area of out-migration. Focusing in concrete detail on emerging diasporas from Ethiopia and Eritrea who reside in key cities of the wider region will allow us to understand how migration shapes citizenship practices, political belonging and engagement, and this in turn will speak to the wider debates on patterns of migration and transnationalism.
Through mapping, life history interviews, semi-structures interviews, focus groups, and participant observation we will examine citizenship practices as expressions of political belonging and how they translate into political engagement by those who have emigrated from Ethiopa and Eritrea to the cities Khartoum, Addis Ababa and Nairobi, all three important transit as well as more permanent residence spaces. Our analysis of citizenship practices as a politics of belonging will allow us to develop a typology which ranges from the institutional to the quotidian, and from the visible to the furtive. In addition, our data gathered during the fieldwork component of the research will allow us to empirically map when, where, why, how and by whom various forms of transnational engagements are made. An additional fieldwork component in the Eritrean capital Asmara will in addition trace such engagement back to a home country setting.
In fulfilling the project-objectives, we will be able to make original contributions to both academic and non-academic debates. Firstly, we will re-theorise transnational citizenship practices as a specific form of political belonging going beyond the nation-state but at the same time intimately linked to it. Secondly, we will provide comparative empirical data on concrete citizenship practices and the forms of political belonging these generate, thus the contribution to theory is intimately linked with an empirical investigation. Thirdly, we will focus on emerging diasporas in key urban settings in the Global South, cities being important sites for a reconfiguration of citizenship practices. Fourthly, through providing a thorough understanding of how emerging diasporas exercise transnational lived citizenship, we will provide a detailed understanding of the ambivalent loyalties that often characterise migrant lives. And lastly, through collaborating with local researchers and research institutions, and emerging diaspora communities we will engage in co-production and dissemination of knowledge, locally and with key political actors.

The research and its findings will have significant global relevance beyond the research countries, as migration and the dynamics triggered by it are one of the key contemporary policy challenges. This research has two long term goals for non-academic beneficiaries. The first is to facilitate a better understanding of political belonging and allegiances among communities targeted by policy and/or service users among (migration) policy-makers, service providers and advocacy groups. The second is to facilitate deeper self-knowledge by the participants of this research through a process of co-production based on anthropological research methods.
The increased insights into the multi-sited and multi-temporal nature of political belonging and political engagement practices will benefit three key policy and practitioner stakeholders. First, those who are engaged in political integration, managing diversity and assimilation in host societies where migrants reside. Second, those who participate in the management of migration in transit spaces - both in humanitarian capacity and as part of asylum regimes. Third, those actors in the homeland who are engaging with their citizens abroad. In addition to the policy and practitioner stakeholders, we identify a fourth non-academic beneficiary group as diaspora activists themselves. Each group will benefit from the broader and more systematic knowledge this research will formalise around diaspora politics and political belonging. For hostland and transit service providers and policy makers, this research will address a lack of understanding which culminates in a general suspicion and discouragement of engagement in homeland politics. For homeland actors, the insights provided in this research will facilitate more productive and progressive engagement with citizens abroad. For activists themselves, this research will systematise the self-knowledge of this group and assist them in navigating the policy environments which target them.
We will ensure these benefits are produced both through the research process and by conducting activities focused on delivering impact. From the start of the project, we will launch a dialogue with institutional stakeholders across the Horn of Africa about its aims and objectives. To each of the planning workshops in Nairobi, Khartoum and Addis Ababa, key stakeholders will be invited to discuss the methods and project approach. Likewise, in the dissemination workshops, stakeholders will be invited to review the emerging findings and their value for the region. This process of constant exchange through the project has been successfully used for research projects by the EU funded Research and Evidence Facility in the Horn of Africa, in which the Co-I Oliver Bakewell has played a major role. It has greatly increased the traction of findings in the region and beyond.
Further we plan two key impact activities: one in the mid-stage of the research project, and one at the end. First, using methodology already piloted by the Migration Lab, we will produce a single edition newspaper with representatives from the key policy, practitioner and participant stakeholders. Subsequently, the content produced during this workshop will be produced into an exhibition event in collaboration with the research team and locally recruited creatives and technicians. In addition to these outputs, throughout the course of the project, we will produce regular briefings summarising research progress and findings as they emerge, and will invite comment and input on these from all stakeholders. Finally, we will produce policy recommendation documents which relate to each of the policy areas we have identified. All project outputs will be made publicly available via a dedicated project website hosted by the UoM, that will act as an online resource and a means to encourage ongoing interaction with the research including beyond the lifetime of the project.