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Title: Who am I? Understanding the identity formation processes of second-generation immigrants in Ghana.

Project summary: This research investigates the processes of creation and reconstitution of ethnic identities among second-generation immigrants in predominantly black societies. This study responds to calls that intra-Africa migration should be a core component of African migration scholarship. We argue that though African migration has received intense scholarly attention from both academics and policy makers, much of this research has focused on international migration, framed as the movement of Africans outside the continent, with far more limited research on movements and experiences of immigrants within the continent, despite intra-Africa mobility making up the majority of population movements. Focusing on identity, we will explore how second-generation immigrants in Ghana self-identify and how other people perceive them.  We will also map the political, social and economic factors that have shaped how second-generation immigrants in Ghana came to identify as such. At the end of the project, we would have shed light on the experiences of second-generation immigrants in Africa whose narratives have been under-represented in the broader African migration discourse.

Funders: Building the Next Generation of Academics in Africa (BANGA-Africa) Research Team Grant.

Duration: 19 months (March 2020- September 2021)