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RESEARCH IN 2018

2018 will be a year involving research initiatives in two major areas: community self-organising in relation to Diaspora politics and African gifting.

Community Self-Organising and Diaspora Politics

The growth in migration South to North and South to South is expanding the number and distribution of Diaspora organisations and networks across the world. A new research programme at the Institute of Social Studies, initiated by my colleague Dr. Kees Biekart, will apply our previous work on civic driven change and polycentric governance to how Diaspora's organise themselves and influence the politics of their countries of residence and their countries of origin. This interaction is sometimes referred to in terms of political remittances. Using participatory methods, the research will generate a more detailed understanding of how civic energy drives Diaspora power and under which conditions, focusing a comparative perspective between five different global Diaspora networks: from Somalia, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Nicaragua. This work will strengthen collaboration with other departments of Erasmus University.

African Gifting

There is increasing attention to the research, knowledge and scholarship deficits of Africa in many academic fields and public debates, including philanthropy. To help fill this gap, co-hosted by the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) the Chair in African Philanthropy convened a research workshop in December 2016 in Nairobi. The event involved some twenty academics and practitioners from across the continent. Their task was twofold. One was to establish an overarching research agenda for the field. Another was to drill down into the research needs for teaching in specific courses, both core and elective. With this foundation and agenda, support from the Carnegie Foundation to the Wits Business School (WBS) will establish a research fund to support post-graduate students and seasoned researchers from across the continent. In addition to establishing the analytic frameworks required, I will play a supportive role to a newly appointed adjunct professor and director of the Centre for African Philanthropy at WBS.