This project explores how Afrodiasporic communities in Europe rise above the public silencing of their perspectives by using the internet to re-appropriate the discourse of who they are, what contexts they relate to and why. Recently, we have seen a notable increase of websites coordinated by people of African descent. Research so far has only investigated isolated cases, ignoring synergies and networks. My project fills this gap by exploring how individuals and collectives that identify as African/Afrodescendant use the internet to establish alternative public spheres. It will provide seminal answers to the following questions: How do Afrodiasporic communities deal with racialization on the internet? Do they successfully create a space online to articulate their own (self-)images, participate in knowledge production and gain agency? How do they position themselves as members of a (transnationally connected) African diaspora? What challenges do they face? The project’s geographical frame is Romance-speaking Europe, but it also includes sources from the Americas and Caribbean to unveil transnational similarities and local peculiarities. Exploring rhetorical and poetic strategies, the project studies not only what is said but also how it is said. It places major focus on investigating the shared textual and visual language used to deal with racialization and to establish a vision of collectivity. Building on my experience, I combine postcolonial and (digital) media studies with suitable literary/cultural studies’ methods to unravel the ‘textures’ and decode the imaginaries of websites (ranging from texts to auditive/visual elements). The project’s impact lies in helping us understand the cultural narratives that shape emerging Afrodiasporic subjectivities. It also provides seminal insights for the ongoing sociopolitical debate on migration to, and structural racism in Western societies that tend to only speak about these communities without listening to what they say.

ERC Starting Grant