Sub-Saharan African Immigrant Activists in Europe: Transcultural Capital and Transcultural Community Building [please note slight change in new proposed title]

Anna Triandafyllidou (1)

1 ELIAMEP

This paper argues that immigrant civic activism which may at first glance seem to focus on diasporic ties and ethnic community building, becomes often a lever for transcultural capital and transcultural community building. The study is explorative of new repertoires and forms of transnationalism among sub Saharan African immigrant activists in Europe. The findings suggest that immigrant civic activism even if limited in size proposes new types of transcultural societal networks and new forms of transcultural expression. In the first part of the study I discuss the theoretical background of transnationalism in migration studies and propose the notions of transcultural capital and transcultural community as working concepts. The second part of the study concentrates on the qualitative analysis of life story interviews with sixteen sub Saharan African immigrant activists in Europe.

Mots clés: Social Sciences & Humanities

Anna Triandafyllidou. Sub-Saharan African Immigrant Activists in Europe: Transcultural Capital and Transcultural Community Building [please note slight change in new proposed title]. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2008, 32 (1), pp.93-116. ⟨10.1080/01419870802196021⟩. ⟨hal-00513307⟩