Migration, African Integration and the Challenge of Xenophobia: The Role of Cultural Diplomacy

Abstract

The project of African integration has been given a great boost with the adoption and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). However, despite the euphoria expressed by some African leaders, academics, and business people regarding the expected economic gains of such a project, African elites should not be oblivious of the many challenges it will confront. Among the envisaged challenges are migration and the social tensions that accompany the inux of foreigners into a community. Africa has already witnessed serious cases of xenophobia and it is expected that, as a consequence of the implementation of AfCFTA, there will be a rise in xenophobia-related issues as the movement of people and goods increase across the continent. This may also be exacerbated by the expected competition for market share between foreign and local goods as well as between foreign and local workers in the labour market. Drawing on secondary data and a synthesis of the “soft power” approach to international relations as well as “contact hypothesis” in social psychology, this paper identies poor migration management and xenophobia as potential threats to the entire project of the social, political, and economic integration of Africa. As such, it proposes cultural diplomacy as a viable tool for promoting understanding and cohesion among African peoples.