Researching Insecurity from the 'Bottom up'.
Everyday Perspectives on (In)security
Insecurity, Migration, Environment and Resilience: Dialogues, Challenges and Everyday Politics of (In)security in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Traditional approaches to security, migration and political communication are mostly state-centric and often take phenomena for granted through what Robert Cox (1981) has famously referred to as ‘problem-solving theory’ because of their tendencies to treat the world, e.g., states, boundaries, violence, as a given with the objective of research being to make these function properly. In contrast, critical approaches which all the partners will adopt will problematize these state-centric institutional treatment and their relationships to investigate not only how they came to be but also how they are sustained through power dynamics that shape them.
Moving beyond state-centric approach to conceptualizing security intricacies, this proposal seeks to examine the interrelation between insecurity, migration, environmental dimensions of security, and resilience within the socio-political contexts of Sub-Saharan Africa. The research aims to provide a comprehensive knowledge of how quotidian politics affect reactions to insecurity and environmental pressures, and how these interactions determine migratory trends and resilience responses throughout the region. The objectives are:
1.To analyze local and regional discourses regarding insecurity, migration, and environmental dimensions of insecurity faced by various communities throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, emphasizing the everyday politics involved.
2.To examine how communities cultivate resilience amid complex insecurities, environmental challenges, and displacement.
3.To identify innovative coping mechanisms and community-led responses that either challenge or complement state-led security and migration policies.
4.To enhance theoretical and empirical discussions on security, migration, and resilience by incorporating insights from political science, journalism, anthropology, environmental studies, and development studies.
5.To promote dialogue among policymakers, practitioners, and local communities to enhance the effectiveness of context-sensitive security and resilience strategies.
As partners, we have combined strengths stemming from our strong academic backgrounds in security, governance, migration, and the environment. Our shared commitment to 'bottom-up' perspectives and community-driven approaches enhances our complementarity in these areas. Furthermore, our proven ability is demonstrated by our history of successfully executing similar projects throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.Our African partners possess a proven history of organizing high level policy dialogues aimed at influencing policy at both the national and continental levels, including within the African Union and the United Nations systems. For example, the current ongoing project “Managing the impacts of environmental change and conflict on mobility in Eastern Africa through evidence-based inclusive policy dialogue and collaborative actions (MECMEA)”, which HoA-REC&N currently implements seeks to strengthen the governance of mobility linked to the nexus of climate change, environmental disasters, and conflict in Eastern Africa through evidence-based, inclusive policy dialogue and collaborative actions. The project is designed to engage AU which offers avenues for change at the continental level.
This project is designed to demonstrate notable innovations and excellence, particularly through its vernacular approach. This methodology facilitates the reintegration of experiences of ordinary individuals into security discourse, providing a platform for local expertise to influence security policy formulation. It will deploy meta-synthesis framework and citizen science to provide a deeper insights into security dynamics. Embracing a vernacular approach facilitates a cross-disciplinary intervention that enables partners to align with the lived experiences of individuals facing insecurity. This method also promotes learning from both elite and non-elite expertise, which is frequently overlooked or disregarded in conventional security studies. Dr. Oyawale’s background in International Relations and Security, Dr. Suleiman’s expertise in political science and journalism, and Mr. Ajjugo’s specialization in environmental policy, along with their shared geographical focus on Africa, will create a strong combination of competencies to addressing multi-faceted security dimensions of the continent. By employing a ‘bottom-up’ approach that we collectively endorse, along with a critical examination of pertinent issues, our perspective allows us to soften state boundaries, while taking states seriously. Through our commitment to a critical perspective, we hope to broaden the discourse on terrorism, political ecology and deepen comprehension of regional, community and individual security as we interrogate the politics of security through engaging with those who experience it in their everyday lives. Finally, we pay attention to global discourses and practices that seek to intervene on the African continent through addressing the colonial ties and unequal power relations in such technologies and techniques, which often treat Africa as a ‘problem’ to be solved.
This project possesses considerable long-term potential, aiming to foster enduring and productive partnerships with our collaborators in Africa. Initial data from our discussions will facilitate the expansion of our collaborations to pursue larger external funding opportunities.