An extract from "Japa Fire: An Anthology of Poems on African and African Diasporic Migration" (CivicLeicester, 2024)

[Ambrose Musiyiwa]

Please also pass on to all who might be interested – 

In an extract from the new poetry collection, Japa Fire: An Anthology of Poems on African and African Diasporic Migration, released from CivicLeicester on 19 December 2024, anthology editors Ambrose Musiyiwa and Munya R introduce the collection and the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series:

Japa Fire: An Anthology of Poems on African and African Diasporic Migration is the first in a new series of poetry anthologies exploring themes around African and African diasporic migration and (im)mobility, the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series.

Organised by Forced Migration and The Arts in collaboration with CivicLeicester and Regularise, the series draws inspiration from the second edition of the Africa Migration Report (African Union Commission and the International Organization for Migration, 2024). (See: African Union. 2024. Press Release. Africa Migration Report: Linking policy, practice and the welfare of the African migrant Internal: Africa Migration Report. African Union, 26 March.)

The series differs from the AUC/IOM report in that while the latter is a formal report, the former explores multifaceted narratives on African and African diasporic migration and (im)mobility through poetry, and offers personal, familial and community histories, memories, experiences, hopes, dreams and aspirations around African and African diasporic migration and mobility.

Japa Fire: An Anthology of Poems on African and African Diasporic Migration takes its title from “The Japa Fire”, a poem by Ayo Ayoola-Amale exploring Nigerian experiences of irregular migration. The collection features 63 poems from 20 poets, some with many poetry collections and titles to their name, alongside others who are appearing in print for the first time through this anthology. Each poem has been selected for how it speaks to themes around African and African diasporic migration and (im)mobility, and to other poems in the collection, and for how each contributes to the conversation taking place around the world on the themes.

In presenting 63 poems from 20 poets, we are riffing off the African Union’s Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want as part of efforts to draw attention to The Agenda. We encourage readers and writers alike – and all who have an interest in the continent and its pasts, presents and futures – to read and engage with both the Africa Migration Report (AUC and IOM, 2024) and Agenda 2063.

We also invite poets to be unfettered in imagining and envisaging possible and better futures for Africans on the continent, in the diaspora and on the move. And we invite similar levels of attention to be paid to those living in formal and informal refugee camps and settlements, in ghettos and slums, on the streets, in prisons, detention centres and other hostile environments, and in cities, towns and villages on the continent and around the world.

With both Japa Fire and subsequent collections in the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series, we call for a world in which the rights of African migrants are respected and protected, and in which freedom of movement extends to and includes Africans on the continent, in the diaspora and on the move. And we encourage Africans on the continent, in the diaspora and on the move to meet more and connect with each other more, and talk to and support and collaborate with each other more.

As explained in the AUC and IOM’s Africa Migration Report: 2nd Edition, states on the African continent are currently working towards setting up a free movement infrastructure better than that which is in place in the European Union.

We hope Japa Fire and the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series will encourage African countries to pick up the pace on the plans, and ensure that freedom of movement is a right that Africans on the continent, in the diaspora and on the move can enjoy alongside all the rights identified in the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. These include the right to freedom from discrimination (Articles 2 and 18(3)); freedom from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment (Article 5); the right to life and personal integrity (Article 4), and the right to dignity (Article 5) – all of which are routinely violated by state and non-state actors alike in their treatment of Africans on the continent, in the diaspora and on the move.

And we hope the poetry and readings and conversations that will flow from it will encourage Africans on the continent, in the diaspora and on the move to participate actively in the dialogue that is taking place on the continent and in the diaspora on this.  

NOTES:

[1] This is an extract from Japa Fire: An Anthology of Poems on African and African Diasporic Migration, edited by Ambrose Musiyiwa and Munya R, released from CivicLeicester on 19 December 2024.

[2] Watch "Journeys Festival International presents the Africa/n Migration Report readings & conversations: Pt 1 & Pt 2" held online on 10 October 2024 as part of Journeys Festival International at which some of the poems featured in the collection are read and discussed. 

With regards,

Ambrose Musiywa

Coordinator, Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series

 

Ambrose Musiyiwa | Facilitator, CivicLeicester | Coordinator, The Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series (Call for Submissions; Funding Appeal)

(Ed.) [New Book] Welcome to Britain: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction (CivicLeicester, 2023); Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World (CivicLeicester, 2020)