In a time of mass migration
Mass migration, long a feature of global society, has intensified with world wars, the collapse of empires and decolonisation. Climate change will accelerate and diversify the movement of populations. And as the writers here reveal, the migrant story is also personal, leaving some to feel like squatters in a world they do not own.
Edited by: Brian Chikwava
Listen nowSpotify | Apple | YouTube
In a time of mass migration
Brian Chikwava
"The migrant feels that she is a squatter in a world she does not own. The migrant story, which speaks to what is wrong with the world we already have, is used to make us feel afraid of the possibility of changing that world."
Brian Chikwava introduces a series about migration with contributions from writers including Amaal Said, Billy Kahora and Chika Unigwe.
You can’t breathe water
Olumide Popoola
"You can’t breathe water. You can’t announce your drowning. You know full well that mobiles don’t operate well under water."
Olumide Popoola gives voice to the many migrants who have drowned at sea as they try to reach the coast of the UK.
Transhumance
Henrietta Rose-Innes
"One thing the coronavirus plague has impressed upon us all is how we humans do not travel alone. A multitude accompanies us on our migrations, passing through us, microbial, viral, fungal, benign or malign."
Henrietta Rose Innes, originally from the Western Cape of South Africa, on personal links with Kew Gardens, colonialism and climate change.
Rokel Dees
Delia Jarrett-Macauley
"As I stood there in Leicester with my shiny patent leather shoes glistening like diamonds in a coal seam, Lagos bustle greeted me. Ours was a vigorously international household."
Delia Jarrett-Macauley remembers her mother, who came from Freetown, Sierra Leone on her own to Leicester in the 1950s.
Odili
Chika Unigwe
"Odili would tell whoever asked that he left because he grew spikes on his backside. So what if he'd sold his sole inheritance, the land where his parents were buried?"
Chika Unigwe tells the story of Odili, a Nigerian with a British passport who has returned to the UK with a tall tale.
What Enid Blyton did to me
Billy Kahora
"Blyton’s popularity in my Nairobi childhood came from her ability to capture white childhood worlds and project them into different pockets of privilege across the world."
Billy Kahora's realisation that Bristol wasn't just a charming city with beautiful buildings but had been built on slavery.
Portrait of a life
Amaal Said
"When words became difficult, I hoped I could use a camera and tell the story that way. The photos that say "We are alive", and also, "We have children now"."
Amaal Said, a Danish-born Somali photographer and poet based in London, appreciates having photos to look back at as proof of survival in one's country of migration.