Many Gateways to the Gateway City: Elites, Class and Policy Networking in the London African Diaspora

Abstract

AbstractCan we speak of the existence of an ‘African diaspora’ over and above the many discrete national diaspora groups in Britain? The present paper explores the conviviality and reach of black African elite networks in London across ethnic boundaries, their mastery of a shared language of governance and their capacity as actors and activists operating in civil society. Their achievement has been, the paper argues, to create a nascent black African diasporic public sphere in which the diaspora is imagined, constructed and mobilised across divisions of language, religion, nation and class. New multicultural policies in Britain have facilitated this networking, which is grounded in ethical notions of caring, justice and ethnic permeability.