The wretched of the African earth: an attempt at deconstructing the stereotype of Africanised migration destined for Europe

Abstract

The aim of the article is to deconstruct the Africanization of migration destined for Europe, to disprove several cognitive scripts on migration from Africa, most frequently quoted in the conservative media discourse. In the introduction, the migration of Africans destined for Europe in relations to the migration of Asians via Africa destined for Europe were characterized inter alia on the basis of the official documents, UNHCR and FRONTEX reports. Then, the dynamics of transcontinental and intra-Africa migrations -in synchronous and diachronic approach, with the reference to the research results of scholars specialized in the demography, social policy, history of migration- were discussed. Finally, the cultural meanings of migration among Africans is presented.