Leading academic publisher, Palgrave Macmillan, has released a new book by Prof Abiodun Adeniyi titled “New Narratives of African Migration: Exploring Media and the Contestation of Space.”
Adeniyi, an accomplished scholar whose research interrogates the intersections of media, identity, and Africa’s geopolitical dynamics, is a faculty member in the Department of Mass Communication at Baze University, Abuja.
His new book departs from headlines of the global migration crisis, offering instead a deep scholarly examination of how media, memory, and digital technologies are reshaping African mobility and identity.
Adeniyi confronts what he calls the persistent “epistemic silence” surrounding African migration experiences, in the book.
Conceptually framed as a journey, the study opens by mapping the emotional landscapes of displacement and the “fractured bonds” that arise when the idea of home becomes distant or symbolic.
Through his exploration of the “stranger within,” the author provides fresh insight into the evolving identities of diasporic communities and the gendered transformations that migration often triggers within families.
A distinctive strength of the book lies in its emphasis on what Adeniyi describes as “unspoken journeys” — the largely overlooked patterns of intra-African migration that receive limited attention in Western media coverage.
The work delves into migrants’ personal archives, from the cultural meanings of items they carry to the digital platforms where belonging is continually negotiated.
It contends that in today’s surveillance-driven environment, social media has emerged as a crucial “space of hybridity,” empowering migrants to challenge dominant narratives and convert silence into visible presence.
The text also interrogates the nexus of politics and power, critiquing enduring colonial influences on migration governance while exposing the vulnerability of the nation-state in an era of intensified global movement.
By centring the perspectives of returnees and migrants in transit, the book encourages a rethinking of “home” and advances a layered analysis of cultural fluidity and mediated identity formation.
New Narratives of African Migration is now available worldwide and is recommended for scholars, policymakers, and media professionals seeking a deeper understanding of the complex realities shaping African migration in the 21st century.
