Africa's 'Scramble for Europe': Stephen Smith

Highlights from Dr. Stephen Smith's talk at the John Hope Franklin Center as part of our weekly Wednesdays at the Center series.

Migratory pressure between Africa and Europe will soon reach a crescendo. Today, 510 million people live inside EU borders and 1.25 billion people in Africa. The Europeans are rapidly aging, whereas 40 percent of the Africans are under 15. By 2050, 450 million Europeans will face 2.5 billion Africans, five times the European population.

The 'Scramble for Europe' will become as likely inexorable, as was the 'Scramble for Africa' at the end of the 19th century. In its age of industrialization and mass production, Europe conquered Africa, a sparsely populated continent six times its size. Then it was all about raw materials and national pride. Europe's "wretched refuse" migrated massively to America, not Africa. Now it is about young Africans seeking a better life on the Old Continent, the island of prosperity within their reach. If Africa's migratory patterns continue as is, Europe would count in fifty years 150 million Afro-Europeans compared to today’s 9 million today. A quarter of Europe’s population would be of African origin.

Stephen W. Smith teaches African Studies at Duke University. Until 2013, Smith also held an adjunct lecture position at John Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC. Smith holds a Ph.D. in semiotics from Berlin’s Free University and is a graduate of the Anthropology department at the Sorbonne (Panthéon) in Paris. Smith worked as a roving correspondent in West and Central Africa for Reuters news agency and Radio France International (RFI). He also served as the deputy editor of the foreign desk at Le Monde for five years, and, previously, the Africa editor at Libération for twelve years. Smith (co-)authored sixteen books and several country reports (Nigeria, Central African Republic) for International Crisis Groups. Smith worked as a consultant for the UN and other international bodies. He has widely contributed to many publications and writes regularly for The London Review of Books. Smith also works for the film industry as a historical consultant and scriptwriter.

This event is presented by the John Hope Franklin Center and the Duke Africa Initiative.