Duration: 2 months, June-July 2023 (flexible); includes field research.
Application deadline : Ongoing, until the position is filled.
Required qualifications:
- PhD or equivalent degree in qualitative and/or quantitative social sciences. Relevant disciplines include, but are not limited to, sociology, anthropology, history, political science and legal studies.
- Thematic expertise in reparations, restorative justice and/or racial justice movements in Cameroon.
- Demonstrated experience in qualitative and/or quantitative social science research, including field research.
- Proven experience in conducting operational research.
- Excellent writing skills, demonstrated by a record of publications.
- Required languages skills : French, English, one or more national languages of the country.
1) Project context
The African Futures Lab's (AfaLab) mission is to bring recognition and redress to past and contemporary structural racial inequalities in Africa and Europe through the development and exchange of rigorous, empirically-based knowledge. The knowledge generated by this work informs the efforts of activists and policymakers.
To this end, AfaLab documents racial inequalities and racial justice movements through large-scale quantitative data collection and in-depth case studies. Building on this empirical foundation, AfaLab promotes knowledge exchange among social actors engaged in the fight against racial inequality and supports advocacy efforts by producing empirically-based policy recommendations for states, international organizations, and grassroots actors.
2) Project description: "Advancing the Reparations Agenda for Colonial Crimes and Slavery in Africa"
The issue of reparations for the historical injustices of colonization and slavery is once more on the international agenda.
In recent years - and as result of pressure from civil society actors - European states such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany have undertaken processes of recognition of colonial violence in their former African colonies, while international organizations such as the United Nations have multiplied calls for states to make reparations for colonial and slavery-related violence.
At the African Union level, a continental agenda for reparations is beginning to take shape. But this growing attention to the issue of reparations cannot happen without the contributions of African civil society.
Civil society on the African continent has already demonstrated its willingness to have colonial crimes and their political, economic, social, and material consequences recognized. For example, in East Africa, former Mau Mau fighters filed a lawsuit seeking reparations for the torture they suffered during the struggle for independence.
In North Africa, the Tunisian Truth and Dignity Commission established in 2014 demanded in its final report reparations from France for the massive human rights violations committed by the French army between March 1956 and July 1961, which resulted in over 7,000 Tunisian victims.
However, the Commission's demands went unheeded. More recently, in southern Africa, after years of negotiations, the Namibian government, obtained an apology from Germany for the genocide that the colonial government perpetrated against the Nama and Herero people in the early 20th century.
Despite these advances, the scale and scope of ongoing efforts pale in comparison to the scope of the crimes committed and their profound and lasting impact on African societies, lives, and economies.
In order to contribute to the development of an African agenda based on sound, data- driven knowledge, African Futures Lab launched the project "Advancing the Reparations Agenda for Colonial Crimes and Slavery in Africa," supported by the Open Society-Africa, has the following objectives:
- Strengthen African civil society organizations' demands for reparations related to colonial violence and slavery through sound, data-driven knowledge
- Coordinate the efforts of African civil society actors in developing a reparations agenda for colonial violence and slavery
- Inform the development of policies related to reparations for colonial crimes and slavery at the international, regional, and national levels (in former colonial powers and former colonized states) with recommendations from African civil society actors
3) Specific project objectives
As part of this broader initiative, we are carrying out research projects focusing on each of the five regions of Africa. Each region is studied by one or two researchers. This call specifically concerns one researcher for 1 country in the Central African region: Cameroon.
Objectives: To take stock of ongoing mobilizations for reparations in each region and/or to analyze specific cases of reparations demands.
Specific questions that may guide the analysis:
- What are the demands for reparations for crimes committed during colonization?
- Who are the actors making these demands? With what resources (political, legal, media, material)? Which allies?
- In which arenas are demands being brought? To whom are they addressed?
- What is the history of these demands?
- What do these demands for reparations make possible for the mobilized actors? What do they make difficult?
Operational aims of the research: To enable society actors to develop a political/ legal/communication strategy for their demands for reparations for the historical crimes and contemporary legacies of colonialism and slavery.
Duration: 2 months (June- July 2023). Those dates are flexible.
Collaboration with civil society actors and local universities is at the heart of this research.
Two elements are central to this research: It is operational in focus and it must start from existing civil society actors' mobilizations on the ground. The methodology can be qualitative or quantitative.
Female applicants are strongly encouraged.
Please send your CV and cover letter to info@afalab.org.