“Who you are does not matter in Europe!” African diaspora christianities, the ethical politics of wasting bodies and unwanted immigration in fortress Europe

Abstract

The paper explores the ethics and politics of contemporary African  migration in Europe. It examines the push and pull factor of African migration to Europe and analyses Europe’s general attitude and response to African migration. It also discusses the role and involvement of churches in Africa and Africa-led churches in Europe in encouraging or discouraging regular and or irregular migration and the impact of the migrations on  African Christianities. It argues that Europe’s general response to African migration has been harsh and scanty attention has been paid to the  welfare of migrants. Indeed, the general experience has been the  dehumanization of migrants. The work also analyses how African-led  churches have responded to the dehumanization and the unethical posture and policies of EU towards African migrants and explains how the religious communities have approached the discourses of identity,  inclusion/exclusion and citizenship against the backlash of harsh anti-immigrant debate in fortress Europe. It concludes that Africa-led churches have not contributed meaningfully to a change in attitude towards migrants in Europe and the result is that African migrants in Europe have remained victims of brutalization and dehumanization.