COVID-19 and African Borders in Transition

This edited book explores the realities in various borderlands across Africa vis-à-vis the complexities that have emerged with the upsurge of COVID-19, which put the world at a standstill. In other words, it investigates the changing dynamics of borders and bordering in Africa, with a specific focus on how borders were managed before, during and in the aftermath of COVID-19 restrictions on global mobility. The evolving nature of threats associated with COVID-19 has led to border closures (land, sea and air), calling our attention to the current state of emergency preparedness in the context of cross-border-related health threats, risk characterization, crisis management, emergency risk communication, capacities and capabilities for prevention and control. However, borders and frontiers are located on the periphery, limiting the early warning and response capabilities of states. This book marks a comprehensive and field-defining analysis through its questioning of what kind of transitions have occurred in African borderlands and our perceptions as to how borders and bordering have traditionally been viewed and upheld.

Samuel Okunade holds a Ph.D. in Conflict Transformation and Peace Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Specifically, he researches borders and migration, especially concerning human trafficking and migrant smuggling in Africa. He equally advances the course of border communities that have an age-long history of marginalization and neglect by the government.

Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka is a senior postdoctoral research fellow at GovInn, SARChI Chair in the Political Economy of Migration in the SADC Region, University of Pretoria, South Africa and adjunct professor at the School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, Woxsen University, India. He researches migration, citizenship, borders, Africa-EU relations, alternative regionalism, anti-corruption, and Development.

Willie Eselebor holds a Ph.D. in Peace and Conflict Studies, specializing on borders and migration. He was a lecturer at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and had an early career with the Nigeria Immigration Service (1980–2012), serving in diverse schedules on border control (air, sea, and land) and consulting for the UN-IOM, EU, AU, ECOWAS, ICMPD, and GIZ