To say that that borderlands are ‘’spaces close to borders’’ may work at the level of political advocacy or fundraising, but for researchers and data scientists it is impossibly ambiguous. Put your back to a border and walk away from it --- at what point do you exit the borderland? It is a very simple question and one that is very difficult to answer.
It is one thing for African states to test extensively for COVID-19, lock down populations, and flatten the curve in capital cities. It won’t be easy. But it is another thing entirely to combat the disease in the margins of the state, where governance, commerce, and violence are intimately woven into cross-border dynamics of trade and mobility. Not to act would be a catastrophe for the global disease response effort. If COVID-19 is endemic in the periphery, the centre cannot safely be reopened.
African Governance and Space (AFRIGOS) is a five-year project examining transport corridors, border towns and port cities in four regions of Africa. It is based at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for African Studies and led by Prof. Paul Nugent. The AFRIGOS team also includes Senior Research Fellows Dr. Wolfgang Zeller and Dr. Jose-Maria Munoz, as well as postdoctoral Research Fellows Dr. Sidy Cissokho and Dr. Hugh Lamarque. Dr. Isabella Soi from the University of Cagliari is an affiliated researcher to the project, contributing to the East Africa research. Elisa Gambino joined the AFRIGOS project in September 2017 as Doctoral Researcher working on Chinese infrastructure investment in East Africa and Africa's role in the Belt and Road Initiative.
Mombasa, Kenya’s second city, is dying. The process is gaining pace, deliberate, and wrapped up in lofty rhetoric about its bright future. Under tropical palms, crime and unemployment in the port town are rising, businesses are fleeing, and public services in everything from waste collection to road repairs are running out of money.
