Theme: 8. Negotiating Margins: Power, Agencies, Representations, Resistances

Trust and Trust-Making in Africa’s Global Connections: Reflections on Crisis, Complexity and Collaboration

Roundtable Convenor(s)

• MK

  Mayke Kaag

  African Studies Centre, Leiden University, Netherlands

Roundtable Chair(s)

• MK

  Mayke Kaag

  African Studies Centre, Leiden University, Netherlands

Roundtable Participant(s)

• AT

  Alena Thiel

  IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• RC

  Rishuai Chen

  African Studies Centre, Leiden University, Netherlands
• EL

  Eric Lawer

  University of Ghana, Ghana
• AZ

  Abubakari Zaid

  Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, Ghana

Roundtable Abstract:

Over the last decades academic interest in Africa’s global connections has grown, among other things fueled by Africa’s emerging and renewed connections with Asia, and the larger discussion on decolonization. While we think the debates are insightful, we also observe that they tend to produce rather monolithic and polarized arguments.

In order to advance the analysis, in this roundtable we will focus on processes of trust and trust making in Africa’s global connections. Examining questions of trust adds an important layer to the study of, for instance, collaboration and partnerships, political and economic strategies, the question of authority, and the functioning of networks, as it enables one to go beyond that what is directly visible on the spot and consider its embeddedness in larger social processes and mechanisms.  As Luhmann argued: “Without trust, only very simple forms of human co-operation, which can be transacted on the spot are possible. In more complex situations, people have to cope with events not directly visible, with factors not yet present, and with other people who cannot be fathomed entirely” (1979:88), a complication which certainly applies to transnational and global connections, where one has to deal with not so familiar others, and linkages may be stretched out over time and space mediated by difficult-to-read-institutions and ever more complex technologies. Studying trust is therefore highly relevant for gaining a better understanding of the processes by which Africa’s global connections are being shaped. In addition, focusing on trust not only helps considering the embeddedness of global encounters in larger processes and mechanisms, but also to tune in to people’s intimate experiences of these, including their feelings and emotions.

Beyond the discussion of the empirical workings of trust and mistrust in Africa’s global connections, including the complexities and contradictions involved (part 1), the roundtable explicitly also aims to provide a forum for thinking about what these insights might mean for the current global poly-crisis, and of which global relationships in many ways are a reflection (part 2). How can our observations contribute to thinking about what is needed to solve this poly-crisis? We will discuss how, beyond just a mere focus on changing power structures, the building of trust is important – exactly because historical power structures have left their negative traces in terms of pain, injustice and mistrust, and because for saving our future we need collective action, solidarity and a strong sense of community. 

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