An invitation to transform your vision of the cultural mobility ethic from an African perspective 

A place for cultural mobility justice that centres an ethic of care on the social justice agenda for alternative world building.

As part of the Deconfining project, in collaboration with On the Move, a groundbreaking publication emerges, shifting the perspective on cultural mobility ethics from an African viewpoint. This is not a guide; it is not an advocacy paper nor a piece of academic research. This piece, diverging from traditional formats, stands as a personal complement to formal advocacy, aiming to broaden understanding and inspire practical change within cultural mobility paradigms.

What Ukhona Ntsali Mlandu, the author, offers us here is an invitation in response to an invitation of our own. The process began when Ukhona was invited to write a document addressing the issue of cultural mobility in an African context – as while many studies exist on the topic of cultural mobility these relate more closely to a European context. From the original commission and brief: ‘This research is expected to focus on definitions and motivations behind mobility patterns in Africa while referring to mobility funding schemes and practices not “under the radar” in an African context, as well as to approach the complexities linked to visa processes or refusals between Africa and Europe.’

This invitation was answered by another kind of invitation from Ukhona – an invitation to change our mindsets, particularly for those of us in the more privileged Global North, and to transform our ideas and assumptions about the reality of cultural mobility when rooted in an African context. Ukhona’s invitation can be read as a protest, as a reflection, as a manifesto, and above all as a real attempt to shift our understanding of the human, economic, political, societal and environmental realities that underlie the idea of a more ethical mobility for artists and culture professionals, and to place at the core of this idea the notions of solidarity, care, hospitality, and mobility justice.

You may be challenged by the format of this document, but this is a crucial part of it. This invitation to transformation does not have to be read in a linear way or in one sitting. Instead you can use it as a reference, as a basis for discussion by taking its definitions and points into your own programmes and schemes, or as a catalyst for an unlearning process that challenges your assumptions.

Ukhona’s writing complements an initial, data-led advocacy report focused on Schengen visas and the practical obstacles faced by artists and culture professionals in Africa.

→ Read Ukhona Ntsali Mlandu’s invitation publication HERE

‘African Hospitality: A distinct texture of hosting and welcoming guest (s) from a perspective that recognises their presence and choice to grace with their presence your home, space, country, territory, etc. as an honour not a burden. This honour is met with warmth, generosity, and good faith that the visitor has come in peace. It is the default position to assume everyone to be of integrity and good intention until proven otherwise. The generosity is extended from a belief system that life and resources are regenerative, and this regenerative logic is beyond logic. It is spiritually generous and is rooted in a generosity of spirit. It is the polar opposite of a scarcity mindset which breeds self-preservationist behaviour based on paranoia. It is rooted in an ethic of collective care and sharing.’