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Gerd Kieffer-Døssing is doing research in Francophone West Africa, where she is particularly interested in people power and social movements, including their ability to influence politics and challenge the status quo.

Current research

Gerd is working on her Ph.D. project titled "3rd Wave Pan-Africanism: Digital Activism, Local Protest, and Geopolitical Change in West Africa."

Overall, the project investigates the shift occurring in Francophone West Africa, where military coups are once again on the rise, while more and more states and populations are turning away from the former colonial power, France, and other Western powers, and are strengthening their cooperation with other actors – including Russia.

It is easy to attribute this development to external influences, such as Russian disinformation, or to analyse the situation from an instability perspective, but these analyses often overlook the agency of the local populations and the significance of locally experienced realities and perspectives.

Through digital ethnography and anthropological fieldwork, the project examines the relationship between the geopolitical changes and shifts in alliances in Francophone West Africa, and a regional protest movement – a new Pan-Africanism – that has gained traction in the region since the 2010s.

This transnational movement is spreading through social media, where it calls for resistance against French neo-colonialism and Western dominance over Africa, while promoting a multipolar world order, sovereignty, and continental unity. The movement enjoys widespread support, with millions of followers.

The project's digital dimension focuses on how the movement is conveyed and disseminated by influential figures via social media. Through fieldwork among Pan-Africanist activists, organisations, and political opposition parties in Senegal, the project explores the interaction between local protest movements and online activism in creating (geo)political change both locally and regionally.

The Ph.D. project is funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark, DFF, and began in 2023. DIIS is hosting the project, which is also affiliated with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen.