Refugees in African History

While refugee studies is a rapidly growing field, it has rarely intersected with African historiography. This chapter proposes a series of theoretical and methodological questions that may serve as a starting point in writing the history of refugees in Africa. The complications of the term “refugee” are considered, and an alternate analytic – seeking refuge as a process – is proposed. The chapter then outlines what the history of refuge seeking in Africa might look like, using the examples of environmental collapse and conquest in eastern Africa from 1890 to 1920, the colonial bureaucratic management of refugees and refugee camps, and refugees from liberation movements against settler colonies in southern Africa. Sources for writing African refugee history are offered, including ones that highlight refugee voices and refugee agency.