This movie documents a specific form of internal African migrations by following a group of about 200 (semi-)nomadic fishermen in their yearly move towards their fishing grounds in Mali and Niger. Amongst the many fishermen that inhabit the riverbanks and islands scattered along the 4200 kilometres of the Niger river, the Kebbawa stand out for their peculiar transnational nomadic lifestyle and cyclic seasonal migration.
River Nomads is the first edited documentary of a trilogy. This part intends to answer the question of why Kebbawa fishermen are giving up their seasonal migration and nomadic lifestyle. The answers point towards multiple factors ranging from illiteracy to corruption, overfishing, shifts in religion and climate change.

The movie is part of an ongoing anthropological research about the migration-citizenship nexus by focusing on vernacular representations and practices of citizenship.

Lotte Pelckmans (AMIS, Copenhagen University) and Eric Hahonou (IDS, Roskilde University) are both anthropologists, having conducted research in West Africa (and the diaspora) on various issues ranging from the legacies of slavery, to citizenship, development, migration and security.

Centre for Advanced