Africa 2027
What does belonging look like?
Leaving at the end of December, I will spend a year traveling through West, North, East, and Southern Africa, following that question through communities, cultures, and everyday encounters.
I’ll look for belonging in the ordinary places where it is created and contested—in homes and marketplaces, volunteer communities and temporary friendships, moments of welcome and moments when difference cannot be ignored. I’ll also examine what I carry with me: my own expectations, identities, habits, and ideas about where and with whom I belong.
Through narrative essays, field notes, and video, I’ll document not only the places I visit, but the smaller moments through which connection is offered, withheld, negotiated, and recognized.
The Project
The year will unfold in five broad phases: West Africa from January through March, Morocco in April and May, East Africa in June and July, Southern Africa from August through October, and Ethiopia in November and December.
This is not an attempt to capture or explain a continent. It is a path through particular places, each with its own histories, languages, communities, and ways of life.
This project will combine longer stays with periods of movement. At different points, I will live in neighborhoods, volunteer with community and conservation organizations, travel overland, and undertake physical challenges—including climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
Some experiences have been planned carefully. Others will emerge only after I arrive. The route provides the structure; what happens within it will shape the work.
Following the Question
This project is not built around formal interviews or the search for one definitive answer. I am interested in what can be noticed through everyday life: who is welcomed, who is known, how people move through shared spaces, and what changes when I am the visitor.
I will pay attention to encounters in homes, neighborhoods, marketplaces, volunteer communities, public transportation, and the temporary communities created by travel. I will also examine my own participation—when I feel connected, when I remain outside, what I misunderstand, and how my expectations shape what I see.
The work will take several forms: field notes written close to the moment, narrative essays that allow the questions to deepen over time, and videos that document the physical and everyday realities of the project.
Follow the Project
Africa 2027 will unfold across several notebooks.
Designing a Place-Based Inquiry documents the questions, choices, preparations, and uncertainties shaping the project before departure.
Stories from the Field holds narrative essays about belonging, identity, and the encounters that give the larger inquiry its meaning.
The Travel Log records the places, routes, and movement of the project.
My YouTube Channel, The Geography of Connection, will offer a more immediate view of the experience—from preparing for Kilimanjaro to the ordinary, difficult, surprising, and occasionally ridiculous moments of spending a year in motion.
Support the Project
Africa 2027 is an independently created writing and documentary project. Contributions help support the practical work of documenting the year, including local transportation, extended stays, equipment, and the time required to write and produce the work.
If you would like to help make the project possible, you can contribute once or become a monthly supporter.