text: I am Professor teaching ‘Identity and citizenship in Africa’ at the History Institute of Leiden University and at the African Studies Centre Leiden. For me academia should work for change in society. That is why I was enthusiastic to start the Voice4Thought Foundation. My research interests are in connectivity, mobility, and duress. My recent work also involved the understanding of (digitalised) artistic scenes in societies with limited freedom of expression
  What does Voice4Thought mean to you?
  Everyone’s thoughts are valuable, if you agree or disagree. Voice4Thought is a platform where these thoughts are voiced. This is very necessary in this world where freedom of speech is (increasingly) not a given. The combination of different forms of voice: popular, journalistic, academia, art, is a necessity. I believe in knowledge as a result of co-creation.