(In)visibility of African borders: a decolonial examination of the African Union's boundary practices.

This article examines how the African Union's (AU) boundary practices influence the visibility and invisibility of borders in Africa through a decolonial lens. It argues that despite the AU's anti-colonial rhetoric, its legal, discursive, and policy frameworks largely reinforce the fixed international borders established by European colonial powers during the 1884–5 Berlin Conference, while marginalizing indigenous African border concepts—referred to as "people's borders"—which are fluid, socially constructed, and community-centered. The AU's adoption of European border templates, security paradigms, and border management practices, often supported by European donors and experts, perpetuates colonial legacies, undermines indigenous sovereignty, and hampers regional integration and cooperation. The article highlights the implications of these boundary practices for African borderland communities, intra-African relations, and the continent's broader political and economic integration goals, calling for a paradigm shift toward recognizing and incorporating indigenous African boundary-making traditions.