Jaume Portell

Teaches Statistics — Data as a Raw Material

Jaume Portell is a journalist with a strong interest in economics and international relations, with a special focus on the African continent.

In 2015, he won a European award for his article “Les altres Europes”, in which he explained the link between African migrants arriving in Europe and the fishing treaties the EU had just signed with Senegal. Since then, he has visited and/or lived in Senegal, Gambia, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast, where he had the opportunity to cover his first Africa Cup of Nations football tournament.

In 2018, he won the 10th Casa África Essay Prize, an institution linked to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for “Un grano de cacao”, a piece about how cocoa and chocolate can serve to explain the past, present, and future of Euro-African relations. In 2023, he published “Per què no es queden a l’Àfrica?”, a chronicle analyzing the reasons behind migration from Senegal and Gambia to Spain.

As a freelance journalist, he has contributed to outlets such as The Guardian, The Continent, Ara, and the magazines Panenka, Sapiens, 5W, and Mundo Negro. On the radio, he collaborates on the program “Vostè Primer” on Rac1, where he comments on the political, economic, and cultural issues of various African countries. His analysis and development of statistics have enabled him to work with Casa África on database creation and, more recently, with Domestic Data Streamers on projects related to energy transition, green industrialization, and food sovereignty in African countries.

“Our entire lives are shaped by numbers. This course will theoretically explore how numbers can reveal—but also conceal—different realities. The practical component will focus on something as common in our daily lives as food. Students will be encouraged to explain the world by examining their refrigerator, and will be prompted to answer—and pose—questions like these: Why has manufacturing clothes in China drained the aquifers of central Catalonia? How did African workers end up there? How can we explain the world without leaving the supermarket?”

Fishing (Gambia): After the arrival of Chinese and Spanish ships, the Gambian coasts have lost much of the fish that once fed the local population.

Maize (Burkina Faso): Maize is a staple food for the poorest people in Burkina Faso. In rural areas, part of the maize harvest is used to brew beer for the French multinational company Castel, which originated in the former colonial power and produces the most popular beer brand in Burkina Faso. 

Football (Ivory Coast): In Yopougon, the most populous suburb of Abidjan, football is played everywhere. Against all odds, Ivory Coast will go on to win the African Cup in 2024. 

Rural school (Senegal): The inhabitants of Dandé live atop a mountain they must climb and descend every day to attend school in Dindefelo, in the poorest region of Senegal. Before they head down, they leave their bicycles resting under a tree. 

Ceebujën (Senegal): In Wolof, ‘ceeb u jën’ means rice with fish. It’s the national dish of Senegal, and as the price of both ingredients has risen, it has come to symbolise the roots of the migration crisis between Senegal and Spain.

President (Senegal): After an opposition victory, anti-establishment candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye has been sworn in as President of Senegal. In Ziguinchor, where many of his supporters live, people hope the new government will change their lives.

Rice (Gambia): Thanks to government-subsidised fertilisers, Musa Senghore, now in his seventies, has had his best harvest in years. Gambia imports 90% of the rice it consumes, but he is trying to buck this trend so the country can eat homegrown rice. 

Sankara (Burkina Faso): Captain Sankara ruled Burkina Faso for four years. He fought against foreign debt and called for the total economic liberation of Africans through a programme based on food self-sufficiency. Assassinated before the age of 40, he is now a legend in Burkina Faso.

Fishing (Gambia): After the arrival of Chinese and Spanish ships, the Gambian coasts have lost much of the fish that once fed the local population.

Maize (Burkina Faso): Maize is a staple food for the poorest people in Burkina Faso. In rural areas, part of the maize harvest is used to brew beer for the French multinational company Castel, which originated in the former colonial power and produces the most popular beer brand in Burkina Faso. 

Football (Ivory Coast): In Yopougon, the most populous suburb of Abidjan, football is played everywhere. Against all odds, Ivory Coast will go on to win the African Cup in 2024. 

Rural school (Senegal): The inhabitants of Dandé live atop a mountain they must climb and descend every day to attend school in Dindefelo, in the poorest region of Senegal. Before they head down, they leave their bicycles resting under a tree. 

Ceebujën (Senegal): In Wolof, ‘ceeb u jën’ means rice with fish. It’s the national dish of Senegal, and as the price of both ingredients has risen, it has come to symbolise the roots of the migration crisis between Senegal and Spain.

President (Senegal): After an opposition victory, anti-establishment candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye has been sworn in as President of Senegal. In Ziguinchor, where many of his supporters live, people hope the new government will change their lives.

Rice (Gambia): Thanks to government-subsidised fertilisers, Musa Senghore, now in his seventies, has had his best harvest in years. Gambia imports 90% of the rice it consumes, but he is trying to buck this trend so the country can eat homegrown rice. 

Sankara (Burkina Faso): Captain Sankara ruled Burkina Faso for four years. He fought against foreign debt and called for the total economic liberation of Africans through a programme based on food self-sufficiency. Assassinated before the age of 40, he is now a legend in Burkina Faso.

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