China–Africa Encounters: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Realities

Abstract

This review uses multilingual sources to illuminate China–Africa encounters in historical, socialist, and postsocialist contexts. It emphasizes interregional connections over time and uses nuanced ethnographic accounts to complement macrogeopolitical analyses. The article focuses on mutual stereotypes as well as on the negotiation of social and cultural barriers in everyday life. It challenges static, bounded conceptual categories in social science and policy research. The ethnographic studies cited highlight the complexities of human agency and historical legacies on the ground and show the contested democratization of space and opportunities that ensue both when Africans enter Chinese social fields and vice versa. In the process, these examples force us to rethink analytical assumptions about mobility, hierarchy, and political economy in ways that complicate Cold War–derived understandings of both China and Africa.

Whither West Asia? Exploring North–South perspectives on Eurasia

“…The Caucasus and the Levant, for instance, are regions of the world that enjoy historic ties to one another yet that under the rubric of area studies rubric and Cold War dynamics were divided in relationship to different cultural areas: the Middle East and Eurasia (e.g., Nunan, 2011). More recently, Siu and McGovern (2017) have also pointed to the important mediating role of West Asia in the historical establishment of connectivity between Africa and East Asia—a mediating role that historians have also recognized as being critical in the deeper past (Sen, 2016). Thus, the category of West Asia is helpful because it moves away from the exceptionalism that is inherent in the notion of “the Middle East.” Instead, West Asia highlights the need to better understand the connections, ties, and circulations between this context and other parts of Asia.…”

Made in China, fashioned in Africa: ethnic dress in Ethiopia and Mozambique

“…Heated debates and whispered rumours surrounding Chinese imports notwithstanding, Chinese-made commodities have found eager buyers across Africa. From footwear (Dobler 2008) and jewellery (Haugen 2017) to medicine (Hsu 2007) and motorcycles (Siu and McGovern 2017), Chinese commodities sell well. Many Mozambican and Ethiopian customers, especially those with fewer means, embrace the ‘Made in China’ brand, yet not without restyling the logo.…”

A world of cheapness: Affordability, shoddiness, and second‐best options in Guinea and China

“…In Guinea, as elsewhere in Africa and around the world, inexpensive goods from China have changed people's everyday lives, transformed landscapes, shifted ambitions for travel and business, and introduced new forms of risk for local traders (Colloredo‐Mansfield ; Kuo ; Sylvanus ). The entry of Chinese sellers and goods into African markets has resulted in what Siu and McGovern () call “contested democratization,” in which lower prices enable more African traders to do business, but established African traders resent their businesses being undercut. Likewise, low prices give African consumers access to more commodities, but many of these consumers complain about the inferior quality of inexpensive Chinese products (Siu and McGovern , 344–47).…”

“…The entry of Chinese sellers and goods into African markets has resulted in what Siu and McGovern () call “contested democratization,” in which lower prices enable more African traders to do business, but established African traders resent their businesses being undercut. Likewise, low prices give African consumers access to more commodities, but many of these consumers complain about the inferior quality of inexpensive Chinese products (Siu and McGovern , 344–47).…”

“…However, over years of visits between 2002 and 2010, I became interested in what appeared to be rapidly multiplying Chinese connections with Guinea. Guinea, like other formerly socialist African countries, has a long‐standing relationship with China, and many Guinean infrastructure projects—including the national stadium and a number of government buildings—were Chinese built (Siu and McGovern , 341–42). But throughout the 2000s, Guinean ties to China emerged in new forms.…”