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Spelman College

Publication Date

Spring 2014

Program Name

China: Language, Cultures, and Ethnic Minorities

Abstract

Over the last decade there has been a huge increase in engagement between China and Africa across all fronts of foreign relations especially in the realms of trade, finance and migration. As China continues to push into Africa in pursuit of economic resources and diplomatic relations, many Africans are migrating to China and specifically Guangzhou in search of economic opportunity backed by cheap labor markets and the prospects for “low end globalization.”As the contemporary African presence in China is a relatively new phenomenon, so are the discourses surrounding its presence, discourses often relegated to the spheres of economics, boasting China as the destination for opportunity or the one-dimensional notion of “Africaness.”the concept which supports the single African experience. The concept of Africa in the context of China, and more specifically Guangzhou, is multifaceted. The failure to recognize the variegated nature of the African presence, of the African population and composition, and the failure to examine how factors such as economics, immigration policy and race ideology have affected the way Africans have chosen to facilitate their host space, results in the greater failure to delineate and engage some of the most extraordinary implications of 21st century globalization. This study aims to fill this gap.

Disciplines

Asian Studies | Chinese Studies | Demography, Population, and Ecology | International Relations | Politics and Social Change | Work, Economy and Organizations

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