The Chinese in Africa/Africans in China Research Network is the world's largest independent, interdisciplinary, research network dedicated to China-Africa engagements. Established in 2007, the network currently hosts over 1,000 members around the world (on our combined listserv and WeChat groups) and includes experts in academia, diplomacy, media & communications, the arts & humanities, and international development.
The Network's mission is to help move the global conversation about China-Africa forward in a critical and constructive way while developing a transnational community of scholars and practitioners who value dialogue, equity, and inclusiveness. Our primary goals are to facilitate intellectual exchange, promote academic research, and share information about engagements between China and the African continent.
We host a website, a listserv, and a WeChat group; we organize panels at international conferences, host our own CA/AC conference every second year, and organize other China-Africa events around the globe; we facilitate the publication of members' research in the media, online and open access platforms, and academic journals and books; and we work closely with other China-Africa and Africa-Asia institutions and networks and the media.
The mission of the CA/AC Research Network is to promote debate and cutting-edge research and ideas about China-Africa issues by supporting and encouraging the work of international scholars, students, media professionals and practitioners who are engaged in this growing field. We do this through our various networking activities.
The CA/AC Research Network provides the only independent and international platform for real-time discussions, interactive debates, and insightful knowledge-sharing through the use of digital media and conferences. We foster exchange and discussion about the growing relationship between Chinese and Africans through an active community of researchers and experts in a Google group listserv and a WeChat group. Beyond our network, we also offer knowledge, experience, and expertise from the field to a wider interested public. And through this website, we hope to share these resources with the students, scholars, and the general public.
In addition to providing two dynamic interactive virtual platforms where members meet, debate, inquire, and stay in touch, the CA/AC Research Network organizes conferences, workshops, and events around the world. These events have spurred dozens of publications, including special issues of African & Asian Studies Journal, Journal of Contemporary China, African Studies Review, the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, Journal of African Cultural Studies, and the Journal of Chinese Overseas. In addition, we provide the media with nuanced analysis and informed perspectives based on extensive field research.
In 2007, in response to both the increasingly polarized media coverage of the "China-in-Africa" narrative and the dearth of scholarship on the people-to-people experience, a small group of scholars – at the time based in southern Africa (at the University of Johannesburg, the University of Pretoria, the Centre for Chinese Studies, the South African Institute of International Affairs, and the African Labour Research Network) and Hong Kong (at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the University of Hong Kong) – decided to form a small research working group focused on grounded, empirical research with the aim of learning what was happening at the grassroots level and hoping to provide alternative narratives. We raised some funds, conducted several independent and joint research projects, and organized a conference to present our findings and meet with other scholars working in the growing field.
The first small international working conference, hosted by the University of Johannesburg in 2009, attracted a group of about 3 dozen scholars from around the globe. In keeping with the grassroots nature of the initial research working group, we also hosted a public event inviting members of the local Chinese South African community to participate and share their experiences. Post-conference, our China-Africa network grew to about 30 China-African researchers and has continued to expand, mostly by word of mouth. Initially maintaining contact via email, we decided to start a listserv (via Google Groups) once the membership topped 100 in 2010. In response to increasing numbers of Chinese members (and members based in China) we also launched a WeChat group in 2018.
For over a decade the Network membership has continued to grow, organically, year-on-year, as more and more researchers and practitioners turned their attention to China and Africa engagement. With a core of dedicated sociologists, anthropologists, human geographers, and ethnographers who retain a focus on the people-to-people aspects of China-Africa engagement, the Network's membership currently represents a broad range of China-Africa researchers and practitioners including people from media and communications, the arts, as well as development, environment, and security-focused organizations. Today, we have over 1,200 members across our listserv and WeChat platforms.
Since our first conference, we have found institutional hosts and secured funding to hold conferences every 2-3 years. Our CA/AC conferences have been hosted by the Center for Sociological Research at the University of Johannesburg (2009); Monash University, South Africa campus (2012); Jinan University, Guangzhou (2014); The Graduate School of Media and Communications of Aga Khan University, Nairobi (2016); and the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels (2018). Our planned 2020 conference, to be hosted by Lingnan University in Hong Kong, has been rescheduled to July 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to organizing our own conferences, we have organized other international conferences including the International Convention of Asia Scholars, the Association for Asian Studies, the African Studies Association, American Anthropological Association, the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Association of Asia Studies in Africa, and the International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas. Several of these conferences and conference panels have resulted in special journal issues, edited volumes, and numerous scholarly articles.
From 2013 through 2016 the CA/AC Research Network partnered with the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), known for its work as a social sciences incubator. With generous support from the Henry Luce Foundation, we worked with the SSRC to establish the China-Africa Knowledge Project Research Hub. In addition to creating a website, we hosted a conference with Yale University, created an advisory body, and began to consolidate our institutional partnerships.
In 2017, the CA/AC registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the state of Maryland and received our US tax-exempt status (EIN 82-1781039). We also began a relationship with the African and Asian Studies Centers at Michigan State University to host our new website. In mid-2021, the African Studies Center also agreed to serve as the Network's administrative and communications headquarters. We are currently seeking funding to consolidate this partnership, strengthen our networks, and expand our activities.
Since our founding, the CA/AC Research Network has nurtured a unique international community of scholars and practitioners, dedicated to research-based, independent scholarship and work. From our modest beginnings in Johannesburg, South Africa, we aim to strengthen and support our African partners as we continue to provide leadership to this growing global community.
The strength of the CA/AC Research Network is attributed to the researchers and practitioners around the globe who work collaboratively to build connections across disciplines and regions. You can find additional information below about our Executive Director, Executive Board, and Institutional Partners.
Executive Director and Co-Founder
Program Director, Africa-China Initiative
Adjunct Professor, African Studies, Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Yoon Jung Park is a leader in the growing field of China/Africa studies and one of the foremost experts of Chinese people in Southern Africa. She is the author of A Matter of Honour: Being Chinese in South Africa (Jacana/Lexington Books) and dozens of articles and book chapters in scholarly publications including African Studies Review, African Studies, African & Asian Studies, The Journal of Chinese Overseas, Transformation, and the Journal of Ethnic and Migrations Studies (forthcoming). She has also edited and co-edited several special China-Africa issues of respected journals. She is currently completing her second book, focused on "new" Chinese migrants in Africa. Park has affiliations at the Sociology Department at Rhodes University (South Africa) and African Studies at Georgetown University (Washington, DC). She has taught at the University of the Witwatersrand (or Wits), University of Johannesburg, American University, and Howard University. She holds degrees from Wits (PhD, Sociology), the Fletcher School (MA, International Affairs), and Pitzer College (BA, Sociology/Women's Studies). She was born in Seoul; grew up in Los Angeles; lived much of her adult life in Johannesburg (1994-2000, 2003-2010) and Nairobi (2000-2003); and is currently based in the greater Washington, DC area. She has also lived in Cuernavaca (Mexico), Boston, San Jose (Costa Rica).
Park's work sits at the intersections of migration studies, Africa and China studies, work on the Global South, and identity studies. Her research focuses on ethnic Chinese in southern Africa and perceptions of Chinese people by local communities, centering on transnational migration, race/ethnicity/identity, race/class/power, gender, affirmative action, and xenophobia.
Dr. Obert Hodzi, Chair
Obert Hodzi is a lecturer in Politics at the University of Liverpool, UK, with research interests in the politics of human rights and development, and non-Western emerging powers in global governance with empirical expertise in China and Africa. He is author of the book The End of a Non-Intervention Era: China in African Civil Wars (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) and editor of Chinese in Africa: 'Chineseness' and the Complexities of Identities (Routledge, 2020). Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He has been a visiting researcher at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies, Nordic Africa Institute, Renmin University of China, and the African Studies Centre at Boston University. He also worked for international and regional organizations in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Germany on democratic governance and transitional justice projects – and is admitted as a legal practitioner in the High Court of Zimbabwe.
Winslow Robertson is a PhD candidate in Managing People in Organizations at IESE Business School researching the intersection between ideology and management. His public-facing work has appeared in The Washington Post's Monkey Cage, African Arguments, and Africa Is a Country. In addition, he is the founder and managing member of Cowries and Rice, a China-Africa strategic consultancy which promotes sustainable business practices by Chinese organizations operating in the African continent.
Lina Benabdallah is an assistant professor of Politics and International Affairs at Wake Forest University. She is the author of Shaping the Future of Power: Knowledge Production and Network-Building in China-Africa Relations. Her research has appeared in several academic journals including International Studies Quarterly, the Journal of International Relations and Development, Third World Quarterly, African Studies Quarterly, and Project on Middle East Political Science, as well as in public facing outlets such as The Washington Post's Monkey Cage and Foreign Policy. Dr. Benabdallah is also a Johns Hopkins China Africa Research Initiative research associate and a contributing editor for Africa Is a Country. She earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Florida in 2017 and has conducted fieldwork in Beijing, Jinhua, Addis Ababa, Nairobi, and Bamako.
Ding Fei is a senior research associate and lecturer in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University. As a development and economic geographer, Fei has areas of expertise in political economy of development, global production networks, capital-labor relations, South-South migration, and China-Africa relations. Her research elucidates the structures, processes, agencies, and relationalities that shape Chinese overseas investment, and assesses Chinese impacts on achieving the three Sustainable Development Goals of promoting productive employment and decent work, facilitating inclusive industrialization, and reducing inequality in Africa. She received her doctoral and master's degrees from the Department of Geography, Environment and Society at the University of Minnesota
Vera Leigh Fennell is an Associate Professor of Political Science and an associated member of the Global Studies Program at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She has lived and studied in both Taiwan, the Republic of China and in the People's Republic of China. Vera graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. in East Asian Studies. Her dissertation, "Just a Stitch in the Political Fabric", analyzed the role of gender in the formation of small private businesses in Beijing under Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms. She was a faculty member in the Political Science Department at Colorado College and received a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Minnesota's Herbert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, where she began researching the Cold War era relationship between the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Tsetung and African nationalists seeking to establish black-rules states and African-Americans seeking full legal and social incorporation in the American body-politic. Her book on this subject, Reading Black through Red: Blackness as China's Cold War Era 'Soft Power,' will be published by Oxford University Press.
Rirhandu Mageza-Barthel is a Professor for Peace and Development Studies at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Prior to this she held the chair for International Gender Politics at the University of Kassel (Germany). African-Chinese relations feature in her research, which centers on the normative dynamics of international relations and postcolonial politics. Among other publications, she is the author of Mobilizing Transnational Gender Politics in Post-Genocide Rwanda (Routledge, 2015) and co-editor of Afrasian Transformations: Transregional Perspectives on Development Cooperation, Social Mobility, and Cultural Change (Brill, 2020). She serves as Academic Editor of Third World Quarterly and Co-Editor of the Routledge Book Series: Gender in a Global/Local World.
Mark Kwaku Mensah Obeng applies qualitative research techniques to explore the people-to-people exchanges between Chinese and African actors. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Ghana, Legon where he currently serves as a Senior Lecturer. His research focuses on areas such as the economy, consumption, formal education, and the emergence of the new elite. His PhD dissertation focused on the transnational economic activities of Ghanaian traders involved in the importation and distribution of Made-in-China products in the country. This saw him travel with some traders from Accra to Guangzhou and Yiwu as they embarked on their economic activities. His recent publications have appeared in Asian Ethnicity, Canadian Journal of African Studies, Contemporary Journal of African Studies, Review of Social Studies, Legon Journal of Sociology and Cogent Social Sciences. His ongoing research titled 'Deconstructing the uptake of Made-in-China products' is supported by the Building Africa's Next Generation of Academics project (BANGA-AFRICA) of the University of Ghana with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Mark is also a recipient of the Just Tech Covid-19 Rapid Response Grant from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), USA. Mark was a postdoctoral research fellow at the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, University of South Florida, USA. He is also a research fellow at the Afro-Sino Center of International Relations.
Isaac Odoom is an Assistant Professor of Political Science specializing in International Relations and the Politics of Development in the Global South with a focus on Africa. Dr. Odoom attained his PhD in Political Science (International Relations and Comparative Development) from the University of Alberta, Canada. He is also a Non-Resident Fellow at The Centre for Asian Studies, University of Ghana, Accra; and was a Visiting Researcher at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies, Beijing, China. Prior to joining the Department of Political Science at Carleton, he taught at the University of Alberta, Grant MacEwan University, Concordia University of Edmonton, and Lancaster University (Accra Campus). Dr. Odoom's research program primarily focuses on African Politics, International Development, Africa-China relations, China's foreign policy, Rising Powers in Global governance, South-South Cooperation, and the Political Economy of Development in the Global South. He is also interested in Critical International Relations and critical pedagogy, particularly questions around academic dependency and decolonization in higher education. His work on these themes have been published in co-edited volumes, several book chapters and peer-reviewed articles in leading journals such as the Third World Quarterly, Journal of Asian and African Studies, African Review of Economics and Finance. Dr. Odoom's ongoing research examines the influence of 'New' Development Actors, with a focus on the role of African agency in shaping Africa-China development relations, and the impact of Chinese energy and technology investments in Canada and across Africa.
Jodie Yuzhou Sun is Senior Lecturer in Modern African and Global History at the Department of History, Fudan University, China. She is also a Research Fellow at the International Studies Group, University of the Free State, South Africa. Previously, she was Assistant Research Fellow at the School of International Studies, University of Nottingham Ningbo China. She holds an MSc in African Studies and a DPhil in History from the University of Oxford. Her research interests are China-Africa relations, modern African history and Cold War history in the global South. She is author of the book Kenya and Zambia's Relations with China 1949-2019 (James Currey, 2023). She has published in Cold War History, Journal of Southern African Studies and International Journal of African Historical Studies. She is the recipient of Shanghai Pujiang Programme and Shanghai University Think Tank Fund from Shanghai Municipal Government.
Dr. Liang Xu
Liang Xu is Assistant Professor at the School of International Studies of Peking University and serves as Secretary-General of the Peking University Center for African Studies. Liang's research and teaching interests include the social history of Africa, Chinese diaspora in Africa, and China-Africa relations. His research has appeared in several academic journals, including The China Quarterly, Economic History of Developing Regions (South Africa), Asian Ethnicity, and West Asia and Africa (Chinese), as well as edited volumes such as Oxford Handbook of Africa and Economics. Liang earned a Ph.D. in African History from Harvard University in 2017. He also holds a Ph.D. in International Relations (Peking, 2010) and a BA in International Relations (Peking, 2005).
Chris ALDEN
Professor, Department of International Relations and Director of LSE IDEAS, The London School of Economics and Political Science; Associate Senior Research Fellow on South African Foreign Policy and China-Africa Relations, South African Institute of International Affairs
Solange Guo CHATELARD
Associate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
Michael CHEGE
Professor of African Development Studies, Institute of Development and International Studies, University of Nairobi
Anna Ying CHEN
CFO, Elleyhill Holdings, South Africa
Fantu CHERU
Professor Emeritus, School of International Service, American University; Senior Researcher at the African Studies Centre, Leiden University (The Netherlands); Associate Senior Fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
Mamadou DIAWARA
Professor, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Goethe University; and Director, Point Sud, Bamako
Heidi Østbø HAUGEN
Professor of China Studies, University of Oslo
HE Wenping
Professor and Research Program Director of African Studies Section, Institute of West Asian & African Studies at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Beijing)
Evelyn HU-DEHART
Professor of History and Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, Brown University
Tu HUYNH
Associated Researcher and Principal Investigator, University of Cologne's Global South Studies Center
LI Anshan
Director of the Institute of Afro-Asian Studies, SIS, Peking University and Vice-president of the Chinese Society of African Historical Studies
LIU Haifang
Associate Professor of History, School of International Studies, Peking University
Kgomotso MOAHI
Full professor and Deputy Vice Chancellor for student services, Botswana Open University
Jamie MONSON
Professor of History, Michigan State University
Sanusha NAIDU
Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Global Dialogue, UNISA (South Africa)
Pál NYIRI
Professor, Faculty of Humanities, Art and Culture, History, Antiquity and Faculty of Social Sciences, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universteit Amsterdam
Thierry PAIRAULT
Emeritus Research Director, French National Centre for Scientific Research
Frank PIEKE
Professor, Modern Chinese Studies, University of Leiden
Barry SAUTMAN
Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Bob Job WEKESA
Partnerships, research and communications coordinator at the African Centre for the Study of the United States based at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
YAN Hairong
Associate Professor, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
ZHANG Zhenjiang
Professor of International Relations; Dean, School of International Studies/the Academy of Overseas Chinese, Jinan University
The following calls for papers and events may be of interest to researchers and students studying Africa-China relations. They are listed in reverse chronological order with upcoming events and submission deadlines at the top; please scroll down for past events.
2023 CA/AC Early Career Scholars' Workshop, 7-8 December 2023 in Accra. Deadline June 1 2023.
ASCIR-CA/AC Network Writing Fellowship 2023. Deadline April 20th.
University of Exeter, Global China Research Centre Graduate and ECR Seminar Series Summer Term 2023 Call for Abstracts
Call for chapters for edited volume, The Pros and Cons of China and the Chinese in Africa
Global Africa call for special issue Theorizing for the Present and the Future: Africa, Knowledge creation, and Global Challenges
Africa-China Reporting Project, Call for submissions: Africa–China Photo Exhibition 2023, deadline August 3rd 2023
Special Issue in International Feminist Journal of Politics Feminist and Queer Critiques of Multiple Empires: The Case of Sinophone Asia, complete manuscript due March 1st, 2022.
United States Institute of Peace, Request for Proposal: Chinese and Russian Private Security Firms in Africa. Deadline February 24th.
Pécs African Studies Conference series "Afro-Asian Relations in the Post-COVID Era," a Hybrid International Event, April 27-28 2023 in Pécs, Hungary. Deadline January 29
The University of Calabar and the New York African Studies Association, Decolonizing Global Hegemonies in Africa and the African Diaspora, Pre-Conference: June 26 - 27, Conference: June 28 to July 1, 2023. The University of Calabar, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. Deadline January 27th, 2023.
Intersecting Asias: Reflections on Connections and Mobility 34th Asian Studies Graduate Student Conference at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, April 27–28, 2023. Abstract deadline January 25th, 2023.
Yale University, After Bandung: Africa and China in a New Era, April 21-22, 2023. Deadline January 20th
Decolonising the 'Long Boom': New Histories of the Global South, 1945-1990, abstracts due 15 January 2023. Online workshop, 6-7 April 2023
University of Oxford International History of East Asia Seminar, Hilary Term 2023. Deadline January 8th.
Decolonization's Discontents: Dissent and Opposition in the Aftermath of Independence (22-23 September 2023). Deadline January 2nd.
The 7th Annual Lagos Studies Association Conference, Postcolonial Security Regimes in Africa: Mandates, Approaches, Challenges, and Prospects Hybrid (In person, University of Lagos and Virtual), June 20-24, 2023. Deadline January 1st.
The University of Exeter Global China Research Centre Call for Abstracts: Global China Research Centre Graduate and ECR Seminar Series. Deadline December 9th.
Journal Territory, Politics, Governance - a Special Issue on Africa under Construction: Critical Perspectives on Infrastructure and Labour. Deadline November 4th 2022.
South Asia Global History Network (SAGHN) 1st Annual Workshop Writing Global History: Perspectives from Global South, 12th-14th January 2023 [Online event]. Deadline November 1st.
Call for proposals, Book Series: Changing Dynamics in Asia-Middle East Relations
2023 Berkeley-Stanford Graduate Student Conference in Modern Chinese Humanities, deadline November 21st
Worlds Apart? Futures of Global History, Vienna, 25-26 May 2023. Deadline September 30th.
The 10th East Asian Regional Conference in Alternative Geography, Taipei, December 2022. Deadline September 22nd
2023 AAAS Verge-sponsored Panels, deadline September 19th
Thinking China and Circulation: Beyond Borders / In Translation / Across Adaptation, October 20-22, 2022. Deadline September 1st.
Oceans and Empires: Sinophone Crossroads in Global Space and Time, The 2nd Biennial Conference of the Society of Sinophone Studies, 5/12—5/14/2023 Penn State University. Deadline August 31st.
Verge: Studies in Global Asias Issue 10.2, Special Issue: "Archipelagic Asias" Edited by Nicolai Volland (Penn State) and Leo Ching (Duke) Proposals deadline: September 9, 2022, Essays: June 2, 2023
Call for proposals for new book series, Urban Africa Book Series, International African Institute
Call for proposals for Global Anti-Asian Racism volume. Abstracts due on Oct 1, 2022.
Call for contributions 浙江师范大学《非洲区域国别学系列丛书》deadline July 30th.
Call for proposals for new book series Diasporas in Asia and Beyond Amsterdam University Press
Bootcamp for Early Career Academics: "Money and Monetary Institutions in Africa." Deadline July 29th.
Special Issue for Transitions: Journal of Transient Migration "The End of Migration? What may the future of international migration look like..." Abstracts due July 2022
Journal of China-Africa Studies call for papers
Call for papers for a special issue of the EJIR: China's influence on industrial relations in Europe and beyond. Deadline June 30th 2022.
Call for contributions to an edited volume: China and Taiwan in Latin America and the Caribbean, abstract deadline June 15th
ISSCO, Diasporic Futures: Sinophobia, Techno-Political Strife, and the Politics of Care, November 11-12, 2022, San Francisco. Official Languages of the Conference: English, Chinese, and Spanish. Deadline May 30th.
Southwest Workshop on Mixed Methods Research, October 27th-28th 2022, University of Notre Dame. Deadline May 2nd.
Call for book proposals: Queering China: Transnational Genders and Sexualities, a new Bloomsbury Book Series
Seventh Critical Studies Conference, Migrant Asias: Refugees, Statelessness and Migrant Labour Regimes, 24-26 August 2022 Kolkata, India. Abstract deadline April 30th.
SSRC Collaborative Research Development Workshops on Asia, deadline April 22, 2022. For early-career scholars based in the US and Asia, all fields of social sciences and humanities. The workshop will be held virtually in June 2022.
ASMEA Travel and Research Grant Opportunities for its 15th annual conference in Washington, D.C. on November 5 - 7, 2022. Deadline April 15th.
Revue internationale des études du développement n°251 (2023-1), « Décentrer l'analyse des relations afro-chinoises » /"Decentering the analysis of Africa-China relations" (submissions accepted in French, English, and Spanish). Proposals due April 8th.
25th International Metropolis Conference Berlin, Changing Migration, Migration in Change. September 4th-9th 2022, Berlin. Deadline March 31st, 2022.
November 2022 workshop: Historical and scalar dimensions of contemporary mobility practices in urban Africa, African Urban Mobilities: Past, Present and Future (AUM) network. Deadline March 17th.
The rise of China and the re-scaling of global development politics. Development Studies Association Annual conference, 6-8 July 2022. Deadline March 4th.
Property and Being under Colonial Conditions in Asia and Africa, May 9th and 10th, 2022, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (In-person conference, COVID-19 situation permitting), deadline March 1st.
William & Mary, AidData, Separating fact from fiction: China's growing global influence and its implications, April 13-15 2022. Abstracts due February 1st.
Call for proposals: Crossing Seas Series (Hong Kong University Press). The series brings together books that investigate Chinese migration from the migrants' perspective.
Remapping the feminist global: A multi-vocal, multi-located conversation International Feminist Journal of Politics-Asian Center for Women's Studies Ewha Womans University Hybrid Conference, deadline January 30th.
Workshop on Regional and Cross-Regional LGBTQ Advocacy in the Global South: Challenges, Opportunities and Significance. Hosted by the Collaborative Digital Research Space at the University of Toronto Mississauga and will be held May 10, 2022 via zoom. Deadline January 4 2022.
For PhDs and early career researchers: LSE HY509 International History Research Seminar. Virtual weekly seminars from January through March 2022.
CFP for working group Putting the win-win narrative to test: Vulnerabilities and power relations in China’s engagement in the global south, Development Days 2022, Helsinki, 17-18 February 2022. Deadline November 19th.
2022 Berkeley-Stanford Graduate Student Conference in Modern Chinese Humanities, UC Berkeley, April 22nd-23rd 2022. Deadline November 12th.
Workshop for emerging scholars, Under-Mapped Spaces: New Methods and Tools for Critical Storytelling with Maps, Stanford, February 28th-March 4th 2022. Deadline November 12th.
ASCIR, China-Trained African Professionals Series: "Sharing the China Experience- Opportunities and Challenges across the continent and industries." April 28th, 3:30 GMT
Pécs-African Studies Conference Series Afro-Asian Relations in the Post-COVID Era, April 27-28, 2023
Georgetown University Africa-China Initiative, Russian and Chinese Actors in Africa's Security Landscapes, April 21st 9am EDT
Kiehl Institute, Global China Conversations #20: Hidden Debts and Defaults: A Chinese Debt Trap for Africa? April 20th, 11am
LSE-Fudan Research Centre for Global Public Policy, China and the World Seminar Series
LSE Global South Unit, Why is Illegal Chinese Mining Persistent in Ghana? April 19th, 1pm GMT
Princeton University, Shaping Africa-Asia Partnerships: The Role of Entrepreneurship, Technology and Innovation Apr 6, 2023, 4:30 pm
Carnegie Africa Program, Will Africa Shape US-China Strategic Competition? March 28th, 11am EDT
China-Africa Shanghai International Network (a CA/AC Local Network Chapter) Crossing Oceans and Breaking Ice/中非文化沙龙 March 25th, 14:00-17:00, No. 300 Yunjin Road, Xuhui. 130m from Exit 7 of Yunjin Station, Line 11, Shanghai
Georgetown University, China's Foreign Aid and Investment in Africa, March 24th, 9am EDT
University of Alberta, "Disruptive Futures: What the Anthropology of Africa-Asia can tell us about Western Hegemony" March 23, 2023, 9pm EST
Africa-China Reporting Project and China Global South Project, Knowledge on China: A Workshop for African Journalists 20 March 2023 7am EST
University of Nairobi, Perceptions of China and Western Donors in Kenya, March 9th, 2pm EAT
Boston University Global Development Policy Center, Interpreting Data and Data Sources: Tracking China's Overseas Lending, Development Finance and Global Energy Finance Databases March 8th, 8am EST
Carleton University, Outside gentility, home cry: The Progress and Problem with Ghana's Democracy and the Role of China, Wednesday, Mar. 8, 1 to 2.30 p.m EST. In-person 433 Paterson Hall, History Lounge, and online
Penn State African Studies Program, Third World Crossings: Afro-Asian Travelogues in the early 1960s with Jodie Yuzhou Sun. March 3rd, 9am EDT
Africa-China Initiative, Africa-China Engagement as seen through the arts, culture, and media, hybrid event. February 24th, 9am EST.
ASCIR, Sharing the China Experience- Opportunities and Challenges of Integrating into the Ghanaian Job Market February 23rd, 11am GMT
Long US-China Institute 2023 Distinguished Lecture "Between China and Africa: A Talk by Howard French," moderated by Jeffrey Wasserstrom, UC Irvine, Thursday, February 9, 4-5:30PM, Humanities Gateway 1030
Boston University, A New Era? China's Overseas Development Finance (CODF) Database, 2023 Update, January 26th 10am EST.
Séminaire « Présences chinoises » Doraleh : Le différend Djibouti-Dubaï dans l'ère de la BRI par Benjamin Barton (University of Nottingham Malaysia) avec la participation de Sonia Le Gouriellec (IC de Lille), jeudi 19 janvier 2023 de 9h à 11h
ASCIR, Africa's Post Covid recovery: the role of China through the FOCAC nine programmes- Ghana as a case study, Tuesday 6th December, 6am EST/ 11am GMT
Georgetown University Africa-China Initiative Beyond the Belt & Road Initiative Narratives: Examining Chinese contractors, African governments, and other African actors in Africa-China infrastructure engagements 2 December at 12:30 EST
Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences Chinese Business History Webinar Project Assemblages: Identity Realignment in the Construction Industry in China-Africa Encounters December 2, 2022, 9:00-10:00 am (HKT) / December 1, 2022 (Thu), 8:00-9:00 pm (EST)
Collectif pour le Renouveau Africain - CORA, Enhancing governance frameworks in Africa-China relations / Améliorer les cadres de gouvernance des relations Afrique-Chine December 1st 1pm GMT
Séminaire Présences chinoises, Vers une stratégie chinoise pour l'Afrique ? 16 novembre 15h (Paris time)
Boston University Global Development Policy Center, Diversifying the Belt and Road Initiative: The Rise of China's Overseas Development Investment Funds, November 8, 2022 9 AM EST
Georgetown's Africa-China Initiative November event: China's Confucius Institutes and European Counterparts in Africa and China's Public Diplomacy Strategies in Kenya, November 4th, 12:30 PM EST.
University of Florida China-Africa Working Group Cases of Evolving China-Africa Relations, November 3, 2022 10 AM EST
University of Florida China-Africa Working Group China and Health Diplomacy, October 27, 2022 10 AM EST
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Localization and China's Tech Success on Two Continents, Thursday, Oct 6; 9:00am – 10:00am EDT (online)
China, Europe, and the Changing Global Order seminar series, "The Chinese influence on land policy in Ethiopia," 6 October 2022, 12:30 BST
Merian Institute of Advanced Studies in Africa, University of Ghana, Between (and beyond) Aisha Huang and Stonebwoy: Towards Understanding Non-State Actors and Chinese Environmental Footprints in Ghana, October 4, 15:00 UTC (online)
Sino-African Confluences Center, "Putting Chinese and Cameroonian Sources into Conversation," September 24th, 2pm, Yaoundé, Cameroon (in-person).
Africa-China Initiative, "Flying Geese" or False Promises: Chinese Engagement in Nigeria's Manufacturing, September 23rd, 12:30pm EDT (online)
Australian National University George E. Morrison Lecture in Ethnology by Rana Mitter A Kite Flies Against the Wind: Internationalism, Identity, and Ideology in the Shaping of Postwar China, and the Legacy for Today, Thursday, 22 September, 6:00–7:30 pm (AEST), online
The National Bureau of Asian Research, Into Africa: China's Emerging Strategy, September 16th 10:30am EDT, online and in-person
Black China Caucus, Africa's Relationship with China: Where are we now? Sep 13, 2022 07:00 PM EDT (online)
Africa-China Reporting Project, Journalists Training on Africa-China Relations and the Climate Crisis, Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 10:00 AM SAST
Workshop on China's Digital Expansion in the Global South, 10am UK time on Thursday 21st July 2022.
中非智库论坛第十一届会议北大分议题：中非友好合作精神与新时代的中非关系 (Panel: Spirit of China-Africa Friendship and China-Africa Relations in the New Era) July 20-21st.
Shanghai Institute for International Studies, Africa's Debt Situation and China's Responses, July 14th 8pm GMT+8
Mingwei Huang, Follow the Surplus: drawing from ethnographic fieldwork on Chinese entrepreneurial migration to South Africa and highlighting what these practices mean to ordinary Chinese and African actors, 12 July 2022.
Center for China and Globalization 8th Annual Forum, June 19th-21st
Shanghai International Studies University, The 5th International Forum on China's Image and Global Communication, June 18th 2022
Zhejiang Normal University Institute of African Studies, 全球发展倡议"背景下中非经贸投融资合作研讨会, June 15th, 2022
Beijing Foreign Studies University African Studies Center, 《非洲非正式经济研究：以布基纳法索、贝宁和塞内加尔为例》June 15th, 2022
Joint Center for Advanced Studies, Global Conflicts, Global Collaboration: China in a Changing World Order, June 2nd to June 4th, 2022, Göttingen University.
UQAM, Roundtable: Afro-Asian Studies: Practices and Perspectives, May 24, 2022, 8:00 am (UTC-4).
Lingnan University, International Symposium: Africa-China Relations in the Post Covid-19 Era, 12-13 May 2022, online.
Atlantic Council, Report launch: China's discourse power operations in the Global South Wed, May 4, 2022, 11:00 AM ET
University of British Columbia, Afro-Chinese and Sino-African Media Flows in the Digital Space: A Story of Asymmetrical Proportions, April 29, 2022, 11:00 am PST
Center for Global Asia, Rethinking the Everyday: Approaching Asia-Africa through Daily Life and Popular Culture, April 29th 8pm Shanghai
Harvard Kennedy School, Africa in Focus: African Governments Navigating U.S. and China Relations, Apr. 28, 2022, 3:00pm EST
The Georgetown University's Africa-China Initiative, China's Engagement in Africa's Healthcare Systems, April 22nd 3pm EST
Foreign Policy Research Institute, Chinese Presence in Africa: A U.S. Perspective, April 20, 2022, 10:00am EST
China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI), Can China Seize Kenya's Port? The Case of Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway, April 14th, 9am EST
The Georgetown University's Africa-China Initiative, Contemporary China-Africa Political and Security Relations, April 1st 2pm EST
MSU African Studies Center, Africa-China Relations Panel Discussion with Dr. Carolyn Logan and Arhin Acheampong, Thursday, March 31, 4pm EST
Association for Global Political Thought, The indigenization of the concept of race in modern East Asia: What was/is minzu? March 31, 2022, 7:00pm EST
Peking University, Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development, Industrial Zones and Africa's Industrialization: What can be Learned from China? 20:00-21:30 Beijing time, March 29, Tuesday, 2022
HKIHSS Interdisciplinary Lunchtime Seminar: Cabo Verde-China Relations: How Can a Small State Navigate between Great Powers? 22 March 2022, 12:30 – 1:30 pm (HK Time)
The New School, Afro-Asian Solidarity Politics, Thursday, March 10, 2022, 6:00PM to 7:00PM (EST)
Simon Fraser University, History Written in Advance: Christian Prophecy, Chinese-Zambian Relations, and Diffracted Modernity, March 9th 10am PST
University of Michigan Ford School, Race in the development of the international relations discipline, Feb 23, 2022, 4:00-5:30 pm EST
10th online mini-symposium CAAC2021 Between the Cold War and the Third World: Toward a Transnational Archive of Literary Africa-China February 25th at 8:00am (GMT-5 New York)
Center for Global Higher Education, Africa-China and China-Africa: From knowledge diplomacy to research training Tuesday, 22 Feb 2022 14:00 - 15:00 London
Webinar: Academics Online: Digital Harassment Across Asias, Association for Asian Studies, February 16th, 3-5pm EST
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, How To Make China Adapt To Local Needs, Thursday, January 27, 2022, 11:00am - 12:00pm EST
2021-2022 Global Asias Cyber Chat series is now open, with several events scheduled for 2021 and 2022
CA/AC Online Mini-Symposium: Distances & Intimacies: African & Chinese Entanglements in Art, Heritage & Material Culture with Ruth Simbao, Lifang Zhang, Binjun Hu, & Jin Xi, Friday January 21st 2022, 9am EDT
United States Institute of Peace, Peace and Security Issues at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation: FOCAC's Missing Piece, January 19th 9am EST
Panel-discussion: Chinese Studies under the Eyes of the Communist Party? Self-censorship, Embedded Research and Ways to Discuss our Positionalities, The Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies (JEACS) and the Centre for Modern East Asian Studies (CeMEAS) at University of Göttingen, January 19th 6pm CET, virtual
The Second Forum on China and International Development, 开启全面合作新征程 共筑中非发展新时代 ("New Era of China-Africa Development: Journey to All-Round Cooperation"), January 13th.
Peking University Center for African Studies, 从"第三世界" 到 "全球南方"：文学与影像中的 "中非" (from "Third World" to "Global South": Understanding Africa-China in Literature and Cinema"), December 23rd, 3pm Beijing time, Peking University and online (Tencent meeting)
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Join Center for Advanced Studies, Workshop: Africa in Shifting Global Contexts: The Roles of China and the EU, December 14th-15th online
Shaping China's Narratives: How Journalists Report on China in the World, Harvard University Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Friday, December 3, 10 –11:15am EST
Understanding the Slogan of "Belt and Road Initiative" with Jinghan Zeng, Sigur Center for Asian Studies, December 2nd 10am EST.
China's role in the Multilateral Development Banks, ODI, November 30th, 2021, at 14:00-15:00 GMT
Academia and 'China Threat' Discourse, Contemporary China Centre University of Westminster, November 24th 7am EST
Africans' perceptions of Africa-China engagement: 34 countries' views, Afrobarometer, November 15th, 6am EST
The Production and Reproduction of Social Inequalities: Global Contexts and Concepts of Labor Exploitation, 11th and 12th November 2021, 1pm-4pm CET, online (please register with )
14th All India Conference of China Studies, November 11-13 2021, virtual, Institute of Chinese Studies
Chinese Factories and African Women Workers: A Gender, Race and Class-based Analysis Tsinghua University, Institute for International and Area Studies, November 5th, 3-5pm Beijing time (in person)
NRDC Report Launch Webinar: Scaling China's Green Energy Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa, October 29th, 11am Johannesburg
Black Transnationalism and Japan Conference | 29 Oct 2021 | Zoom | 15:00 - 20:00 BST
Connecting the World-Island: What will China's PEACE cable bring to Pakistan and East Africa? Davis Center, Harvard University, October 29th 10am EDT
Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) at 21 Years: Assessing Preparedness for a win-win Sino-Africa multilateral and bilateral collaborations Afro-Sino Centre of International Relations, October 21, 11am Harare/Pretoria
We have curated a collection of resources for students, teachers, researchers, and "followers" of the China-Africa relationship. Below you will find links to nearly everything you need to know about China-Africa research. We provide a rolling list of blogs, podcasts, and news sites; lists of selected course outlines/syllabi, curated reading lists, bibliographies, and visual media resources; and a current list of new books on China-Africa. We will try to update these once every few months.
Increasingly, institutions of higher learning are adding courses specifically on China-Africa to their curricula. Based on our research, Howard University's African Studies Department was one of the first, offering a course on China and Africa in the Spring of 2010. China-Africa (and related) courses are being offered in the US, the UK, China, France, Germany and South Africa in various languages, for undergraduates, graduates, and as short courses for professionals. We've listed them here by discipline.
As more of these come to our attention, we'll add them. Have you taken or taught a course that should be listed here? Please contact us.
Back when we first started studying China-Africa relations, you could literally read everything published. These days this is an impossible task and it can be overwhelming, especially for new researchers just entering the field. Therefore, we have joined with university partners to create these guided reading lists on selected topics relevant to the field.
These curated readings lists have been created by graduate students or by undergraduate students under the guidance of senior China-Africa scholars and provide a topic-specific and user-friendly way to start (or continue) your China-Africa education. These are not meant to be exhaustive lists of everything written on each country or thematic area/sector, but rather a thoughtful compilation of where to start with an introduction to some of the key issues, trends, and authors to follow.
The following list is a snapshot of some of the most informative websites and blogs that cover Africa-China topics.
The following podcasts in English, French, and Mandarin Chinese each cover China-Africa topics, and most also have accompanying websites and blogs that members will find useful.
The CA/AC does not accept responsibility or liability for the accuracy or the completeness of the information, materials, and links to other internet sites contained in this website. The CA/AC has no control over third party sites and, by continuing to access this site, the user hereby acknowledges and agrees that the CA/AC is not held responsible or liable for any content or material on such sites. In providing such links, the CA/AC does not in any way, expressly or implicitly, endorse the linked sites or resources or the respective contents thereof. We also do not claim to provide an exhaustive list of resources, so if you know of something that we've left off or have suggestions of items we should add to our resources pages, please contact us.
The SAIS China Africa Research Initiative (SAIS-CARI), based at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington D.C., was launched in 2014. CARI was set up to promote evidence-based understanding of the relations between China and African countries through high quality data collection, field research, conferences, and collaboration. Under the leadership of Deborah Brautigam, CARI has served as an irreplaceable resource, a vibrant meeting place, and a source of support for emerging and senior scholars alike.
We wanted to ensure that CARI's vital resources remain available to China-Africa researchers, students, and general audiences. To that end, we have arranged to host CARI resources (publications, videos of past events, and non-loans based data on Chinese activities in Africa) here and at the South African Institute for International Affairs.
To search for specific keywords within these resources, we recommend the following: first click on a tab to reveal its contents, and then use your computer's "find" function ("CTRL+F" or "Command+F"). For example, "CTRL+F+debt" will highlight all titles and descriptions that include the word "debt."
2021 Virtual Conference – "China's Overseas Lending in Comparative Perspective" April 6th 2021
The 7th Annual China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) Conference was held virtually from Tuesday, April 6 to Tuesday, May 18, 2021. Read the program here. Watch recordings of each panel: Lenders and Borrowers in Distress, Book Talk I – China and "Global" Norms on Export Finance, Chinese Loan Data: What, When, Where? – Roundtable for Wonks, Keynote 2 – Globalizing Patient Capital, Borrower Agency, Changing modalities and case studies of Chinese finance, What is the impact of Chinese lending?
Chinese Loans to Africa, 2019 Data March 30th 2021
In recent years, China has become a highly visible and talked about actor in Africa's financial landscape. As the economic and political dimensions of China-Africa relations continue to grow and shift, how has Chinese lending to African nations changed over time? What was the state of Chinese lending to Africa prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and how is lending likely to shift in the post-pandemic era?
Coopérations entrepreneuriales franco-chinoises en Afrique November 10th 2020
This was a French-language event. No English-language translation was provided. On considère généralement que l'arrivée des entreprises chinoises en Afrique s'est faite au détriment des entreprises occidentales, en particulier françaises. Certes, certaines d'entre elles ont pu perdre des marchés, mais la réalité est beaucoup plus complexe, car de nombreuses coopérations entrepreneuriales franco-chinoises ont vu le jour et se sont multipliées tant et si bien que ces coopérations deviennent progressivement la norme dans le domaine des infrastructures. C'est cette réalité que ce webinaire a tenté d'illustrer.
2020 Virtual Conference – "Strategic Interests, Security Implications: China, Africa, and the Rest" September 22nd 2020
The 6th Annual China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) Conference was held virtually from Tuesday, September 22 to Friday, October 2, 2020. This year's theme was "Strategic Interests, Security Implications: China, Africa, and the Rest." Our 2020 keynote speaker, on Thurs, Sep 24, was Prof. Chris Alden, on China's Changing Role in African Security. Read the program here. Watch recordings of each panel: PANEL 1: Development-Security Nexus, PANEL 2: Security Engagement, Military Exports & Arms Sales, PANEL 3: Keynote speech Chinas Changing Role in African Security, PANEL 4: Emerging Technologies and Security Implications, PANEL 5: Featured Roundtable: Chinese Sharp Power and Africa, PANEL 6: Peacekeeping & Humanitarian Programs, PANEL 7: Commercial Interests and Private Security Companies, PANEL 8: Regional Actors, Multipolarity, & Comparative Perspectives
Risky Business: New Data on Chinese Loans and Africa's Debt Problem July 2nd 2020
From modest beginnings in 1960, China has recently become a highly visible actor in Africa's lending landscape. The World Bank recently released data on official debt to China in 37 African countries. We at CARI use this debt data, and our own new data on over 1,100 loan commitments across all of China's African borrowers, to analyze Chinese lending to Africa's risky borrowers. Which African borrowers are most at risk of debt distress, and how does Chinese lending affect this debt? Who are the Chinese lenders in Africa and how do they manage lending in risky environments? What kind of terms do we see on Chinese loans in Africa? How does China's collateralized lending work in Africa? Do Chinese banks require property as collateral for loans to African governments or their state-owned enterprises?
China, Africa, and Debt Distress: Fact and Fiction about Asset Seizures June 25th 2020
In the past two years, news headlines have periodically speculated that African borrowers are at risk of losing their sovereign assets to Chinese lenders. How well does the data reflect these headlines? Is the idea of widespread asset seizures a myth?
Debt Relief with Chinese Characteristics June 18th 2020
As China is poised to become the world’s largest creditor, concerns about debt sustainability have grown. Yet considerable confusion exists over what is likely to happen when a government runs into trouble repaying its Chinese loans.
TAZARA Stories – Documentary Screening and Discussion with Dr. Jamie Monson October 18th 2019
TAZARA Stories tells the story of a train through the memories of those who built it. Set in Tanzania, Zambia and China, the film interweaves oral and visual narratives of workers from three nations who found themselves laboring side by side in a massive infrastructure project at the height of the Cold War. Remembering and reliving their youth, the workers take us on a journey in time from the exhilaration of construction through disappointments and derailments to their own hopeful resilience in the face of enduring change.
"Tales from the Road" – Dr. James Reilly Talk on Chinese Economic Statecraft October 9th 2019
What explains China's distinctive approach to economic statecraft? When is China's economic statecraft most effective, and what can the China case tell us about economic statecraft more broadly? This presentation will engage these three questions by drawing upon my current book manuscript. The book begins with two chapters tracing the ideas and institutions at the heart of the 'China model' of economic statecraft, followed by two most-likely cases for success: Myanmar and North Korea. The final three empirical chapters examine a set of least-likely cases, first comparing China's economic statecraft in Western Europe with Central and Eastern Europe, and then assessing Beijing's impact upon European policy decisions. The findings show how China uses economic resources to exert influence abroad and identify when Beijing is most effective. By exploring the domestic drivers of China's economic statecraft, this book will also help launch a new research field: the comparative study of economic statecraft.
2019 Conference - "Catalysts, Competition and Learning: Knowledge, Skills, and Technology Transfer in China-Africa Engagements" April 15th 2019
The 5th Annual China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) Conference was held on Monday, April 15 and Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington DC. This year's theme was "Catalysts, Competition and Learning: Knowledge, Skills, and Technology Transfer in China-Africa Engagements."
2018 Conference - "Matters of State: Politics, Governance, and Agency in China-Africa Engagement" April 19th 2018
Read the program here. Watch recordings of the panels: PANEL 1: Africa, China and the West, Panel 2: African Agency and Strategic Bargaining, PANEL 3: Leadership, Power and Agency, and Regulation, PANEL 4: Civil Society, Populism, and Micropolitics, PANEL 5: African State Capacity, Bureaucracies, and Norm Diffusion, PANEL 6: Understanding China/Africa through Data
Chinese Investment & Knowledge Transfer in Africa's Manufacturing Sector March 9th 2018
Over the past few years, hundreds of Chinese firms have invested in manufacturing in Africa. Our researchers explored the realities of this investment on the ground: what sectors are Chinese firms investing in? Is technology being transferred? Are Africans gaining manufacturing skills?
Wolf Warrior II Film Screening and Discussion February 28th 2018
Wolf Warrior 2 (战狼2) is a 2017 Chinese action film directed by Wu Jing, who also stars in the lead role. The film tells a story of a loose cannon Chinese soldier named Leng Feng who takes on special missions around the world. In this sequel, he finds himself in an African country protecting medical aid workers from local rebels and vicious arms dealers. Wolf Warrior 2 was a massive commercial success both in China and abroad and has become the highest-grossing Chinese film ever released, as well as the sixth highest-grossing film of 2017.
Policy Roundtable: Prospects for U.S.-China-Africa Relations in the Trump Era April 27th 2017
Early signs in Donald Trump's presidency indicate the United States will likely retreat from Africa under an "America First" foreign policy. How will the respective roles of the United States and China in Africa change under these circumstances? Will existing opportunities for constructive trilateral collaboration remain, or will they need to be modified? How will African countries respond to these shifts? This roundtable will draw on the public and private sectors to explore the future of U.S.-China-Africa relations in an evolving geopolitical landscape. Ready the program here.
Film Screening: Guangzhou Dream Factory December 2nd 2016
Immigration, globalization, Chinese factories and African dreams...GUANGZHOU DREAM FACTORY weaves stories of Africans chasing alluring, yet elusive, 'Made in China' dreams into a compelling critique of our 21st century global economy. Following a filmmaker's journey from Ghana to China and back to Africa, GUANGZHOU DREAM FACTORY provides a rare glimpse of African aspirations in an age of endless outsourcing.
2016 Conference - "Orient Express: Chinese Infrastructure Engagement in Africa" October 13th 2016
The 3rd Annual China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) Conference was held on October 13 & 14, 2016 at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC. This year's theme was "Orient Express: Chinese Infrastructure Engagement in Africa," and we were pleased to have Dr. Jamie Monson, Professor of History and Director of African Studies at Michigan State University, as our keynote speaker. Read the program here.
CARI-Ethiopian Development Research Institute Workshop June 27th 2016
CARI-Ethiopian Development Research Institute Workshop in Addis Ababa, June 27-28, 2016
Policy Roundtable: How Chinese Money is Transforming Africa: It's Not What You Think April 21st 2016
China-Africa Week at SAIS culminated in the launch of CARI's database on Chinese loans in Africa, followed by a policy roundtable that discussed the wider implication of Chinese development finance in Africa.
Film Screenings: When China Met Africa and China Remix April 19th 2016
This event was part of China-Africa Week at SAIS.The China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) hosted a viewing of two films documenting the evolving relationship between African and Chinese communities.
Policy Roundtable: What is China Really Doing in Rural Africa? April 18th 2016
This event was part of China-Africa Week at SAIS. The panel was made up of five policy experts regarding China's involvement in African countries, specifically Tanzania, Mozambique, and Uganda. The forum was moderated by Professor Jessica Fanzo and Professor Deborah Brautigam.
SAIS-CARI African Ambassador Roundtable November 19th 2015
On November 19, 2015, in preparation for the 6th Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Johannesburg, South Africa, December 4–5, SAIS-CARI hosted a private roundtable at Johns Hopkins SAIS for African Ambassadors and senior staff in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Deborah Brautigam's Will Africa Feed China? book launch discussion October 29th 2015.
To celebrate the publication of CARI Director Deborah Brautigam's new book SAIS-CARI hosted a roundtable discussion. Dr. Amadou Sy, Director of the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution and Professor Ling Chen, Assistant Professor of International Political Economy joined Dr. Brautigam in discussing the new book. Professor David Lampton, Director of SAIS' China Studies Program, moderated the discussion. After presenting her findings and taking questions from the audience, Professor Brautigam met with guests to sign copies of the book.
Dr. Luke Patey's book talk on The New Kings of Crude: China, India, and the Global Struggle for Oil in Sudan and South Sudan October 20th, 2015.
The lecture will discuss the overseas investments of Chinese national oil companies, their close ties with their respective governments in Beijing, and experiences with political and security risks in Sudan and South Sudan. Beyond examining the economic and political impact of Chinese and Indian engagement in Sudan and South Sudan, the book argues that the two Sudans are examples of how Africa is shaping the rise of China and India as world powers.
China-Africa Bilateral Trade by Country, 1992-1919 (.xlsx)
Read an overview of the data here (.pdf), archived from the SAIS-CARI website.
Chinese FDI in Africa by Country, 2003-2019 (.xlsx)
Read an overview of the data here (.pdf), archived from the SAIS-CARI website.
Chinese Global Foreign Aid, 2003-2019 (.xlsx)
Read an overview of the data here (.pdf), archived from the SAIS-CARI website.
Chinese Contract Revenues, Africa and Global, 1998-2019 (.xlsx)
Read an overview of the data here (.pdf), archived from the SAIS-CARI website.
Chinese Workers in Africa by Country, 2009-2019 (.xlsx)
Read an overview of the data here (.pdf), archived from the SAIS-CARI website.
What is the Real Story of China's "Hidden Debt"? (pdf) 2021. BRAUTIGAM, Deborah; HUANG, Yufan
Zambia's Chinese Debt in the Pandemic Era (pdf) 2021. BRAUTIGAM, Deborah; WANG, Yinxuan
Twenty Years of Data on China's Africa Lending (pdf) 2021. ACKER, Kevin; BRAUTIGAM, Deborah
Risky Business: New Data on Chinese Loans and Africa's Debt Problem (pdf) 2020. BRAUTIGAM, Deborah; HUANG, Yufan; ACKER, Kevin
Assessing Chinese Manufacturing Investments in East Africa: Drivers, Challenges, and Opportunities (pdf) 2019. XIA, Ying
The Path Ahead: The 7th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (pdf) 2018. EOM, Janet; BRAUTIGAM, Deborah; BENABDALLAH, Lina
Challenges of and Opportunities from the Commodity Price Slump (pdf) 2017. ATKINS, Lucas; BRAUTIGAM, Deborah; CHEN, Yunnan; HWANG, J
How Zambia and China Co-Created a Debt "Tragedy of the Commons" (pdf) 2021. BRAUTIGAM, Deborah
China's Digital Silk Road in Africa and the Future of Internet Governance (pdf) 2021. TUGENDHAT, Henry; VOO, Julia
Chinese Resource-Backed Infrastructure Financing Investments: Comparing Governance in Guinea and Ghana (pdf) 2021. DING, Qianrong; HUBBARD, Hayden Hubbard; LARKIN, Emily; SHONIBARE, Dawalola
A Comparative Analysis: Chinese and Indian Exim Bank Finance in Ethiopia (pdf) 2021. HUANG, Zhengli; BEHURIA, Pritish
International Development Lending and Global Value Chains in Africa (pdf) 2021. AMENDOLAGINE, Vito
Understanding the Structural Sources of Chinese International Contractors' Market Power in Africa (pdf) 2021. ZHANG, Hong
Do Chinese Infrastructure Loans Promote Entrepreneurship in African Countries? (pdf) 2021. MUNEMO, Jonathan
Development Finance and Distributive Politics: Comparing Chinese and World Bank Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa (pdf) 2021. TANG, Keyi
Private Security Companies in Kenya and the Impact of Chinese Actors (pdf) 2021. ZHENG, Shuwen; XIA, Ying
Railpolitik: Ethiopia's Rail Ambitions and Chinese Development Finance (pdf) 2021. CHEN, Yunnan
Comparing the Effects of Chinese and Traditional Official Finance on State Repression and Public Demonstrations in Africa (pdf) 2020. CHE, Afa'anwi Ma'abo
French and Chinese Business Cooperation in Africa (pdf) 2020. PAIRAULT, Thierry
The Growing Preference for Chinese Arms in Africa: A Case Study of Uganda and Kenya (pdf) 2020. MUNYI, Elijah
China's Development-Security in Practice: The Case of Mali (pdf) 2020. BENABDALLAH, Lina; LARGE, Daniel
China, Africa, and Debt Distress: Fact and Fiction about Asset Seizures (pdf) 2020. BRAUTIGAM, Deborah; KIDANE, Won
Debt Relief with Chinese Characteristics (pdf) 2020. BRAUTIGAM, Deborah; ACKER, Kevin; HUANG, Yufan
China, Africa, and the Rest: Recent Trends in Space Science, Technology, and Satellite Development (pdf) 2020. KLINGER, Julie
African Military Aircraft Procurement from China: A Case Study from Zambia (pdf) 2020. HWANG, Jyhjong
"Africa's China": Chinese Manufacturing Investment in Nigeria in the Post-Oil Boom Era and Channels for Technology Transfer (pdf) 2020. CHEN, Yunnan
The Footprint of Chinese Private Security Companies in Africa (pdf) 2020. ARDUINO, Alessandro
How Huawei Succeeds in Africa: Training and Knowledge Transfers in Kenya and Nigeria (pdf) 2020. TUGENDHAT, Henry
Chinese Medical Teams: Knowledge Transfer in Ethiopia And Malawi (pdf) 2020. GRANDE, Allison; with FISCHER, Sara; SAYRE, James
Export, Employment, or Productivity? Chinese Investments in Ethiopia's Leather and Leather Product Sectors (pdf) 2019. TANG, Xiaoyang
Comparing the Determinants of Western and Chinese Commercial Ties with Africa (pdf) 2019. LANDRY, David G.
Disasters While Digging: Rates of Violence Against Mine Workers in Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, and Zambia (pdf) 2019. FREYMEYER, Christian
The Blind Spot: International Mining in Angoche and Larde, Mozambique (pdf) 2019. CHICHAVA, Sérgio; LI, Shubo; SAMBO, Michael G.
Wealth From Waste? Chinese Investments and Technology Transfer in the Tanzanian Plastic Recycling Industry (pdf) 2019. XIA, Ying
Lessons from East Asia: Comparing Ethiopia and Vietnam's Early-Stage Special Economic Zone Development (pdf) 2019. TANG, Keyi
Do China-Financed Dams in Sub-Saharan Africa Improve the Region's Social Welfare? A Case Study of the Impacts of Ghana's Bui Dam (pdf) 2019. TANG, Keyi; SHEN, Yingjiao
Chinese Manufacturing Investments and Knowledge Transfer: a Report from Ethiopia (pdf) 2019. TANG, Xiaoyang
The Impact of Chinese Investment on Skill Development and Technology Transfer in Zambia and Malawi's Cotton Sector (pdf) 2019. TANG, Xiaoyang
Local Skill Development from China's Engagement in Africa: Comparative Evidence from the Construction Sector in Ghana (pdf) 2019. MENG, Qingwei; BEMPONG NYANTAKYI, Eugene
Comparing the Determinants of Western and Chinese Development Finance Flows to Africa (pdf) 2018. LANDRY, David G.
China-Britain-Uganda: Trilateral Development Cooperation in Agriculture (pdf) 2018. ZHOU, Hang
Work, Employment, and Training through Africa-China Cooperation Zones: Evidence from the Eastern Industrial Zone in Ethiopia (pdf) 2018. FEI, Ding
Chinese Manufacturing Moves to Rwanda: A Study of Training at C&H Garments (pdf) 2018. EOM, Janet
The East Africa Shift in Textile and Apparel Manufacturing: China-Africa Strategies and AGOA's Influence (pdf) 2018. WANG, Weiyi; LU, Jinghao; ALLEN, Wilmot
What Kinds of Chinese "Geese" are Flying to Africa? Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms (pdf) 2018. BRAUTIGAM, Deborah; TANG, Xiaoyang; XIA, Ying
Silk Road to the Sahel: African Ambitions in China's Belt and Road Initiative (pdf) 2018. CHEN, Yunnan
The Risks and Rewards of Resource-for-Infrastructure Deals: Lessons from the Congo's Sicomines Agreement (pdf) 2018. LANDRY, David G.
Chinese Medical Teams in the DRC: A Comparative Case Study (pdf) 2017. JIANG KWETE, Xiaoxiao
Community Engagement in Chinese and American Gold Mining Companies: A Comparative Case Study in Ghana (pdf) 2017. YANG, Jiao
Adaptation of Chinese Immigrants in Zambia (pdf) 2017. LU, Yao; SAUTMAN, Barry; YAN, Hairong; ZHOU, Weixuan
The United States and China in Africa: What Does the Data Say? (pdf) 2017. EOM, Janet; HWANG, Jyhjong; ATKINS, Lucas; CHEN, Yunnan; ZHOU, Siqi
Creating a Market for Skills Transfer: A Case Study of AVIC International (pdf) 2017. SUN, Irene Yuan; QI, Lin
Local Politics Meets Chinese Engineers: A Study of the Chinese-Built Standard Gauge Railway Project in Kenya (pdf) 2016. WISSENBACH, Uwe; WANG, Yuan
Provincial Chinese Actors in Africa: The Case of Sichuan in Uganda (pdf) 2016. SHI, Xuefei
Do Huawei's Training Programs and Centers Transfer Skills to Africa? (pdf) 2016. TSUI, Benjamin
Technology Transfer in Telecommunications: Barriers and Opportunities in the Case of Huawei and ZTE in South Africa (pdf) 2016. SUN, June
Media Training for Africa: Is China Exporting its Journalism? (pdf) 2016. HANSEN, Jákup Emil
How Chinese Money is Transforming Africa: It's Not What You Think (pdf) 2016. HWANG, Jyhjong; BRAUTIGAM, Deborah; EOM, Janet
What Happened to China Development Bank's $3 Billion Loan to Ghana? (pdf) 2016. CHEN, Thomas
Looking Back and Moving Forward: An Analysis of China-Africa Economic Trends and the Outcomes of the 2015 Forum on China Africa Cooperation (pdf) 2016. EOM, Janet; HWANG, Jyhjong; XIA, Ying; BRAUTIGAM, Deborah
Chinese Financed Hydropower Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa (pdf) 2015. BRAUTIGAM, Deborah; HWANG, Jyhjong; WANG, Lu
Neither 'Friendship Farm' Nor 'Land Grab:' Chinese Agricultural Engagement in Angola (pdf) 2015. ZHOU, Jinyan
Assessing the Impact of Chinese Investment on Southeast Africa's Cotton: Moving Up the Value Chain? (pdf) 2015. TANG, Xiaoyang
Chinese Agricultural Entrepreneurship in Africa: Case Studies in Ghana and Nigeria (pdf) 2015. JIAO, Yang
Chinese Agricultural Engagement in Zambia: A Grassroots Analysis (pdf) 2015. GUO CHATELARD, Solange; CHU, Jessica M.
Chinese Training Courses for African Officials: A "Win-Win" Engagement? (pdf) 2014. TUGENDHAT, Henry
Chinese Agricultural Investment in Mozambique: The Case of Wanbao Rice Farm (pdf) 2014. CHICHAVA, Sérgio
The Political Ecology of Chinese Investment in Uganda: The Case of Hanhe Farm (pdf) 2014. MAIYO, Josh
How Zambia and China Co-Created a Debt "Tragedy of the Commons" (pdf) 2021. BRAUTIGAM, Deborah
China's Digital Silk Road in Africa and the Future of Internet Governance (pdf) 2021. TUGENDHAT, Henry
Convergence and Divergence in Emerging Donor Finance: A Comparative Analysis of Chinese and Indian Exim Banks in Ethiopia (pdf) 2021. HUANG, Zhengli; BEHURIA, Pritish
International Development Lending and Global Value Chains in Africa (pdf) 2021. AMENDOLAGINE, Vito
Chinese International Contractors in Africa: Structure and Agency (pdf) 2021. ZHANG, Hong
Do Chinese Infrastructure Loans Promote Entrepreneurship in African Countries? (pdf) 2021. MUNEMO, Jonathan
Development Finance and Distributive Politics: Comparing Chinese and World Bank Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa (pdf) 2021. TANG, Keyi
Private Security Companies in Kenya and the Impact of Chinese Actors (pdf) 2021. ZHENG, Shuwen; XIA, Ying
Laying the Tracks: The Political Economy of Railway Development in Ethiopia's Railway Sector and Implications for Technology Transfer (pdf) 2021. CHEN, Yunnan
Comparing the Effects of Chinese and Traditional Official Finance on State Repression and Public Demonstrations in Africa (pdf) 2020. CHE, Afa'anwi Ma'abo
Challenging Pax Americana: The Commercial Imperative in Chinese Arms Exports to Africa - A Case Study of Uganda and Kenya (pdf) 2020. MUNYI, Elijah
China's Development-Security in Practice: The Case of Mali (pdf) 2020. BENABDALLAH, Lina; LARGE, Daniel
Debt Relief with Chinese Characteristics (pdf) 2020. BRAUTIGAM, Deborah; ACKER, Kevin; HUANG, Yufan
China, Africa, and the Rest: Recent Trends in Space Science, Technology, and Satellite Development (pdf) 2020. KLINGER, Julie
African Military Aircraft Procurement from China: A Case Study from Zambia (pdf) 2020. HWANG, Jyhjong
"Africa's China": Chinese Manufacturing Investment in Nigeria in the Post-Oil Boom Era and Channels for Technology Transfer (pdf) 2020. CHEN, Yunnan
The Footprint of Chinese Private Security Companies in Africa (pdf) 2020. ARDUINO, Alessandro
How Huawei Succeeds in Africa: Training and Knowledge Transfers in Kenya and Nigeria (pdf) 2020. TUGENDHAT, Henry
Chinese Medical Teams: Knowledge Transfer in Ethiopia and Malawi (pdf) 2020. GRANDE, Allison; with FISCHER, Sara; SAYRE, James
Export, Employment, or Productivity? Chinese Investments in Ethiopia's Leather and Leather Product Sectors (pdf) 2019. TANG, Xiaoyang
Chinese Manufacturing and Agricultural Investment in Tanzania: A Scoping Study (pdf) 2019. XIA, Ying
Chinese Agricultural and Manufacturing Investment in Kenya: A Scoping Study (pdf) 2019. XIA, Ying
Comparing the Determinants of Western and Chinese Commercial Ties with Africa (pdf) 2019. LANDRY, David G.
The Blind Spot: International Mining in Angoche and Larde, Mozambique (pdf) 2019. CHICHAVA, Sérgio; LI, Shubo; SAMBO, Michael G.
Wealth from Waste? Chinese Investments and Technology Transfer in the Tanzanian Plastic Recycling Industry (pdf) 2019. XIA, Ying
Lessons from East Asia: Comparing Ethiopia and Vietnam's Early-Stage Special Economic Zone Development (pdf) 2019. TANG, Keyi
Do China-Financed Dams in Sub-Saharan Africa Improve the Region's Social Welfare? A Case Study of the Impacts of Ghana's Bui Dam (pdf) 2019. TANG, Keyi; SHEN, Yingjiao
Chinese Manufacturing Investments and Knowledge Transfer: A Report from Ethiopia (pdf) 2019. TANG, Xiaoyang
The Impact of Chinese Investment on Skill Development and Technology Transfer in Zambia and Malawi's Cotton Sector (pdf) 2019. TANG, Xiaoyang
Local Skill Development from China's Engagement in Africa: Comparative Evidence from the Construction Sector in Ghana (pdf) 2019. MENG, Qingwei; BEMPONG NYANTAKYI, Eugene
Comparing the Determinants of Western and Chinese Development Finance Flows to Africa (pdf) 2018. LANDRY, David G.
China-Britain-Uganda: Trilateral Development Cooperation in Agriculture (pdf) 2018. ZHOU, Hang
Work, Employment, and Training through Africa-China Cooperation Zones: Evidence from the Eastern Industrial Zone in Ethiopia (pdf) 2018. FEI, Ding
Chinese Manufacturing Moves to Rwanda: A Study of Training at C&H Garments (pdf) 2018. EOM, Janet
What Kinds of Chinese "Geese" Are Flying to Africa? Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms (pdf) 2018. BRAUTIGAM, Deborah; TANG, Xiaoyang; XIA, Ying
The Risks and Rewards of Resource-for-Infrastructure Deals: Lessons from the Congo's Sicomines Agreement (pdf) 2018. LANDRY, David G.
China's Involvement in South Africa's Wind and Solar PV Industries (pdf) 2017. BAKER, Lucy; SHEN, Wei
Creating a Market for Skills Transfer: A Case Study of AVIC International's Skills Transfer Programs in Kenya (pdf) 2017. SUN, Irene Yuan; QI, Lin
African Politics Meets Chinese Engineers: The Chinese-Built Standard Gauge Railway Project in Kenya and East Africa (pdf) 2017. WISSENBACH, Uwe; WANG, Yuan
Diffusing Chinese Rice Technology in Rural Tanzania: Lessons from the Dakawa Agro-Technology Demonstration Center (pdf) 2017. MAKUNDI, Hezron
China and Uranium: Comparative Possibilities for Agency in Statecraft in Niger and Namibia (pdf) 2017. VOLBERDING, Peter; WARNER, Jason
We Are Not So Different: A Comparative Study of Employment Relations at Chinese and American Firms in Kenya (pdf) 2017. ROUNDS, Zander; HUANG, Hongxiang
Chinese Media, Kenyan Lives: An Ethnographic Inquiry into CCTV Africa's Head Offices (pdf) 2017. LEFKOWITZ, Melissa
Chinese Investment in Ghana's Manufacturing Sector (pdf) 2016. TANG, Xiaoyang
A Comparative Analysis: The Sustainable Development Impact of Two Wind Farms in Ethiopia (pdf) 2016. CHEN, Yanning
Capturing the Rains: A Comparative Study of Chinese Involvement in Cameroon's Hydropower Sector (pdf) 2016. CHEN, Yunnan; LANDRY, David G.
Where Africa Meets Asia: Chinese Agricultural and Manufacturing Investment in Madagascar (pdf) 2016. CHEN, Yunnan; LANDRY, David G.
Eastern Promises: New Data on Chinese Loans in Africa, 2000 to 2014 (pdf) 2016. BRAUTIGAM, Deborah; HWANG, Jyhjong
How do Chinese Contractors Perform in Africa? Evidence from World Bank Projects (pdf) 2016. FARRELL, Jamie
Learning From China? Manufacturing Investment and Technology Transfer in Nigeria (pdf) 2016. CHEN, Yunnan; SUN, Irene Yuan; UKAEJIOFO, Rex Uzonna; TANG, Xiaoyang; BRAUTIGAM, Deborah
Chinese Engagement in Hydropower Infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa (pdf) 2015. HWANG, Jyhjong; BRAUTIGAM, Deborah; WANG, Nancy
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