China

S1-A: Parastatal Companies and Capitalist Development: The Interaction of South African and Chinese Enterprises in the Services Sector

Übersicht: 

Within the services sector, parastatals are a major driving force in many economies, particularly by providing other firms with essential services like telecommunication. Due to increased foreign direct investment and to the extension of trade agreements (including the harmonisation of national regulations on the services sectors) these firms shift from a national market to a transnational outlook. The project focuses on South African and Chinese (partially) state-owned firms in the banking and telecommunication sector. First, we identify the political economy, institutions and mechanisms within those sectors in South Africa and China, while keeping in mind the identification of political and economic motivations as well as possible complementarities. In doing so, we take a closer look at the different enterprises, their national collaborations and interactions, and their socio-economic impact on their societies (in particular on labour relations). Second, we focus on the interaction between South African and Chinese enterprises. The different kinds of interaction between the parastatals could be classified as direct interactions (e.g. with regard to investments) and/or interactions on the global level (e.g. through regulation processes).

The result of the project will be an interdisciplinary exchange between different research spaces. The role of (partially) state-owned firms will be analysed in the current national capitalist model, as well as in transnational cooperation. Therefore, we will exchange data and compare individual research results during research stays. Research will be made available via publications and presentations. This small project adds on the micro level and contributes in the understanding of firms as an actor in the Africa-Asia Interaction.

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AFRASO Publications

Cissé, Daouda, Grimm, Sven , Nölke, Andreas ; 2014 ; State-Directed Multinational Enterprises and Transnational Governance: Chinese Investments in Africa, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Norms ; CCS Discussion Paper ; Center for Chinese Studies, Universität Stellenbosch ; 1 ; https:\\www.die-gdi.de/uploads/media/CCS_DP_Corporate_Responsibilities_Cisse_Grimm_Nolke_20141.pdf
Nölke, Andreas ; 2015 ; Second Image Revisited: The Domestic Sources of China’s Foreign Economic Policies, ; International Politics ; Special issue: 52 (6)
Nölke, Andreas ; 2015 ; Rising Powers and Transnational Private Governance. The International Accounting Standards Board ; Rising Powers and Multilateral Institutions ; Lesage, Dries & Thijs Van de Graaf ; Palgrave Macmillan ; Basingstoke & New York ; 96-116
Nölke, Andreas ; 2015 ; Introduction - Second Image Revisited: The Domestic Sources of China’s Foreign Economic Policies. ; International Politics ; 52 (6) ; 657–665
Nölke, Andreas, ten Brink, Tobias, Claar, Simone, May, Christian ; 2015 ; Domestic structures, foreign economic policies and global economic order: Implications from the rise of large emerging economies. ; European Journal of International Relations ; 21 (3) ; 538–567
Lüthje, Boy, Tian, Miao ; 2015 ; China’s Automotive Industry: Structural Impediments to Socio-economic Rebalancing ; International Journal of Automotive Management and Technology ; Dr. Giuseppe Giulio Calabrese ; Vol. 15 ; Inderscience Publishers
Nölke, Andreas, Claar, Simone, May, Christian, ten Brink, Tobias ; 2015 ; Bildet sich in den Schwellenländern eine neue Form des Kapitalismus heraus? Implikationen für die Weltwirtschaftsordnung ; Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft ; 25 (1) ; 89–97

Talks and Lectures

S2-A: Trade Networks and Migration Between Africa and Asia

Übersicht: 

While the activities of Africans in Asia are often overlooked; Asian – especially Chinese – engagement in Africa has become a focal point of interest in Western public discourse. This project explores the differences between the organization of African and Asian networks. It investigates the types of networks (from family to international enterprises), the sectors of trade and mutual impacts of different cultural practices on interactions and decisions. The focus on cultural and economic repercussion of trade, as it is perceived from the local actors’ point of view, allows to study the organization of trade networks, the development of entrepreneurial strategies, as well as the establishment of migrant trader communities.

The project’s focus on anthropological methodology and epistemological interest is the basis for the comparison within the project, even though the conditions in the research countries differ.

The key research questions of the project are as follows: What kind of trade do African and Asian states support? What are the ideological and historical themes that characterize the policies of these countries? What can be found out about the experiences of migration that Africans and Asians encounters in the respective foreign cultural context? Do these experiences differ from those made migrants in Europe? To which extent have these processes modified trade and contributed to the formation of new networks? What kind of discourses have been developed about the activities of Asians in Africa and vice versa? How do Africans evaluate the infrastructural development and the provision of goods in contrast to the increasing presence of strangers? How is competition for African enterprises created and whose cultural difference is often interpreted negatively? Do these evaluations have an impact on the trade networks? How is trade organized on the level of personal interaction?

One major research focus of the project lies on trade goods in order to find answers to these questions mentioned above. Following particular items like tea not only enables the project to understand supply chains from Chinese producers over traders in import and export to the market mechanisms in West African countries like Mali. This approach also reveals insight in the long history of trade and transformation of Green Tea from a mere product to a cultural practice, which is deeply rooted in Malian society today and becomes increasingly prominent in adjacent countries. A case study in Thailand among Malians, who trade with precious stones, revealed that Africans establish networks in Asia through modifying and adapting successful models that were developed in an African context. These activities give a clear idea about “African agency” in trade. Furthermore, they reverse simplistic notions of Africa only being the receiver of processed goods and exporting raw material.

Another focus of research are the activities of Chinese traders in South Africa. Thousands of Chinese traders arrived in the last 25 years from mainland China. While first-comers benefitted from the high demand in low-priced consumer goods; market saturation and macro-economic tendencies influence and transform the Chinese trader communities nowadays. Traders who have developed a sense for the demands in South Africa, found niches or were able to diversify their businesses, do have an advantage. These activities go often hand in hand with development of social, cultural and political ties in the host countries, where a relatively stable community of Chinese does already exist or is in the making. In all cases, the research showed that successful trade often depends on highly skilled brokers, not only in the economic arena, but also as cultural intermediaries. Researching interpersonal relationships allows to paint a profoundly more complex picture than mere generalizations of Asian/African dependencies, which this project aims to do.

Research is carried out in West Africa (Cameroon, Mali) and in South Africa as well as in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, and China. The broad regional choice provides opportunities for the comparison of historically and culturally divergent regions.

The research is conducted by the following team of scholars:

Ute Röschenthaler researches in close cooperation with Antoine Socpa Cameroonian and Malaysian trade networks, in cooperation with Birama Diakon the network of Malian and Chinese traders in Mali and China, and with Shigehiro Sasaki African trade networks in Japan. Mamadou Diawara explores Malian migrants in Indonesia and returnees in Bamako. Matthias Gruber researches Chinese/South African trade networks in South Africa.


Kontakt: 

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Involvierte AFRASO Mitglieder: 

AFRASO Publications

Röschenthaler, Ute und Schulz, Dorothea ; 2016 ; Cultural Entrepreneurship in Africa ; Oxon / New York: Routledge

Talks and Lectures

Röschenthaler, Ute & Julia Binter ; Trade, crisis and cultural entrepreneurship in the Niger Delta and the Cross River Region ; Saturday, October 3, 2015 ; Marburg
Diawara, Mamadou ; The Time-Tested Traditionist: Intellectual Trajectory and Mediation from the Early Empires to the Present Day. Landscapes, Sources and Intellectual Projects: Politics, History and the West African Past ; Thursday, November 12, 2015 to Saturday, November 14, 2015 ; Department of African Studies and Anthropology (DASA) and Centre of West African Studies (CWAS), University of Birmingham
Ute Röschenthaler ; The History of Green Tea in Mali and Beyond ; Thursday, May 15, 2014 ; Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
Ute Röschenthaler ; The History of Green Tea in Africa ; Thursday, December 18, 2014 ; Bejing University
Diawara, Mamadou ; The Call of the ‘Bush’: Malian Migrants on their Way to Asia ; Wednesday, March 12, 2014 ; Kuala Lumpur
Diawara, Mamadou ; Seeing like scholars. Whose exile? Making a life in being at home and abroad ; Wednesday, March 25, 2015 ; Kapstadt
Ute Röschenthaler ; Commercial Networks and Cultural Brokers: Cameroonian Traders in China ; Wednesday, March 12, 2014 ; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Diawara, Mamadou ; China und Afrika, SoSe 2013 ; Goethe University Frankfurt
Röschenthaler, Ute; Haugen, Heide & Michaela Pelican ; Challenges to African entrepreneurship in Malaysia ; Thursday, July 9, 2015 ; Sorbonne, Paris
Ute Röschenthaler ; Brokers as Intermediaries in Commercial Trade Networks ; Sunday, December 14, 2014 ; Jinan University, Guangzhou
Röschenthaler, Ute ; Bewegung von Menschen und Gütern im globalen Kontext ; Wednesday, July 1, 2015 ; Hannover
Diawara, Mamadou ; Bangkok as a "Bush". Preliminary findings on African migrants facing Asia ; Tuesday, April 1, 2014 ; Thammasat University
Diawara, Mamadou ; Asien in Afrika, WiSe 2014/15
Diawara, Mamadou ; Asia as Horizon and Home for West Africans from the 1980s ; Saturday, August 8, 2015 ; Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study
Diawara, Mamadou ; (Dis-)connections in Histories of African Studies on the Continent and Beyond, ; Friday, July 10, 2015 ; Sorbonne, Paris

S2-C: New Approaches to Transnational Gender Politics: Chinese-African Collaboration

Übersicht: 

The research project analyses the potential and pitfalls of South-South collaboration through the perspective of transnational gender politics. Much of contemporary scholarship on the latter topic arose in the reflection of the transnational women’s movement, following its emergence alongside the World Conferences on Women in Nairobi (1985) and in Beijing (1995) as a central sphere of negotiation.

However, over the last few years the ongoing shift in the international order has impacted on various stakeholders within the gender arena both in African and Asian societies. Within the larger context of development and transnational relations the question how South-South cooperation takes place and which topics are negotiated by actors within the gender arena is important. Among the Asian actors, the All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF) as China’s largest women’s organisation has been particularly active in increasing collaboration with its African counterparts. By cooperating across the otherwise significant continental divide new opportunity structures have emerged. Yet, the related issues have not been explored in existing literature. The project therefore undertakes an analysis of the common issues and challenges that inform current collaboration between the ACWF with gender mechanisms and women’s organisations in selected African countries.

 

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Involvierte AFRASO Mitglieder: 

AFRASO Publications

Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu ; 2015 ; Mobilizing Transnational Gender Politics in Post-Genocide Rwanda (Gender in a Global/Local World Series) Farnham/Burlington: Ashgate. ; Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu ; Ashgate ; Farnham / Burlington

Talks and Lectures

Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu ; Zur Politik chinesisch-afrikanischer Beziehungen ; Friday, March 6, 2015 ; Goethe University Frankfurt
Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu & Uta Ruppert ; Zivilgesellschaft in Kenia und Äthiopien, SoSe 2014
Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu ; What’s Civil Society Got to Do with It? Beyond the State in Sino-African Relations ; Tuesday, March 11, 2014 ; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu ; Towards a New Gender Politics: African Women’s Movements & their Afro-Asian Encounters ; Wednesday, July 8, 2015 to Friday, July 10, 2015 ; Sorbonne Universität, Paris
Eckl, Frauke; Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu & Thubauville, Sophia (panel convenors) ; South Korean-Ethiopian Interactions ; Tuesday, August 25, 2015 ; Warsaw
Ruppert, Uta & Rirhandu Mageza-Barthel ; Panel: "South-South Cooperation in Gender Politics: Trans-Regionalization as an Alternative Option for Sub-Saharan Africa?" ; Wednesday, June 11, 2014 ; Bayreuth University
Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu ; Neue Ansätze zivilgesellschaftlicher Geschlechterpolitik: Chinesisch-afrikanische Kooperationen zur Bekämpfung von Frauenarmut ; Thursday, February 7, 2013 ; Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
South Africa and China - Politics and Perspective ; Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu & John Njenga Karugia, SoSe 2015 ; Goethe University Frankfurt
Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu ; Gender(ed) Matters: Revisiting Chinese-African Relations ; Friday, December 12, 2014 ; Guangzhou, China
Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu ; Gender Politics in Africa: International Dimensions, WiSe 2013/14 ; Goethe University Frankfurt
Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu ; From the Margins to the Centre? New Perspectives on Sino-African Relations ; Friday, February 20, 2015 ; New Orleans
Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu ; From Sisterhood to Friendship: African Women’s Movements in Chinese-African Relations ; Wednesday, March 25, 2015 ; Cape Town, South Africa
Ruppert, Uta & Rirhandu Mageza-Barthel ; Feminism(s) Prospects in Africa: Perspectives on Transformation and Stabilization ; Thursday, August 7, 2014 ; Goethe University Frankfurt
Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu ; Decolonizing Epistemologies, Methodologies and Ethics: Postcolonial-Feminist Interventions ; Thursday, July 2, 2015 ; Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu ; Africa in World Politics / African World Politics, SoSe 2016 ; Goethe University Frankfurt
Mageza-Barthel, Rirhandu ; 'Beijing Created a War between the Sexes' – Transnational Gender Politics in Rwanda after '94 ; Wednesday, June 18, 2014 ; HU Berlin

S3-A: Chinese Cultural Policies and Confucius Institutes in Africa

Übersicht: 


In order to clarify to what extent cultural interactions in African-Chinese relations create a “soft“ influence on new development concepts and how China presents itself by means of public diplomacy to African audiences, the project investigates Confucius Institutes in South Africa. Other than negative media reports suggest, Confucius Institutes act less political. Moreover, it seems inaccurate to describe them as an instrument of China’s policy of expansion. Confucius Institutes adapt themselves to local circumstances in Africa and communicate a rather selective picture of China which normally focuses on traditional notions of culture (calligraphy, tea ceremony) and tends to blind out current political and societal issues.

For Africans, Confucius Institutes are a major option to purify their university degrees and thereby to increase their chances on the job market. In this regard, China is a major option for students of African Confucius Institutes as a destination to study and work. Precisely this option is of interest because in China, it becomes obvious whether and how Confucius Institutes prepare their students for such a stay abroad.

 


Kontakt: 

Ort: 

Involvierte AFRASO Mitglieder: 

AFRASO Publications

Hartig, Falk ; 2015 ; 中国的软实力与非洲的孔子学院 (China’s Soft Power and Confucius Institutes in Africa) ; 非洲黄皮书非洲发展报告No.17(2014~2015)(Yellow Book of Africa: Annual Report on Development in Africa) ; Institute of West Asian and African Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences ; Social Science Academic Press ; Beijing ; 94-110
Hartig, Falk ; 2014 ; Ungeschickte Weltmacht: China möchte sein Image verbessern – und steht sich dabei selbst im Weg ; Internationale Politik ; November/Dezember 2014 ; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik ; 50-52
Hartig, Falk ; 2014 ; The Globalization of Chinese Soft Power: Confucius Institutes in South Africa ; CPD Perspectives on Public Diplomacy: Confucius Institutes and the Globalization of China’s Soft Power ; Jian Wang ; Figueroa Press ; Los Angeles ; 47-65
Hartig, Falk ; 2013 ; Konfuzius, Schumpeter und die chinesischen Medien – wie China versucht, seine Sicht der Dinge zu verbreiten ; China in den Augen deutscher Medienbotschafter ; Oliver Radtke ; New Star Press ; Peking ; 153-177
Hartig, Falk ; 2014 ; Konfuzius sagt: Klasse statt Masse ; Kulturaustausch-Zeitschrift für internationale Perspektiven ; II/2014 ; 61
Hartig, Falk ; 2016 ; How China Understands Public Diplomacy: The Importance of National Image for National Interests ; International Studies Review ; DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/isr/viw007
Hartig, Falk ; 2015 ; Die entscheidende Rolle der Außendarstellung - Chinas Gesicht in seiner Auswärtigen Kulturpolitik ; Kultur und Außenpolitik Handbuch für Wissenschaft und Praxis ; Kurt-Jürgen Maaß ; Nomos ; 389-396
Hartig, Falk ; 2014 ; Confucius Institutes as innovative tools of China’s cultural diplomacy ; Chinese Politics and International Relations: Innovation and Invention ; Nicola Horsburgh, Astrid Nordin, Shaun Breslin ; Routledge Warwick Studies in Globalisation ; New York ; 121-144

Pages

Talks and Lectures

Hartig, Falk ; Is it the Economy, Stupid? China Daily and the Representation of China abroad ; Tuesday, September 2, 2014 to Wednesday, September 3, 2014 ; Tsinghua University Beijing
Hartig, Falk ; Cultural organizations and mutual learning: the case of Confucius Institutes ; Friday, September 20, 2013 ; Clingendael Institute Netherlands Institute for International Relations, Den Haag
Falk Hartig ; Cultural Exchange and Image Management: The Case of Confucius Institutes in Africa ; Thursday, January 14, 2016 ; University of Nottingham
Hartig, Falk ; Confucius INstitutes: The Gobalization of Chinese Public Diplomacy - The Case of Africa ; Saturday, July 12, 2014 ; University of Nottingham
Hartig, Falk ; Confucius Institutes: The Globalization of Chinese Soft Power – the Case of (South) Africa ; Friday, February 28, 2014 ; USC Center on Public Diplomacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
Hartig, Falk ; Confucius Institutes in Africa – A new Soft Power Instrument in the Making? ; Thursday, March 26, 2015 ; Kapstadt
Flew, Terry & Falk Hartig ; Confucius Institutes and the Network Communication Approach to Public Diplomacy ; Wednesday, July 3, 2013 to Friday, July 5, 2013 ; Perth
Hartig, Falk ; Confucius Institutes and China’s Public Diplomacy – A western Perspective ; Thursday, December 19, 2013 ; Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University, Tianjin
Hartig, Falk ; Confucius Institutes and China’s International Image Management ; Sunday, September 28, 2014 ; Rhodes University, Grahamstown
Hartig, Falk ; Confucius Institutes and China’s International Communication ; Wednesday, September 10, 2014 ; China Foreign Affairs University, Peking
Hartig, Falk ; China’s Public Diplomacy: explaining China to the world through external communication and image management ; Thursday, June 26, 2014 ; Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau
Hartig, Falk ; China‘s Public Diplomacy towards Africa ; Thursday, March 19, 2015 ; School of International and Intercultural Communication, TU Dortmund
Hartig, Falk ; Chinas Geopolitik und ihre kulturelle Unterstützung ; Thursday, July 18, 2013 to Friday, July 19, 2013 ; Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

S3-B: China’s Influence on the Perception of Good Governance, Development, and International Cooperation in Africa

Übersicht: 

Against the backdrop of an ongoing debate concerning the ideological implications of a rising China, the project uses a constructivist framework to study the role of ideas in Sino-South African and Sino-Ethiopian relations. It argues that, while in many areas there indeed have been developments over the recent years which propose that individual African countries are learning from Chinese experiences, it would be misleading to conceptualize African states as passive victims of either Western or Chinese influence. Instead, the rise of China (as well as other emerging powers) has created new options for African actors, some of which regard Chinese concepts of development, governance or international cooperation as being more in line with their own perception of the challenges they and their respective countries are facing.

While China is doing its best to nurture the idea of a community of likeminded states that comes with these shared perceptions, and is very active in further developing the ideational common ground by providing training and exchange programs, so far there is little to suggest that this behavior is not primarily driven by African demands. Given the shared ideological space, which to no small degree is rooted in historical developments and narratives in which the developed world assumes the role of the Other, the relevance of seemingly outdated concepts such as South-South cooperation and Sino-African friendship needs to be reconsidered.

Kontakt: 

Ort: 

Involvierte AFRASO Mitglieder: 

AFRASO Publications

Lejeune, Johannes ; 2015 ; Ruling Parties as Communities of Practice and Collective Identity in China-Ethiopia Relations ; AFRASO Working Paper ; Ruppert, Uta & Frank Schulze-Engler ; No. 1
Holbig, Heike ; 2013 ; Regionen als Prozesse: Asienbezogene Area Studies an den Schnittstellen kultur- und sozialwissenschaftlicher Selbstreflexion ; https:\\www.uni-frankfurt.de/49330380/WP-7-2013_Holbig.pdf ; IZO Working Papers on East Asia ; No. 7

Talks and Lectures

Lejeune, Johannes ; That’s what friends are for: Identity in the making of China-South Africa relations ; Wednesday, March 25, 2015 ; Cape Town
Holbig, Heike ; Regionenals kulturelle Prozesse: Chinaund die "World Values Surveys" ; Sunday, October 6, 2013 ; Universität Leipzig
Holbig, Heike ; Entanglements Versus Entrenchments. Asien als Prozess ; Tuesday, June 24, 2014 ; Ludwigs-Maximilian-Universität München
Lejeune, Johannes ; Collective Identity in China-Ethiopia Relations: A Community of Practice Perspective ; Wednesday, August 6, 2014 to Saturday, August 9, 2014 ; Frankfurt a. M