Basel, Switzerland

Participants: 
Nina Sylvanus, Northeastern University 
Tommy Tse, University of Amsterdam
Heidi Haugen, University of Oslo
Lesley Braun, University of Basel
Yvonne Riaño, University of Neuchâtel

Abstract:
This workshop will offer insights drawn from ethnographic research into the broader geopolitical dynamics associated with global commodity and value chains which are revealed through smaller commercial networks managed and led by individuals themselves. China-Africa entanglements can be discerned through the lens of importation practices between these regions. Some of the thematic questions explored in this workshop will include: How have migration corridors changed since the pandemic, and what are some of the various factors motivating Africans to return to China? How have entrepreneurs adjusted to the rhythms of trade prompted by significant geopolitical disruptions? In which ways is Internet communication technology being utilized to manage and coordinate trade networks, and how is it affecting information exchange and decision-making among stakeholders? How are smart port technologies improving the efficiency, sustainability, and reliability of goods transportation, and what implications do these advancements have for the trade dynamics? What are some of the ways research is being conducted to explore the connection between the manufacturing of textiles in China and its consumption in Africa?

Poster

Istanbul, Turkey

Participants:
Claudia Bülbül, Kadir Has University, Turkey (TÜBİTAK project)
Güler Canbulat, Istanbul Gelisim University, Turkey
Roberto Castillo, Lingan University, China
Lesley Braun, University of Basel, Switzerland  

Abstract:
The presence of Africans in Turkey, both temporary and permanent residents, points to the ways in which Turkey is becoming not only a corridor of migration but also a destination. This workshop attends to the ways in which Africans are embedding themselves in Turkish society, through work and other activities. Further, we will also consider the role of technology in facilitating mobility, as well as entrepreneurial and cultural activities. 

Philadelphia, USA

Panel at the African Studies Association’s 65th Annual Meeting

Panelists:
Lesley Nicole Braun (organizer)
Kudus Adebayo, University of Ibadan (organizer)
Vivian Lu, Fordham University (participant)
Naaborle Sackeyfio, Miami University (discussant)

Abstract:
China has been a central foreign investment partner in many African countries for several decades, brokering agreements that impact both trade and migration policies. Corridors of migration between Africa and China have been characterized by complex flows of goods, ideas, technologies and people. These flows have connected urban nodes and space in multiple directions and are producing strategies of departures and returns which are themselves shaped by changing borders and global public health dynamics. Such broader geopolitical dynamics associated with global commodity and value chains are brought into view through the lens of smaller commercial networks managed and led by individuals themselves. The research presented in this panel will draw on ethnographic data that reveals new chains of connections and dislocations produced in and through Sino-African engagement. Set against the backdrop of the global Covid-19 pandemic, this panel is interested in how the mobility of both people and commodities between several African countries and China has been affected by recent pandemic disruptions. We will address such questions as: What are some of the new rhythms of trade and commodity circulation produced by the global pandemic? How do individuals themselves understand their own positions within commodity chains? What informs local discourses relating to commodity qualities? How may the pandemic response in China be understood as constituting an opportunity for African migrants in Chinese cities to migrate back to Africa?  

1) Vivian Lu “Commercial aesthetics and embodied geopolitics along China-Nigeria commodity routes”

2) Lesley Braun “Dislocated trade in Kinshasa, DRC and traders’ emergent strategies”

3) Kudus Adebayo “Triggering delayed transition: A life history analysis of racialised epidemic management and return migration along Nigeria-China migration corridor”

Colonge, Germany 

Panelists:
Fikayo Akeredolou, Oxford University
Heidi Haugen, University of Oslo
Mark Obeng, University of Ghana, Legon
Lesley Braun, University Basel, Switzerland
Ibrahima Niang, University of Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar
Qidi Feng, University of Amsterdam

Abstract:
China has become the principal source country for manufactured goods in Africa. Some of the Chinese imports have replaced locally manufactured products while others compete against imports from countries outside Africa. This panel examines how the Covid-induced disruptions in import from China have influenced African production and trading systems. The flows of goods, people, and money between African countries and China have mutually sustained each other. Human mobility between Africa and China virtually halted after the Covid pandemic due to strict travel prohibitions on the part of the Chinese. What happened with imports from China during this period? Have importers found new ways of organizing sourcing, quality assurance, packing, and payments for goods to compensate for blockades against travel between factories in China and end markets in Africa? Or have they redirected their purchases to competing global trade hubs, such as Istanbul, Dubai, and Bangkok? Similarly, we ask whether manufacturers and artisanal producers based in African countries, including Chinese-owned production facilities, were able to profit from the supply chain disruptions in Chinese goods and (re)gain market shares. In cases where limited supply from China provided new market opportunities for locally produced goods, to what extent can these advantages be sustained once trade normalizes? Furthermore, intensified economic entanglements with China mean that African producers depend on Chinese inputs, both machinery and intermediary materials for production. Considering this, is it possible or desirable to envision a future for production in Africa that is decoupled from China?