Chinese goods reshape Africa

In the context of rapid increases in Sino-African trade over the last fifteen years, this article examines the consequences of the proliferation of Chinese goods in the daily life of African societies and the rise of mass consumption on the continent. The impact of Chinese goods is frequently analyzed solely through the lens of their cheap prices, yet these products need to be further understood as contributing to the emergence of a new material culture. In this article, we focus on African consumers of “made in China”, as well as the key category of actors actively creating this new material culture – African traders themselves. Through an analysis of these traders of Chinese products, this article argues that their activities partially reconfigure local power relations surrounding access to extraversion – or ‘relations with the exterior on which those who dominate the society base their power’ (Bayart, 2000).Keywords: China in Africa; Chinese goods in Africa; Material culture; African trader

Welcome to the website of the research project "The Developmental State Strikes Back?"

Created by the researchers of the project "The Developmental State Strikes Back?", supported by the Swiss National Science Fund, this blog brings together political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists and historians working on the return of the developmental state in Africa. Its main ambition is to present the research in progress, as well as to disseminate the work of its members. It also proposes to report the scientific advances on the theme by relaying and commenting the contributio..

European Conference on African Studies (Basel, 29 June - 1st July 2017)

The Developmental State Strikes Back? The Rise of New Global Powers and African States' Development Strategies Panel organized by Antoine Kernen, Didier Péclard and Guive Khan-Mohammad Short abstract This panel intends to analyze the development strategies of African states in a context marked by the end of the Washington consensus and the diversification of international donors, and in which the state is given again – and takes – a more important role as driver of development. Long abstract ..

Research Week of the Centre d'études et de recherche en dynamiques administratives et politiques (Yaoundé, 11 - 15 September 2017)

The research week of the Centre d'études et de recherche en dynamiques administratives et politiques, held in the Hotel Merina in Yaoundé, from the 11th to the 15th of September 2017. This week, which closed the first year of the research project “The Developmental State Stikes Back?”, gave the opportunity for Cameroonian, Ivoirian and Swiss teams to meet and to disseminate their first results to academic, development professionals, Cameroonian authorities and general public. Furthermore, vis..

Research Week of the Centre d'études et de recherche en dynamiques administratives et politiques (Yaoundé, 11 - 15 September 2017)

The research week of the Centre d'études et de recherche en dynamiques administratives et politiques, held in the Hotel Merina in Yaoundé, from the 11th to the 15th of September 2017. This week, which closed the first year of the research project “The Developmental State Stikes Back?”, gave the opportunity for Cameroonian, Ivoirian and Swiss teams to meet and to disseminate their first results to academic, development professionals, Cameroonian authorities and general public. Furthermore, vis..

Welcome to the website of the research project "The Developmental State Strikes Back?"

Created by the researchers of the project "The Developmental State Strikes Back?", supported by the Swiss National Science Fund, this blog brings together political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists and historians working on the return of the developmental state in Africa. Its main ambition is to present the research in progress, as well as to disseminate the work of its members. It also proposes to report the scientific advances on the theme by relaying and commenting the contributio..

Etats d'émergence en Afrique - Special issue in Critique internationale

Since the beginning of 2010, the image of an "emerging Africa", a continent "full of hope" boosted by unprecedented economic growth, has become a fixture in the discussions of development experts and on the front page of magazines. In an international context marked by the return of the state as the engine of development, the vast majority of African countries have also adopted an "emergence strategy". Based on fieldwork in Cameroon, Senegal, Kenya and Côte d'Ivoire, the contributions gathere..

Research Week at the Chaire de Bioéthique de l’Université de Bouaké (Abidjan/Bouaké, 27-31 August 2018)

The research week of the Chaire de Bioéthique de Bouaké, held in Abidjan and at the University of Bouaké, from the 27th to the 31st of August 2018. This week, which closed the second year of the research project “The Developmental State Stikes Back?”, gave the opportunity for Ivorian, Cameroonian and Swiss teams to meet and to disseminate their research results to academic, development professionals, Ivorian authorities and general public. Furthermore, visits and interviews were organized on ..

The Chinese Presence in Burkina Faso: A Sino-African Cooperation from Below

Burkina Faso currently has no diplomatic relationship whatsoever with the People’s Republic of China. Engaged in cooperation with Taiwan since 1994, it is one of only three African countries not a part of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation. This unusual situation has produced a unique manifestation of the Chinese presence in Burkina Faso, where the estimated 600 Chinese migrants are primarily private entrepreneurs. This phenomenon of “globalization from below” – or, this migration of entrepreneurs that transcends the absence of diplomatic relations – creates new intimate social relations between the Burkinabe and Chinese people who come into contact with each other. Far from simply turning Chinese and Burkinabe into economic competitors, these relations have also led to the emergence of many forms of interpersonal and business cooperation. In this paper, I therefore demonstrate how Sino-African cooperation from below has developed in Burkina Faso, which stands in radical contrast to the latter’s cooperation with Taiwan, which takes place almost exclusively on a broader state-to-state level. The empirical evidence of this study is drawn from field survey interviews and observations of both Chinese and Burkinabe entrepreneurs in Burkina Faso between 2010 and 2011

The Chinese Presence in Burkina Faso: A Sino-African Cooperation from Below

Burkina Faso currently has no diplomatic relationship whatsoever with the People’s Republic of China. Engaged in cooperation with Taiwan since 1994, it is one of only three African countries not a part of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation. This unusual situation has produced a unique manifestation of the Chinese presence in Burkina Faso, where the estimated 600 Chinese migrants are primarily private entrepreneurs. This phenomenon of “globalization from below” – or, this migration of entrepreneurs that transcends the absence of diplomatic relations – creates new intimate social relations between the Burkinabe and Chinese people who come into contact with each other. Far from simply turning Chinese and Burkinabe into economic competitors, these relations have also led to the emergence of many forms of interpersonal and business cooperation. In this paper, I therefore demonstrate how Sino-African cooperation from below has developed in Burkina Faso, which stands in radical contrast to the latter’s cooperation with Taiwan, which takes place almost exclusively on a broader state-to-state level. The empirical evidence of this study is drawn from field survey interviews and observations of both Chinese and Burkinabe entrepreneurs in Burkina Faso between 2010 and 2011