Chinese in Africa: ‘Chineseness’ and the complexities of identities

ABSTRACT

This introduction presents background information to a special issue exploring the complexities of the Chinese identity and forms in which ‘Chineseness’ is expressed by Chinese migrants in Africa. Existing literature and media reports on the Chinese in Africa assumes that they are a homogenous group, this introductory article argues to the contrary. The Chinese diaspora in Africa range from descendants of migrants that settled in Africa in the seventeenth century to twenty-first century migrants. This historical and contemporary engagement between China and African countries is essential to understanding the diversity and hybridity of Chinese identity in Africa. This observation provides the basis for the six articles in this special issue. Based on ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews with the Chinese diaspora and locals in Zimbabwe, Ghana, Zambia and South Africa, the articles provide a compelling argument on why there is no single Chinese identity in Africa.

KEYWORDS:

• Identity
• Chineseness
• peoples
• China
• Ghana
• ethnicity
• Ghana
• Zimbabwe

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Gukurume, “Chinese Migrants and the Politics.”

2. Dankwah and Amoah, “Gauging the Dispositions between Indigenes.”

3. Ibid.

4. Yan et al., “Chinese and Self-Segregation in Africa.”

5. See above note 1.

6. Wang, “Nationalism and the Overseas Chinese State.”

7. Ibid.

8. Gukurume, “Chinese Migrants and the Politics of Everyday Life in Zimbabwe.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Obert Hodzi

Obert Hodzi is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Cultures at the University of Helsinki, Finland. His research interests involve global governance, security, south-south power dynamics and politics in Africa.