- First, Chris Alden's China in Africa: Partner, Competitor or Hegemon provides perhaps the most comprehensive summary on Chinese interests in Africa to date. Together with Ricardo Soares de Oliveira and Daniel Large he has also recently put out what appears to be an updated version, China Returns to Africa: A Rising Power and a Continent Embrace (you can find a link to it in my Amazon sidebar)
- In a similar vein as the Alden book is Ian Taylor's China and Africa: Engagement and Compromise. What Taylor offers, and Alden perhaps misses, is a more comprehensive overview of the history and evolution of Sino-African relations, providing a good basis for understanding present relations
- Harry Broadman's Africa's Silk Road provides World Bank data on China and India's economic activities in the continent. It has the best hard data on trade and investment I've been able to find thus far
- A somewhat outdated (circa 1998) yet most insightful read on Chinese foreign aid to Africa can be found in Deborah Brautigam's Chinese Aid and African Development: Exporting the Green Revolution
- An updated version of Brautigam's overview of Chinese aid can be found in Penny Davies' China and the End of Poverty in Africa - Towards Mutual Benefit?
- For an interesting historical perspective, I highly recommend Alan Hutchinson's China's Africa Revolution published in 1975. The book provides valuable insights into the nature of contemporary relations
- Published by the folks over at Fahamu, Marks and Manji's African Perspectives on China in Africa is an exceptionally valuable read for those looking for the other side of the story. While much of the analysis is somewhat predictable, it nevertheless provides interesting anecdotes on African perceptions of the Chinese and their African investments
- In Flying Geese or Hidden Dragon: Chinese Businesses and African Industrial Development, Deborah Brautigam argues for the potential of Chinese businesses to provide a model for lower-tech African industrial development, stimulating the spin-off of manufacturing, and ultimately jump starting local investment. An exceptionally good read for those interested in the prospects for effective South-South cooperation
- A follow-up to the previous read is Brautigam's Close Encounters: Chinese Business Networks as Industrial Catalysts in Sub-Saharan Africa
- A conference paper from the August International Symposium on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate, An Empirical Analysis of Chinese Construction Firms' Entry into Africa is an essential read for those interested in the financing, entry, and business model pursued by Chinese construction firms in Africa
- For analysis of Chinese entrepreneurs in Africa, I highly recommend Haugen and Carling's On the Edge of the Chinese Diaspora: The Surge of Baihuo Business in an African City
- On the topic of Chinese communities in Africa, Hsu's Zanzibar and its Chinese Communities is a must-read. As is Mohan's The Invisible Hand of South-South Cooperation: Chinese Migrants in Africa
I hope this helps. I'll be sure to upload more titles periodically, so do check back. Also, please do leave suggestions! It's impossible to keep up with all the research coming out these days.
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For the historical background, I feel that Alaba Ogunsanwo's stuff is better than Hutchison. Have you given that a look? Even though it is dated, the research was just outstanding, and it serves as the foundational text on a lot of later books.
ReplyDeleteI actually found the Marks and Manji thing to be kind of mediocre, I was expecting more out of it but a lot of the chapters seemed like poorly done-internet articles. Altough that might just be the nature of doing an edited volume. There is a passable chapter in the new Roetberg (sp?) book, and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon by Ampiah has some good country specific stuff. Just putting it out there.