Theme: 8. Negotiating Margins: Power, Agencies, Representations, Resistances

Geopolitics, Sovereignty, and Agency in Africa-China Engagements

Panel Convenor(s)

• IO

  Isaac Odoom

  Carleton University, Canada

Panel Chair(s)

• IO

  Isaac Odoom

  Carleton University, Canada

Presenter(s)

• DL

  Daniel Large

  Central European University, Austria
• CF

  Costanza Franceschini

  Leiden University, Netherlands
• 

  Caitlin Barker

  Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, United States

From China-sponsored modernization projects in Africa to navigating sovereignty via people-centered diplomacy to the agency of African state actors, all three of the papers on this panel grapple with power and geopolitics. Large interrogates China’s vision of modernization in the context of competition with the US and sponsorship of development projects in Africa. Nyelade examines relations between Somaliland and Taiwan, two non-recognized entities. Finally, Franceschini unpacks African state agency in Sino-Ghanaian infrastructure projects.

Panel supported by: Chinese in Africa/Africans in China Research Network (CA/AC RN)

Presentations:

• 09:00 - 10:45 GMT

  Africa and the Geopolitics of the Chinese Path to Modernization
  

  Presenter: Daniel Large – Central European University
• 09:00 - 10:45 GMT

  African State Agency in Sino-Ghanaian Infrastructure Projects
  

  Presenter: Costanza Franceschini – Leiden University
• 09:00 - 10:45 GMT

  Revolutionary Diplomacy: Celebrating Cameroon Day in Beijing in 1959
  

  Presenter: Caitlin Barker – Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs