China in Africa

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

What is the potential for productive partnerships between China, a powerful country of 1.4 billion aging, increasingly affluent consumers, and the countries of Africa, an entire continent whose billion-plus population is notably young, poor and expected to double by 2050? How can we make sense of China’s current record of infrastructure lending in Africa or the recent uptick in China-Africa trade or the fact that the top mobile phone seller in Africa is a Chinese company we’ve never heard of? To provide some answers, China in Africa (BLHS 403) will explore the on-the-ground realities of China’s increasingly complex engagement with African countries in aid, trade, investment, agribusiness, and technology transfer. It will look at China’s Africa policy as a work in progress, evolving over several decades as China’s economic success sparked Africans’ interest in China as a possible growth model and source of outside finance. It will use country-specific case studies to illustrate the diversity of the Africa response to China: how such factors as local African governance systems, socioeconomic conditions, and negotiating skills have affected the outcomes of Chinese-financed projects. While the China-Africa story is the main event, the course will also assess competing or complementary activities of U.S., European, and Japanese investors and the work of multilateral assistance agencies. Overall, “China in Africa” aims to encourage a data-based assessment at the past and future of China-Africa partnership, a key piece in the globally-connected puzzle that represents our future.