Africans in Guangzhou : a Cultural Analysis of Transnationality Amongst Africans on the Move
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Lingnan University Digital Commons @ Lingnan University Theses & Dissertations Department of Cultural Studies 3-9-2015 Africans in Guangzhou : a cultural analysis of transnationality amongst Africans on the move Roberto Carlos CASTILLO BAUTISTA Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.ln.edu.hk/cs_etd Part of the Critical and Cultural Studies Commons Recommended Citation Castillo Bautista, R. C. (2015). Africans in Guangzhou: A cultural analysis of transnationality amongst Africans on the move (Doctor's thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://commons.ln.edu.hk/cs_etd/25 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Cultural Studies at Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. Terms of Use The copyright of this thesis is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved. AFRICANS IN GUANGZHOU: A CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF TRANSNATIONALITY AMONGST AFRICANS ON THE MOVE CASTILLO BAUTISTA ROBERTO CARLOS PHD LINGNAN UNIVERSITY 2014 AFRICANS IN GUANGZHOU: A CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF TRANSNATIONALITY AMONGST AFRICANS ON THE MOVE by CASTILLO BAUTISTA Roberto Carlos A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Studies Lingnan University 2014 ABSTRACT Africans in Guangzhou: a cultural analysis of transnationality amongst Africans on the move by CASTILLO BAUTISTA Roberto Carlos Doctor of Philosophy Over the last three decades, the shifts brought about by the ‘rise of China’ as a key player in global capitalism have had implications in a myriad of places, practices and imaginations. One such implication can be seen in the decade long presence of an African population in the southern city of Guangzhou. In this dissertation, I look into the dynamics informing this presence by focusing on transnational connections, relations and practices. I take up the call (coming from different fields in the Humanities and Social Sciences) for an analysis of transnationality grounded in the everyday experiences of individuals ‘on the move’ (physically and metaphorically). Accordingly, in this dissertation I provide an extensive ethnographic analysis, accompanied by theoretical formulations, to explain how is African presence in Guangzhou (re)produced and what are the possibilities for the future. Throughout these pages, I contend that transnationality entails much more than mere ‘movement’ across borders, and, as such, can be analysed from multiple perspectives. So, while I pay attention to issues of border crossing, connections beyond the reach of the state, and the reproduction of livelihoods from multiple locations, I also explore how is the transnational embodied in people and things (in emotions and aspirations, as well as in materialities), and embedded in placemaking processes. Hence, drawing from my fieldwork, I identify several ‘discursive sites of the transnational’ (i.e. neighbourhoods, things and practices, organisations, and aspirations, amongst others) from where, without necessarily undertaking international travel, one could critically observe and analyse how the complex material, political, affective and emotional geographies of transnationality unfold and expand. In this dissertation I present, thus, a ‘local’ multi-scalar approach to transnationality in the case study of Africans in Guangzhou. The dissertation is divided into five chapters. In the first chapter, I present a historical overview of Guangzhou, focusing on the spatial conditions that facilitated the arrival (and continued presence) of foreigners in the city. I place an emphasis on highlighting how Africans articulate with China’s transprovincial migrants (and other populations) at the local level, and I problematise extant conceptualisations about the sociospatial formations emerging in the city. In Chapter 2, I explore how certain material formations have emerged after the arrival of foreigners to the city. I provide an ethnographic account of how multiple multiethnic interactions are mediated through certain objects and practices (that I construe as repositories, or sites, of the transnational). In Chapter 3, through the analysis of grassroots forms of organisation amongst Africans in the city, I discuss issues of placemaking and mobility and offer an insight into the complex relations between transnational movement, emplacement, identity, ‘homing’ and citizenship. In Chapter 4, I focus on the hopes, desires, and possibilities, what I call the ‘landscapes of aspiration’, amongst African musicians in the city. I argue that aspirations are crucial drives that not only move and motivate people but that help individuals to navigate through, and make sense of, their transnational journeys. Finally, Chapter 5 presents a theoretical discussion that advocates for a re-conceptualisation of the ‘transnational’ (and transnational mobilities) away from methodological nationalism. I argue that methodological nationalism is a burden that thwarts understandings of the multiple dimensions of contemporary forms of human movement. Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………………1 Preamble: A fleeting encounter 1. Context 1.1. Foreigners in China 1.2. The land of opportunities 1.3. Guangzhou as a historic trading centre 1.4. African histories in China: diplomacy through education 1.4 The China Africa narrative 1.6. Academic engagements and methodological challenges 1.6.1. Methodological challenges 2. The structure of the thesis 3. The ‘Mexican’ researcher: me as a subject on the move 3.1. On the ground: the body as an interface 3.2. Representation and distrust 4. Ethnography as a method 4.1. Method description Chapter 1: The emergence of the ‘Chocolate City’: multiethnic spaces, catering networks, and articulated subeconomies………………………………………….28 1. Looking for the Chocolate City 1.1. The city as a trade fair: urban transformations and foreign arrival 1.2. Welcome Aboard! 1.3. Counting the numbers: the early population surveys 1.4. The French Connection: Dengfeng village 1.5. Transprovincial migrants: the ‘others’ on the move 2. Debunking the ‘Chocolate City’: multiethnic assemblages in a Chinese village 2.1. Vantage point: Dengfeng/Xiaobei 2.2. Catering networks / articulated subeconomies 2.3. Modalities of the sociospatial formations: ethnic enclave, African community, or multiethnic archipelago? 2.3.1. Enclave = Chocolate City 2.3.2. Bridge theory and the ‘African community’ 3. Conclusion: against totalities, no ‘African community’, and no ‘African enclave’ Chapter 2: The materialities of transnational movement: hair, foods, movies, and other goods………………………………………………………………………….69 1. Translocal image-inations 2. ‘Things in formation’: gatherings of people and practices 3. ‘Africa style’ fish and the emergence of transnational foodscapes 3.1. The translocal story of tilapia: from Lake Victoria to the Pearl River 4. The transnational hair route 4.1. Fashion 5. The DVD trade: transnational (re)production 6. Conclusion: little things, ‘major’ transformations? Chapter 3: Placemaking in Guangzhou: emplacement, transiency and the ‘politics’ of solidarity amongst Africans in the city……………………………….91 1. Saturday morning football 2. At home in Guangzhou?: placemaking and mobility 3. Emplacement within transiency: African ‘immigrants’ in Guangzhou? 3.1. Multiple emplacements i 3.2. Emplacement within transiency 4. Precarity and the strengthening of solidarity networks 4.1. Structuring solidarity through football 4.2. Structural discrimination and racism 4.3. Precarious homing, or the difficult task of feeling at ‘home’ in Guangzhou 5. Community offices as sites of alternative citizenship: African ‘politics’ in Guangzhou 5.1. Nigerian ‘wars’ in Guangzhou and the ‘peacemakers’ 5.2. ‘We Africans deserve the treatment we get’ 5.3. ‘Same skin, but not the same habits’ 5.4. Citizenship on the move 6. Conclusion Chapter 4: Making it on the move: landscapes of aspiration in Guangzhou’s African music scene………………………………………………………………..128 1. Exploring Guangzhou’s nightlife scene 2. Landscapes of aspiration: hope, desire and possibility 2.1. China as a platform: spaces of mobility and transnational possibilities in Guangzhou’s music scene 3. Under a pagoda on the banks of the Pearl River: meeting Dibaocha 3.1. A singer is a singer is a singer: sailing away to China 3.2. ‘I Feel Good’: becoming a central figure in the music scene 3.3. An apparent break through 3.4. Aspirations and family making 3.5. Multi-tasking while on the move: serious entrepreneurialism 4. A trip to Panyu: meeting Lo-D 4.1. Transnational (re)production 5. Becoming a musician (and other things) in China: Manivoo 6. Conclusion Chapter 5: Embedded transnationality: problematic transnational mobilities and the burden of methodological nationalism……………………………………….166 1. Producing ‘immigrants’, imposing labels 1.1. Aprioristic versus grounded approaches 2. African mobilities in transformation 2.1. Africa as a continent ‘on the move’ 2.2. Aspirational mobilities and entrepreneurial drives 2.3. Transnational journeys as processes of becoming 3. Migration and the burden of methodological nationalism 3.1. (dis)Locating individuals ‘on the move’ within the logics of Migration Studies 4. Grounding the transnational: multiple forms of mobility and mobility of forms 4.1. Transnationalism and