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The New Merchants of Canton The New Merchants of Canton: Navigating Legal Practices and Religious Networks among Sub-Saharan African Muslims in Guangzhou Qiuyu Jiang Department of Anthropology McGill University, Montreal, Canada. August 2019 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology. © Qiuyu Jiang, 2019 Abstract In the past two decades, strengthening Sino-African ties have led to the emergence of a transnational African population in Guangzhou, China’s southern manufacturing center. Based on fourteen months of ethnographic research, this dissertation examines how African migrants navigate their lives in the city, with a focus on Muslims from sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of migrants studied work as small-scale business owners. They face racial, cultural, and legal challenges on a daily basis, and often have tense relationships with local residents, the Guangzhou police, and the Chinese state. Exploring the experiences of African Muslim migrants in Guangzhou opens up new discussions about globalization, urbanization, citizenship, xenophobia, ethnicity, and religion in contemporary China. On one level, the dissertation looks at how China’s legal system (including a restrictive immigration system based mainly on ethnicity) attempts to control, mediate, and regulate African migrants’ experiences in Guangzhou, as well as Africans’ responses to Chinese immigration laws and their enforcement. It examines how immigration laws and their implementation, including through surveillance and strict border management, serve as exclusionary tools to prevent Africans from stable, long-term stays in the country. Simultaneously, it also shows how the lack of uniform enforcement of immigration laws creates spaces in which African migrants can negotiate and work around the formal legal system. Visa-partnership, an informal economic relationship between Africans and Chinese has developed to maximize the visa rights of Africans. On another level, the dissertation examines Muslim Africans’ religious practices and supporting social networks based on a shared religion. I show how Guangzhou’s history and economy have combined to produce a vibrant, multi-ethnic Muslim community in the city. The dissertation attends to how religious conduct acts as a form of community-generated law that serves to enforce social order and regulate business conduct, as well as helping migrants transcend ethnic-national differences. This “religious common ground,” as I term it, also serves as a major basis for the provision of social aid and for community making. ii Résumé Depuis deux décennies, la consolidation des liens sino-africains a mené à l’émergence d’une population transnationale dans le Guangzhou, centre manufacturier du sud de la Chine. Cette dissertation s’inspire de quatorze mois de recherche ethnographique et analyse la manière dont les migrants africains – en particulier les migrants musulmans d’Afrique sub-saharienne – s’orientent face aux défis de la vie urbaine. Les migrants considérés dans le corpus de cette analyse sont majoritairement propriétaires de petites entreprises et commerçants. Ces individus affrontent quotidiennement des défis raciaux, culturels, et juridiques. Ils entretiennent des relations tendues avec les habitants et la police du Guangzhou, ainsi qu’avec l’État chinois. Un examen des expériences de ces migrants africains musulmans du Guangzhou nous permet d’entamer de nouvelles discussions sur la globalisation, l’urbanisation, la citoyenneté, la xénophobie, l’ethnie, et la religion dans la Chine contemporaine. D’une part, cette dissertation considère le système juridique en Chine (ce qui inclut les règles d’immigration restrictives basées principalement sur l’origine ethnique) et ses efforts de contrôler, d’intervenir et de régler l’expérience des migrants africains dans le Guangzhou, ainsi que les façons dont les migrants africains répondent à ces lois sur l’immigration et leur mise en application. Nous démontrons comment ces règles d’immigration, ainsi que leur mise en œuvre par la surveillance ou la gestion rigoureuse des frontières, peuvent agir en tant qu'outils d’exclusion et, conséquemment, empêcher les migrants africains d’avoir un séjour stable et de longue durée en Chine. Nous soutenons en même temps que l’absence d’une application conforme des lois sur l’immigration crée des espaces propices pour les migrants africains pour négocier leur place et éviter un recours au système judiciaire officiel. Des partenariats relatifs aux visas – une forme de relation économique informelle entre les Africains et les Chinois – se sont développés afin de maximiser les droits de visa des Africains. D’une autre part, cette dissertation examine les pratiques religieuses des migrants africains musulmans et leurs réseaux de soutien social formés sur la base de l’appartenance à une même religion. Nous démontrons que l’histoire et l’économie du Guangzhou ont mené à l’essor d’une communauté musulmane dynamique et multiethnique dans la ville. Nous tentons d’élucider la manière dont la conduite religieuse génère des règles communautaires permettant de garantir un ordre social, de régir les activités commerciales, et de permettre aux migrants de transcender les différences ethniques et nationales. Ces « points de convergence religieuse », tels que nous les définissons, contribuent significativement à l’apport d’une aide sociale et à la construction de liens communautaires. iii Acknowledgements I am grateful, first and foremost, to my supervisor Prof. Sandra Teresa Hyde for her tireless support of my research. I am also grateful to Prof. John Galaty, who offers me a warm and supportive environment during my writing phase. Many scholars at several institutions who have supported my studies and inspired my research in diverse ways: Prof. Leander Schneider, Prof. Kristin Norget, Prof. Colin Scott, Prof. Jeanne Shea, Prof. Ismael Vaccaro, Prof. Ronald Niezen, Prof. Katherine Lemons, Prof. Lisa Stevenson, and Prof. Allan Young. I thank several scholars in the field of Africa-China studies: Gordon Mathews, Tu Huynh, Shanshan Lan, Roberto Castillo, and Heidi Haugen, whose work has shed light on mine. This project would not have come to fruition without the encouragement of my peers and friends at McGill and elsewhere. They include Justin Raycraft, Graham Fox, Darcie DeAngelo, Lisa Rail, Lara Rosenoff-Gauvin, Jacques Pollini, Catherine Larouche, Karen McAllister, Nicholas Barber, Jingzi Han, Jonathan Wald, Rine Vieth, Tristan Ivory, Emilio Dirlikov, Chelsey Cao, Daniel Murry, Anne-Elise Keen, Gillian Chilibeck, Julia Bailey, Nicole Rigillo, Katie Sinclair, Gabriella Djerrahian, Jennifer Glassco, Kathleen Godfrey, Daniel Ruiz-Serna, Nicole Anne, Kariuki Kirigia, Klerkson Lugusa, Caroline Seagle, Zhou Yang, Lin Dan, and Corey Wright. While in Guangzhou, many of the women and men from both African and Chinese communities I spoke to showed me phenomenal hospitality and kindness. The knowledge and information they generously shared with me are the foundation of this dissertation. Especially, I would like to thank Bah and Bara, who looked after me like older brothers. I also would like to thank the people at the mosque and the family service centre where I volunteered, for taking me in as part of your community. I also owe my gratitude to my editor, Matthew Wyman-McCarthy. I would not be able to accomplish this dissertation without his invaluable comments, which inspired me to think beyond anthropology and motivated me to move forward in my project. I also would like to thank Gabriel de la Cruz, my closest friend and life partner. His belief in me provided a continual motivation for me to finish this writing project. Lastly, I owe an incredible debt of gratitude to my parents. Even though they do not know what anthropology is, they still offer their generous and continuing support in my education throughout my life. Funding and institutional support for this project was generously provided by several organizations: The IDRC Doctoral Research Award (N° 107099-99906075-054) from the International Development Research Centre, Canada; Media@McGill Arts Graduate Research Fellowship from Department of Art History and Communication Studies, McGill; stipend from Prof. Sandra Hyde (SSHRC Faculty Fellowship); Harvard Yenching Institute Summer Training Program Travel Fund; The Arts Graduate Student Travel Award, McGill; The Abner Kingman Fellowship, McGill; McGill International Doctoral Awards; the Clifford C.F. Wong Graduate Fellowship, McGill; Provost's Graduate Fellowship, McGill; and Family Jiang’s Excellent Member Grant. iv Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii Résumé .......................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... v Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 Just Like That .............................................................................................................................
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