VARIEGATED WORK REGIMES: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CHINESE COMPANIES IN ETHIOPIA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Ding Fei IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Abdi I. Samatar May 2018 © Ding Fei 2018 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While writing this acknowledgement, I still cannot believe that I survive graduate school and finish the dissertation. I could not walk thus far along this journey without the support from so many people. My deepest gratitude goes to my PhD advisor, Dr. Abdi Samatar, who has been so supportive, responsive and patient throughout my graduate study and served as an important source of wisdom in my explorations of the American academic world. Abdi is a generous and dedicated mentor, offering critical comments and constructive suggestions at all stages of my dissertation research, from the development of initial ideas, to funding applications, to fieldwork process, and to the writing and crafting of the dissertation. My committee members, Dr. Mark Lindberg, Dr. Kate Derickson, Dr. Jamie Monson, and Dr. Tade Okediji have been always willing help me think through the literature and find solutions to my questions. I have benefited tremendously from Mark’s GIS and cartography classes, in which I improved my mapping and spatial analytical skills and developed great interests in teaching these subjects. Kate’s expertise in urbanism and critical theory has contributed to my understanding of Chinese urbanism i and researcher subjectivity in the field. Jamie’s extensive knowledge on Africa-China relations and rich experience of doing research in both African and Chinese contexts have contributed to my research design, fieldwork planning and interview tactics. Tade has offered me much assistance to understand economic development in Africa, and has encouraged me to explore various datasets to study Ethiopia-China bilateral relations. In the Department of Geography, Environment, and Society, I also want to thank Dr. Vinay Gidwani, my master advisor, for introducing the topic of “China in Africa” to me. Dr. Katherine Klink has cheered me up during the hardest times of graduate school. Sara Braun has always responded to my inquiry of departmental policies and requests for support letters in the quickest manner. My senior colleagues, Luke Bergmann, Catherine Chang, Stefano Bloch, Sian Butcher, Alicia Lazzarini and Smai Eria have shared important insights about graduate life in my first years. At the Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation, I want to thank Dr. Sula Sarkar, my supervisor, who has been very generous and supportive in giving me times off to complete my fieldwork and finish the dissertation. Patt Hall has been so kind to offer a thorough English editing of the dissertation. The IPUMSI-International project has been a great place to work, with a group of fascinating faculty, staff and students. ii My first trip to Ethiopia in 2013 was filled with as much curiosity and excitement as fear and uncertainty. But when I finished the dissertation fieldwork in 2017 and was about to leave, I just wished to stay longer. Many people made my life in Addis Ababa, Borana, and Eastern Industrial Zone enjoyable, and my research smooth and successful. Among those, I especially want to thank Xi Fang, Jintao Zhang, Xuefei Liu, Qun Ma, Tianjun Yin, Fei Wang, Hailong Han, Zong Yi, Shouming Jiao for helping me launch the research and gain a deeper understanding of Chinese companies in the country. I also thank Mekides Kumssa and Yoseph Weldemariam for travelling with me to the Eastern Industrial Zone in the middle of national protests. My gratitude also goes to all the participants in the dissertation research, who generously shared their work and life experiences with me. Finally, I want to thank my family and friends. My parents Xiangui Fei and Shuying Zhang have always given me unconditional support to all of my decisions in life. Barbara Grossman and Jeff Prauer have taken me as part of their family and made Twin Cities my home over the years. Many friends in the University of Minnesota have made my graduate life memorable. While most of them had graduated and moved to different parts of the world, their constant inquires of “when are you going to finish” have pushed iii me to work hard toward the degree. My amazing husband, Chuan Liao, has been a best friend, a keen listener, a cheer leader in my life, and a critical reader of my dissertation drafts. Keeping eight years of long-distance relationship has not been easy, but he has filled everyday with hope, trust and happiness. My incoming baby, whose surprising arrival has given me so much nausea and fatigue in the last few months of writing, brings a lot of excitement to the entire family. This dissertation is dedicated to all of you. iv DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Xiangui Fei and Shuying Zhang. v ABSTRACT The dissertation investigates the variegated work regimes in multiple sectors of Chinese investment in Ethiopia. The bourgeoning literature on Africa-China relations has contributed both policy-level analyses of China’s strategic agenda in Africa and field- based studies on everyday Chinese practices in specific African countries. However, scholars have yet to unpack the nexus of state, firms, and employees that collectively shape the micro-power geometries in Chinese workplaces in Africa. To address this gap, comparative case studies were conducted with three Chinese companies in construction, telecommunication, and auto assembly, respectively, as well as a group of manufacturers in the Chinese Eastern Industrial Zone, to uncover the everyday geographies of Chinese capital and labor engagements in Ethiopia. The dissertation problematizes the stereotypical groupings of Chinese investments into state and private capitals by identifying the complex contractual, competitive, and complementary networks developed among Chinese firms – implied by their varied capacities and constraints – to engage in transnational production. It also examines the promising and challenging elements of employee agency and the effectiveness of vi government intervention. Rather than presuming a nationality-based management structure in Chinese companies, the dissertation argues that power is articulated along multiple lines of social locations and economic positions, resulting in empowerment and marginalization for both Chinese and Ethiopian employees. It thus adds to the efforts of “situating agency” by explicating how Chinese and Ethiopians navigate multiple circumstances for their own economic and professional benefit through work. By revealing how states, firms, places and individuals are mobilized to pursue diverse and highly flexible globalization trajectories, the dissertation contributes to a comparative- relational understanding of the everyday politics of work-life encounters under shifting global power dynamics of South-South cooperation. The dissertation has three main parts. Part I sets the scene for the dissertation research. Chapter 1 reviews the key strands of literature on the politics of production, labor agency, and Africa-China relations that the dissertation draws upon and contributes to. Chapter 2 provides a critical examination of Ethiopia-China relations in terms of the historical, ideological, and political economic foundations of contemporary cooperation; characteristics of the bilateral relations in areas of trade, aid, and investment; and the historical development of local labor regimes in Ethiopia. The chapter also presents the vii mechanics of dissertation fieldwork and the case study companies. Part II goes into the specifics of the cases studies, with each chapter devoted to one particular sector of Ethiopia-China cooperation. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 each covers one case-study company in sectors of infrastructure construction, information and communication technology, and auto assembly, respectively. Each chapter discusses the various aspects of the company’s globalization trajectory and local operation including their ownership background, investment scale, financing mode, management strategy, market opportunity, government/client relations, and employee agency. Chapter 6 examines an emerging mode of business operation – the development of economic zones, drawing upon experiences of a group of Chinese manufacturers in the Eastern Industrial Zone. Collectively, the cases studies in Part II revealed the varied capacities, interests and constrains of Chinese companies in organizing transnational and local businesses and engaging with expatriate and local employees. Employees are therefore differently empowered and excluded at geographically specific workplaces. Their exercises of agency are contingent upon the structural-material conditions and socio-economic positions in the companies. Part III summarizes the major findings of the dissertation under the notion of “variegated work regimes” and emphasizes the nexus of state, capital, and labor in forging diverse, dynamic, and contingent relations in Chinese workplaces. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables .................................................................................................................. xvi List of Figures ............................................................................................................... xviii List of Maps .................................................................................................................... xxi Chapter One Africa-China