Global China and China-Africa Relations
Undergraduate course offered at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau
This course is designed for students interested in international relations, China-Africa contacts, and innovative methods. What do we make of China-Africa engagements in the 21st century? What accounts for the polemical debate around Chinese projects in Africa? How has the subject been studied academically and what is the way forward? The course connects Global China and China-Africa relations so that students gain a panoramic view of peace and conflict, of cooperation and competition, of challenges and possibilities. The course contains a strong visual and sonic component and offers students the chance to experiment with alternative writing styles. Previous knowledge of Africa or of the Portuguese language is not required.
“Global China and China-Africa Relations” exposes students to some of the new advances in international relations and interdisciplinary borrowings; connects IR the discipline and ir the practice, assesses the concept and method of Global China and relates this to China’s world engagements; disseminates knowledge by other means, namely public-facing writings and photo-essays; and introduces students to political aesthetics and the power of visuals in international politics.
Part I Understanding Global China and Chinese engagements in Africa
Week 1: Introductory class: Why study Global China. Why Africa matters.
Week 2: Approaching Global China as a phenomenon and as a method
Week 3: History of colonization and knowledge production
Part II China in Africa: “small characters” and everyday international relations
Week 4: Chinese interests in Africa
Week 5: Reinventing IR
Week 6: Human capital
Part III Africans in China / Reporting China-Africa Relations
Week 7 What has become of the “Chocolate City”?
Week 8 How to report China-Africa relations
Week 9 In-class writing
Part IV China-Africa Visual and Sonic Politics
Week 10 Unnarratizing China-Angola relations: Visual memory, mediating bodies, and bilateral infrastructures of feeling
Week 11 China-Africa visual politics, affective communities, and global infrastructures of feeling
Week 12 Photo-essay
Part V Focus on Lusophone Africa
Week 13 African political regimes, modern ethnic identities and international development
Week 14 Debate
Week 15 Preparing for the final exam
Teaching philosophy statement
I teach International Relations subjects at the Faculty of Social Sciences. My teaching philosophy is informed by African storytelling traditions. I try to hone my storytelling skills so that when I teach, it is as if I were telling stories, stories that make an impact, stories that will stay with the students for a long time.
As an Africanist by training, I have always appreciated oral traditions, not only for their inherent beauty but also for their potential application in research, teaching and other scholarly pursuits. I follow Paulin Hountondji and his contemporaries in stressing the importance of merging research and pedagogy for the promotion of better knowledge. Therefore, as an educator, I want to align classroom activities with research. I make sure that students have access to the latest literature, media discussions and policy documents.
African oral traditions have been my inspirations for how to engage students in class and encourage meaningful peer debate. Like storytellers who tailor their script to the sensibilities of the audience, I teach with the class and consider student involvement an integral part of fruitful teaching.
Course outline shared with the The Chinese in Africa/Africans in China (CA/AC) Research Network.
Kaian Lam 林嘉欣 