Selected Topics in International Relations

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

For three years now, I have taught an undergraduate course titled “Selected Topics in International Relations” that is about “Global China and China-Africa Relations”. The course contains a strong visual and sonic component (sketches, photos, recordings, films, crafts, and other tactile “things”) and offers students the chance to experiment with alternative writing styles. The course 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. This is one of the courses that generates the most student feedback. I translate and incorporate some of their comments directly into my research.

Course outline shared with the The Chinese in Africa/Africans in China (CA/AC) Research Network.