China’s New Minority: Africans in China, Their Identities and Well-Being

Online seminar
Friday 23 October, 10:15-11:30 (Copenhagen Time, Prague Time) / 11:15-12:30 (Helsinki Time)

Registration closes on 22 October.

In the past decade, the relations between China and African countries have transcended from state-level multi-lateral and bilateral exchanges to the micro-level, with important implications for households and individuals. Of note has been the varying forms of population migrations between the two places for reasons ranging from business ventures, education, asylum-seeking and family making and reunification. The focus of this seminar is on the well-beings of Africans, as a new kind of minority in China. Topics range from psychological distress of Africans in Hong Kong, recent tensions in Guangzhou between African residents and city authorities over perceived discriminatory COVID-19 control measures, and African students’ dream to elevate themselves on the social ladder through further education in China.

Opening: Duncan McCargo, Director of NIAS - Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, University of Copenhagen

Moderator: Julie Yu-Wen Chen, Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Helsinki

Speakers: (Each speaker has 10 minutes)

Psychological Wellbeing in Diaspora Space: A Study of African Economic Migrants in Hong Kong 
Dr. Padmore Adusei Amoah, Research Assistant Professor, School of Graduate Studies; Asia Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies; Center for Social Policy and Social Change, Lingnan University

Bridging the Asymmetries? African Students’ Mobility to China 
Dr. Obert Hodzi, Lecturer, Department of Politics, University of Liverpool

Africans in Post-COVID-19 Pandemic China: Is there a Future for China's 'New Minority'?
Dr. Roberto Castillo, Assistant Professor, Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University

Discussants: (Each discussant has 5 minutes)

Dr. Hang Kei Ho, Researcher, Sociology Discipline, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki

Dr. Runya Qiaoan, Assistant Professor, Department of Asian Studies, Palacky University

This event is co-organized by NIAS - Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Journal of Asian Ethnicity (Taylor &Francis), Department of Asian Studies at Palacky University as well as Chinese Studies at the University of Helsinki.
The seminar is part of UCPH's Africa-Asia Week events.