My research broadly examines the relationship between individual experience, relationality, and global/geopolitical imaginaries. My first book, Chinese Migrants and the Interpersonal Ethics of Global Inequality in Tanzania, will explore economic relations and migration between China and Africa. It is based on seventeen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Tanzania among Chinese who migrate for business and/or employment. I ask how the life projects of Chinese migrants and ordinary Tanzanians become interdependent in the context of emerging South-South political-economic formations, and examine how both parties make sense of the China-Africa relationship through the ethical evaluation of their social interactions. My ethnographic focus is on the movement of manufactured goods between China and Tanzania, where Chinese wholesalers compete and cooperate with Tanzanian wholesalers and retailers who have seen their positions rise and/or diminish with the entry of Chinese commodities. Situating the presence of Chinese migrants and commodities within longer histories of Afro-Asian connections, I examine situations of complementarity and tension which generate debates regarding the comparative privileges, vulnerabilities, agency, and responsibilities of Chinese “guests” or “investors” vis-à-vis Tanzanian “hosts” or “locals.” These situations include market competition and trading hierarchies between entrepreneurs, mistrust and interdependence between co-workers, the contested terms of material and emotional reciprocity between friends, family, and strangers, and the art/ethics of petty corruption. I describe how Chinese immigrants and ordinary Tanzanians mobilize concepts of “nation,” “culture,” “race,” political ethics, and “(non)empire” to provide a vernacular commentary on South-South cooperation. In doing so, I aim to rethink the anthropology of world order through the ethnography of the interpersonal ethics of global inequality.
My next project looks at Afro-Asian cultural exchange in the context of Indian Ocean worlding projects like the “Maritime Silk Road.” While the Chinese state has recently mobilized the martial arts for cultural diplomacy in Africa, the practice of the East Asian martial arts in East Africa predates the current China-Africa moment, and derives from a multitude of sources including: Hong Kong films, postcolonial military exchange programs, itinerant migration, and Islamic spiritual knowledges. In addition to Chinese Wushu, Japanese Karate and Korean Taekwondo have already become part of sport and health practices in Tanzania. These histories illustrate the longstanding presence of Afro-Asian connections and the significant role played by African martial artists, complicating assumptions about who has authored “East Asian” cultural signs in the region. My research has three goals: 1) tracing genealogies of East Asian martial arts in East Africa 2) examining the translation of body cultures, 3) and understanding the use of martial arts in Tanzanian film production. My project will contribute to better understanding the diverse sources of the cultural production of Afro-Asian heritage in the contemporary South-South moment.
My research broadly examines the relationship between individual experience, relationality, and global/geopolitical imaginaries. My first book, Chinese Migrants and the Interpersonal Ethics of Global Inequality in Tanzania, will explore economic relations and migration between China and Africa. It is based on seventeen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Tanzania among Chinese who migrate for business and/or employment. I ask how the life projects of Chinese migrants and ordinary Tanzanians become interdependent in the context of emerging South-South political-economic formations, and examine how both parties make sense of the China-Africa relationship through the ethical evaluation of their social interactions. My ethnographic focus is on the movement of manufactured goods between China and Tanzania, where Chinese wholesalers compete and cooperate with Tanzanian wholesalers and retailers who have seen their positions rise and/or diminish with the entry of Chinese commodities. Situating the presence of Chinese migrants and commodities within longer histories of Afro-Asian connections, I examine situations of complementarity and tension which generate debates regarding the comparative privileges, vulnerabilities, agency, and responsibilities of Chinese “guests” or “investors” vis-à-vis Tanzanian “hosts” or “locals.” These situations include market competition and trading hierarchies between entrepreneurs, mistrust and interdependence between co-workers, the contested terms of material and emotional reciprocity between friends, family, and strangers, and the art/ethics of petty corruption. I describe how Chinese immigrants and ordinary Tanzanians mobilize concepts of “nation,” “culture,” “race,” political ethics, and “(non)empire” to provide a vernacular commentary on South-South cooperation. In doing so, I aim to rethink the anthropology of world order through the ethnography of the interpersonal ethics of global inequality.
My next project looks at Afro-Asian cultural exchange in the context of Indian Ocean worlding projects like the “Maritime Silk Road.” While the Chinese state has recently mobilized the martial arts for cultural diplomacy in Africa, the practice of the East Asian martial arts in East Africa predates the current China-Africa moment, and derives from a multitude of sources including: Hong Kong films, postcolonial military exchange programs, itinerant migration, and Islamic spiritual knowledges. In addition to Chinese Wushu, Japanese Karate and Korean Taekwondo have already become part of sport and health practices in Tanzania. These histories illustrate the longstanding presence of Afro-Asian connections and the significant role played by African martial artists, complicating assumptions about who has authored “East Asian” cultural signs in the region. My research has three goals: 1) tracing genealogies of East Asian martial arts in East Africa 2) examining the translation of body cultures, 3) and understanding the use of martial arts in Tanzanian film production. My project will contribute to better understanding the diverse sources of the cultural production of Afro-Asian heritage in the contemporary South-South moment.