The Politics of Intimacy

Abstract

Anxieties about the loss of integrity – the quality of having strong moral principles and the state of being undivided – are compounded by the increased intimacy between Chinese foremen and female members of the local community. Sexual relations, in particular, threaten to annul the carefully maintained distance between ‘us’ and ‘them’. Instances of sexual intimacy prompt Chinese managers to define notions of race and racial difference, and to reestablish their reputation as morally upright. What happens at night-time is consequential for the daytime encounters on the construction site. Sexual intimacy filters into management–labor relations and challenges the social distance set up between Chinese management and Ethiopian rank-and-file workers, on which the managerial authority and racial disparities of the corporate hierarchy depend.