Undetermined Identity: A Diaspora Scholar in China–Africa Studies

Abstract

The subtitle of this roundtable discussion, “an encounter with another ‘other’”, is strangely compelling to me, who is Asian American, broadly, and Vietnam-born ethnic Chinese American, specifically, engaged in research in South Africa and China. In these contexts, “another ‘other’” is a mirror of the “self” (i.e. other ethnic Chinese) and peoples who have also historically experienced marginalization and occupied a subordinate position in societies (i.e. African people). In relation to “another ‘other’”, my otherness is complicated by my American background. The Americanness is not phenotypically obvious, but subtly signaled through the clothes I wear, the accent (or ability to speak English in a way that non-American listeners regard as being “without an accent”) and certain values I hold, among other things. Needless to say, these identities aid and hinder ethnographic research in myriad ways. Rather than elaborating on dynamics from fieldwork in African and Chinese contexts, I want to think through the struggles and challenges of being Asian American, with scholarly expertise in South Africa and Chinese diaspora studies, working in Chinese academia. My thoughts on the state’s role in facilitating an essentialist view of China–Africa (Africa–China) studies, Eurocentrism in China–Africa studies and ambivalence towards diaspora scholars primarily draw on my position at a Chinese university in southern China since 2013 until now; and through these points, I share some observations of developments in the study of China–Africa relations in China. The first time I unequivocally recognized that I am an outsider of the China–Africa field in China was in late 2018, two years into my appointment as acting associate professor at the same university where I completed a postdoctoral fellowship. A colleague, who was the director of the African Studies Center in our school (or college) before a tragic death, inquired if I had received an invitation to participate in the inaugural conference of the ‘One Belt One Road’ African Research Alliance, organized by Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (广外“一带一路”非洲研究联盟会议), a university just 15.2 km from our own. Even though he could not obtain our school’s approval to transfer the Center’s director position to me in 2016 (he informed me at that time) due to my foreigner status, he still wanted me to represent the Center. He gave me the contact details of the organizer,