Introduction: Entangled Histories and Ambivalent Feelings in Africa-China Relations

Bao, Hongwei; Mutibwa, Daniel

Abstract

Two prominent developments in global geopolitics in the twenty-first century have been the rise of Africa and China, and the growing prominence of their entangled histories and present. But these histories, and the present they have engendered, are far from smooth. They are fraught with tensions, conflicts and controversies. Both parties need one another to expand their respective global influence and accelerate their development, and so pragmatism underpins most decisions and processes. Both are wary of the other’s ambitions and agendas, which may or may not neatly map onto their own needs. The relationship can best be described as ‘entangled’. That is to say, Africa cannot do without China and vice versa. To add a useful conceptual layer, we draw on the theorisation of the term 'a moment' or 'time of entanglement' offered by the Cameroonian historian and political theorist, Achille Mbembe, to evoke ‘an interlocking of presents, pasts, and futures that retain their depths of other presents, pasts, and futures, each age bearing, altering, and maintaining the previous ones’ (2001, p. 16, emphasis in original). The feelings can be best described as ‘ambivalent’ in the sense that they are characterised by binary combinations of love and hatred, trust and suspicion, and idealism and pragmatism among others.

Citation

Bao, H., & Mutibwa, D. (2025). Introduction: Entangled Histories and Ambivalent Feelings in Africa-China Relations. In H. Bao, & D. H. Mutibwa (Eds.), Entanglements and Ambivalences: Africa and China Encounters in Media and Culture. Routledge

• Publication Date: Feb 18, 2025
• Deposit Date: Nov 15, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 19, 2026
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: Entanglements and Ambivalences: Africa and China Encounters in Media and Culture
• ISBN: 9781032948362
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/41957198
• Publisher URL: https://www.routledge.com/Entanglements-and-Ambivalences-Africa-and-China-Encounters-in-Media-and-Culture/Bao-Mutibwa/p/book/9781032948362?srsltid=AfmBOopSDiitYahMKc6LQCF-Aag1XOJuz6p84QzPmVLzlmBnPM6_10P0
• Contract Date: Sep 30, 2024