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X-Posted from: H-NET List for African History and Culture <H-AFRICA@H-NET.MSU.EDU> From: Jeremy Rich <jrich@MTSU.EDU> -------- Date: Tuesday, 5 December From: Don Osborn <dzo@bisharat.net> I'm collecting some items concerning the China-Africa summit that is just getting underway in a Yahoogroup format. The idea is to facilitate reference and have in one place resources of use for teaching and discussion. The approach has its drawbacks (not the least of which is the time involved - unless others contribute). Although it might be seen as mainly a show, this summit event arguably signals quite a bit more in terms of how Africa and China relate to each other. That involves a lot for discussion and analysis (a number of points of which are apparent in the collection of news and opinion I've been gathering). Closer to home, how so-called South-South (and perhaps nonWestern-nonWestern) dynamics affect or add to the agendae of "area studies" is an interesting question. In the case of China and Africa, though, what is involved is perhaps more than just changes in the margins of the order we are familiar with. Japan, for all its dramatic development, large economy and history of aid has not had the same kind of impact that China seems to be having. And it's not only on a macro-level, of course, when you consider the numbers of Chinese going to Africa, or for that matter Africans in China. What happens when China and Africa begin to look at each other more through their own eyes than those borrowed from the West? What will that mean for, among other things, the content and approaches of African studies? And, although the relationship is presently asymmetrical, Chinese studies? Anyway the items and links I mentioned are posted at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeiZhou-AsSiin/ Don Osborn
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