Entanglements and Ambivalences: Africa and China Encounters in Media and Culture

This book explores the media and cultural exchanges between Africa and China in the twenty-first century against the backdrop of the rise of Africa and China in global geopolitics. It situates these cultural encounters in historical and contemporary contexts and through the critical lens of the Global South. It identifies a rising Global South consciousness, despite lingering historical entanglements and emotional ambivalences that continue to characterise Africa-China relations.

Bringing together scholars from various disciplines and from different parts of the world, this book examines a wide range of cultural expressions such as arts, literature, translated works, traditional and digital media artefacts and services, and film festivals. It also interrogates emerging cultural interactions, experiences and practices engendered by the increasingly digitalised information and communication technology infrastructure underpinning Africa-China connections and links. In doing so, the book contributes to a more nuanced understanding of Africa-China relations today and the concept of the Global South.

Hongwei Bao is Associate Professor in Media Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is the author of Queer China: Lesbian and Gay Literature and Visual Culture under Postsocialism, Queer Media in China, and Contemporary Chinese Queer Performance, also published by Routledge. He coedits Routledge Handbook of Chinese Gender and Sexuality.

Daniel H. Mutibwa is currently Associate Professor of Creative Industries and Digital Culture in the Department of Cultural, Media and Visual Studies, University of Nottingham, UK. Daniel researches and teaches in the areas of media and communication, creative industries, digital economy, the arts and heritage, and cultural transformations in place-based communities.