Monday, July 6, 2015

A Cautionary Note on the China-Africa Discourse

The Centre for Chinese Studies (CCS) at Stellenbosch University published on 6 July 2015 a commentary titled "Misconceptions and Omissions in the China-Africa Discourse" by Paul Tembe, research fellow at CCS.

Tembe urges that persons writing on the China-Africa discourse not treat the continent as a homogenous Africa with uniform values or ascribe secondary status to Africans.  He concludes that "borrowing traditional cultural concepts from a distant and foreign culture to articulate local ideals, coupled with the assumption that an homogenous Africa will aid development is tantamount to political euthanasia."