“THE CHINESE ARE COMING” : A HISTORY OF CHINESE MIGRANTS IN NIGERIA
My dissertation examines the historical and contemporary migration of Chinese people to Nigeria as well as their interaction with the Nigerian state, workers, and consumers in late colonial and post-independence Nigeria. Beginning in the 2000s, Chinese migrants, together with Chinese products, have indeed greatly influenced the economy of Africa, and particularly Nigeria; but the significant Chinese presence in Nigeria is not a particularly recent phenomenon. As early as the 1960s, an influential yet understudied group of Chinese migrants began to dominate key manufacturing industries in Nigeria, including textiles, footwear, and enamelware, controlling more than 50 percent of the Nigerian and even the West African market in these three product types. These early Chinese immigrants had a profound influence not only on the economy, but also on the daily lives of ordinary Nigerians. What factors have pulled and pushed Chinese migrants to Nigeria? How have early and recent waves of Chinese migration influenced the local economy and people’s daily lives? How have the meanings of Chinese products to different groups of Nigerians changed over time, and how have these groups made cultural as well as economic sense of these products? How have Chinese transnational networks of information, capital, and goods interacted with African networks, institutions, communities, and individuals?Combining archival records, oral history interviews, and participant observation, I will examine the long-term and recent influence of Chinese activities on Nigerian societies and economies. I argue that the Chinese presence in Nigeria was a historical and evolving concept that changed over time, varied with place, and differed by targeted groups. Hong Kong Chinese industrialists who built factories, employed Nigerian workers, and manufactured products locally in the 1960s had a different influence from the mainland Chinese traders who imported made-in-China products and undermined local manufacturing industries from the 1990s onward. Therefore, by focusing on Chinese migrants in Nigeria and placing them in a wider historical context of Nigerian industrialization from the era of decolonization to the present, my dissertation challenges the Eurocentric narrative of Chinese migrants’ role as laborers and reveals how different groups of Chinese migrants—entrepreneurs, traders, and workers—were shaped by, and in turn shaped, the history of both Nigeria and China. However, this transnational influence was not unidirectional. I also argue that it was the changing policy of Nigerian governments, the evolving preference of Nigerian consumers, and decisions of Nigerian traders that attracted both the early wave of Chinese industrialists and the later wave of Chinese traders and products to come. It was also the broader historical context of Nigeria— decolonization, industrialization, civil war, and economic crisis—that determined the destiny of Chinese migrants in the country.
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- In Collections
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Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Copyright Status
- In Copyright
- Material Type
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Theses
- Authors
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Liu, Shaonan
- Thesis Advisors
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Achebe, Nwando
Hawthorne, Walter
- Committee Members
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Achebe, Nwando
Hawthorne, Walter
Monson, Jamie
Leichtman, Mara
Smith, Aminda
- Date
- 2018
- Program of Study
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History - Doctor of Philosophy
- Degree Level
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Doctoral
- Language
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English
- Pages
- 242 pages
- Permalink
- https://doi.org/doi:10.25335/gahw-r688