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Title: “THE CHINESE ARE COMING” : A HISTORY OF CHINESE MIGRANTS IN NIGERIA
Creator: Liu, Shaonan
Date: 2018
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: 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...
Show moreMy 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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Title: L'autobiographie contemporaine de la femme Africaine comme moyen d'evolution personnelle
Creator: Akono, Marie-Lynda
Date: 2016
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Dans In Search of our Mother’s Garden, Alice Walker définie « Womanist » comme “a black feminist or feminist of color” (xi). S’inspirant de la notion « womanist », ce mémoire porte sur le sujet de la représentation de la condition contemporaine de la femme africaine. La femme africaine en se donnant à l’écriture pour témoigner de ses expériences diverses contribue à l’évolution et à l’enrichissement de la littérature africaine féminine. Les expériences de la femme africaine dans la période...
Show moreDans In Search of our Mother’s Garden, Alice Walker définie « Womanist » comme “a black feminist or feminist of color” (xi). S’inspirant de la notion « womanist », ce mémoire porte sur le sujet de la représentation de la condition contemporaine de la femme africaine. La femme africaine en se donnant à l’écriture pour témoigner de ses expériences diverses contribue à l’évolution et à l’enrichissement de la littérature africaine féminine. Les expériences de la femme africaine dans la période actuelle sont diverses. Il s’agit ici du thème de l’esclavage moderne qui engendre des effets psychologiques et émotionnels chez la femme africaine. D’après les média par exemple, la femme africaine est subjuguée à la victimisation. Autrement dit, les images dominantes de la femme africaine privilégient le stéréotype de la femme au foyer dominée par l’homme et illettrée. Ces conditions seraient des obstacles à son autonomie. Mais en prenant la plume elle-même pour se représenter, la femme africaine réclame sa voix et son autonomie en tant que sujet. Il serait question dans ce mémoire de savoir comment la femme africaine écrit et se représente pour ne pas contribuer à ce discours de victimisation et mettre l’emphase plutôt sur qui fait d’elle un sujet multidimensionnel qui prend en charge son évolution ? Réussit-elle à améliorer et à transformer la perception de la femme africaine et de sa condition dans son récit ?In Alice Walker’s In Search of our Mother’s Garden, the notion of “womanist” is defined as “a black feminist or feminist of color” (xi). In light of the notion of womanist, this thesis talks about the contemporary representation of the African woman. By using writing as a tool to describe their various experiences, African women contribute to the expansion and diversity of African feminine literature. Life experiences of African women in the twentieth and twenty first century are diverse. This thesis analyses the theme of modern slavery, a form of slavery that engenders psychological and emotional effects among African women. The media and cultural productions, for instance, often emphasize images in which the African woman is subjugated to victimization. That is to say that they stress the idea of African women as illiterate housewives dominated by men. These representations represent obstacles to the agency of the African woman. However, by using her ink to create her own representation, the African woman reclaims her voice and her autonomy. This thesis will examine the ways that the African woman represents herself and writes in order not to contribute to this discourse of victimization. Does she succeed in emphasizing instead in improving and transforming dominant perceptions of the African woman and her condition through her narrative?
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