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Engendering China–Africa Encounters: Chinese Family Firms, Black Women Workers and the Gendered Politics of Production in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2022

Liang Xu
Liang Xu*
Affiliation:
School of International Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China. Email: liangxu@pku.edu.cn
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Abstract

This article highlights the centrality of family and gender in Chinese factories in Africa through a case study of Chinese garment production in Newcastle, South Africa. The data used in the article were collected through field research in 2015 and 2016 and several follow-up interviews in 2020 and 2021. The study presents a twofold argument. First, Chinese garment firms in Newcastle can be characterized as “translocal” family firms. Unlike Chinese state enterprises and large transnational companies, these translocal family firms represent a particular kind of private capital that prioritizes a diversified source of income and that is economically embedded but less concessionary to labour pressures. Second, the racial and class encounters between Chinese employers and African women workers are constructed and contested through gender. While Chinese employers attempt to impose racial hierarchy and increase production, Zulu women workers respond to managerial control and demands in creative and gendered ways.

摘要

摘要

本文选取南非新堡市的华人服装厂为研究案例，突出强调华人工厂与非洲劳工互动过程中的家庭和性别因素。本研究使用的资料主要来自作者 2015 至 2016 年在新堡市开展的田野调查以及作者在 2020 至 2021 年对当地华人企业主的后续访谈。本文提出了两个主要观点。第一，本文将新堡市的华人工厂定性为“跨地方”家庭企业。与中国国有企业和大型跨国企业不同，跨地方家庭企业代表一种特有的私营资本。他们重视收入来源的多样性，经济上更加嵌入于本地市场，并且在与劳工谈判中更可能采取不妥协的态度。第二，本文强调，华人企业主与非洲女工的相遇不仅是基于种族和阶层的相遇，性别也是构建这种相遇并挑战种族和阶层等级的重要因素。本研究表明，当华人企业主试图在工厂车间内强化种族差异，提高服装产量时，祖鲁女工通过具有鲜明性别特点的方式进行了回应和抵抗。

Keywords

ChinaSouth AfricaNewcastleChinese garment family firmsZulu factory workers中国南非新堡华人家庭服装厂祖鲁女工
Type
Special section: “Inside Global China”
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 250 , June 2022 , pp. 356 - 375
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London

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