Cowries And Rice

China has a little-known program equivalent to the U.S. Peace Corps: the unofficially titled Chinese Youth Volunteers in Africa. Wendy Wang, a Business Development and Communications Officer with China House, explained this program to host Winslow Robertson. If you want to know about this program, how it is administered, how the volunteers are recruited, how it is funded, and more, please listen to this episode!

On September 18, 2014, AfricanDevJobs(africandevjobs.com) and Cowries and Rice (cowriesrice.blogspot.com) co-hosted the panel: "China & Development in Africa: What China's engagement with Africa means for the development sector & professionals". This moderated panel discussion explored how China’s engagement in Africa affects growth and development in Africa and what that means for African development professionals. This event brought together China-Africa practitioners and voices in development to discuss the impacts of the China-Africa relationship in Africa. The event featured: Amb. David Shinn, Co-author, China and Africa: Century of Engagement Kelley Page Jibrell, Faculty, Howard University Jyhjong Hwang, Research Assistant, JHU SAIS China Africa Research Initiative Winslow Robertson, Founder, Cowries and Rice

Host Winslow Robertson continues his discussion with Ms. Marina Rudyak and Mr. Christian Straube on the Chinese white paper on foreign aid, released on July 10 of this. If you want to find out if Hu Jintao might be purged soon based on a VERY close reading of this document, or if you want to know more about the often opaque world of Chinese aid, this episode is for you!

The latest Chinese white paper on foreign aid was released on July 10. Looking at Chinese foreign assistance from 2010 to 2012, the paper reveals that China has given a cumulative total of $14.4 billion, half of which went to Africa. To get some more context on the white paper itself as well as the rhetoric behind the white paper, host Winslow Robertson asked Ms. Marina Rudyak and Mr. Christian Straube to come on the pod. Ms. Rudyak holds an M.A. in Modern and Classical Chinese Studies and Public Law from the University of Heidelberg. After graduating in 2009 with a thesis on the People’s Republic of China’s energy security policy in Central Asia she worked in the Beijing office of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ). In April 2014, she re-joined the Institute of Chinese studies as an assistant to pursue her PhD on Chinese foreign aid and China’s role in international development. Christian Straube is a PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany. Mr. Straube r

Part two of our discussion with Kenny Dong, a Master's student of Environmental Management at Kyoto University who is studying the environmental impact of Chinese companies in East Africa, has him explain his research regarding the Chinese Communications Construction Company in Kenya. If you want to learn more about Chinese environmental standards in Kenya, how Chinese financing mechanisms work, and how to even do this sort of research, please listen!

If you are listening to this podcast, you are no doubt well-acquainted with the research of Prof. Deborah Brautigam, having read "The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa" or her wonderful blog "China in Africa: The Real Story." However, did you know that Prof. Brautigam has started a new, exciting Sino-Africa research initiative? On today's episode, host Winslow Robertson asks Prof. Brautigam about the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) China Africa Research Initiative (CARI), which recently held its inaugural public conference: "China’s Agricultural Investment in Africa: ‘Land Grabs’ or ‘Friendship Farms’?" If you want to know what one of the top scholars in the Sino-Africa field is up to, or where the field is headed, you owe it to yourself to listen to this episode!

Host Winslow Robertson continues his discussion of the excellent "China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa" with its author, Prof. Howard W. French. French is associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he teaches reporting, writing, and a spring seminar each year on contemporary China. In this episode, they discuss criticisms of the book as well as how French managed to interview so many diverse peoples.

The excellent "China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa" was just released to rave reviews last month. This phenomenal Africa-China book looks at China's engagement with Africa through the prism of Chinese immigration to the continent. In order to further explore some of these themes, host Winslow Robertson (Dr, Nkemjika Kalu is sadly indisposed) discusses the book with its author, Prof. Howard W. French. French is associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he teaches reporting, writing, and a spring seminar each year on contemporary China. Prof. French also had a distinguished career with The New York Times, where he spent almost two decades as a foreign correspondent: He was chief of the newspaper's Shanghai bureau. Prior, he headed bureaus in Japan, West and Central Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. He also wrote "The Next Empire," a 2010 China-Africa article in The Atlantic. In addition, Prof. French wrote "A Con

Hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu continue their conversation with Jenni Marsh, who just wrote a brilliant article at South China Morning Post's Post Magazine: "Afro-Chinese marriages boom in Guangzhou: but will it be 'til death do us part'?" We ask about what struck her most about the relationships encountered, what will these relationships mean for China's conception of race, and more.

As more Africans set up shop in Guangzhou, there has been a corresponding increase in Afro-Chinese marriages. Hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu talked to Jenni Marsh, who just wrote a brilliant article at South China Morning Post's Post Magazine on that very topic: "Afro-Chinese marriages boom in Guangzhou: but will it be 'til death do us part'?" Marsh is Assistant Editor of Post Magazine at South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. She is currently researching the African diaspora in Guangzhou, China, with a grant from the University of Witwatersrand's China-Africa Reporting Project.

ALERT: This is a Mandarin-language episode! Host Andy Shuai Liu of China Open Mic spoke with China Going Out's Hongxiang Huang (who was a Cowries and Rice guest back in October of 2013) to talk about his newest project: China House. China House looks to help open-minded Chinese citizens integrate better with African societies and promote a more mutually beneficial Sino-African relationship. If you were curious as to what effective Chinese non-governmental organizations or corporate social responsibility would look like, please listen to this episode!

ALERT: This is a Mandarin-language episode! Jess Wilhelm, Senior Research Associate at Social & Scientific Systems, delivered a lecture on Chinese migrants in Lesotho based on his experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer there. He spoke on April 17, 2014 at China Garden for the Mandarin Speakers Society. Carlos Da Rosa provided the introduction. We recorded the lecture, and Mr. Wilhelm was generous in offering to translate it, and his translation can be found at http://cowriesrice.blogspot.com.

Continuing from the previous discussion about China's involvement in African green energy, hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu ask PhD students Alexander Demissie and Moritz Weigel of ChinaAfricaBlog to delve further into their research. They talk about what has been most surprising, what they hope people will take away from the discussion, and more. This is part two of the two-part episode!

China is quite involved in African power infrastructure, but what about renewable energy? Hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu asked the good people at ChinaAfricaBlog, PhD students Alexander Demissie and Moritz Weigel, to discuss their latest research on the topic and give context as to what is China doing in terms of promoting green energy and technology. This is part one of a two-part episode! PS We made a mistake in our discussion about Chinese 5-year-plans that I could not smoothly edit out. We accidentally said that they have been used since 1949, but In fact the first first 5-year-plan began in 1953. Apologies!

You specialized in China-African relations, so where is that dynamic, high-powered job that you were expecting? Isn't everyone interested in Sino-Africa relations and willing to pay for that expertise? Not quite. Hosts Dr. Nkemjika Kalu and Winslow Robertson asked the most successful China-Africanist they know of (read: not an academic), Dr. Lucy Corkin, Class of Programme at Rand Merchant Bank, to come on the show and give some career advice. You may know Dr. Corkin from her many publications, most notably Uncovering African Agency: Angola's Management of China's Credit Lines. If you are an underemployed Sino-Africanist, you owe it to yourself to listen to this episode!

Closing out the month, we have Hangwei Li, a researcher and media trainer from Mediane, Council of Europe (and also contributor to podcast sponsor The Africa Daily) give us her thoughts on the month's topic and what we could do to improve the podcast. Listen as an Asian woman critiques the show!

ALERT: This is a Mandarin-language episode! We are in the middle of getting it transcribed and translated, but for the moment rest assured that it is amazing! We have had a number of wonderful guests already, but we wanted to bring more voices from China to the discussion and talk with them in Mandarin. Hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu had Hangwei Li, a researcher and media trainer from Mediane, Council of Europe (and also contributor to podcast sponsor The Africa Daily) interview two amazing guests. One is Ms. Yolanda Xiaoqing Yue, a tech entrepreneur and graduate of the Cambridge Judge Business School who used to work for Huawei in South Africa. Next is Ms. Yuan Wang, a Harvard graduate who is currently working for the Sino Africa Centre of Excellence Foundation in Kenya. We will have a translation up soon, but tell your Chinese friends to listen!

Continuing the celebration of International Women's Day, hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu explore what it means to be an Asian women in an African country. This week, we have one guest share her experience as a Chinese development worker for a French non-governmental organization: Ms. Lin Yiran, program manager of social water management currently based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at Solidarités International. Please listen! P.S. The recording quality was not quite as strong as we would have liked, we are sorry to say.

In a bizarre celebration of International Women's Day, hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu explore what it means to be an Asian women in an African country. This week, we had three guests share their experiences as Asian women scholars who do on-the-ground research in Africa: Prof. Yoon Jung Park, convener/coordinator of the (world-famous) Chinese in Africa/Africans in China (CA/AC) Research Network, who is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University with affiliations as Senior Research Associate of the Sociology Department at Rhodes University; Solange Guo Chatelard, a PhD candidate at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and an associate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle/Saale, Germany, whose work studying Chinese communities in Zambia got her a job a production assistant in the film "When China Met Africa"; and Vivian Lu, a PhD student at Stanford University's Department of Anthropology looking at economic networks linking African merchants to productio

In a bizarre celebration of International Women's Day, hosts Winslow Robertson and Dr. Nkemjika Kalu explore what it means to be an Asian women in an African country. This week, we had three guests to share their experiences in the NGO and entrepreneurial world: Jules Shen, an employee of Dalberg in Senegal; Evanna Hu of g.Maarifa in Nairobi; and Eugenia Lee advises nonprofits and startups on how to use ethnographic methods for better engagement of communities. If you are interested in topics of race, gender, and perception, this month's series should make you VERY happy!