China in Africa

HIS244: China in Africa, The Socialist and Capitalist Stories

(A team-taught history course with Elias Mandala and Elya Zhang)

This course traces China’s involvement in Africa from the 1940s to present. How many billions of dollars/RMB in aid and investments have been channeled from China to the African nations for the past seventy years? Were they motivated by socialist comradeship, capitalist profit seeking, imperialist ambition, or simply Chinese pride? What is China really doing in Africa? More importantly, Africa is a vast continent of over 50 independent nations, and their separate engagements with the guests from the East are histories full of sophisticated twists. While looking into the Tanzania-Zambia railway, the “Hubei farms” in Mozambique, the mega dams in Sudan, the Modderfontein New City in South Africa, and many other landmark projects, we will take one step further, using ArcGIS to translate our book knowledge into creative digital maps. There are no prerequisites required; just bring your curiosity.

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