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951. The Social Construction of Guangzhou as a Translocal Trading Place

Author:
Angelo Gilles
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Guangzhou has become a key destination for sub-Saharan African traders. These traders have established multilocal forms of business organisation and, in so doing, have developed diverse prac- tices to overcome geographical, political and cultural boundaries. This paper focuses on these practices, looking at the ways in which the movements, relations and interactions within these organisational formations are produced, transformed and lived. A close ethnograph- ic examination was made of the livelihoods of 33 African traders from 13 sub-Saharan African countries. Through the concept of trans- locality, the organisational formations of these Africans are conceptu- alised as links between different places on a larger geographical scale; these links then meet on a local scale in the specific place of Guang- zhou. Following a relational understanding of spatial constructions in social science, these links are conceptualised as one of the main drivers for the social construction and transformation of the city as a trans- local trading place.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Culture, Urban, and Local
Political Geography:
Africa, China, and Asia

952. Healthcare-Seeking Practices of African and Rural-to-Urban Migrants in Guangzhou

Author:
Tabea Bork-Huffer
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Taking the examples of Chinese rural-to-urban migrant and African migrant businesspeople in Guangzhou, this article inquires into the commonalities and differences in the health status and health- care-seeking practices of both groups. While both populations of migrants are diverse and heterogeneous, there are many commonali- ties with regard to the challenges they face compared to the Chinese local population. Mixed-methods research frameworks and qualitative and quantitative methods were applied. While existing publications emphasise lacking financial access to healthcare, further individual and social factors account for migrants’ healthcare choices. Their access to healthcare can be improved only by introducing insurance schemes with portable benefits, providing localised and culturally adequate health services adapted to migrants’ specific needs and health risks, and enhancing patient orientation and responsiveness by health professionals.
Topic:
Migration, Health Care Policy, Urban, and Rural
Political Geography:
Africa, China, and Asia

953. Landscapes of Aspiration in Guangzhou’s African Music Scene: Beyond the Trading Narrative

Author:
Roberto Castillo
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This article is an exploration into the personal aspirations that converge in Guangzhou’s African music scene. I argue that despite being often traversed, articulated, fuelled, and constrained by econ- omies and economic discourses, aspirations are not necessarily eco- nomic or rational calculations. I contend that the overarching trading narrative about “Africans in Guangzhou” has left little space for issues of agency, emotion, and aspiration to be considered in their own right. Drawing on a year of continuous ethnographic fieldwork, I show how aspirations are crucial arenas where the rationales behind transnational mobility are developed, reproduced, and transmitted. Indeed, aspira- tions can be thought of as “navigational devices” (Appadurai 2004) that help certain individuals reach for their dreams. By bringing the analysis of aspirations to the fore, I intend to provide a more complex and nuanced landscape of the multiple rationales behind African presence in Southern China; promote a better understanding (both conceptually and empirically) of how individuals navigate their social spaces and guide their transnational journeys; and draw attention to the incessant frictions and negotiations between individual aspirations while on the move and the constraints imposed by more structural imperatives.
Topic:
Culture, Music, and popular culture
Political Geography:
Africa, China, and Asia

954. African Logistics Agents and Middlemen as Cultural Brokers in Guangzhou

Author:
Gordon Mathews
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This article begins by asking how African traders learn to adjust to the foreign world of Guangzhou, China, and suggests that African logistics agents and middlemen serve as cultural brokers for these traders. After defining “cultural broker” and discussing why these brokers are not usually Chinese, it explores this role as played by ten logistics agents/middlemen from Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As logistics agents, these people help their customers in practically adjusting to Chinese life, and as middlemen they serve to grease the wheels of commerce be- tween African customers and Chinese suppliers. This is despite their own ambivalent views of China as a place to live. They play an essen- tial role in enabling harmonious relations between Africans and Chi- nese in Guangzhou, even though they see themselves not as cultural brokers but simply as businessmen.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Culture, Business, and Commerce
Political Geography:
Africa, China, and Asia

955. A Cautionary Tale of Zambia’s International Sovereign Bond Issuances

Author:
Shebo Nalishebo and Albert Halwampa
Publication Date:
03-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR)
Abstract:
In recent years, Zambia has been faced with the increased need to plug huge infrastructural gaps. However, the slowing down of bilateral and multilateral financing due to austerity measures in developed economies has made the country diversify its budget and project financing options by issuing Eurobonds. Eurobonds are commercial borrowings by governments in currencies other than their own - in Zambia’s case, the borrowing is denominated in US dollars. Since 2012, the Zambian Government has issued two ten-year sovereign bonds collectively worth US$1.75 billion mainly to finance infrastructure projects. Eurobonds bring with them opportunities for economic development, but there are risks. This report assesses the current legal and institutional frameworks governing borrowing from international capital markets in Zambia, including the role of credit rating agencies. It also examines the benefits, costs and risks associated with the issuance of sovereign bonds, including the cost and risk of sovereign defaults. It also proposes the mitigation of these costs and risks. Eurobonds offer African countries easy access to monies that are free from the stringent conditionalities that often come with the traditional concessional borrowing. Eurobonds also strengthen macroeconomic discipline and are used as a benchmark for pricing subnational bonds. If the borrowed funds are spent on projects that offer a greater scope for augmenting revenue earnings and creating employment opportunities, this would accelerate economic growth and reduce the high poverty levels that Africa faces.
Topic:
Economy, Economic Development, Public Debt, Bonds, and Eurobonds
Political Geography:
Africa and Zambia

956. Eurobonds Repayment: Limiting the Risks

Author:
Shebo Nalishebo and Albert Halwampa
Publication Date:
03-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR)
Abstract:
In recent years, the Zambian economy has been growing strongly and the country has increasingly been faced with the need to plug huge infrastructural gaps. However, the slowing down of bilateral and multilateral financing due to austerity measures in developed economies and the World Bank’s reclassification of Zambia as a lower middle income country has led financiers to divert concessional loans to other needy countries in the low income bracket. Consequently, Zambia has had to diversify its budget and project financing options by issuing Eurobonds which are commercial borrowings by governments in currencies other than their own - in Zambia’s case, it is denominated in US dollars. Since 2012, the Zambian Government has issued two ten-year sovereign bonds collectively worth US$1.75 billion to mainly finance infrastructure projects. These two bonds amounted to 37% of Zambia’s external debt in 2014. With an average coupon rate of 6.9%, the two bonds have bullet repayment structures, implying that lump sum principal payments will be paid at the end of their respective ten-year maturity periods. The coupon rate is the interest rate at the time of issuance. Notwithstanding the high interest payments of over US$125 million annually, the bullet structure of the two bonds may have significant repayment risks as the country is expected to pay out the US$1.75 billion within a two-year period (in 2022 and 2024). The country may experience difficulty in repaying or refinancing the face value at maturity if the money is not spent in activities with high economic returns and if there are adverse changes in its exchange rate or international market conditions. The risks are already on the horizon – the recent depreciation of the Kwacha has increased debt servicing costs, while the low copper prices have reduced the much-needed export revenues used to service debt. Has Zambia dug itself into another debt hole? What measures can be put in place to mitigate the risk of a pending default?
Topic:
Economy, Economic growth, Bonds, and Eurobonds
Political Geography:
Africa and Zambia