“Tell a good story of China”: Experiences of state-sponsored overseas Chinese academics navigating frictions and identity in South Africa

Abstract

This study explores the experiences of state-sponsored overseas Chinese academics (OCAs) in South Africa and the frictions they encounter while adapting to a new professional environment. An in-depth analysis of China’s managed cultural globalisation, state-sponsored OCAs’ internal and international mobilities, and the researcher’s shifting positionalities provide the required context. Through ethnography, the article delves into how OCAs navigate various challenges, including differences in communication styles, political discussions, perceptions of beauty and individual self-expression. The OCAs’ self-reflections on these experiences reveal a more textured understanding of what it means to be “Chinese in Africa”. Whatever the intentions of state-sponsored projects, the OCAs have to negotiate their realities in South Africa on their own. Grappling with cultural diversity, political comparisons and personal growth, the OCAs re-evaluate their positionalities and renegotiate their identity within China’s rushed modernisation.