African migrants in China: space, race and embodied encounters in Guangzhou, China

This paper examines 'intimate geographies' of everyday social encounters between African migrants and Chinese residents in Guangzhou, China. Based on interviews in an urban area represented as an 'African enclave', we document some of the banal, everyday sensory and corporeal encounters relating to housing, mobility, food, gender and trade. We suggest that African migration does not easily constitute an economic and cultural 'bridge' facilitating comprehension and appreciation between ordinary Chinese and Africans. Rather, we find racialized 'Othering' of African migrants to be a prevalent feature of encounters. We also find that African migrants are not voiceless and passive but proactive in questioning these views and practices, and in seeking to expand and deepen economic and broader social ties. These findings point to the importance of sensory perceptions and corporeal practices shaping racialization in many spheres of life, but do not preclude some forms of cultural bridging and positive interactions, demonstrating the ambivalences of embodied encounters in a globalizing city.