Thursday, April 6
Hatcher Graduate Library, First Floor Gallery
8:30 - 9:00 am
Opening Remarks
Judith Irvine, University of Michigan
9:00 - 10:30 am
Panel 1: Natural Resources and Environment
Panel Chair/Moderator: Damani Partridge, University of Michigan
- Seifudein Adem, Binghamton University: Shifting Focus in Sino-African Relations- Agriculture
- Buddy Buruku, African Center for Economic Transformation: China’s Role in Africa’s Natural Resource Extraction
- Katie Browne & Dannan Hodge, University of Michigan: Chinese Logging in Central Africa: Perspectives from Gabon and China
10:30 - 10:45 am: Break
10:45 am - 12:45 pm
Panel 2: Energy, Infrastructure and Markets
Panel Chair/Moderator: Adam Ashforth, University of Michigan
- May Tan-Mullins, University of Nottingham, Ningbo China: The Political Ideology of Rising China: Case Study of Chinese Hydropower Dams in Africa and Asia
- Omolade Adunbi, University of Michigan: Infrastructure, Oil and Special Economic Zones in Nigeria
- Bilal Butt, University of Michigan: Spaces of (In)Security and Development at the Frontier: A Case of the LAPSSET Project and Lamu Port
12:45 - 1:45 pm: Break
2:00 - 3:45 pm
Panel 3: Techno-Politics and Spaces of Engagement
Panel Chair/Moderator: Joyojeet Pal, University of Michigan School of Information
- Jamie Monson, Michigan State University: The Techno-politics of Transport Development in the 1960s and 1970s in China and Africa
- Helen Siu, Yale University: Financing China’s Engagement in Africa: New State Spaces Along a Variegrated Landscape
- Anita Plummer, Howard University: Kenya and China’s Labor Relations: Development for whom? By whom?
3:45 - 4:00 pm: Break
4:00 - 5:00 pm
Film Screening & Discussion
Melissa Lefkowitz, New York University: China Remix
Friday, April 7
Michigan League, Henderson Room (Third Floor)
8:30 - 10:00 am
Panel 4: Trade, Investment, and Public Perception
Panel Chair/Moderator: Laura Beny, University of Michigan Law School
- Yuen Yuen Ang, University of Michigan: Building Markets with Weak Institutions: The Cases of China and Nigeria
- Li Jie, Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone, Nigeria: Special Economic Zones in Africa: The Case of Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone
- Harry Broadman, Johns Hopkins University: Impact of China’s “New” Structural Challenges on Prospective Outbound Investment
- Ashley Fox, University at Albany SUNY: With Friends Like These…Public Perceptions of China’s Role in Africa: Evidence from Opinion Surveys
10:00 - 10:15 am: Break
10:15 am - 12:15 pm
Panel 5: Textile, Finance and New Trends in Infrastructure and Development Practices
Panel Chair/Moderator: Howard Stein, University of Michigan
- Nina Sylvanus, Northeastern University: Moving Chinese Goods: Container Logistics and Maritime Finance in Togo
- Howard French, Columbia University School of Journalism: Why Africa? How China’s Engagement with the Continent Has Driven Reform of its Economy and Shaped Globalization
- Elisha Renne, University of Michigan: United Nigeria Textiles Ltd and Chinese-Nigerian Textile Manufacturing Collaboration
12:15 - 1:30 pm: Break
1:30 - 3:30 pm
Panel 6: Race, Media, and Cultural Encounters
Panel Chair/Moderator: Mike McGovern, University of Michigan
- Melissa Lefkowitz, New York University: Chinese Media, Kenyan Lives: An Ethnographic Inquiry into CCTV Africa’s Head Offices
- Marie Helene Koffi-Tessio, Hobart and William Smith Colleges: Afro-Asian Encounters in Film
- Amanda Kaminsky, University of Michigan: Chinese Wildlife Tourism in Kenya
- Huamei Han, Simon Fraser University: “Small Racism” vs. “Severe Big Racism”: Middle-class Africans Making Sense of and Living with “Small Racism” in China
3:30 - 3:45 pm: Break
3:45 - 4:45 pm: Confucius Institute Music Performance
4:45 - 5:00 pm: Closing Remarks
Sandra Gunning, University of Michigan
