The Colony

Recently, I ran across this short documentary about Chinese immigrants living in the West African nation of Senegal.



All across Africa, Chinese entrepreneurs are setting up businesses, attracted by the availability of resources and the (relative to China) low level of competition. The film follows a few of these Chinese businessmen, and also gives equal weight to the Senegalese reaction to the Chinese newcomers.

The story is a typical immigrant story in that each side views the other group of people as extremely strange. The immigrant community, often distrustful of the local population, bands together and avoids interaction with the locals. The locals, meanwhile, starts to resent the immigrants because they are seen to be competing with the locals for jobs. It's made more complicated by the fact that China, with a growing population and finite resources, is looking to Africa as a source of raw materials for its expanding industry.

All in all, a very good film to show my students this week as we start talking about ethnocentrism, prejudice, and stereotypes. It was interesting to see my students' reaction to the film - lots of smiles of recognition as they saw the life that the Chinese immigrants had set up for themselves in Africa, and some gasps of astonishment when they heard the Africans' resentful remarks about the Chinese. (After all, these are kids who haven't been exposed to very much, if any, media criticism about their country or culture before.)

So, is China colonizing Africa? That was the question that I posed to my students after I made sure that they understood both sides' point of view: we'll see what answers they come up with next week.