Since the 1990s, interactions between Africa and Asia have intensified considerably. Earlier academic research focused mostly on the new role of China in Africa, often with an emphasis on asymmetric power relations in the political and economic fields. In contrast, this book demonstrates that the range of new interactions between Africa and Asia is much broader, also involving various small- and medium-size actors in Asia and Africa in various fields. The ensuing diversification brings with it greater choice and – at least in theory – greater agency.
African-Asian Encounters: New Cooperations and New Dependencies gives scholars in Asian-African Studies well-grounded insights into the developments taking place in the two continents and can contribute towards policy advice on interventions for facilitating improved Asian-African ties.
Arndt Graf is Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt. Since 2013 he is also the project leader (with Frank Schulze-Engler) of the research project AFRASO (Africa’s Asian Options), funded by the German Ministry of Higher Education and Research. AFRASO involves 40 colleagues from a broad variety of disciplines.
Azirah Hashim is professor of English Linguistics and Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Institute at the University of Malaya.
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