2024 Spring Symposium

This Spring 2024 symposium, organized by Georgetown University’s Africa-China Initiative and African Studies, brought together experts from across the United States, as well as Peru and Chile, to examine transregional linkages between Africa, Asia, and the Americas. In three sessions, scholars and practitioners from multiple disciplines examined historical connections and engagements, elaborated on diasporas and other flows between regions, and problematized the concept of “the Global South” as they explored “Global China’s” relations with Africa and Latin America.

This public event was part of a larger workshop exploring the possibilities of transregional studies and a collaboration between Georgetown University’s Africa-China Initiative, Center for Latin American Studies, Georgetown Americas Institute, and Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues with Howard University’s African Studies Center and Michigan State University’s African Studies Center and Asian Studies Center.

Panel 1: Africa, Asia, and the Americas: Connections and Flows, Past and Present

Panel One featured presentations by Caitlin Barker (Michigan State University). Ignatius Suglo (University of Pennsylvania), Yasser Ali Nasser (University of Chicago), and Laura MacDonald (Michigan State University).

Panel 2: Diasporas and Other Flows

Panel Two featured presentations by Nifta Lau (Universidad del Pacífico), Monica DeHart (University of Puget Sound), Vivian Lu (Rice University), Carol Chan (Universidad Diego Portales), and Manjusha Nair (George Mason University).

Roundtable Discussion: Problematizing ‘The Global South’: African and Latin American Engagements with ‘Global China,’ Restrictive Nationalisms, and Shifting Global Dynamics

The Roundtable Discussion that concluded the Symposium featured Lina Benabdallah (Wake Forest University), Margaret Myers (InterAmerican Dialogue), Viola Rothschild (U.S. Department of State), Eleanor Albert (Georgetown University), and Jordan Lynton Cox (The Ohio State University).