This summer and autumn have been busy months for the INFRAGLOB team. Despite the challenging context of the ongoing pandemic, we had the opportunity to share our research in a number conferences, discussion panels and workshops in virtual space.
We are very grateful to all the organizers who made it possible to continue academic exchange in these times and for the important feedback and input that we received on our ongoing research from the fellow participants. We all look forward to hopefully getting back to physical conferences next year.
On May 28, Raoul Bunskoek and Maria Ketzmerick participated in the virtual workshop ‘China and the contestation of the liberal economic order’, organized by ZOIS and SCRIPTS in Berlin. They presented their work ‘A challenge to the liberal economic order? Analyzing Chinese development/security practices in Kenya and Cameroon’ under the topic ‘China and the West: Competitiors, Partners, Rivals’.
At the 2021 Congress of the German Political Science Association (DVPW) (14-16 September), they organized the panel ‘Chinese Practices in Africa: Empowering African Elites/Populations or Transferring Dependency?’, which was chaired by Jana Hönke and had as its main discussant Nele Noesselt. In the panel, Raoul Bunskoek and Maria Ketzmerick presented their research titled ‘How do Cameroonian and Kenyan Actors Shape Chinese Practices on the Ground? Embedding Contemporary Africa-China relations in Specific Situational Historical Realities’.
Jana Hönke and Jan Sändig presented their paper ‘Are Chinese and Western mining companies differently contested?’ at the social movements conference ‘Alternative Futures and Popular Protests 2021’ organized by the University of Manchester (7-9 June) and at the 2021 Congress of the German Political Science Association (DVPW) (14-16 September).
At the 2021 European Workshops in International Studies (EWIS), organized by the European Studies Association (EISA), which were held virtually from 1 to 4 July, several INFRAGLOB researchers had the great opportunity to share their work with fellow scholars:
Raoul Bunskoek presented his work ‘Chinese Transnational Professionals, Infrastructure and Mining Projects in Africa, and the Implications for Non-Western IR Theory’ in the workshop ‘Non-Western Agency in World Politics: Decentering Practices, Actions and Perceptions’, which was organized by Anahita Arian and John M. Hobson.
In the workshop ‘Contested Connections: Infrastructures, Capitalism, and Geopolitics’, Jana Hönke and Eric Cezne presented their joint paper ‘The multiple meanings and uses of South–South relations in extraction: The Brazilian mining company Vale in Mozambique’. We are happy to announce that the paper has just been accepted for publication in World Development and will inform you when it is available online.
Lastly, Jana Hönke and Raoul Bunskoek organized the panel ‘The Making of Globalities with/in the Global South’ at the virtual European International Studies Association (EISA) annual conference (13-17 September). In this panel, they presented their joint work ’Chinese Multinationals and CSR: Mimicking or Reworking the ‘Universal’?’. We are particularly thankful for discussant Pinar Bilgin’s constructive comments.