Trans-border mobility and cross-cultural business networking among Chinese and Nigerian petty entrepreneurs
Lan, Shanshan
Trans-border mobility and cross-cultural business networking among Chinese and Nigerian petty entrepreneurs - 2014.
81
Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Guangzhou and Lagos, this paper examines two intertwined transnational mobility processes: Chinese entrepreneurial migration to Nigeria and Nigerian trade migration to China. The authors interpret Chinese and Nigerian petty entrepreneurs’ transnational trade activities within a theoretical framework of economic globalization from below, which operates largely under the radar of the state, yet remains connected to state practices in complex and contradictory ways. The paper rejects the idea of a strict binary relationship between the legal and illegal by considering both the state’s perspective and migrants’ perspectives in regard to globalization from below. In addition to examining the institutional barriers faced by Chinese and Nigerian petty entrepreneurs in their host states, the paper explores the strategic development of trans-border and cross-cultural business networks by the two groups in their efforts to facilitate the flow of people, goods, and information between Guangzhou and Lagos. The authors also move beyond political and economic analyses by contemplating some of the cultural implications of these business networks, particularly internet-mediated communications, in helping bridge cultural gaps and diversify popular perceptions held by more locally-based Chinese and Nigerian traders towards each other.
Trans-border mobility and cross-cultural business networking among Chinese and Nigerian petty entrepreneurs - 2014.
81
Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Guangzhou and Lagos, this paper examines two intertwined transnational mobility processes: Chinese entrepreneurial migration to Nigeria and Nigerian trade migration to China. The authors interpret Chinese and Nigerian petty entrepreneurs’ transnational trade activities within a theoretical framework of economic globalization from below, which operates largely under the radar of the state, yet remains connected to state practices in complex and contradictory ways. The paper rejects the idea of a strict binary relationship between the legal and illegal by considering both the state’s perspective and migrants’ perspectives in regard to globalization from below. In addition to examining the institutional barriers faced by Chinese and Nigerian petty entrepreneurs in their host states, the paper explores the strategic development of trans-border and cross-cultural business networks by the two groups in their efforts to facilitate the flow of people, goods, and information between Guangzhou and Lagos. The authors also move beyond political and economic analyses by contemplating some of the cultural implications of these business networks, particularly internet-mediated communications, in helping bridge cultural gaps and diversify popular perceptions held by more locally-based Chinese and Nigerian traders towards each other.
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