Hundreds expected at China conference

Staff Writer | Monday May 26, 2014 15:01

Participation at the conference, to be held at the UB library audition from June 2 to 4, is by invitation, and a hundred people are expected including academics from UB, China and South Africa, and local stakeholders from Government, business and the NGO sector.

ACRG was established in 2013 with the overall purpose of promoting research by UB scholars and partners on issues connected to the Africa-China relationship.

It is a multi-disciplinary network of UB academics and graduate students whose ultimate aim is the establishment of a Centre for Africa- China Studies. Currently there are around 90 people involved on the UB campus and a number of research projects have been initiated. The Gaborone conference, to run under the theme Africa-China – advancing mutual understanding through multi-disciplinary research, will provide a forum for the presentation of papers, reports and proposals on Africa-China research.

The conference also aims to promote multi-disciplinary exchange on Africa-China topics, research methodologies and theoretical perspectives, and the provision of an opportunity for dialogue between researchers and interested stakeholders within Botswana.

The conference will also strengthen research links between the University of Botswana and institutions in China and Africa, and enable networking amongst participants with the view to initiate new collaborative research projects on Africa- China topics.

The presentations cover a wide variety of disciplines and topics, including international relations, language and inter-cultural issues, media representations of China, trade and economics, education, technology, health systems, poaching and environmental issues, and the anti-HIV properties of medicinal plants and functional foods.

In the words of Professor Kgomotso Moahi, Chair of the ACRG, “The premise of the ACRG group is that most of the research and writing on Africa-China relations comes from the West and there is very little by African and even Chinese scholars. Our key task is to generate research that truly reflects African and Chinese perspectives.”

Key speakers at the conference will come from the University of Botswana, Stellenbosch University, University of Zambia, Zhejiang Normal University, and Shanghai Normal University.

On the opening day, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Chinese Ambassador will give welcome remarks, and Professoe Kaunda of the SADC Secretariat will give a keynote address.