Africana People in China

This book examines the psychosocial experiences of foreign workers from Africa and its diaspora in China, within the context of international socio-economic forces. By exploring employment-based migration from a psychoanalytic perspective, this volume investigates the utility of adaptive ambivalence and the challenges that migrant workers face around issues of self-development, agency, and identity. Through a careful analysis of interviews with Africana people, the author demonstrates that the capacity to be reflective and resilient alongside having a strong and diversified support network are crucial for the psychological well-being of those living and working in unfamiliar geographic and cultural conditions.

C. Jama Adams is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Africana Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY, USA.

1. Introduction 2. Self in the World 3. Adaptive Ambivalence 4. Modernity and Migration 5. China: Race and Ethnicity 6. Contemporary Blackness in China: Psychosocial Perspectives; Aspirations and Constraints 7. Africana Persons and Self-Making in China 8. Conclusions and Possibilities for the Future