Visualising China in Southern Africa Biography, Circulation, Transgression Edited by Juliette Leeb-du Toit, Ruth Simbao, Ross Anthony This pathbreaking publication draws together, for the frst time, works by authors who analyse the encounter between Chinese and Africans through the lens of visual arts and material culture. Led by the leading scholars of artistic representation in China–Africa engagement, the contributors make visible the circulations and connections between material objects, identity, and culture in the expanding relationship between Chinese and Africans. Carefully curated visual images accompany the text and make this an essential read. — Jamie Monson, professor of History, Michigan State University This is perhaps the most important contribution to the growing body of China–Africa literature of the decade. The authors turn their attention to the visual, artistic, and cultural aspects of Africa–China contact and engagements, touching on the geopolitical and the personal, the colonial and contemporary. Individually, the chapters challenge existing discourses and narratives, and ofer up new ways of seeing relations and impacts through art, artists and artefacts, highlighting insightful complexities, tensions, fractures and anxieties. Taken together, it is breathtaking in its ambition and scope. — Yoon Jung Park, executive director, Chinese in Africa/Africans in China Research Network; and program director, Africa-China Initiative, Georgetown University A fascinating and important collection. More than an expansion of the dominant economic/ geopolitical framing of the Africa–China relationship, it is an intervention in that framing, and a crucial one. —Cobus van Staden, founder and managing editor, China Global South Project China and Africa have long shared a history of allegiance and contact points through global political forces from the time of colonialism and the Cold War. With China’s rise as the new superpower, its presence in Africa has expanded, leading to signifcant economic, geopolitical and cultural shifs. While issues such as trade, aid and development have received much attention, Chinese and African encounters through the lens of the visual arts and material culture is a neglected feld. Visualising China in Southern Africa: Biography, Circulation, Transgression is a ground-breaking volume that addresses this defcit through engaging with the work of contemporary African and Chinese artists while analysing broader material production that prefgures the current relationship. The essays are wide-ranging in their analysis of ceramics, photography, painting, etching, sculpture, flm, performance, postcards, stamps, installations, political posters, cartoons and architecture. Visualising China in Southern Africa confnes its focus to southern Africa, yet even within this region, the context is complex. Ethnicity and nationalism, the lingering influence of Cold War allegiances and colonial confgurations all continuing to play a role. The various visual cultures discussed in this volume emphasise the commonality of these categories, but also point towards other shared histories that transcend the nation-state category. The collection includes scholarly chapters, photo essays, interviews, and artists’ personal accounts, organised around four themes: material flows, orientations and transgressions, spatial imaginaries, and biographies. The artists, photographers, flmmakers, curators and collectors in this volume include: Stary Mwaba, Hua Jiming, Anawana Haloba, Gerald Machona, Nobukho Nqaba, Marcus Neustetter, Brett Murray, Diane Victor, William Kentridge, Kristin NG-Yang, Kok Nam, Mark Lewis, the Chinese Camera Club of South Africa, Wu Jing, Henion Han and Shengkai Wu. @WitsPress #VisualisingChinain SouthernAfrica www.witspress.co.za Africa: Blue Weaver: Tel: 021 701 4477 orders@blueweaver.co.za UK & Europe: +44 (0)20 7240 0856 www.eurospangroup.com North & South America: Retailer and Wholesale orders: Phone 855-802-8236 or ips@ingramcontent.com Consumer orders: nyupressinfo@nyu.edu or visit http://witsuniversitypress.nyupress.org FOR ALL MEDIA ENQUIRIES, REVIEW COPIES OR INTERVIEW REQUESTS, PLEASE CONTACT: Corina.VanDerSpoel@wits.ac.za www.witspress.co.za Tel: +27 (0)11 717 8700 ORDERING INFORMATION ISBN (PBK): 978-1-77614-767-0 ISBN (PDF): 978-1-77614-769-4 ISBN (EPUB): 978-1-77614-770-0 Format: 254 x 203mm Number of fgures (Colour): 157 Extent: 344pp Price: ZAR600 • USD80 • GBP62 Rights: World Subjects: Art and architecture; Cultural & Media Studies Thema: JBCC7 - Cross-cultural / Intercultural studies and topics; AGA - History of art Publication date: February 2023