This book – through a collection of case studies covering Southern and East Africa, China, India, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia – offers insights into the nature of social exchanges between Africa and Asia. In the age of the ‘Rise of the South’, it documents the entanglements and the lived experiences of African and Asian people on the move. Divided into three parts, the authors look at Asians in Africa, Africans in Asia, and the ‘connected histories’ that the two share, which illuminate emerging and historical modalities of Afro-Asian human encounters. Cornelissen and Yoichi show how migrants activate multiple forms of transnational social capital as part of their survival strategies and develop complex relationships with host communities. 

Scarlett Cornelissen is Professor at the Department of Political Science at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. She works in the field of international relations, addressing broader questions of Africa’s place in the contemporary international system and more specific topics related to the political economy of Africa’s relations with East Asia.

Yoichi Mine is Professor at the Graduate School of Global Studies at Doshisha University, Japan. His research focuses on human security and African area studies.