Shortcut English : a pidgin language and "racialization" at a Chinese-operated mine in Zambia
Organizer
The Chinese in Africa / Africans in China Research Network Conference Organising Committee in collaboration with the Centre for Cultural Research and Development at the Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong; and the Institute for Emerging Markets Studies at HKUST
Event Title
CAAC2021 7th Online Mini-symposium : Shortcut English: A Pidgin Language and Racialization at a Chinese-Operated Mine in Zambia
Document Type
Symposium
Date
9-30-2021
Time
9:00 p.m.
Venue
Online Session via Zoom
Description
“Shortcut English” is a pidgin spoken between Zambians and Chinese migrants at a Chinese-operated mine in southern Zambia. Contrary to most historical contact languages, the symbolic valences of Shortcut English favor Zambian laborers over Chinese managers and owners. Though in the past Chinese were categorized as bamakuwa/”whites,” the dynamics of Shortcut English increasingly racialize them as bachainizi, a denigrated subcategory of whites whom Zambians see as unfit to run the mine, sparking sometimes violent resistance.
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Haruyama, J. L. (2021, September 30). Shortcut English: A pidgin language and racialization at a Chinese-operated mine in Zambia [Video podcast]. Retrieved from https://commons.ln.edu.hk/videos/911/
Additional Information
Speaker
Justin Haruyama is a Ph.D. candidate in cultural anthropology at University of California, Davis. His research examines the controversial presence of Chinese migrants in Africa today, with a focus on social interactions between Chinese expatriate and local Zambian communities as they come to interact in contexts of work and religion in southern Zambia.