Africana People in China: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Migration Experiences, Identity, and Precarious Employment [Paperback]

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.

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

This book examines the psychosocial experiences of foreign workers from Africa within the context of international socio-economic forces.

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