New Books in Critical Theory Mingwei Huang, "Reconfiguring Racial Capitalism: South Africa in the Chinese Century" (Duke UP, 2024)
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Apr 15, 2025 Mingwei Huang, an assistant professor at Dartmouth specializing in race and migration, explores new forms of racial capitalism shaped by China's influence in South Africa. He discusses the dynamics between Chinese entrepreneurs and African migrant workers, revealing how these relationships reflect enduring white supremacy and colonial legacies. Huang also delves into the complexities of China-Africa relations, urging a reevaluation of historical narratives and emphasizing the need to understand contemporary racial identities in the context of global capitalism.
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Understanding the Chinese Century
- The Chinese century marks a global order shift with China rising economically and politically.
- It challenges Western-centric theories of capitalism, race, and empire, urging new frameworks for understanding capitalism beyond the West.
Racial Capitalism Beyond Whiteness
- Racial capitalism applies beyond white-dominated contexts and includes Chinese capitalism.
- Chinese racial capitalism in South Africa replicates anti-Blackness and racialized labor exploitation despite the absence of whiteness.
Chinese Capitalism Overlays Colonial Legacies
- Chinese racial capitalism overlays European colonial legacies without displacing them in South Africa.
- Chinese migrant traders benefit from, but are often unaware of, entrenched white colonial structures.
