The Tropical Silk Road
The Future of China in South America
Published on 29. November 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
472 pages
978-1-5036-3380-3 (ISBN)
Description
This book captures an epochal juncture of two of the world's most transformative processes: the People's Republic of China's rapidly expanding sphere of influence across the global south and the disintegration of the Amazonian, Cerrado, and Andean biomes. The intersection of these two processes took another step in April 2020, when Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a "New Health Silk Road" agenda of aid and investment that would wind through South America, extending the Eurasian-African "Belt and Road Initiative" to a series of mine, port, energy, infrastructure, and agrobusiness megaprojects in the Latin American tropics.
Through thirty short essays, this volume brings together an impressive array of contributors, from economists, anthropologists, and political scientists to Black, feminist, and Indigenous community organizers, Chinese stakeholders, environmental activists, and local journalists to offer a pathbreaking analysis of China's presence in South America. As cracks in the progressive legacy of the Pink Tide and the failures of ecocidal right-wing populisms shape new political economies and geopolitical possibilities, this book provides a grassroots-based account of a post-US centered world order, and an accompanying map of the stakes for South America that highlights emerging voices and forms of resistance.
Through thirty short essays, this volume brings together an impressive array of contributors, from economists, anthropologists, and political scientists to Black, feminist, and Indigenous community organizers, Chinese stakeholders, environmental activists, and local journalists to offer a pathbreaking analysis of China's presence in South America. As cracks in the progressive legacy of the Pink Tide and the failures of ecocidal right-wing populisms shape new political economies and geopolitical possibilities, this book provides a grassroots-based account of a post-US centered world order, and an accompanying map of the stakes for South America that highlights emerging voices and forms of resistance.
Reviews / Votes
"A result of deep and probing research, The Tropical Silk Road offers new critical writings, field observations, and ideas that situate the fate of Amazonian societies in the wake of China's bid for global prominence. The diverse array of experts in fine-tuned conversation with one another makes this a truly remarkable and exciting collection."-Long Bui, University of California, Irvine "The Tropical Silk Road is both an impressively ambitious and readable volume. An international cavalcade of authors examines contemporary China's outreach into Latin America, offering an engaging balance of thoughtful, interdisciplinary perspectives with considerable heft."-Carlos Rojas, Duke University "[Tropical Silk Road] is as ambitious as it is eclectic, and its contributors bring a range of valuable insights to bear on some of the most important political and economic developments facing the region."-Matthew Abel, NACLA Report on the AmericasMore details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Palo Alto
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
640 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5036-3380-3 (9781503633803)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Paul Amar | Lisa Rofel | Fernando Brancoli
The Tropical Silk Road
The Future of China in South America
E-Book
11/2022
Stanford University Press
€62.99
Available for download
Persons
Paul Amar is Professor of Global Studies and Director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Lisa Rofel is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Maria Amelia Viteri is Professor of Anthropology at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ).Consuelo Fernandez-Salvador is Associate Professor of Anthropology, Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ).Fernando Brancoli is Adjunct Professor of International Security and Geopolitics at the Institute of International Relations and Defense at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (IRID-UFRJ).
Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction: China Stepping Out, the Amazon Biome,
and South American Populism
-Paul Amar, Lisa Rofel, Maria Amelia Viteri,
Consuelo Fernandez-Salvador, and Fernando Brancoli
Part 1: Global Asia, New Imaginaries, and Media Visibilities
1.1. China's State and Social Media Narratives about Brazil during the COVID-19 Pandemic
-Li Zhang
1.2. Cracks in the Coca Codo Sinclair Hydroelectric Project: Infrastructures and Disaster from a Masculine Vision of Development
-Pedro Gutierrez Guevara, Sofia Carpio, and Mayra Flores
1.3. Brazil and China's "Inevitable Marriage"? Post-Bolsonaro Futures and Beijing's Shift from North America to South America
-Zhou Zhiwei
1.4. The China-Ecuador Relationship: From Correa's Neodevelopmentalist "Reformism" to Moreno's "Postreformism" during China's Credit Crunch (2006-2021)
-Milton Reyes Herrera
1.5. China Studies in Brazil: Leste Vermelho and Innovations in South-South Academic Partnership
-Andrea Piazzaroli Longobardi
1.6. Chinese Financing and Direct Foreign Investment in Ecuador: An Interests and Benefits Perspective on Relations between States through the Lens of the Win-Win Principle
-David Mosquera Narvaez
Part 2: Indigenous Epistemologies and Maroon Modernities
2.1. An Indigenous Theory of Risk: The Cosmopolitan Munduruku Analyze Chinese Megaprojects at Tapajos-Teles Pires
-Luisa Pontes Molina and Alessandra Korap Silva Munduruku
2.2. Challenges for the Shuar in the Face of Globalization and Extractivism: Reflections from the Shuar Federation of Zamora Chinchipe
-Jefferson Pullaguari
2.3. "Yes, We Do Know Why We Protest": Indigenous Challenges to Extractivism in Ecuador, Looking Beyond the National Strike of October 2019
-Julia Correa, Israel Chumapi, Paul Ghaitai Males, Jennifer Yajaira Masaquiza, Rina Pakari Marcillo, and David Menacho
Part 3: Grassroots Perspectives on the Fragmentation of BRICS
3.1. From Elusiveness to Ideological Extravaganza: Gender and Sexuality in Brazil-China Relations
-Cai Yiping and Sonia Correa
3.2. The Refraction of Chinese Capital in Amazonian Entrepots and the Infrastructure of a Global Sacrifice Zone
-Gustavo Oliveira
3.3. "The Bank We Want": Chinese and Brazilian Activism around and within the BRICS New Development Bank
-Laura Trajber Waisbich
3.4. Rio Blanco: The Big Stumbling Block to the Advancement of China's Mining Interests in Ecuador
-The Yasunidos Guapondelig Collective
3.5. Protectionism for Business, Precarization for Labor: China's Investment-Protection Treaties and Community Struggles in the Latin American and Caribbean Region
-Ana Saggioro Garcia and Rodrigo Curty Pereira
Part 4: Logistics Regimes and Mining
4.1. A Mine, a Dam, and the Chinese-Ecuadorian Politics of Knowledge
-Karolien van Teijlingen and Juan Pablo Hidalgo Bastidas
4.2. Rafael Correa's Administration of Promises and the Impact of Its Policies on the Human Rights of Indigenous Groups
-Emilia Bonilla
4.3. China Oil and Foodstuffs Corporation in the Tapajos River "Logistics Corridor": A Case Study of Socioenvironmental Transformation in Brazil's Northeast
-Alana Camoca and Bruno Hendler
4.4. Deforestation, Enclosures, and Militias: The Logistics "Revolution" in the Port of Cajueiro, Maranhao
-Sabrina Felipe and Lucilene Raimunda Costa
Part 5: Hydroelectrics and Railroads
5.1. Hungry and Backward Waters: Events, Actors, and Challenges Surrounding the Coca Codo Sinclair Hydroelectric Project in Times of COVID-19
-Sigrid Vasconez D.
5.2. Electrification of Forest Biomes: Xingu-Rio Lines, Chinese Presence, and the Sociotechnological Impact of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam
-Lais Forti Thomaz, Aline Regina Alves Martins, and Diego Trindade d'Avila Magalhaes
5.3. Vanity Projects, Waterfall Implosions, and the Local Impacts of Megaproject Partnerships
-Consuelo Fernandez-Salvador and Maria Amelia Viteri
5.4. "Yes We Do Exist": Ferrograo Railway, Indigenous Voices in the Trail of Trade Corridors, and Building the Axis of "Brazilian Pragmatist Policy" toward China
-Diana Aguiar
5.5. Green Marketing Extractivism in the Amazon: Imaginaries of the Ministry versus Realities of the Land
-Maria Elena Rodriguez
Part 6: Race, Class, and Urban Geographies
6.1. Steel Industry's Legacies on the Outskirts of Rio de Janeiro and White Brazilian Capital-State Alliances: A Feminist Approach
-Ana Luisa Queiroz, Marina Praca, and Yasmin Bitencourt
6.2. Rio de Janeiro's Unruly Carbon Periphery: Community Entrepreneurs, Chinese Investors, and the Reappropriation of the Ruins of the COMPERJ Oil Port-and-Pipeline Megaproject
-Fernando Brancoli and Wander Guerra
6.3. From Cheap Credit to Rapid Frustration: Real Estate in Rio de Janeiro
-Pedro Henrique Vasques
6.4. The China-Ecuador Economic Relationship's Impact on Unemployment during the Administration of President Moreno
-David F. Delgado del Hierro
Part 7: Hybridity of Transnational Labor
7.1. Savage Factories of the Manaus Free Trade Zone: Chinese Investments in the Amazon and Social Impacts on Workers
-Cleiton Ferreira Maciel Brito
7.2. National Development Priorities and Transnational Workplace Inequalities: Challenges for China's State-Sponsored Construction Projects in Ecuador
-Rui Jie Peng
7.3. Rio's Phantom Dubai?: Porto do Acu, Chinese Investments, and the Geopolitical Specter of Brazilian Mineral Booms
-Marcos A. Pedlowski
Introduction: China Stepping Out, the Amazon Biome,
and South American Populism
-Paul Amar, Lisa Rofel, Maria Amelia Viteri,
Consuelo Fernandez-Salvador, and Fernando Brancoli
Part 1: Global Asia, New Imaginaries, and Media Visibilities
1.1. China's State and Social Media Narratives about Brazil during the COVID-19 Pandemic
-Li Zhang
1.2. Cracks in the Coca Codo Sinclair Hydroelectric Project: Infrastructures and Disaster from a Masculine Vision of Development
-Pedro Gutierrez Guevara, Sofia Carpio, and Mayra Flores
1.3. Brazil and China's "Inevitable Marriage"? Post-Bolsonaro Futures and Beijing's Shift from North America to South America
-Zhou Zhiwei
1.4. The China-Ecuador Relationship: From Correa's Neodevelopmentalist "Reformism" to Moreno's "Postreformism" during China's Credit Crunch (2006-2021)
-Milton Reyes Herrera
1.5. China Studies in Brazil: Leste Vermelho and Innovations in South-South Academic Partnership
-Andrea Piazzaroli Longobardi
1.6. Chinese Financing and Direct Foreign Investment in Ecuador: An Interests and Benefits Perspective on Relations between States through the Lens of the Win-Win Principle
-David Mosquera Narvaez
Part 2: Indigenous Epistemologies and Maroon Modernities
2.1. An Indigenous Theory of Risk: The Cosmopolitan Munduruku Analyze Chinese Megaprojects at Tapajos-Teles Pires
-Luisa Pontes Molina and Alessandra Korap Silva Munduruku
2.2. Challenges for the Shuar in the Face of Globalization and Extractivism: Reflections from the Shuar Federation of Zamora Chinchipe
-Jefferson Pullaguari
2.3. "Yes, We Do Know Why We Protest": Indigenous Challenges to Extractivism in Ecuador, Looking Beyond the National Strike of October 2019
-Julia Correa, Israel Chumapi, Paul Ghaitai Males, Jennifer Yajaira Masaquiza, Rina Pakari Marcillo, and David Menacho
Part 3: Grassroots Perspectives on the Fragmentation of BRICS
3.1. From Elusiveness to Ideological Extravaganza: Gender and Sexuality in Brazil-China Relations
-Cai Yiping and Sonia Correa
3.2. The Refraction of Chinese Capital in Amazonian Entrepots and the Infrastructure of a Global Sacrifice Zone
-Gustavo Oliveira
3.3. "The Bank We Want": Chinese and Brazilian Activism around and within the BRICS New Development Bank
-Laura Trajber Waisbich
3.4. Rio Blanco: The Big Stumbling Block to the Advancement of China's Mining Interests in Ecuador
-The Yasunidos Guapondelig Collective
3.5. Protectionism for Business, Precarization for Labor: China's Investment-Protection Treaties and Community Struggles in the Latin American and Caribbean Region
-Ana Saggioro Garcia and Rodrigo Curty Pereira
Part 4: Logistics Regimes and Mining
4.1. A Mine, a Dam, and the Chinese-Ecuadorian Politics of Knowledge
-Karolien van Teijlingen and Juan Pablo Hidalgo Bastidas
4.2. Rafael Correa's Administration of Promises and the Impact of Its Policies on the Human Rights of Indigenous Groups
-Emilia Bonilla
4.3. China Oil and Foodstuffs Corporation in the Tapajos River "Logistics Corridor": A Case Study of Socioenvironmental Transformation in Brazil's Northeast
-Alana Camoca and Bruno Hendler
4.4. Deforestation, Enclosures, and Militias: The Logistics "Revolution" in the Port of Cajueiro, Maranhao
-Sabrina Felipe and Lucilene Raimunda Costa
Part 5: Hydroelectrics and Railroads
5.1. Hungry and Backward Waters: Events, Actors, and Challenges Surrounding the Coca Codo Sinclair Hydroelectric Project in Times of COVID-19
-Sigrid Vasconez D.
5.2. Electrification of Forest Biomes: Xingu-Rio Lines, Chinese Presence, and the Sociotechnological Impact of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam
-Lais Forti Thomaz, Aline Regina Alves Martins, and Diego Trindade d'Avila Magalhaes
5.3. Vanity Projects, Waterfall Implosions, and the Local Impacts of Megaproject Partnerships
-Consuelo Fernandez-Salvador and Maria Amelia Viteri
5.4. "Yes We Do Exist": Ferrograo Railway, Indigenous Voices in the Trail of Trade Corridors, and Building the Axis of "Brazilian Pragmatist Policy" toward China
-Diana Aguiar
5.5. Green Marketing Extractivism in the Amazon: Imaginaries of the Ministry versus Realities of the Land
-Maria Elena Rodriguez
Part 6: Race, Class, and Urban Geographies
6.1. Steel Industry's Legacies on the Outskirts of Rio de Janeiro and White Brazilian Capital-State Alliances: A Feminist Approach
-Ana Luisa Queiroz, Marina Praca, and Yasmin Bitencourt
6.2. Rio de Janeiro's Unruly Carbon Periphery: Community Entrepreneurs, Chinese Investors, and the Reappropriation of the Ruins of the COMPERJ Oil Port-and-Pipeline Megaproject
-Fernando Brancoli and Wander Guerra
6.3. From Cheap Credit to Rapid Frustration: Real Estate in Rio de Janeiro
-Pedro Henrique Vasques
6.4. The China-Ecuador Economic Relationship's Impact on Unemployment during the Administration of President Moreno
-David F. Delgado del Hierro
Part 7: Hybridity of Transnational Labor
7.1. Savage Factories of the Manaus Free Trade Zone: Chinese Investments in the Amazon and Social Impacts on Workers
-Cleiton Ferreira Maciel Brito
7.2. National Development Priorities and Transnational Workplace Inequalities: Challenges for China's State-Sponsored Construction Projects in Ecuador
-Rui Jie Peng
7.3. Rio's Phantom Dubai?: Porto do Acu, Chinese Investments, and the Geopolitical Specter of Brazilian Mineral Booms
-Marcos A. Pedlowski