Unequal Interdependency: Chinese Petty Entrepreneurs and Zimbabwean Migrant Labourers
Exploring the cultural politics of diasporic entrepreneurs and migrant labourers through an examination of Chinese restaurants in Johannesburg, this article presents what I call the “intra-migrant economy” amid everyday racialized insecurities in urban South Africa. I use the term “intra-migrant eco...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Brock University
2020-03-01
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| Series: | Studies in Social Justice |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.library.brocku.ca/index.php/SSJ/article/view/1872 |
| _version_ | 1818431226841661440 |
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| author | Ying-Ying Tiffany Liu |
| author_facet | Ying-Ying Tiffany Liu |
| author_sort | Ying-Ying Tiffany Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Exploring the cultural politics of diasporic entrepreneurs and migrant labourers through an examination of Chinese restaurants in Johannesburg, this article presents what I call the “intra-migrant economy” amid everyday racialized insecurities in urban South Africa. I use the term “intra-migrant economy” to refer to the employment of one group of migrants (Zimbabwean migrant workers) by another group of migrants (Chinese petty capitalists) as an economic strategy outside the mainstream labour market. These two groups of migrants work in the same industry, live in the same city, and have established a sort of unequal employment relation that can be hierarchical and interdependentat once. Chinese migrants are socially marginalized but not economically underprivileged, which stands in contrast to Zimbabwean migrants, who remain economically underprivileged even though they speak local languages. Their different socioeconomic positions in South Africa are profoundly influenced by their nationality and racialization. Thisanalysis of their interdependency focuses on the economic and political structures that shaped the underlying conditions that brought Chinese and Zimbabwean migrants to work together in South Africa. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T15:45:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cd750b152e7f44f0a17c579cf35a98f8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1911-4788 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T15:45:57Z |
| publishDate | 2020-03-01 |
| publisher | Brock University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Studies in Social Justice |
| spelling | doaj.art-cd750b152e7f44f0a17c579cf35a98f82022-12-21T22:55:31ZengBrock UniversityStudies in Social Justice1911-47882020-03-0120201414616510.26522/ssj.v2020i14.18721872Unequal Interdependency: Chinese Petty Entrepreneurs and Zimbabwean Migrant LabourersYing-Ying Tiffany Liu0Carleton UniversityExploring the cultural politics of diasporic entrepreneurs and migrant labourers through an examination of Chinese restaurants in Johannesburg, this article presents what I call the “intra-migrant economy” amid everyday racialized insecurities in urban South Africa. I use the term “intra-migrant economy” to refer to the employment of one group of migrants (Zimbabwean migrant workers) by another group of migrants (Chinese petty capitalists) as an economic strategy outside the mainstream labour market. These two groups of migrants work in the same industry, live in the same city, and have established a sort of unequal employment relation that can be hierarchical and interdependentat once. Chinese migrants are socially marginalized but not economically underprivileged, which stands in contrast to Zimbabwean migrants, who remain economically underprivileged even though they speak local languages. Their different socioeconomic positions in South Africa are profoundly influenced by their nationality and racialization. Thisanalysis of their interdependency focuses on the economic and political structures that shaped the underlying conditions that brought Chinese and Zimbabwean migrants to work together in South Africa.https://journals.library.brocku.ca/index.php/SSJ/article/view/1872migrant entrepreneurshiplabour migrationpetty capitalismchinese diasporazimbabwean diasporasouth africa |
| spellingShingle | Ying-Ying Tiffany Liu Unequal Interdependency: Chinese Petty Entrepreneurs and Zimbabwean Migrant Labourers Studies in Social Justice migrant entrepreneurship labour migration petty capitalism chinese diaspora zimbabwean diaspora south africa |
| title | Unequal Interdependency: Chinese Petty Entrepreneurs and Zimbabwean Migrant Labourers |
| title_full | Unequal Interdependency: Chinese Petty Entrepreneurs and Zimbabwean Migrant Labourers |
| title_fullStr | Unequal Interdependency: Chinese Petty Entrepreneurs and Zimbabwean Migrant Labourers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unequal Interdependency: Chinese Petty Entrepreneurs and Zimbabwean Migrant Labourers |
| title_short | Unequal Interdependency: Chinese Petty Entrepreneurs and Zimbabwean Migrant Labourers |
| title_sort | unequal interdependency chinese petty entrepreneurs and zimbabwean migrant labourers |
| topic | migrant entrepreneurship labour migration petty capitalism chinese diaspora zimbabwean diaspora south africa |
| url | https://journals.library.brocku.ca/index.php/SSJ/article/view/1872 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yingyingtiffanyliu unequalinterdependencychinesepettyentrepreneursandzimbabweanmigrantlabourers |