Since the 1990s, interactions between Africa and Asia have intensified considerably. Earlier academic research focused mostly on the new role of China in Africa, often with an emphasis on asymmetric power relations in the political and economic fields. In contrast, this book demonstrates that the range of new interactions between Africa and Asia is much broader, also involving various small- and medium-size actors in Asia and Africa in various fields. The ensuing diversification brings with it greater choice and - at least in theory - greater agency. This book gives scholars in Asian-African Studies well-grounded insights into the developments taking place in the two continents and can contribute towards policy advice on interventions for facilitating improved Asian-African ties.

How might we understand yellowface performances by African Americans in 1930s swing adaptations of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, Paul Robeson's support of Asian and Asian American struggles, or the absorption of hip hop by Asian American youth culture?AfroAsian Encounters is the first anthology to look at the mutual influence of and relationships between members of the African and Asian diasporas in the Americas. While these two groups have often been thought of as occupying incommensurate, if not opposing, cultural and political positions, scholars from history, literature, media, and the visual arts here trace their interconnections and interactions, as well as how they have been set in opposition by white systems of racial domination. AfroAsian Encounters probes beyond popular culture to trace the historical lineage of these coalitions from the post-Civil War era through the present.From the history of Japanese jazz composers to the current popularity of black/Asian "buddy films" like Rush Hour, AfroAsian Encounters is a groundbreaking intervention into studies of race and ethnicity and a crucial look at the shifting meaning of race in America in the twenty-first century.

This volume examines the Africa-Asia relationship from a transregional perspective, namely as a set of emergent social, political and economic practices spanning a number of analytical and spatial scales. Drawing on a host of countries from both regions, the contributions illustrate how encounters increasingly transcend fixed territorial categories at local, national and regional levels. While large-scale political and economic considerations tend to dominate in Asia-Africa related literature—for instance, in China-Africa, BRICS and South-South discourses—the current volume seeks to foster dialogue between these broader levels of analyses and more localized social practices and experiences, including the role of civil society, cultural production and migration. With an emphasis on the “trans” aspects of inter-regional exchange, the volume contributes to a better understanding of new forms of space-making between these two increasingly important regions.

In the first book to focus on African American attitudes toward Japan and China, Marc Gallicchio examines the rise and fall of black internationalism in the first half of the twentieth century. This daring new approach to world politics failed in its effort to seek solidarity with the two Asian countries, but it succeeded in rallying black Americans in the struggle for civil rights. Black internationalism emphasized the role of race or color in world politics and linked the domestic struggle of African Americans with the freedom struggle of emerging nations "of color," such as India and much of Africa. In the early twentieth century, black internationalists, including W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey, embraced Japan as a potential champion of the darker races, despite Japan's imperialism in China. After Pearl Harbor, black internationalists reversed their position and identified Nationalist China as an ally in the war against racism. In the end, black internationalism was unsuccessful as an interpretation of international affairs. The failed quest for alliances with Japan and China, Gallicchio argues, foreshadowed the difficulty black Americans would encounter in seeking redress for American racism in the international arena.

This book – through a collection of case studies covering Southern and East Africa, China, India, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia – offers insights into the nature of social exchanges between Africa and Asia. In the age of the ‘Rise of the South’, it documents the entanglements and the lived experiences of African and Asian people on the move. Divided into three parts, the authors look at Asians in Africa, Africans in Asia, and the ‘connected histories’ that the two share, which illuminate emerging and historical modalities of Afro-Asian human encounters. Cornelissen and Yoichi show how migrants activate multiple forms of transnational social capital as part of their survival strategies and develop complex relationships with host communities.

The 21st century has seen an increase in the presence and influence of Asian governments, firms and other stake-holders in Africa. With the changing times, changes in approaches to Africa by four major Asian countries (China, India, Japan and South Korea) have taken place. By tracing the history between these Asian countries and African countries, this collection reflects on the “new” phases of Asian Approaches to Africa. Composed by authors who are not only experienced expert scholars of African Studies, but also prominent specialists on African policies of Asian countries, this collection focuses on the official development assistance (ODA) as well as other crucial issues and actors such as business, civil society, and media to explore the new Asian approaches to Africa in a comprehensive manner. Organised into three sections, this collection explores the experiences of the “forums” (conferences, or summits) for Africa’s development hosted by four major Asian countries, reflects on Asian cultural influence in Africa, and highlights new phases of Asian approaches to Africa. This book looks to the future collaboration of Asian actors/ partners working in/ with Africa, rather than exaggerating rivalries and disputes in order to grasp the potentialities and challenges in the relationship between the two regions; an emerging and ongoing agenda that we will encounter further in the coming years. This book will be of interest to students, researchers and professors in universities, as well as research institutes on Asian and African Studies. It will also be of value to journalists, and government officials; particularly diplomats.

2013 Honorable Mention, Asian American Studies Association's prize in Literary Studies Part of the American Literatures Initiative Series Why do black characters appear so frequently in Asian American literary works and Asian characters appear in African American literary works in the early twentieth century? Interracial Encounters attempts to answer this rather straightforward literary question, arguing that scenes depicting Black-Asian interactions, relationships, and conflicts capture the constitution of African American and Asian American identities as each group struggled to negotiate the racially exclusionary nature of American identity. In this nuanced study, Julia H. Lee argues that the diversity and ambiguity that characterize these textual moments radically undermine the popular notion that the history of Afro-Asian relations can be reduced to a monolithic, media-friendly narrative, whether of cooperation or antagonism. Drawing on works by Charles Chesnutt, Wu Tingfang, Edith and Winnifred Eaton, Nella Larsen, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Younghill Kang, Interracial Encounters foregrounds how these reciprocal representations emerged from the nation’s pervasive pairing of the figure of the “Negro” and the “Asiatic” in oppositional, overlapping, or analogous relationships within a wide variety of popular, scientific, legal, and cultural discourses. Historicizing these interracial encounters within a national and global context highlights how multiple racial groups shaped the narrative of race and national identity in the early twentieth century, as well as how early twentieth century American literature emerged from that multiracial political context.