非洲中国女性移民角色的历史嬗变——以尼日利亚为中心的考察

The Evolution of Chinese Women Migrants in Africa:A Case Study of Nigeria

论文以尼日利亚中国女性移民为具体案例,分析她们过去60余年在尼日利亚的发展脉络,探究她们在空间、角色和行业上的突破及其所涉行业的全面拓展,从而揭示中国女性移民作为一支独立的经济力量在尼日利亚侨界发挥的重要作用。研究显示,在传统跨国移民研究的框架下,女性移民往往面临着空间、角色和行业的三重限制。自20世纪中期以来,尼日利亚中国女性移民不断对这三重限制做出自身的有力回应:她们在20世纪60至80年代非洲工业化的背景下突破“家”的物理空间限制,成为中资工厂的“女师傅”;她们在改革开放后突破性别化分工对女性的经济角色限制,在当地独立创业并崛起为女企业家;她们在“一带一路”建设背景下,突破女性的行业限制,从贸易—服务业走向制造业。经过一次次突破性的角色嬗变,尼日利亚中国女性移民展现了强劲的经济活力和企业家精神,成长为当地一支不可忽略的经济力量。

Through examining Chinese women’s migration to Nigeria over the past six decades,this paper discusses how Chinese women have been playing an important part in driving the development of the overseas Chinese economy.In conventional studies of transnational migration,the mobility of women is usually restricted due to their physical location,social role and occupation.This canon is tarnished,in the case of Nigeria.Chinese women migrants began to arrive in Nigeria during the 1960s.Most of them came to work as“female masters”in Chinese-owned factories,which were established against the background of Africa’s industrialization.Since China’s reform and opening-up in the 1980s,many Chinese women in Nigeria have become entrepreneurs in areas such as international trade,hospitality and similar service sectors.In recent years,an increasing number of Chinese women have entered the globalized manufacturing sector since the BRI was launched.Chinese women migrants’entrepreneurial spirit has enabled them to perform an essential role in the ethnic Chinese economy of Nigeria.