Abstract
China has been an actor on the African continent dating back to precolonial history, but the contemporary epoch has boasted an accelerated intensification of the Chinese footprint on the continent. To rationalise this rediscovered intimacy, China and postcolonial African states alike have posited a discourse on mutuality both in context and ideology as a pillar for their contemporary interactions. This discourse has come to define postcolonial Sino-Africa relations acting as a foundation on which Chinese investments are justified and established. The Ugandan state has been no exception as this discourse has many times vindicated its engagement with China. It becomes critical to interrogate this mutuality discourse and its enactment on the continent. Using Chinese agricultural investments in Uganda as a case study, this chapter criticises the discourse of mutuality, problematising how its politicisation forecloses public contestation against these questionable investments, including silencing the voices of people and communities often times displaced to pave way for these projects. The chapter explicates how mutuality justifies questionable Chinese agricultural investments in Uganda and renders invisible the complex power relations between Uganda and China.
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Notes
- 1.
See Daily Monitor, April 27, 2016 “New Agricultural Industrial Park to create 25,000 jobs”, available: https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/new-agricultural-industrial-park-to-create-25-000-jobs-1648358?view=htmlamp.
- 2.
Ibid.
- 3.
See The Observer, May 2, 2016 “Govt gives Chinese firm 2500 acres in Luweero for farming” available: https://observer.ug/news-headlines/44019-govt-gives-chinese-firm-2-500-acres-in-luweero-for-farming.
- 4.
See Daily Monitor, September 23, 2021 “Why Shs 700b Agricultural Park Project in luweero has stalled” Available: https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/why-shs700b-agriculture-park-project-in-luweero-has-stalled-3559688.
- 5.
Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, 2022 “Uganda-China South-South Cooperation Phase 2” Available at: https://www.agriculture.go.ug/uganda-china-south-south-cooperation-phase-2/.
- 6.
See The Observer, May 2, 2016 “Govt gives Chinese firm 2500 acres in Luweero for farming”.
- 7.
See Daily Monitor, April 27, 2016 “New Agricultural Industrial Park to create 25,000 jobs”.
- 8.
MAAIF Uganda, October 22, 2020 “China-Uganda South-South Cooperation Project Phase 2 Progress” [Video], Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISHXQztPJpk&t=5s.
- 9.
Daily Monitor, September 23, 2021 “Why Shs 700b Agricultural Park Project in luweero has stalled” Available: https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/why-shs700b-agriculture-park-project-in-luweero-has-stalled-3559688.
- 10.
G. Mukasa, personal communication, November 30, 2022.
- 11.
Anonymous, personal communication, November 30, 2022: Respondent requested to be kept anonymous for fear of retribution.
- 12.
Ugandan Minister of State, personal communication, January 5, 2023. The Minister’s office has facilitated the bulk of Chinese investment in Uganda in recent years. Their close affiliation with the President has made them a conduit, linking investors directly to the President.
- 13.
Uganda Radio Network, September 10, 2016 “Chinese Investor Abandons $4 m Farm in Nakaseke” Available at: https://ugandaradionetwork.com/story/chinese-investor-abandons-4m-farm-in-nakaseke.
- 14.
Uganda Radio Network, May 3, 2012 “Chinese farm Accused of Environmental Degradation” Available at: https://ugandaradionetwork.com/story/chinese-farm-accused-of-enviromental-degradation.
- 15.
Ibid.
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Muinga, D. (2024). Problematising the Mutuality Discourse in Chinese Agricultural Investment in Uganda. In: Mazwi, F., Mudimu, G.T., Helliker, K. (eds) Chinese Investment in Africa . Economic Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52815-6_4
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