Party Time: Entering the Lifeworlds and Career Trajectories of Chinese Transnational Professionals in Africa

Abstract The literature on transnational professionals (TPs) focuses on transnational structures and practices that are professionally defined. In this article, we start with the observation that Chinese TP lifeworlds in Africa diverge significantly from the ones described in the TP literature. We argue that TP lifeworlds “beyond the Anglosphere” and the practices they produce require more attention to understand the future of transnational governance in a polycentric world. The article analyzes Chinese professionals who work in state-owned and private enterprises in Africa; what is considered competent practice and how promotions occur in this context; and discusses these professionals’ limited autonomy from the state—different from a core assumption on which theories about the power of professionals and their practices in international relations are based. It shows that Chinese TPs rarely advance model practices in their field. They find themselves in expert sectors in Africa because they are made to go there, and apart from (mixed) professional credentials must demonstrate modesty, loyalty and patriotism in order to fit in and advance their careers in global China. Thus more context-sensitive theorizing is needed that considers variation in the role and autonomy of professions and their expertise in constituting community and transnational practices. Theoretically, we bring together literatures on Chinese cadres and corporate professionals with the literature on TPs for the first time. Empirically, the analysis is based on interviews with Chinese corporate professionals in Zambia and East Asia, and an analysis of secondary literature on Chinese companies and professionals operating in Africa more broadly.