Dwelling in Drifting: Kenya–China Life Writing <i>Feipiao</i>

With an increase in interactions between Kenya and China at all levels, transnational encounters in everyday life add shades and nuances to the understanding of these recent Africa–Asian encounters beyond the grand narrative. This article focuses on the life writing Feipiao (Drifting in Africa) by a Chinese businessman, Deng Changwu, in Kenya. Deng uses the book as a stage to perform his social identities and offer business and psychological advice and popularises the term as an identity marker of Chinese drifters in Africa. The article emphasises how literary narrative as a tool for knowledge production reiterates and challenges prevailing discourses related to Kenya–China relations. Through the concept of dwelling in drifting, this article maps out individual efforts and translocal, transethnic, and transnational networks, revealing new dynamics and modes of relationship building. This perspective transcends the traditional China–Africa–European triangulation, highlighting the hybrid and multi-dimensional nature of knowledge sharing and production in everyday life.