| Popis: |
Based on ethnographic research conducted between October 2021 and December 2022 on Chinese construction projects in Ghana, this paper explores workplaces and employment dynamics within Chinese state-owned construction companies in Africa. Through the ethnographic description of daily life at Chinese construction sites in Ghana, the article analyses the power relations, conflicts, and strategies of resistance existing in these working and living spaces. In particular, the paper illustrates the global and local processes and dynamics which involve Chinese stateowned construction companies operating in Ghana and explores the hierarchical power and intercultural relations that occur in these contexts. The article argues that while the global and local dynamics within which (also) Chinese construction companies operate constitute one of the reasons why Chinese companies are often represented in negative terms – by the media, the local communities, and the workers employed by them – in order to understand why they are often defined in Ghana as elsewhere as ‘the worst’ it is necessary to reflect on the peculiar intercultural hierarchical relationships that take place within them. In this regard, the long-term ethnographic research conducted at Chinese construction sites in Ghana provides a privileged point of view and angle of observation to conduct in-depth studies on these contexts and relationships. |
