HWS News
19 September 2025 • Research Understanding Patterns of Engagement
Students spent this summer challenging assumptions about China’s impact in Zambia.
From an anthropological point of view, understanding personal experiences helps build a larger narrative, says Associate Professor of Anthropology Christopher Annear. Hudson Chou ’27, Krissia Hercules ’27 and Hillel Wasserman ’28 did just that this summer as they examined the impact of China’s influence in Zambia.
The three students researched with Annear for a future book that will consider what it means to be Chinese in Africa and the increasing influence China has on Zambia as it increases its investment and aid into the country.
Through readings and social media, the students broke from Western-centric viewpoints of China and gained a more holistic understanding of the country’s influence in Zambia.
“People’s experiences and sense of self matter,” says Annear. “Each of these people is real, be they Chinese or Zambian and they have stories. We can learn about those and use those both as singular expressions of life. We can also use them to extrapolate into patterns of how people are thinking about engagements.”
The students will present their findings at the ASIANetwork Conference next spring.
Chou researched the effects of aid from United Nations countries in comparison to direct investment from China based on the book Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa by Dambisa Moyo. In the book, Moyo argues that the giving of more than $1 trillion in aid to African countries over the past 50 years has led to issues such as aid dependency, corruption and political instability, and instead, offers alternatives including increasing trade, offering debt relief and encouraging foreign investments.
“I think one of the more interesting things we discussed was the question of aid: Does it exist? Is it useful? What are the impacts?” says Chou, a politics major. “We learned of a conclusion that aid coming from Western countries seems to have a detrimental effect on the various economies of Africa, including that of Zambia. In the west, our typical liberal assumption is that aid is an a priori good and much of the current research contradicts this.”
This research built off Chou’s previous work with Professor of Politics Jodi Dean on whether China’s Belt and Road Initiative, China’s worldwide expansion of investing for infrastructure, is imperialistic. Chou suggested that China has often been unfairly cast in a negative light by Western and liberal democratic nations, obscuring its global engagement.
Hercules, an anthropology major, examined social media portrayals of the relationships between Zambians and Chinese citizens living in Zambia. These included themes of marriage, friendship and other means of assimilation.
Hercules found that Western media often portrays Chinese-African relations negatively, but through deeper anthropological exploration into first-person narratives, the results show otherwise.
“These firsthand accounts often challenge mainstream portrayals and offer a much more complex, nuanced picture of the relationship, one that includes cooperation, cultural exchange and mutual adaptation, as well as tensions,” says Hercules. “This perspective not only broadens our understanding but also encourages more critical thinking about how global relationships are framed and interpreted.”
Wasserman, an undeclared major, challenged assumptions on China’s influence on its energy investments in Zambia.
Through reading The Specter of Global China: Politics, Labor, and Foreign Investments in China by Ching Kwan Lee and the paper “Study of Major Solar Energy Mini-Grid Initiatives in Zambia,” Wasserman developed an understanding of the impact of China’s spending on energy in the country. Through The Specter of Global China, Wasserman learned there is little difference in the working conditions in Zambian state-owned mines, Chinese state-owned mines and privately-owned mines, contrary to Western narratives. Likewise, through “Study of Major Solar Energy,” many small-scale solar projects in rural areas, including those built by Chinese companies, had been neglected, making them unfeasible.
“I hope to use this research as a steppingstone for my resume as I want to become a professor in Africana studies and English,” says Wasserman. “I’m sure I will venture into more research opportunities presented at HWS, but for now I am excited for where my current work leads me.”
Najma Ahmed ’26, Estelle Bignet ’26, Michelle Mangione ’26 and Chloé Woods ’27 previously conducted research with Annear on this topic, challenging the narratives of Chinese-Zambian relations.
Top: Hillel Wasserman ’28, Hudson Chou ’27 and Krissia Hercules ’27 discuss their research with Associate Professor of Anthropology Christopher Annear.
