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Forging African Communities pp 181–202Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Social Capital, Spatial Conquests and Migrants’ Social Mixity: Nigerians and Chinese in Lubumbashi, DRC

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Abstract

In examining how Nigerian and Chinese migrants negotiate access to space in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, this chapter argues that localised integration is not prescribed by formal state-determined standards but is instead a process made and unmade by the performance of street-level acts and practices: strategic social mixing. Drawing on interviews and observations in Lubumbashi, it asks: What enables migrants to negotiate their presence and adapt themselves and penetrate this transforming urban space? A double flexible strategy: one moment opening contact to each other and to resident Congolese and the next in withdrawal, facilitates the flow of goods and services, both material and immaterial, while tactically limiting their exposure to popular and official hostility.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This fieldwork was undertaken as part of the research project undertaken in collaboration with the International Migration Institute at the University of Oxford entitled, ‘African Perspectives on Human Mobility’ that ran from 2008 to 2011. This project was funded by the MacArthur Foundation. In 2015 I conducted research to update data collected during this period with fresh observations.

  2. 2.

    The term ‘Ouestaf’ is an abbreviation that indicates these people’s geographical origin (from the French ‘Afrique de l’Ouest’—West Africa); the term ‘bahoussa’ indicates someone of Hausa origin. In Swahili, however, there is the verb ‘kuhuza’, which means buy and sell. The term ‘Ndingari’ comes from a Yaka language and means fetishist. This referent is attributed to the ‘Ouestaf’, as some (marabouts) in their ranks used to pass themselves off as being capable of resolving every impossible problem and putting a curse on people.

  3. 3.

    In 2000, there were 500 Nigerians in Lubumbashi; in 2005 their number was 1230; and in 2010 around 1750 (data collected at the Population division, Lubumbashi, 2000, 2005, 2010).

  4. 4.

    We used a snowball sampling and interviewed 60 Nigerians. Even though Nigerian migrants are likely to live together as a ‘community’ in Lubumbashi, there are trends for them to work together according to the same origin/ethnic background.

  5. 5.

    Bourdarias (2009a, b) makes the same observation in an analysis of the Chinese in Mali, where the first wave of Chinese migrants, who arrived under Modibo Kheita, only stayed for a short time. The Chinese who came to Zaire during the time of President Mobutu did not settle in the country.

  6. 6.

    Luano airport in Lubumbashi is currently being refurbished by a Chinese firm. In July 2014, Prime Minister Matata Ponyo has offered to build an ultra-modern building in honour of a Congolese professor at the University of Lubumbashi. It too will be built by a Chinese firm!

  7. 7.

    It is important to note that products that have been made in China are not found in the market in Lubumbashi because they are brought in by Chinese traders; in reality, Congolese dealers buy Chinese products in China and import them. See Shanshan and Hai Xiao (2014, pp. 45–67).

  8. 8.

    Or if they are there, it proved difficult to get access to them. During the course of our research in March 2015, we were told that the Chinese millionaire in Congo splits his time between Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. When in Lubumbashi, he can be found at the golf club he belongs to.

  9. 9.

    Nursing consists of giving prescribed medication to the sick customer. This task is given to Congolese so they can communicate easily with the co-nationals, Chinese physicians being unable to speak well in French or local Congolese languages.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Social, Political and Administrative Sciences, Kasapa, Commune de Lubumbashi, University of Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo

    Germain Tshibambe Ngoie

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  1. Germain Tshibambe Ngoie
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Oliver Bakewell

  2. African Centre for Migration & Society, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Loren B. Landau

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Ngoie, G.T. (2018). Social Capital, Spatial Conquests and Migrants’ Social Mixity: Nigerians and Chinese in Lubumbashi, DRC. In: Bakewell, O., Landau, L. (eds) Forging African Communities. Global Diversities. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58194-5_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58194-5_8

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