This paper critically reflects the process, methodology and key findings of a collaborative research that I coordinated from 2022 to 2024 on behalf of a Southern feminist network Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) “Gender Impact of China’s Engagement in the Global South”. This exploratory research involves scholars with comprehensive knowledge and multidisciplinary backgrounds from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The eight case studies cover a wide range of topics (China’s soft power; women, peace, and security; civil society activism; and investment in mining, infrastructure, and agriculture) and examine the various sectors (states, business sectors, and financial institutions, international development agencies, local communities, civil societies, women’s organizations, and indigenous groups). Therefore, it depicts the complexity and interdependency of the process of the development of China’s global footprint and the new world these engagements help to create. Moreover, this research sheds light on Southern feminist reimagination of the international cooperation, South-South relation, and integration of women’s human rights into the development practice in the context of rising South and changing global geopolitics.
Presenter: Yiping Cai, University of California, Irvine