Revue d’Études Sino-Africaines (RÉSA) ~ Journal of Sino-African Studies (JSAS) ~ 《中非研究学刊》

 

Call for papers

Introduction

Africa-China relations date back to several centuries. For some scholars, trade links between African countries and China date back to the Song Dynasty (10th century); for others the relations date back to the Ming Dynasty (14th century). Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China by Mao Zedong on October 1st, 1949 in Tiananmen Square, cooperation between African countries and China has experienced a new beginning, marked by several official and mutual visits by political authorities. Since then, the development of cooperation and trade between African countries and China has gone through different stages, namely the “political alignment period (1950-1989)”, the “Africa as a source of political support (1989-2000)”, and the “growing economic relations (2000 to the present)” stage. Each is linked to broader political and economic realities (Nordtveit, 2011).

For Chinese scholars such as Liu Hongwu, Africa- China cooperation is based on “mutual respect, mutual understanding and mutual support” (Gonondo, 2018). Indeed, China’s model of cooperation appears to be more “symmetrical and win-win”, than an “aid relationship” (King, 2010, p. 75). This development model is known as “South-South development cooperation” (Niu, 2013, p. 31). Cooperation between African countries and China also extends to education with the establishment of Confucius Institutes for the promotion of Chinese language and culture in host countries, the allocation of scholarships, the short-term training programme, the construction of schools and several self-sustaining educational projects (Nordtveit, 2011).

The establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000 provided an “effective platform and multilateral mechanism for China and African countries to conduct collective consultations and realise pragmatic cooperation” (Zeng & Shu, 2018, p. 88). The Forum is a mechanism that has enabled China to “virtually” have political cooperation with all countries on the African continent. In November 2021, the 8th conference of the FOCAC was held in Dakar, Senegal. This year marked the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations between African countries and China. For Chinese President Xi Jinping, these decades of relations are marked by “sincere friendship and equality, mutual benefit and common development, equity and justice”.

The proliferation of research centres and scientific productions focusing on sino-african relations is sufficient proof of the growth, scope and interest of this field of research. It should be noted, however, that most of these initiatives come from the Chinese or the West. Moreover, with the aim of promoting people-to-people exchanges and deepening exchanges and mutual learning of civilisations between Africa and China, the China-Africa Institute was established on 9 April 2019, following the official announcement by President Xi Jiping at the opening ceremony of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on 3rd September 2018. Similarly, several scientific platforms for popularising research on China-Africa cooperation are being set up around the world. The Journal of Sino-African Studies, which aims to promote objective and mutual knowledge between Africa and China, fills this gap. Indeed, this journal is a fine response to Piet Konings’ challenge and is in line with the documentation of what he so aptly called ‘China’s engagement with the continent and Africa’s responses’. The journal provides an African perspective on the multiple and multi-dimensional challenges of Africa-China relations and the future of international relations (Wassouni, 2022).

Editorial Policy

The Journal of Sino-African Studies (JSAS), ISSN-E: 2791-3546, DOI Prefix: 10.56377 is an international, independent, humanities and social sciences journal created in 2022 by the Association for the Promotion of Sino-African Studies (APSAS). It publishes peer-reviewed, double-blind articles. It publishes several issues per year, available online and in free access on its website. Publications are in French, English and Chinese. The journal provides a platform for researchers to publish original and quality texts related to sino-african relations in general and in particular the promotion of educational and cultural exchanges between African countries and China.

Manuscripts are expected to address the following non-exhaustive areas and themes:

Sino-African cooperation in the field of education and comparative education

FOCAC issues for African development

Socio-cultural exchanges between Africa and China

Africa and the “Belt and Road Initiative

African Students in China

Confucius Institutes in Africa

African Studies Centres in China

African Literature Studies in China

Chinese Literature Studies in Africa

Translation/interpreting/cross-cultural mediation

African language teaching & learning in China

Chinese language teaching & learning in Africa

 

Instruction for author

  • Manuscripts should be sent by email to the following addresses:

apesa@sino-africanstudies.com

editor@sino-africanstudies.com

  • On the first page of the articles must appear: The title (and subtitle) of the article (in French and English), the names of the authors, their affiliation, the abstracts (in French and English) and the keywords (in French and English) must appear on the first page of the manuscripts.
  • Authors should present their affiliation as follows Name of the institution (in full), country. Example: University of Maroua, Cameroon.

Articles should respect the following rules:

  • Font Centaur size 12 for the body text, size 12 in bold for titles, size 10 for footnotes;
  • Line spacing 1.15;
  • Left and right justified margins;
  • Short quotations (less than four lines) in the body of the text in inverted commas (“citation”) and not English (“citation”). Long quotations in a paragraph indented to the left in Centaur font size 10;
  • APA (7th edition) reference in the text; bibliography (with full citation) at the end of the article;
  • No double line breaks between paragraphs;
  • Limited use of footnotes;
  • Short title with longer subtitles if necessary;
  • No italics, bolding or underlining in the text, except for italics for book titles and words from languages other than French;
  • An abstract (about 150 words) and 3 to 5 key words in French and English;

 

The bibliography should be based on the following model:

Gonondo, J. (2018). Educational Cooperation and Exchange Between African  Countries and China : Challenges——An Interview with Professor Liu Hongwu. International Affairs and Global Strategy, 62. 1-4. https://iiste.org/Journals/index.php/IAGS/article/view/41391/42620.

King, K. (2010). China’s Cooperation with Africa, and Especially South Africa,  in Education and Training. A Special Relationship and a Different Approach to Aid? Journal of International Cooperation in Education, 13(2), 73-87. https://cice.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/publications/Journal13-2/13-2-05.pdf

Niu, C. (2013). China’s educational cooperation with Africa : Toward new strategic partnerships. Asian Education and Development Studies, 3(1), 31-45. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-09-2013-0057

Nordtveit, B. H. (2011). An emerging donor in education and development : A case study of China in Cameroon. International Journal of Educational Development, 31(2), 99-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2010.01.004

Wassouni, F. (2022). Introduction du premier numéro. Revue d’Études Sino-Africaines, 1(1), I-VIII. https://doi.org/10.56377/jsas.v1n1.IVII

Zeng, A., & Shu, Z. (2018). Origin, Achievements, and Prospects of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. China International Studies, 88-108. http://www.focac.org/eng/lhyj_1/yjcg/201810/P020210830627854979477.pdf .

 

Publication Frequency: April, August and December

 

NB :

  1. Manuscripts should be sent by email to the following addresses: apesa@sino-africanstudies.com /editor@sino-africanstudies.com 
  2. The published articles are free of charge and immediately accessible online on the journal’s website
  3. The publication fee is 25,000 FCFA/330 yuan/50 dollars. As the journal is not sponsored, publication fees are required from authors to cover the costs of managing the journal (various online services) and maintaining the website.

 

Call for papers JSAS (pdf)