Knowledge (im)mobility through mirco-level interactions: An analysis of the communication process in Chinese-Zambian medical cooperation

Abstract

Although Chinese medical aid to African countries is not a new phenomenon, the scale and scope of these engagements has changed significantly after the turn of the Millennium. Chinese government officials don’t grow tired to represent their country as new alternative for African medical development, a narrative that is accompanied with a host of figures such as money donated, Chinese personnel deployed, African practitioners trained and patients treated. However, little is known about the actual events behind these numbers. Drawing on the academic debate around the relationality of mobility and knowledge this paper is looking at the embodied experiences of Chinese-Zambian medical co-operation. By proposing a communication model as conceptual framework, this paper addresses recent criticism that too much scholarly attention has been given to the successful transfer of knowledge, whereas factors that prevent exchanges were largely ignored. Through the application of this model to analyze data obtained during six weeks of fieldwork in Zambia, it was possible to identify several prisms which affect the exchange of knowledge between the Chinese and Zambian teams in our case study decisively.