Moving east: explaining aspects of Nigerian trade to China

Abstract

This paper highlights the shortcoming in explanations offered for the movement of African transnational trade to China, drawing from secondary multidisciplinary scholarship on the history, settlement, and cross-border trade migration in Africa, with an emphasis on Nigeria suggesting that the eastward migration of African transnational traders is part of a larger socio-historical continuity and social change process in Africa. The work also posits that the move to China is an experientially cultivated industry that is increasingly changing from a local space to a global space.