M Driessen
Biographic Data
| ID | 31407 |
|---|---|
| NAME | M Driessen |
| GIVEN NAMES | M |
| FAMILY NAME | Driessen |
| SIGNATURE | DRIESSEN M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oxford |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0678-3643 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 57 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Coaxing Compliance: Ethiopian Lawyers, Chinese Companies, and the Cultivation of Respect
Over the past three decades, a growing number of Chinese enterprises have entered Ethiopia's construction and manufacturing sectors as contractors and investors. While adapting to a new regulatory environment, many of these companies have faced administrative challenges and accusations of noncompliance, some of which have been brought to court. Drawing on ethnographic research, this article shows how and why Ethiopian lawyers employed by Chinese …
Chinese standards from the ground up
China's transformation from a standards-taker to a standards-maker has sent a shock wave through the global economy. While Chinese standardization is conventionally perceived and analysed as a top-down process, led by the central government and the Standardization Administration of China, this article demonstrates the merits of studying standards from the ground up. Sustained engagement with those who make, adopt, reject, and recalibrate standard…
Trials of trustworthiness between Ethiopian lawyers and Chinese clients
Legal representation requires trust. How is trust given and gained in lawyer-client relations that are tainted by mistrust? In this article I examine interactions between Ethiopian lawyers and their Chinese clients to show how both parties mitigate mistrust to enable productive legal representation across radical difference. This process not only involves patience and persistence but also prompts clients to put trust on trial. First, they do so b…
Africa Drifters
Gravel Pit, Chinese Construction Site, Ethiopia PC: Jasmine Halki
Rescuing Masculinity: Giving Gender in the Wake of China’s Marriage Squeeze
China’s marriage squeeze poses a profound challenge to the construction of masculinity in rural regions, where marriage continues to play an important role in the production of gender identities, marking manhood and its virtues. What are the consequences when men fail to marry and to assert respected male seniority? We show that in the context of China’s imbalanced sex ratio, family members attempt to rescue or restore the dignity of their sons a…
Chinese Workers in Ethiopia Caught between Remaining and Returning
Ever since Beijing has sought to fuel domestic growth through Chinese-led development overseas-first under the aegis of Jiang Zemin's Going Out Policy and more recently as part of Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative- thousands of Chinese have moved overseas for work. Africa has been one of the destinations of Chinese companies and their expatriate staff. Although we have learned a great deal about China's mega-projects across the African contin…
Made in China, fashioned in Africa: Ethnic dress in Ethiopia and Mozambique
The influx of Chinese-made African ethnic dress has been central to debates about the consequences of the growing Chinese presence in Africa. Exploring the reception of the Chinese-producedcapulanain Mozambique andnet'elain Ethiopia, we demonstrate that Mozambican and Ethiopian manufacturers and traders, from the grass roots up to cultural elites, engage with Chinese imports with creativity and verve. While welcoming Chinese materials for their a…
Pidgin play: Linguistic subversion on Chinese-run construction sites in Ethiopia
The Chinese-run construction sites that have emerged across the Ethiopian landscape over the past two decades have given rise to a pidgin—a contact language that facilitates communication between Chinese managers and the Ethiopian labourers under their direction. By unravelling the nature of this pidgin, including its lexicon, syntax, and semantics, this article discusses the power dynamics in Ethiopian–Chinese encounters through the lens of lang…
Tales of Hope, Tastes of Bitterness: Chinese Road Builders in Ethiopia
Tales of Hope, Tastes of Bitterness: Chinese Road Builders in Ethiopia
Laughing about Corruption in Ethiopian-Chinese Encounters
In Ethiopia, the growing Chinese presence has inspired lively debate, often with an edge of humor. Corruption is one of the recurring topics in amusing narratives that circulate on and off the Chinese-run building sites that have emerged across the Ethiopian landscape over the past two decades. While humorous corruption stories hint at the possibility of corruption and introduce the audience to the cultural codes of conduct, corrupt practices, eq…
Rural Voids
The African bill: Chinese struggles with development assistance (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)
Chinese diplomats and politicians have sought to underline the mutually beneficial and cordial nature of Chinese engagement with Africa through the use of phrases such as ‘win‐win cooperation’ ( huying huli hezuo ) and ‘friendly collaboration’ ( youhao hezuo ). Avoiding the use of concepts such as ‘aid’, which suggest a hierarchical relationship between giver and receiver, they have argued that Chinese initiatives on the African continent are fun…
Migrating for the Bank: Housing and Chinese Labour Migration to Ethiopia
By shedding light on the concept of the fangnu (mortgage slave), this paper explains why young men from China migrate to Ethiopia. Young, educated, employed and ambitious, the fangnu is a modern type of slave who is said to have sold his freedom to the bank for the purpose of buying a house. For young men coming from a rural background, temporary migration offers a chance to earn the money so badly needed for a down payment or repayments on mortg…
Migrating for the Bank: Housing and Chinese Labour Migration to Ethiopia
By shedding light on the concept of the fangnu (mortgage slave), this paper explains why young men from China migrate to Ethiopia. Young, educated, employed and ambitious, the fangnu is a modern type of slave who is said to have sold his freedom to the bank for the purpose of buying a house. For young men coming from a rural background, temporary migration offers a chance to earn the money so badly needed for a down payment or repayments on mortg…
Made in China, fashioned in Africa: Ethnic dress in Ethiopia and Mozambique
The influx of Chinese-made African ethnic dress has been central to debates about the consequences of the growing Chinese presence in Africa. Exploring the reception of the Chinese-producedcapulanain Mozambique andnet'elain Ethiopia, we demonstrate that Mozambican and Ethiopian manufacturers and traders, from the grass roots up to cultural elites, engage with Chinese imports with creativity and verve. While welcoming Chinese materials for their a…
Rescuing Masculinity: Giving Gender in the Wake of China’s Marriage Squeeze
China’s marriage squeeze poses a profound challenge to the construction of masculinity in rural regions, where marriage continues to play an important role in the production of gender identities, marking manhood and its virtues. What are the consequences when men fail to marry and to assert respected male seniority? We show that in the context of China’s imbalanced sex ratio, family members attempt to rescue or restore the dignity of their sons a…
Laughing about Corruption in Ethiopian-Chinese Encounters
In Ethiopia, the growing Chinese presence has inspired lively debate, often with an edge of humor. Corruption is one of the recurring topics in amusing narratives that circulate on and off the Chinese-run building sites that have emerged across the Ethiopian landscape over the past two decades. While humorous corruption stories hint at the possibility of corruption and introduce the audience to the cultural codes of conduct, corrupt practices, eq…
Pidgin play: Linguistic subversion on Chinese-run construction sites in Ethiopia
The Chinese-run construction sites that have emerged across the Ethiopian landscape over the past two decades have given rise to a pidgin—a contact language that facilitates communication between Chinese managers and the Ethiopian labourers under their direction. By unravelling the nature of this pidgin, including its lexicon, syntax, and semantics, this article discusses the power dynamics in Ethiopian–Chinese encounters through the lens of lang…
Chinese standards from the ground up
China's transformation from a standards-taker to a standards-maker has sent a shock wave through the global economy. While Chinese standardization is conventionally perceived and analysed as a top-down process, led by the central government and the Standardization Administration of China, this article demonstrates the merits of studying standards from the ground up. Sustained engagement with those who make, adopt, reject, and recalibrate standard…
Trials of trustworthiness between Ethiopian lawyers and Chinese clients
Legal representation requires trust. How is trust given and gained in lawyer-client relations that are tainted by mistrust? In this article I examine interactions between Ethiopian lawyers and their Chinese clients to show how both parties mitigate mistrust to enable productive legal representation across radical difference. This process not only involves patience and persistence but also prompts clients to put trust on trial. First, they do so b…
Chinese Workers in Ethiopia Caught between Remaining and Returning
Ever since Beijing has sought to fuel domestic growth through Chinese-led development overseas-first under the aegis of Jiang Zemin's Going Out Policy and more recently as part of Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative- thousands of Chinese have moved overseas for work. Africa has been one of the destinations of Chinese companies and their expatriate staff. Although we have learned a great deal about China's mega-projects across the African contin…
Coaxing Compliance: Ethiopian Lawyers, Chinese Companies, and the Cultivation of Respect
Over the past three decades, a growing number of Chinese enterprises have entered Ethiopia's construction and manufacturing sectors as contractors and investors. While adapting to a new regulatory environment, many of these companies have faced administrative challenges and accusations of noncompliance, some of which have been brought to court. Drawing on ethnographic research, this article shows how and why Ethiopian lawyers employed by Chinese …
The African bill: Chinese struggles with development assistance (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)
Chinese diplomats and politicians have sought to underline the mutually beneficial and cordial nature of Chinese engagement with Africa through the use of phrases such as ‘win‐win cooperation’ ( huying huli hezuo ) and ‘friendly collaboration’ ( youhao hezuo ). Avoiding the use of concepts such as ‘aid’, which suggest a hierarchical relationship between giver and receiver, they have argued that Chinese initiatives on the African continent are fun…
Migrating for the Bank: Housing and Chinese Labour Migration to Ethiopia
By shedding light on the concept of the fangnu (mortgage slave), this paper explains why young men from China migrate to Ethiopia. Young, educated, employed and ambitious, the fangnu is a modern type of slave who is said to have sold his freedom to the bank for the purpose of buying a house. For young men coming from a rural background, temporary migration offers a chance to earn the money so badly needed for a down payment or repayments on mortg…
Rural Voids
Tales of Hope, Tastes of Bitterness: Chinese Road Builders in Ethiopia
Tales of Hope, Tastes of Bitterness: Chinese Road Builders in Ethiopia
Laughing about Corruption in Ethiopian-Chinese Encounters
In Ethiopia, the growing Chinese presence has inspired lively debate, often with an edge of humor. Corruption is one of the recurring topics in amusing narratives that circulate on and off the Chinese-run building sites that have emerged across the Ethiopian landscape over the past two decades. While humorous corruption stories hint at the possibility of corruption and introduce the audience to the cultural codes of conduct, corrupt practices, eq…
Pidgin play: Linguistic subversion on Chinese-run construction sites in Ethiopia
The Chinese-run construction sites that have emerged across the Ethiopian landscape over the past two decades have given rise to a pidgin—a contact language that facilitates communication between Chinese managers and the Ethiopian labourers under their direction. By unravelling the nature of this pidgin, including its lexicon, syntax, and semantics, this article discusses the power dynamics in Ethiopian–Chinese encounters through the lens of lang…
Africa Drifters
Gravel Pit, Chinese Construction Site, Ethiopia PC: Jasmine Halki
Rescuing Masculinity: Giving Gender in the Wake of China’s Marriage Squeeze
China’s marriage squeeze poses a profound challenge to the construction of masculinity in rural regions, where marriage continues to play an important role in the production of gender identities, marking manhood and its virtues. What are the consequences when men fail to marry and to assert respected male seniority? We show that in the context of China’s imbalanced sex ratio, family members attempt to rescue or restore the dignity of their sons a…
Chinese Workers in Ethiopia Caught between Remaining and Returning
Ever since Beijing has sought to fuel domestic growth through Chinese-led development overseas-first under the aegis of Jiang Zemin's Going Out Policy and more recently as part of Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative- thousands of Chinese have moved overseas for work. Africa has been one of the destinations of Chinese companies and their expatriate staff. Although we have learned a great deal about China's mega-projects across the African contin…
Made in China, fashioned in Africa: Ethnic dress in Ethiopia and Mozambique
The influx of Chinese-made African ethnic dress has been central to debates about the consequences of the growing Chinese presence in Africa. Exploring the reception of the Chinese-producedcapulanain Mozambique andnet'elain Ethiopia, we demonstrate that Mozambican and Ethiopian manufacturers and traders, from the grass roots up to cultural elites, engage with Chinese imports with creativity and verve. While welcoming Chinese materials for their a…
Trials of trustworthiness between Ethiopian lawyers and Chinese clients
Legal representation requires trust. How is trust given and gained in lawyer-client relations that are tainted by mistrust? In this article I examine interactions between Ethiopian lawyers and their Chinese clients to show how both parties mitigate mistrust to enable productive legal representation across radical difference. This process not only involves patience and persistence but also prompts clients to put trust on trial. First, they do so b…
Chinese standards from the ground up
China's transformation from a standards-taker to a standards-maker has sent a shock wave through the global economy. While Chinese standardization is conventionally perceived and analysed as a top-down process, led by the central government and the Standardization Administration of China, this article demonstrates the merits of studying standards from the ground up. Sustained engagement with those who make, adopt, reject, and recalibrate standard…
Coaxing Compliance: Ethiopian Lawyers, Chinese Companies, and the Cultivation of Respect
Over the past three decades, a growing number of Chinese enterprises have entered Ethiopia's construction and manufacturing sectors as contractors and investors. While adapting to a new regulatory environment, many of these companies have faced administrative challenges and accusations of noncompliance, some of which have been brought to court. Drawing on ethnographic research, this article shows how and why Ethiopian lawyers employed by Chinese …
Political science (11 works) · Law (9 works) · China (8 works) · Law (8 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Business (6 works) · China's Global Influence and Migration (6 works) · Economics (4 works) · Aesthetics (3 works) · Art (3 works)