HUMSS - Basile Ndjio

Chinese sex labour migration to Central Africa: a tricky business

In more general, this paper deals with Chinese sex labour migration to Central Africa which is still poorly discussed in the growing scholarship on transnational migration. Based on field research conducted in Cameroon over the past five or six years, the paper analyses the complex patterns and manifestations of this Chinese sex labour migration. This implies not only a study of both voluntary and forced sex labour migration of young Chinese women to this sub-region of Africa, but also an analysis of a permanent as well as a transitional migration of these Asian women who sometimes move from one country to another to advance their prostitution business or to search for better opportunities.

Through the case study of some young Chinese sex worker migrants living in the city of Douala in Cameroon, it will be demonstrated for example that an initial forced sex labour migration of a young Chinese woman can also lead over time to her voluntary stay in her host country, especially when she has managed to free herself from her former madam or patron and can now operate as an independent sex worker.

In other respects, by focusing on the two types of sex migration(eg. forced and free one), the paper underscores the critical role played by both structure and agency in the development or expansion contemporary Chinese sex labour migration to Central Africa.