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In the burgeoning field of research on China in Africa, analyses generally fall on a continuum between two divergent positions. With reference to Angola, this paper reviews perspectives on China in Africa as well as the main features of Chinese engagement with the continent in order to interrogate the ‘divide’ between the ‘China threat’ and ‘peaceful rise’ positions. The goal is not to take a centrist position, but rather to suggest that China represents for Africabotha new imperialismanda new model of development. While differentiating between the new Euro-American and Chinese imperialisms, China's new engagement, exemplified by its relationship with Angola, is a project of recolonisation and appropriation of economic surplus. The Chinese variety of imperialism, however, offers African states a compromise to their elite and to their citizens that has heretofore been missing from post-colonial Euro-American imperialism – the prospect of sustained economic growth and improvement to the quality of everyday life. [Accumulation avec ou sans dépossession? Une approche « à la fois/et » à la Chine en Afrique, avec comme exemple l'Angola.] Dans le domaine de la recherche en plein essor sur la Chine en Afrique, les analyses se situent généralement sur un continuum entre deux positions divergentes. En prenant comme exemple l'Angola, cet article examine les perspectives de la Chine en Afrique ainsi que les principales caractéristiques de l'engagement chinois envers le continent afin de questionner le fossé entre les positions craignant la « menace chinoise » et celle croyant en « la montée en puissance pacifique » du pays. L'objectif n'est pas d'adopter une position centriste, mais plutôt de suggérer que la Chine représente pour l'Afriqueà la foisun nouvel impérialismeetun nouveau modèle de développement. Alors qu'il se différencie des nouveaux impérialismes euro-américains et chinois, le nouvel engagement de la Chine, illustré par sa relation avec l'Angola, est un projet de recolonisation et d'appropriation de l'excédent économique. La grande variété de l'impérialisme chinois offre cependant un compromis, à l’élite et aux citoyens des États africains, qui était précédemment absent de l'impérialisme postcolonial euro-américain – la perspective d'une croissance économique durable et de l'amélioration de la qualité de la vie de tous les jours. Mots-clés: Chine Angola; pétrole; accumulation; nouvel impérialisme [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Most analyses of China's renewed engagement with Africa treat China as the driving force, and little recognition is given to the role of African agency, especially beyond the level of state elites. This article investigates the extent of African agency in engagements with China and argues that at various levels African actors have negotiated, shaped, and even driven Chinese engagements in important ways. Suggesting a theoretical framework that captures agency both within and beyond the state, the article provides an empirical analysis of African agency first by showing how elements of the Angolan state created a hybrid set of institutions to broker Chinese investment projects, and second by discussing how African social actors have influenced and derived benefits from the activities of Chinese migrants in Ghana and Nigeria. While both cases demonstrate African agency, the ability of African actors to exercise such agency is highly uneven, placing African politics at the heart of any understanding of China–Africa relations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]