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Grounded in ethnographic observations, this article offers a commentary on the visible and invisible dynamics of mobility between China and West and Central Africa. It follows the transnational trajectories of African trader women and takes stock of some of the weight that these women shoulder during trips where goods and money are set in motion. The materiality of the transported consumer items shapes traders' experiences of mobility and immobility. Trader women also must carry immaterial baggage relating to what their mobile, racialized female bodies represent to various people they encounter. Specifically, the Chinese state and general public view their bodies as threats to social order and, in the context of Ebola and COVID-19, as threats to public health. Our analysis also attends to the weight that female scholars metaphorically carry while conducting research. We devote space to addressing our presence as White researchers, thus attending to methodological opaqueness alongside issues of hidden geographies in transnational trade and migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Located in the manufacturing hub of Shenzhen is Window of the World: a Chinese theme park that features miniature copies of heritage sites from around the world. The individuals living within this constructed simulation are imported from diverse countries. They come to work as performers, animating the different cultural pavilions. As such, the transnationalism made possible by this park provides a window through which we can observe cultural interactivity, as well as the ways in which culture is constructed and re-presented. This article examines some of the processes of cultural encounters through copies of commodified cultural heritage. It also sheds light on the ways in which Kung Fu movies circulating in Africa have inspired the imaginations of young people, revealing cultural feedback loops that provide openings for new contact. Grounded in ethnographic research, the findings here are based on interviews with Kenyan and South African contract workers at this theme park. This article explores young people's pursuits of new opportunities of identity-formation and self-representation, as well as economic stability and forward mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo are increasingly entering new professions partly due to an increase in higher education levels. In so doing, and as they become more visible in political and economic spheres, women are subjected to new forms of moral suspicion. While women have historically maintained a strong presence in the informal sector, such as commerce, new urban modes of employment dictate new kinds of visibility. It is within this context that notions of femininity and female virtue in Kinshasa continue to be redefined. This article explores several modes of employment for women, such as money-changing, journalism, and politics as they relate to local concepts of encadrement (supervision) and débrouillardisme (resourcefulness). Further, it also examines the threat that a woman's social network outside of her kin poses to men, as well as how women's participation in the economic sphere can motivate distrust between the genders. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]