March 2021 (tentatively scheduled) Book Talk at the University of Oslo.
February 2021 Great Decisions Lecture Invitation on my book
11/19 African Studies Association Author Meets Critics Roundtable.
10/17 Ep. 97: A conversation with Lina Benabdallah on the link between China and Africa Ufahamu Africa
10/16 Book talk at the University of Ottawas’s Centre for International Policy Studies
09/21 Ep. 34: People-centered Power: Chinese knowledge production, networks, and training programs in Africa – Lina Benabdallah. Belt and Road Podcast.
8/28 MonkeyCage review of #ShapingtheFutureofPower by Dr. Laura Seay: What is China up to in Africa? Read this book.
07/21 Podcast conversation with Eric Olander and Cobus van Staden of the China Africa Project: #ShapingtheFutureofPower
Book Blurbs
“Shaping the Future of Power is essential reading for anyone interested in not only Sino-Africa relations, but also how power is wielded in international relations. Benabdallah asks big important questions about how China exercises power in Africa, drawing on extensive and rich empirical data.” –Haley J. Swedlund, Radboud University Nijmegen, author of The Development Dance: How Donors and Recipients Negotiate the Delivery of Foreign Aid, Cornell Press 2017.
“Shaping the Future of Power makes a significant contribution to our understanding of China-Africa relations. Based on considerable empirical research leavened by sharply drawn analysis, Benabdallah provides a rich account of the development of elite networks, knowledge production and their expression as–to paraphrase Xi Jinping–‘a new kind of power relationship.’ She tackles all of this against the backdrop of challenging conventional International Relations approaches to interpretation of China-Africa/Africa China ties and, concurrently, going beyond the simple nostrums of ‘agency’ to unpack the role of social networks and ideational constructs, examining how these both shape the relationship and our study of it.” –Chris Alden, The London School of Economics and Political Science.
“Benabdallah’s power-knowledge approach–meaning China’s use of knowledge production and human-to-human relations to build influence in Africa–is a great framework for understanding China-Africa relations. Her framework and deep case study analysis will be of interest to students and scholars across fields, but will be an essential read for scholars and students of international relations.” –Kim Yi Dionne, University of California at Riverside
“Shaping the Future of Power reminds us that the expansion of international society necessarily affects (international) knowledge. Lina Benabdallah demonstrates that the rise of China brings into focus ‘different kinds of encounters between states, particularly between China and other Global South states, particularly Africa’ that challenge disciplinary commonsense. As a result, theorists and other analysts would need new tools–methods and modes of inquiry and analysis–to grasp the changing nature of power brought about by the rise of China. China-Africa is a good empirical candidate for such an endeavor as its foundations augur distinct logics of power. Brilliant!” –Siba N’Zatioula Grovogui, Cornell University
SHAPING THE FUTURE OF POWER 