Black African Students Studying Abroad in China: L2 Investment, Identity Negotiation, and Transformative Life Trajectories

Abstract

While China has long been recognized as a major source of international students, it has also emerged in recent decades as a fast-growing host country (Ma & Zhao, 2018). In particular, strengthened cooperation between China and African nations under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has led to a notable rise in the number of African students studying abroad in China and learning Chinese (e.g., Mulvey, 2020; Xu, 2023). This emerging South–South educational mobility, coupled with the growing prominence of Chinese as a foreign language in Africa, presents new avenues for research in study abroad (SA) and second language (L2) learning. Yet, while existing studies have started to explore African students’ beliefs about Chinese (e.g., Li, 2022; Song & Xia, 2021; Xu, 2023), little is known about how they invest in Chinese through everyday interactions in China. Since the social turn in SLA (Firth & Wagner, 1997), identity has become a central lens for understanding L2 learning in SA contexts (e.g., Block, 2007; Tullock, 2018). Among the identity dimensions studied, race—especially in relation to students of color—has gained increasing attention for its role in shaping language learning in SA (e.g., Anya, 2017; Diao, 2020; Quan, 2018). However, most existing research has focused on Black students from the U.S. (e.g., Anya, 2017; Diao & Wang, 2021; Du, 2018; Goldoni, 2017, 2018), with few studies examining the racialized experiences of Black students from other regions, such as African countries, and how their racialized identity intersects with L2 learning particularly in the Global South context (Xu & Stahl, 2024). To address these gaps, this multi-case ethnographic study explores the study abroad and language learning experiences of six Black African students from Nigeria, Madagascar, and the Republic of Congo enrolled in a Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL) undergraduate program in China. Informed by Darvin and Norton’s (2015) model of investment––a theoretical framework located at the intersection of identity, ideology, and capital, the study draws on interviews, field observations, and other qualitative data sources to examine how participants negotiate their multiple identities and invest (or divest) in L2 Chinese through their everyday interactions. Findings show that investment in Chinese is a non-linear, dynamic process shaped by intersecting identities and shifting power relations. While participants initially invested in Chinese was largely driven by its perceived value as linguistic capital linked to mobility and opportunity, their continued investment in China was often disrupted by experiences of anti-Black racialization. Despite such challenges, participants exercised agency in strategically disengaging from certain interactions, while cultivating supportive networks, gaining language learning opportunities, and engaging in anti-racist practices. In professional domains, the study further finds that linguistic capital was not always readily converted into the material or symbolic resources participants aspire to, due to shifting values and power structures. Nonetheless, participants leveraged their multilingual repertoires and contextual knowledge to actively construct professional identities and expand their future possibilities. By situating students’ micro-level practices within the broader sociopolitical context of China–Africa relations, this study offers a more nuanced understanding of transnational L2 investment, identity negotiation, as well as power inequalities related to race in SA. It contributes to L2 identity and investment research by centering Black African voices in an underexamined Global South context and calls for greater attention to racialized power dynamics in international education. The study also offers theoretical and pedagogical implications for identity and investment research and equity in the SA language education.