Southern Africa in China’s Digital Silk Road Initiative: Pursuing agency in a new nomos of the Earth

Principle Investigator：Lungani Hlongwa

As part of the Digital Silk Road Initiative, Chinese technology companies have been actively constructing digital infrastructure in Africa and across the globe. Among such technological infrastructure has been the exportation of urban surveillance technologies by “Big Cam” companies as part of their safe and smart city programs. This project explores the proliferation of urban surveillance tools in Southern Africa, focusing on South Africa as a case study. It argues that the Digital Silk Road Initiative is reshaping both the socio-political and geopolitical landscapes of Southern Africa, positioning countries in the region—and Africa more broadly—within China’s broader geopolitical quest to create a new global digital order. By employing Carl Schmitt’s geopolitical concept of nomos, this study contends that urban surveillance technologies not only pose major implications for governance and state-citizen power relations in the region but signify a shift in the spatial organization of power. This can be seen in the way that the DSRI challenges established notions of sovereignty, inviting us to rethink the idea of African agency in this emerging global digital order.

Methodologically, this study will employ a mixed-method approach consisting of critical patent analysis, site visits, and qualitative interviews with relevant stakeholders in safe and smart city projects. Critical patent analysis in this context involves a detailed study of patents filed by China’s Big Cam companies, such as Hikvision, Dahua, and Huawei. This analysis will be utilized to understand such companies’ urban imaginary baked into their technological innovations. Site visits, on the other hand, will provide the opportunity to observe firsthand how urban surveillance infrastructure is integrated into urban life. Qualitative interviews with various stakeholders, such as the local population, city government officials, and other observers, will also provide crucial perspectives on the socio-political impacts of urban surveillance tools in safe and smart cities.