Solange Chatelard is a Research Associate at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and EASt, she is also the Executive Director of the Chinese in Africa–Africans in China Research Network (CAAC), the world’s largest independent scholarly network dedicated to China–Africa studies.

Her research explores China–Africa relations, Chinese migration, and the social dynamics of Chinese engagement across the African continent. Grounded in long-term ethnographic fieldwork in both China and Zambia, her work explores how complex power relations are experienced, negotiated, and reshaped through everyday interactions. Her work bridges macro-level political and economic processes with local realities, offering nuanced insights into both contemporary Chinese society and China’s expanding global presence.

Chatelard’s earlier research focused on rural transformation in central China, examining how land reforms and modernisation policies shaped the everyday lives of peasant communities. Since 2008, her attention has turned to Chinese migration in Southern Africa, where she has conducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork to understand how local interactions between Chinese migrants and African communities reflect and reshape broader geopolitical dynamics.

In addition to her scholarly research, Chatelard engages wider audiences through documentary filmmaking. She co-produced two acclaimed films: the award-winning BBC documentary When China Met Africa (2011), recipient of the Margaret Mead Film Award (New York, 2010), and King Cobra and the Dragon (Al Jazeera, 2012).

University of Michigan Profile

Contact : solange.chatelard@gmail.com