Doctoral Research

Brokering Global Trade: Relational Work and Identity Formation of Chinese Muslim Translators in Yiwu

My doctoral research examines the economic practices and identity negotiation of Chinese Muslims (Hui) who work as Chinese–Arabic/Persian translators within the global trade economy in Yiwu. Drawing on analysis of documentary evidence and three months of ethnographic fieldwork in Yiwu in 2020, the dissertation theorizes the relational labor of global trade brokerage and the ways Chinese Muslims negotiate class, ethnic, national hierarchies through transnational labor practices.