T. Tu Huynh

Assistant Professor

Labor and migration; Race and social inequality; Chinese migration and Afro-Asian diasporas; Global South inequalities; Collaborative knowledge production

Dr. T. Tu Huynh is an Assistant Professor in the Global Affairs Program at George Mason University Korea and received her PhD in Sociology from the State University of New York at Binghamton. Her research follows the movement of labor, people, and ideas across Afro-Asian contexts, with a particular focus on China and South Africa. Working across historical archives, media sources, and ethnographic fieldwork, she examines how forms of labor coercion, mobility, and political consciousness are produced, interpreted, and contested over time. Her work ranges from Chinese indentured labor in early twentieth-century South Africa, including the role of Chinese-language journalism and translation, to the everyday experiences of African migrants in contemporary China. Much of this research has been conducted through long-term collaborative projects that bring historical and ethnographic inquiry into dialogue with questions of inequality, communication, and social change.

Current Research

Dr. Huynh’s current research builds on long-term, collaborative, and historically grounded work on labor exploitation, migration, and social inequality. She is co-authoring Parity in Research: The Third Space of Knowledge Production (Routledge), which examines epistemic inequality and collaborative research practices, and co-editing the Handbook on Chinese Migration to Africa (Brill) with an international network of scholars. Her ongoing work also includes developing a collaborative special issue that examines labor exploitation and racial capitalism across historical and contemporary contexts, as well as research on transforming democracy that focuses on struggles for inclusion, participation, and justice from the margins. Across these projects, she examines how inequality is produced not only through labor and mobility regimes, but also through communication, mediation, and the production of knowledge itself.

Selected Publications

Huynh, T. (2025). “‘New Slavery’ vs. Huagong: Chinese Indentured Labor in South Africa and the Chinese Press in the Early 20th Century.” Zanj: The Journal of Critical Global South Studies, 8(1-2), 53-78.

Huynh, T. (2024). “From South Africa to the World: The Political and Legal Legacies of Chinese Indenture in the Transvaal.” Slavery & Abolition, 45(3), 461-480.

Huynh, T. (2016). “‘A Wild West of Trade?’ African Women and Men and the Gendering of Globalization from Below in Guangzhou.” Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 23(5), 501-518.

Huynh, T. (2013). “Black Marxism: An Incorporated Analytical Framework for Rethinking Chinese Labour in South African Historiography.” African Identities, 11(2), 185-199.

Expanded Publication List

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Huynh, T. (2025). “‘New Slavery’ vs. Huagong: Chinese Indentured Labor in South Africa and the Chinese Press in the Early Twentieth Century.” Zanj: The Journal of Critical Global South Studies, 8(1-2), 53-78.

Huynh, T. (2024). “From South Africa to the World: The Political and Legal Legacies of Chinese Indenture in the Transvaal.” Slavery & Abolition, 45(3), 461-480.

Huynh, T. (2021). “Emerging China-Africa Relations in the Context of Increasing Mobility: The Chinese Presence in Africa from a Historical and Contemporary Perspective.” International Migration, 59, 259-262.

Huynh, T. (2021). “Undetermined Identity: A Diaspora Scholar in China-Africa Studies.” Journal of African Cultural Studies, 33(2), 210-217.

Huynh, T. (2020). “‘Dear Friends’: From People’s Cultural Exchange to People’s Cultural Production.” African and Asian Studies, 19(1-2), 35-59.

Huynh, T., & Kahyana, D. S. (2020). “China’s Relations with the Global South: Circulations of People, Things, Images, and Ideas.” African and Asian Studies, 19(1-2), 1-10.

Huynh, T., & Molebatsi, N. (2020). “Our World Through Our Words: The People and Their Stories Through Our Ancestors’ Voices.” African and Asian Studies, 19(1-2), 81-98.

Huynh, T. (2018). “China Town Malls in South Africa in the Twenty-First Century: Ethnic Chinatowns or Chinese State Projects?” Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 27(1), 28-54.

Huynh, T., & Park, Y. J. (2018). “‘Chineseness’ Through Unexplored Lenses: Identity-Making in China-Africa Engagements in the Twenty-First Century.” Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 27(1), 3-8.

Huynh, T. (2015). “‘It’s Not Copyrighted,’ Looking West for Authenticity: Historical Chinatowns and China Town Malls in South Africa.” China Media Research, 11(1), 99-111.

Huynh, T., & Tan, Z. L. (Trans.). (2014). “What Is ‘Chineseness’ in the Politico-Cultural Context of China–Africa Relations / 中非政治文化交流语境中的中国性／华人性.” Southeast Asian Studies / 东南亚研究, 1, 98-103.

Huynh, T. (2013). “Black Marxism: An Incorporated Analytical Framework for Rethinking Chinese Labour in South African Historiography.” African Identities, 11(2), 185-199.

Huynh, T. (2012). “We Are Not a Docile People: Chinese Resistance and Exclusion in the Re-imagining of Whiteness in South Africa, 1903-1910.” Journal of Chinese Overseas, 8(2), 137-168.

Huynh, T., & Park, Y. J. (2010). “Introduction: Chinese in Africa.” African and Asian Studies, 9(3), 207-212.

Huynh, T., Park, Y. J., & Chen, A. Y. (2010). “Faces of China: New Chinese Migrants in South Africa, 1980s to the Present.” African and Asian Studies, 9(3), 286-306.

Huynh, T. (2008). “Loathing and Love: Postcard Representations of Indentured Chinese Laborers in South Africa’s Reconstruction, 1904–1910.” Safundi, 9(4), 395-425.

Huynh, T. (2008). “From Demand for Asiatic Labor to Importation of Indentured Chinese Labor: Race Identity in the Recruitment of Unskilled Labor for South Africa’s Gold Mining Industry, 1903-1910.” Journal of Chinese Overseas, 4(1), 51-68.

Chapters in Books & Edited Volumes

Huynh, T. T. (2025). “Loathing and Love: Postcard Representations of Indentured Chinese Laborers in South Africa’s Reconstruction, 1904-1910.” In C. Lee & A. Offenburger (Eds.), Rethinking South Africa’s Past: A Safundi Reader on Comparative, Regional, and Transnational Connections, 1999-2024. Routledge. (Previously published in Safundi, 9(4), 395-425.)

Huynh, T. (2022). “Loathing and Love: Postcard Representations of Indentured Chinese Labourers in South Africa’s Reconstruction, 1904-1910.” In J. Leeb-du Toit, R. Simbao, & R. Anthony (Eds.), Visualising China in Southern Africa: Biography, Circulation, Transgression. Johannesburg: Wits University Press. (Previously published in Safundi, 9(4), 395-425, but substantially revised and abridged.)

Huynh, T. (2022). “New Livelihood Strategies and Ways of Being for African Women and Men in China’s Workshop of the World.” In C. Rojas & L. Rofel (Eds.), China and the Global South: New World Orderings (pp. 95-112). Durham: Duke University Press.

Huynh, T., & Park, Y. J. (2019). “Reflections on the Role of Race in China-Africa Relations.” In C. Alden & D. Large (Eds.), New Directions in Africa-China Studies (pp. 158-172). Abingdon & New York: Routledge.

Huynh, T., Agartan, T., & Choi, W. Y. (2007). “1760-1848: The Transformation of the Capitalist World.” In W. G. Martin (Ed.), Making Waves: Worldwide Social Movements, 1760-2005 (pp. 10-49). Boulder: Paradigm Publishers.

Book Reviews

Huynh, T. (2020). Review of Africana Peoples in China: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Migration Experiences, Identity, and Precarious Employment by C. Jama Adams. Asian Anthropology.

Huynh, T. (2018). Review of Patterns of Circulation: Cloth, Gender, and Materiality in West Africa by Nina Sylvanus. AFRICA: Journal of the International African Institute.

Huynh, T. (2016). Review of Migrant Women in Johannesburg: Everyday Life in an In-Between City by Caroline Wajiku Kihato. National Political Science Review, 18.

Huynh, T. (2012). Review of Paper Sons and Daughters: Growing Up Chinese in South Africa by Ufrieda Ho. Modern Chinese Literature and Culture.
http://mcl.osu.edu/rc/pubs/reviews/huynh.htm

Outreach Publications

Huynh, T., & The Production and Reproduction of Social Inequalities Research Unit. (2022). AlterVoice(s) – COVID Stories (blog and podcast series). Global South Studies Center, University of Cologne.

Huynh, T., Zeleke, M., Kutsche, F., Pelican, M., & Wesch, U. (2021). Code of Conduct for the Research Unit “The Production and Reproduction of Social Inequalities: Global Contexts and Concepts of Labor Exploitation.”

Huynh, T., Rugunanan, P., & Park, Y. J. (2012). Chinese and Indian Women Migrants in South Africa: A Preliminary and Comparative Examination of Women’s Role in Globalization and New Geopolitical, Economic Engagements. Report submitted to FAHAMU: Networks for Social Justice.

Huynh, T. (2012). “The Sensitive Nature of Its Materials: A Reflection on China-Africa.” In R. Simbao (Curator), Making Way: Contemporary Art from South Africa and China. Grahamstown National Arts Festival.

Huynh, T. (2012). “What People, What Cultural Exchange? A Reflection on China-Africa.” African East-Asian Affairs / The China Monitor, 2, 3-16.

Grants and Fellowships

Volkswagen Foundation, Global Issues – Integrating Different Perspectives (2020-2025)
"The Production and Reproduction of Social Inequalities: Global Contexts and Concepts of Labor Exploitation"

Volkswagen Foundation, Corona Crisis and Beyond (2021-2022)
"Communication During and After COVID-19 among African Migrants in the UAE and China"

Education

PhD, Sociology, State University of New York at Binghamton, United States

MA, Sociology, State University of New York at Binghamton, United States

BA, Black Studies & Political Science, University of California Santa Barbara, United States

Recent Presentations

“‘We Became the Virus’: Race, Risk, and the Margins of Mobility in Pandemic Guangzhou.” Authors’ Workshop Pandemic and Mobilities, Bielefeld University, Germany. October 2025.

“Mined and Bound: Post-Emancipation Labor Exploitation and the Global Turn to Chinese Indentured Laborers.” Conference of the German Association of Social and Cultural Anthropology (DGSKA). Cologne, Germany. September 2025.

“Translation and Transmission of Ideas: Chinese Newspapers and Indentured Labor in South Africa.” World Congress of the Society for Global Nineteenth-Century Studies. Birmingham, UK. July 2025.

“Beyond Boundaries: Migration, Identity Transformation, and the Shifting Social Status of Chinese Laborers.” Social Inequalities Workshop. National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. September 2024.

“Artistic Connections: Redefining China-Africa Relations Beyond Diplomacy.” Yale Symposium on Africa-China: Cultural Dimensions. Maputo, Mozambique. March 2024.