Lunchtime Seminar - The Tipping Culture - Petty Corruption in Tanzania

You are cordially invited to attend an IBS lunchtime research seminar by Chengcheng Miao, Henley Business School PhD student. Please join us in Room 108, Henley Business School. If you have not received the email invite please email Angie Clark.

Please note: Lunch and refreshments will be provided. It is important that you confirm if you are attending in person to ensure enough catering is supplied on the day. If you have any dietary restrictions, please let us know as soon as possible.

Title: The Tipping Culture - Petty Corruption in Tanzania

Date: Wednesday 23^rd November 2022

Time: 13.00 – 14.15pm

Teams- A Teams link to the seminar is included for those who cannot attend in person (as per last year), however attendance in person is preferred.

Abstract

Petty corruption, as a specific category of corruption, has rarely been touched upon in expatriation studies, although its specific forms (e.g., bribing immigration officers, and police officers) have been discussed marginally by some scholars (Dobler, 2009; Zi, 2015). This is because corruption, regardless of its levels, is usually analysed at the macro level, such as policymaking. This article reviewed the interaction between Chinese expatriates and Tanzanian in the performance of petty corruption by taking into account African agents. The ethnographic data shows that the power dynamic between Chinese expatriates and Tanzanians is complex, and is not solely determined by the economic power of the two countries. The conventional dichotomous understanding of Chinese and Tanzanians, such as rich vs poor or powerful vs weak should be re-considered when discussing the experience of Chinese expatriates in Tanzania. The paradoxical aspect of Chinese expatriate status is that their economic privilege is accompanied by political vulnerability, which leads them to trade economic advantage for political convenience. However, the return on investment in social capital is not as high as they expect, possibly due to the different cultural understanding of reciprocity. The unspoken hierarchy among expatriates is also reflected in micropolitics. Chinese perceive the lack of colonial history of their motherland, which is seen as a solid foundation for Sino-Africa friendship and cooperation, as a disadvantage in day-to-day interaction.