American University, School of International Service (SIS)

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Collaborating on The Dragon's Gift

Deborah Bräutigam
Professor
School of International Service
American University

What is the relationship at SIS between a professor's own scholarship and working with students?

SIS faculty frequently connect our research topics, the courses we teach, and how we involve students. For my most recent book, I developed a database on China's aid, loans, and investment in Africa. With the help of a grant from the Smith Richardson Foundation, I involved students, who researched materials in half a dozen languages. One was also able to do field research with me in China, and I was able to co-finance his own research in Ethiopia and Egypt.

The book is now published, and I will be using it in several of my courses, including a new course, China and the Developing World. I am now co-authoring several papers with students, which we hope to publish in academic journals.

What are the advantages of studying abroad?

Most of our graduate students already have experience abroad, but SIS has pioneered programs to introduce students to new regions, give them new skills, conduct research and do internships-for-credit overseas. I just visited the SIS summer program at South Africa's University of Cape Town; students studied democracy and development with some of South Africa's leading scholars, and then spent four weeks in internships with local organizations. I found it interesting that three of the students were from Latin America; they wanted to expand their experiences into a new region.

How can SIS help students find internships/jobs?

In the international arena, contacts and experience are critical for landing the perfect job or internship. Being in Washington provides a great opportunity to meet people who can open doors. Our large alumni network is an active part of this process. Former students are great sources of jobs for current students - and these relationships are easy to maintain when we all run into each other in the city.

As a scholar, tell us about your latest publication. What can students learn from your research?

I wrote The Dragon's Gift: the Real Story of China in Africa to show how China's rise in Africa is a complex and still-unfolding process that started over fifty years ago. The relationship between China and the United States is arguably the most important of the 21st century. If we are to engage Beijing effectively as a rising power, we must better understand what they are doing in places like Africa. Beijing's strategy reflects what they learned from Japan and the West when we started to engage in China. Doing my own field research in China and nearly a dozen African countries (while making use of that database collected by my students), I provided a balanced, evidence-based analysis of a complicated relationship that offers opportunity -- as well as risks -- for Africa.

The reception of the book has been enormously gratifying. It clearly fills a need. I tried to write a book that would contribute to and reflect the best traditions of scholarship, but be readable and policy-relevant. I hope journalists, students, and other researchers will find my work a useful baseline for their investigations and research on this important phenomenon.

School of International Service (SIS)
American University
www.american.edu/sis
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