This episode of the SOAS Global Developments Podcast Series features Carlos Oya, Professor of Political Economy and Head of the Department of Development Studies at SOAS University of London, in conversation with Naomi Hossain, Global Research Professor of Development Studies. They explore the complexities of China’s role in Africa’s industrial future.

Drawing on his new book, China for Africa’s Industrialization?, Carlos examines both the opportunities and challenges arising from China’s growing engagement across the continent. Through a labour-centred lens, the discussion considers how these dynamics are shaping employment, working conditions, and industrial development pathways. It also highlights the importance of policy agency, showing how different African countries respond in varied, context-specific ways.

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25 March 2025

Sara Stevano, senior lecturer at SOAS Department of Economics, in conversation with Surbhi Kesar, explores the concept of social reproduction as a critical lens for understanding economic activities, particularly in the Global South.

Sara Stevano argues that social reproduction encompasses all work necessary to maintain life, including paid and unpaid labor, care work, and social rituals. Drawing on her research in Mozambique, she demonstrates how traditional economic analyses fail to capture the complex realities of work and survival in peripheral economies. The discussion highlights the importance of recognising social reproduction as a fundamental aspect of economic processes, not just a peripheral consideration. Ultimately, the episode calls for a feminist political economy approach that centers the everyday experiences of workers in understanding economic development.

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Surbhi Kesar, lecturer at SOAS Department of Economics, in conversation with Sara Stevano, provides a comprehensive analysis of the informal economy, challenging traditional economic development theories by demonstrating how postcolonial economies persistently reproduce informal economic structures.

Her research, primarily focused on India, reveals a complex landscape of economic flux characterised by precarity, limited upward mobility, and systemic exclusion. By examining the historical and contemporary dynamics of informality, Kesar argues that current economic growth models fail to address the fundamental structural challenges faced by workers in the Global South.

Her work highlights the need to understand informality not as a temporary phase, but as a critical component of contemporary capitalist reproduction.

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