This book analyses contemporary Mexico-China relations as a complex cultural encounter.

Through an unprecedented analysis of the discursive production of a series of diplomatic, media and academic sources, this book demonstrates how, embedded in the great technological and political transformations of our transition into the 21st century, Mexico-China relations embodied a complex process of knowledge formation, confronting their socially constructed conceptions of time, space and otherness: a cultural encounter. The book advances the idea that the cultural encounter between Mexico and China provides a fundamental case for understanding world politics and human interaction from a truly global perspective and beyond reductionist views of reality. Unlike previous works, which have predominantly focused on economics or geopolitics - strongly influenced by a realist approach -, the book will present the subject as a dynamic interaction between ideological and material factors.

Cultural Encounters in a Global Age contributes to the study of otherness construction and critical understanding of the non-Western world in international relations. It will appeal to researchers and students of IR theory, political theory, cultural studies, and studies of the impact of cultural influences on foreign policy, as well as professionals working on Sino-Latin American relations.

About the Author

Francisco Antonio-Alfonso is a career diplomat and scholar of international relations. He earned his PhD in International Relations from St Andrews University and joined Mexico's Foreign Service in 2016. His research focuses on sinology, alterity construction and global IR theory. He (2021) previously published Our Fragile Bodies: Economic Change, the Nation-State and the Coronavirus Pandemic in E-International Relations and with Karin Fierke (2028), Language, Entanglement and the New Silk Roads in Asian Journal of Comparative Politics. He has held diplomatic posts in Beijing and Guangzhou, China.

Book Information
ISBN 9781032377926
Author Francisco Antonio-Alfonso
Format Hardback
Page Count 224
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd