Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Although African countries hold a significant position in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) landscape, limited research has explored how these countries perceive this global initiative. Employing corpus-based critical discourse analysis, we investigate how Kenya’s leading newspaper, the Daily Nation, has constructed and negotiated BRI narratives from 2013 to 2024. A diachronic analysis of keywords shows a shift in media focus from infrastructure and trade to broader issues such as debt, governance transparency, and environmental sustainability. Collocate analysis further reveals a perceptual transition from passive acknowledgment to more active and selective engagement, reflecting Kenya’s increasing strategic agency. It challenges binary portrayals of African countries as passive beneficiaries or victims, revealing how Kenya exercises agency within the BRI framework in the face of multilayered and asymmetric structures. It also contributes by addressing the underexplored diversity of both the forms and actors of African agency.

Keywords

African agency Kenya media discourse Belt and Road Initiative critical discourse analysis corpus

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abdi

Deane

(2008) The Kenyan 2007 Elections and Their Aftermath: The Role of Media and Communication Data Sheet. London: The BBC World Service Trust.

Afzaal

(2023) A Corpus-Based Analysis of Discourses on the Belt and Road Initiative (Corpora and Intercultural Studies). Singapore: Springer.

Ahmed

(2018) China calls for fair probe into bribery claims at SGR Mombasa. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/china-calls-for-fair-probe-into-bribery-claims-at-sgr-mombasa-113088 (accessed 12 April 2025).

Ajibo

(2021) Belt and Road Initiative meets Africa: exploring the state of play, the implications and the imperative for complementarities of interests. Journal of Comparative Law in Africa 8(2): 1–31.

Al-Fadhat

Prasetio

(2022) How China’s debt-trap diplomacy works in African countries: evidence from Zimbabwe, Cameroon, and Djibouti. Journal of Asian and African Studies 59(5): 1463–1483.

Anderson

E-L

Patterson

(2016) Dependent Agency in the Global Health Regime. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Atellah

(2024) Print Media Coverage of Digital Land Registration in Kenya: A Case of Daily Nation and Standard Newspapers. Nairobi, Kenya: Aga Khan University.

Atieno

(2021) Why Kenya is seeking to ban Chinese fish imports. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/why-kenya-is-seeking-to-ban-chinese-fish-imports-3496034 (accessed 12 April 2025).

Atieno

(2022) China to appoint special envoy to horn of Africa. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/africa/china–to–appoint–special–envoy–to–horn–of–africa–3674140 (accessed 12 April 2025).

10.

Baker

(2012) Acceptable bias? Using corpus linguistics methods with critical discourse analysis. Critical Discourse Studies 9(3): 247–256.

11.

Baker

Gabrielatos

KhosraviNik

, et al (2008) A useful methodological synergy? Combining critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to examine discourses of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK press. Discourse & Society 19(3): 273–306.

12.

Balogun

(2021) African agency in practice: acquiring agency and institutional change in the West African health organisation. Africa Spectrum 56(3): 293–313.

13.

Bednarek

Caple

(2014) Why do news values matter? Towards a new methodological framework for analysing news discourse in Critical Discourse Analysis and beyond. Discourse & Society 25(2): 135–158.

14.

Besada

O’Bright

(2016) Maturing Sino–Africa relations. Third World Quarterly 38(3): 655–677.

15.

Brown

Harman

(2013) African Agency in International Politics. London: Routledge.

16.

Carmody

Kragelund

(2016) Who is in charge? State power and agency in Sino-African relations. Cornell International Law Journal 49(1): 1–23.

17.

Chesoli

(2019) China had good reasons to deny Kenya loan for SGR extension. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/blogs–opinion/opinion/china–had–good–reasons–to–deny–kenya–loan–for–sgr–extension–167392 (accessed 12 April 2025).

18.

Chipaike

Knowledge

(2018) The question of African agency in international relations. Cogent Social Sciences 4(1): 1487257.

19.

Chiyemura

Gambino

Zajontz

(2022) Infrastructure and the politics of African state agency: shaping the Belt and Road Initiative in East Africa. Chinese Political Science Review 8(1): 105–131.

20.

Coffie

Tiky

(2021) Exploring Africa’s agency in international politics. Africa Spectrum 56(3): 243–253.

21.

Coleman

Tieku

(2018) African Actors in International Security: Shaping Contemporary Norms. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.

22.

Corkin

(2013) Uncovering African agency: Angola’s management of China’s Credit Lines. Farnham: Ashgate.

23.

Daily Nation (2017) President Kenyatta praises China’s vision of interconnected world. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/president–kenyatta–praises–china–s–vision–of–interconnected–world–397860 (accessed 12 April 2025).

24.

Daily Nation (2020) Row over Chinese coal plant near Kenya World Heritage site of Lamu. Available at: https://nationafrica/kenya/news/row-over-chinese-coal-plant-near-kenya-world-heritage-site-of-lamu-174376 (accessed 12 April 2025).

25.

Daily Nation (2021) How SGR project leaves society more unequal than before. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/how-sgr-project-leaves-society-more-unequal-than-before-3613222 (accessed 12 April 2025).

26.

Daily Nation (2023) Kenya, China pledge to strengthen diplomatic ties. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/kenya–china–pledge–to–strengthen–diplomatic–ties–4465302 (accessed 12 April 2025).

27.

Della Posta

Liu

(2024) The Belt and Road Initiative and its unjustified discontents. China & World Economy 32(6): 160–186.

28.

Elsoufy

(2024) Media bias through collocations: a corpus-based study of Egyptian and Ethiopian news coverage of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 11(1): 1–15.

29.

Franceschi

(2019) The future of state capture: Lessons from the Standard Gauge Railway. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/blogs–opinion/blogs/dot9/franceschi/the–future–of–state–capture–lessons–from–the–standard–gauge–railway–234294 (accessed 12 April 2025).

30.

Gachire

(2019) Kenya, not China, should benefit from our infrastructure projects. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/blogs–opinion/opinion/kenya–not–china–should–benefit–from–our–infrastructure–projects–128510 (accessed 12 April 2025).

31.

Gaitho

(2018) China threatens to withhold SGR funds over “hostility.” Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/china-threatens-to-withhold-sgr-funds-over-hostility–104038 (accessed 12 April 2025).

32.

Huang

Lesutis

(2023) Improvised hybridity in the “fixing” of Chinese infrastructure capital: the case of Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway. Antipode 55(5): 1587–1607.

33.

Hurt

(2013) African agency in world trade undermined? The case of bilateral relations with the European Union. In: Brown

Harman

(eds) African Agency in International Politics. London: Routledge, pp.63–78.

34.

Jaensch

(2021) Understanding African agency in peace and security: Tanzania’s implementation of “non-indifference” in Somalia. Africa Spectrum 56(3): 274–292.

35.

Kagwanja

(2015) China’s silk road strategy heralds Kenya’s growth. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/blogs-opinion/opinion/china-s-silk-road-strategy-heralds-kenya-s-growth-1145204 (accessed 12 April 2025).

36.

Kimutai

(2023) Murkomen: We need Sh700bn to complete 4,000km of ongoing road projects. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/murkomen–we–need–sh700bn–to–complete–4–000km–of–ongoing–road–projects–4470454 (accessed 12 April 2025).

37.

Kisero

(2018) Kenya must avoid China debt trap or fall into Sri Lanka pit. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/blogs–opinion/opinion/kenya–must–avoid–china–debt–trap–or–fall–into–sri–lanka–pit–41354 (accessed 12 April 2025).

38.

(2023) Understanding African journalistic agency in China–Africa media interactions: the case of Kenya. International Communication Gazette 85(1): 32–47.

39.

Wang

(2023) African Media Cultures and Chinese Public Relations Strategies in Kenya and Ethiopia. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

40.

Liu

(2013) Fifty years of diplomacy and cooperation. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/ruto-seeks-private-public-deals-to-complete-projects–4403660 (accessed 20 May 2025).

41.

Liu

Ding

(2024) Enhancing China’s image in Africa: the role of the Belt and Road Initiative. China Economic Review 87: 102239.

42.

(2023) The use of metaphors to construct crisis discourses in describing COVID-19 vaccines in the Chinese and the American news media. Journal of Language and Politics 23(4): 520–543.

43.

Madrid-Morales

(2016) Why are Chinese media in Africa? Evidence from three decades of Xinhua’s news coverage of Africa. In: Zhang

Wasserman

Mano

(eds) China’s Media and Soft Power in Africa: Promotion and Perceptions (Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks). New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.79–92.

44.

Madrid-Morales

Wasserman

(2017) Chinese media engagement in South Africa. Journalism Studies 19(8): 1218–1235.

45.

Mare

Brand

(2010) Business journalism ethics in Africa: A comparative study of newsrooms in South Africa, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. African Communication Research 3(3): 407–430.

46.

Matanji

(2022) China in Africa: representation of Chinese investments in Africa by Western, Chinese, and African media. International Journal of Communication 16: 24.

47.

Mbeke

(2008) Background Note: The Media, Legal, Regulatory and Policy Environment in Kenya: A Historical Briefing. Nairobi, Kenya: BBC World Service Trust.

48.

Mbeke

Okello-Orlale

Ugangu

(2010) The Media We Want: The Kenya Media Vulnerabilities Study. Nairobi, Kenya: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

49.

McQuail

(2003) Media Accountability and Freedom of Publication. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

50.

Media Council of Kenya (2024) State of the media report, 2023/2024. Available at: https://mediacouncil.or.ke/sites/default/files/audited_accounts/MCK_%20State%20of%20the%20Media%202023%20Survey%20Report.pdf (accessed 15 May 2025).

51.

Miao

(2021) Understanding the soft power of China’s Belt and Road Initiative through a discourse analysis in Europe. Regional Studies Regional Science 8(1): 162–177.

52.

Mohan

Lampert

(2013) Negotiating China: reinserting African agency into China–Africa relations. African Affairs 112: 92–110.

53.

Muchui

(2018) Kiraitu woos Chinese investors with free land, licences. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/counties/meru/kiraitu-woos-chinese-investors-with-free-land-licences-111168 (accessed 12 April 2025).

54.

Muiruri

(2023) Ruto seeks private–public deals to complete projects. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/ruto–seeks–private–public–deals–to–complete–projects–4403660 (accessed 12 April 2025).

55.

Mulaku

Sabala

(2024) Infrastructural development and neo–colonialism in Africa: the case of the Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya. The African Review 52: 1–20.

56.

Murray-Evans

(2015) Regionalism and African agency: negotiating an economic partnership agreement between the European Union and SADC-Minus. Third World Quarterly 36(10): 1845–1865.

57.

Mwere

(2018) China may take Mombasa Port over Sh227bn SGR debt–Ouko. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/china–may–take–mombasa–port–over–sh227bn–sgr–debt–ouko–119968 (accessed 12 April 2025).

58.

Ndzendze

Monyae

(2019) China’s Belt and Road Initiative: linkages with the African union’s agenda 2063 in historical perspective. Transnational Corporations Review 11: 38–49.

59.

Ngirachu

(2018) State mulls Sh300bn loan for 6-lane Mombasa-Nairobi expressway. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/state-mulls-sh300bn-loan-for-6-lane-mombasa-nairobi-expressway-23856 (accessed 20 June 2025).

60.

Nyamori

(2022) Ruto in U–turn on SGR, Naivasha port. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/ruto–in–u–turn–on–sgr–naivasha–port–4057834 (accessed 12 April 2025).

61.

Nyumba

(2021) SGR project is causing environmental damage. Here’s how. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/sgr-project-is-causing-environmental-damage-here-s-how-3457536 (accessed 15 April 2025).

62.

Obala

(2024) Ruto meets Xi with Kenya’s wish list in hand. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/ruto–meets–xi–with–kenya–s–wish–list–in–hand—4748582 (accessed 12 April 2025).

63.

Obia

Ibraheem

Onwunali

(2022) Borrowing lenses from the West: analysis of an African media representation of western nations. Journal of African Media Studies 14(3): 385–401.

64.

Obuya

(2021) Media accountability in Africa: a study of policies and practices at two newsrooms in Kenya. Communicatio 47(1): 42–59.

65.

Ochieng

Olingo

(2020) Activists praise AfDB for pulling out of Lamu coal plant. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/activists-praise-afdb-for-pulling-out-of-lamu-coal-plant–223182 (accessed 12 April 2025).

66.

Okafor

(2024) Mitigating Western media hegemony: insights and pathways to African development. The Abuja Communicator: A Journal of Culture and Media Arts 4(2): 225–235.

67.

Okoth

(2019) Experts query cost, purpose of expressway. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/experts–query–cost–purpose–of–expressway–218404 (accessed 12 April 2025).

68.

Okwaroh

(2020) COVID–19 feud undermining regional ties. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/life–and–style/smart–company/covid–19–feud–undermining–regional–ties–307540 (accessed 12 April 2025).

69.

Otele

(2017) Rethinking African agency within China–Africa relations through the lens of policy transfer: a framework for analysis. The African Review 43(1): 75–102.

70.

Owino

(2019) MPs to start probe into “ominous” SGR deal with China. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/mps–to–start–probe–into–ominous–sgr–deal–with–china–138740 (accessed 12 April 2025).

71.

Perse

(2001) Media Effects and Society. New York: Routledge.

72.

Rodrigue

(2018) Can Western media overshadow the China-Africa storytelling? Case study of the BBC documentary “the Chinese are coming.” New Media and Mass Communication 75: 49–59.

73.

Scott

(2024) WordSmith Tools Help. Stroud: Lexical Analysis Software Ltd. Available at: https://lexically.net/downloads/manuals/WordSmith9.pdf

74.

Sihaloho

RAH

Prabowo

Pamungkas

(2024) China’s Belt and Road Initiative implementation maneuvers in the South Pacific region. Nation State Journal of International Studies 7(1): 53–70.

75.

Soulé-Kohndou

(2018) Bureaucratic agency and power asymmetry in Benin–China relations. In: Alden

Large

(eds) New Directions in Africa–China Studies (Routledge eBooks). London: Routledge, pp.189–204.

76.

Soulé-Kohndou

(2020) “Africa+1” summit diplomacy and the “new scramble” narrative: recentering African agency. African Affairs 119(477): 633–646.

77.

Urbina

(2021) The smell of money: How fish meal production is destroying Gambia’s waters. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/africa/the–smell–of–money–how–fish–meal–production–is–destroying–gambia–s–waters–3336130 (accessed 12 April 2025).

78.

Van Staden

Alden

(2018) In the driver’s seat? African agency and Chinese power at FOCAC, the AU and the BRI. Occasional Paper, Working paper no. 286, September. Johannesburg, South Africa: South African Institute of International Affairs.

79.

Wahutu

(2017) What African media? Rethinking research on Africa’s press. Global Media and Communication 14(1): 31–45.

80.

Wamanji

(2018) Africa’s place in geopolitics is prime but leaders must act. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/blogs-opinion/opinion/africa-s-place-in-geopolitics-is-prime-but-leaders-must-act-120854 (accessed 15 April 2025).

81.

Wang

(2022) Executive agency and state capacity in development: comparing Sino-African railways in Kenya and Ethiopia. Comparative Politics 54(2): 349–377.

82.

Wang

Wissenbach

(2019) Clientelism at work? A case study of Kenyan Standard Gauge Railway project. Economic History of Developing Regions 34(3): 280–299.

83.

Wangui

(2022) Karen residents seek to block Chinese contractor from building Sh3bn parliament training college. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/karen–residents–seek–to–block–chinese–contractor–from–building–sh3bn–parliament–training–college–4047582 (accessed 12 April 2025).

84.

Warutere

(2018) Why SGR will not make money soon but makes economic sense. Daily Nation. Available at: https://nation.africa/kenya/blogs-opinion/opinion/why-sgr-will-not-make-money-soon-but-makes-economic-sense-70764 (accessed 12 April 2025).

85.

Wasserman

(2015) Reporting China in Africa: Media Discourses on Shifting Geopolitics. London: Routledge.

86.

Wissenbach

(2020) African Agency in the Belt and Road Initiative: Kenya’s Rail Investment as China’s Flagship BRI Project in Africa. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

87.

Xiao

(2019) Construction of the Belt and Road Initiative in Chinese and American media: a critical discourse analysis based on self-built corpora. International Journal of English Linguistics 9(3): 68.

88.

Zhang

(2017) Media representations of China: a comparison of China Daily and Financial Times in reporting on the Belt and Road Initiative. Critical Arts 31(6): 29–43.

89.

Zhao

Gao

(2024) Building a shared future between China and Africa: a framing analysis of China Radio International’s podcast news China Africa Talk. Journalism 25(9): 1899–1919.

90.

Zheng

(2022) The silent China: toward an anti-essentialism approach for South–South encounters. International Journal of Communication 16: 20.

Shifting Agency: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Kenya’s Evolving Media Coverage of the Belt and Road Initiative (2013–2024)

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References