AN INTERDISCIPLINARY AND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ASIAN MIGRATIONS

Monday, March 16, 2009

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME: PACIFIC WORLDS IN MOTION, SINGAPORE

12 MARCH 2009 (THURSDAY)
08:30 – 09:00 REGISTRATION
09:00 – 09:15 WELCOME ADDRESS
A/P Shirlena Huang
Head of Department, Department of Geography
National University of Singapore

09:15 – 09:45 KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Professor Cindy Fan
Department of Geography
Department of Asian American Studies
University of California, Los Angeles

09:45 – 10:00 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Chairperson: A/P Shirlena Huang

10:00 – 10:15 TEA BREAK

10:15 – 12:00 PANEL 1
GENDER
Chairperson: A/P Shirlena Huang
10:15 Adam Lukasiewicz
York University, Canada
Intrahousehold Divisions of Re/productive Labour Among Filipino Farming Families with Migrant Members Abroad
10:30 Monica Ann Smith
National University of Singapore
Geographies of Constraint and Dilemmas of Desire: Migrant Women from Sri Lanka to Lebanon
10:45 Siriporn Somboonburana
Calcutta University, India
The Identity Politics of Burmese Women Workers and its Migrant Bodies in Thailand
11:00 Polly Vauquline
Bajali College, India
Forces and Processes of Migration and Violence Against Women in Greater Guwahati Urban Area.
11:15 Evangeline Katiqbak
National University of Singapore
Constructions of Migrant Identities: Reflections based on a Narrative

11:30 DISCUSSANT
Professor Cindy Fan
11:45 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
12:00 –13:00 LUNCH

13:00 – 13:30 KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Professor Geraldine Pratt
Department of Geography
University of British Columbia

13:30 – 13:45 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Chairperson: Professor Brenda Yeoh
Department of Geography
National University of Singapore

13:45 – 14:00 BREAK

14:00 – 15:30 PANEL 2
CONTESTING DISCOURSES OF RACE
Chairperson: Professor Brenda Yeoh
14:00 Jane Lee
University of British Columbia, Canada
Vancouver’s Koreatown: Complementing and Contesting Discourses of Race, Space and Nation in Multicultural Canada
14:15 Katie Palmer
University of Toronto, Canada
Playground Apartheid: A Spatial Analysis of Filipina Domestic Workers in Toronto’s Gentrified Neighbourhoods
14:30 Kamalini Ramdas
National University of Singapore
Gender, Race and Single Indian Women: Mobile Subjectivities and Identity Politics in Multiracial Global Singapore
14:45 Jason Cabanes
Ateneo de Manila University, The Philippines
Capturing Manila: National Identity and the Photographic Representation of Manila by its Transnational Migrant Residents

15:00 DISCUSSANT
Professor Geraldine Pratt
15:15 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
15:30 – 15:45 TEA BREAK

15:45 – 17:00 PANEL 3
MOBILE LIVES ON THE MARGINS
Chairperson: Dr Sallie Yea
Department of Geography
National University of Singapore
15:45 Sarah Amador
CNRS and University of Paris
Descartes, France Adjustment in Temporary Migration Social and Spatial Practices in the Host City
16:00 Pyone Myat Thu
Australian National University, Australia
Travelling and Transformation: Displacement and Patterns of Mobility in Rural East Timor
16:15 Junjia Ye
University of British Columbia, Canada
Class Subjectivities and Connectivities: Work in Singapore
16:30 DISCUSSANT
Professor Helga Leitner
Department of Geography, University of Minnesota
Visiting Professor, Department of Geography
National University of Singapore

16:45 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
17:00 WELCOME COCKTAIL PARTY
18:30 END OF DAY 1/ DINNER FOR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS



13 MARCH 2009 (FRIDAY)
08:30 – 09:00 KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Professor David Ley
Department of Geography
University of British Columbia

09:00 – 09:15 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Chairperson: A/P Tracey Skelton
Department of Geography
National University of Singapore
09:15 – 09:30 TEA BREAK

09:30 – 11:00 PANEL 4
COSMOPOLITANISM
Chairperson: A/P Tracey Skelton
09:30 Megha Amrith
University of Cambridge, UK and Asia Research Institute
Cosmopolitan care? The Migration of Filipino Medical Workers to Singapore
09:45 Jonathan Ong
University of Cambridge, UK
The Cosmopolitan Continuum: Cosmopolitanism, Migration and Mediation and their Intersections
10:00 Fred Ong
National University of Singapore
Singapore-style Cosmopolitanisms from Below: Dispositions and Competencies Towards Male Foreign Workers in Public Spaces
10:15 Mark Lawrence Santiago
University of British Columbia, Canada
Made for Canada, Product of the Philippines: Global Nurse Migrations and the Geopolitics of Care

10:30 DISCUSSANT
Professor David Ley
10:45 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

11:00 – 12:30 PANEL 5
LABOUR/ ECONOMY/ MIGRATION POLICY
Chairperson: Dr Mika Toyota
Department of Sociology
National University of Singapore

11:00 Nathan Blank
Australian National University, Australia
Making Migration Policy: Reflections on bi-lateral labour agreements in the Philippines
11:15 Joseph Nathan Cruz
National University of Singapore
From Worker to Witness: Labour Migration and the Filipino Neo-Protestant Perspective
11:30 Zuzanna Burska
University of Warsaw, Poland
Asian Migrants in Poland - Changes and Challenges after 5 Years of EU Membership
11:45 Yee Yeong Chong
National University of Singapore
“The Wife of the Wife”: Female Subjectivities, Civil Society and the Transnational Relay of Domestic Work in Singapore
12:00 DISCUSSANT
Dr Noorashikin Abdul Rahman
Department of Geography
National University of Singapore

12:15 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
12:30 –14:00 LUNCH


14:00 – 14:30 KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Professor Henry Yu
Department of History
University of British Columbia
14:30 – 14:45 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Chairperson: Professor Tan Tai Yong
Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences,
National University of Singapore

15:00 – 16:30 PANEL 6
CHINESE DIASPORA
Chairperson: Dr Jason Lim
Department of History
National University of Singapore
15:00 Andreanne Doyon
University of British Columbia, Canada
The Dragon and the Raven: the Relationships and Interactions Between the Chinese Migrants and the First Nations in British Columbia
15:15 Jack Meng-Tat Chia
National University of Singapore
Recent Climax in Search of Sacred Roots: Temple Networks, Pilgrimages and Inter-temple Rivalries in Southeast China, 1978-Present
15:30 Heidi H. Kong
University of British Columbia, Canada
Merchants in the Making: Chinese Merchant Identity in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Asia-Pacific
15:45 Ruth Mandujano López
University of British Columbia, Canada
Movers and Shakers: On the trail of Chinese Merchants Throughout the Mexican Pacific During the First Half of the Twentieth Century
16:00 DISCUSSANT
Professor Henry Yu

16:15 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
16:30 – 16:45 TEA BREAK

16:45 – 18:00 PANEL 7
SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN DIASPORA
Chairperson: Dr Sarah Starkweather
Department of Geography
National University of Singapore
16:45 Mamta Sachan Kumar
National University of Singapore
The Kobe Sindhi Merchants of Today: a Case of Success or Survival?
17:00 David Tantow
National University of Singapore
Islamic migration to Singapore’s Kampong Glam: A Historical Perspective
17:15 Ilias Hussain
Jamia Millia Islamia, India
Hadrami Arab Diaspora and the Normative Changes in Pattern of Religious Consumption Among the Mappila Muslims of Kerala
17:30 DISCUSSANT
Dr Rajesh Rai
South Asian Studies Programme
National University of Singapore
17:45 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

18:00 CLOSING REMARKS
Professor Brenda Yeoh
National University of Singapore
18:15 END OF DAY 2/ CLOSE OF CONFERENCE