[Upcoming Seminar] The Role of Beauty Contests in the Filipino Community in Israel

Title: The Role of Beauty Contests in the Filipino Community in Israel
Speaker: Deby BABIS (University of Haifa)
Date and time: 1:00 – 2:30 pm, 30 Sept 2016

Venue: Room 11, Humanities Building New Asia College, CUHK

************************************************************

Beauty contests are a popular phenomenon among the Filipino community in Israel, which is mostly comprised of migrant workers employed as live-in caregivers for the elderly. The beauty contests take place at the weekends, when Filipinos have their day off. In this talk I will describe the different types of beauty contests, accompanying my presentation with photographs from my fieldwork. The analysis will focus on the meanings of these events at the individual, communal and transnational levels.

Deby Babis is a sociologist and anthropologist specializing in voluntary organizations and ethnic communities. Her research covers both immigrant and indigenous groups in different countries, such as Argentina, Israel, Bolivia, Canada and the Philippines. Since 2013 she is primarily studying Filipino migrants in Israel and Canada. By means of traditional and digital ethnographies, she explores different aspects of these communities, such as their voluntary organizations, their activities in Facebook and the emergence of mixed families. Deby is a fellow researcher at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

ALL INTERESTED ARE WELCOME!

(A light lunch will be served at 12:30 pm. First come first served.)