[Multiculturalism in Action 2015-2016] Sharing at Teacher’s Centre on 9 January, 2016

On 9 January 2016, Prof. Maria Tam, Director of the Multiculturalism in Action Project, gave a talk co-organized by The Graduate Association of Colleges of Education and the Hong Kong Teacher’s Centre. The talk focused on intercultural education in Hong Kong, in which she shared her experience in organizing the Multiculturalism in Action Project since 2013. This project hopes to provide more objective information on and holistic understanding of South Asians communities and their contributions in Hong Kong, through a series of train-the-trainers program and outreach activities. This year, the Project focuses on the Pakistani culture and works with members of the community to make positive changes, especially through bridging the Chinese and Pakistani communities in Hong Kong. Feedback collected from the previous Workshops on Indian and Nepali culture showed that multimedia presentations were useful in increasing the cultural sensitivity of students in mainstream secondary schools, who knew little about their South Asian schoolmates or neighborhoods.

Prof. Tam sharing the data collected from secondary schools

In addition, the community-outreach project “FUN with Interculturalism” was introduced, as a case to show how intercultural education can be done at school. This program, funded by the Equal Opportunities Commission, aims to promote mutual understanding and appreciation among different ethnic groups. It includes an exhibition on South Asian Communities in Hong Kong as well as hands-on kabaddi experience. Dr. Tang Wai Man, our kabaddi instructor, spoke on the historical and cultural aspects of kabaddi, and then led the teachers in a game of kabaddi. It was a fun and meaningful afternoon for the teachers and the Multiculturalism in Action Team, during which much sharing and discussion on intercultural education took place. 

Teachers and student helpers practicing kabaddi

Teachers reading the Exhibition on South Asian Communities in Hong Kong

[Multiculturalism in Action 2015-2016] FUN with Interculturalism in Yuen Long

FUN with Interculturalism, a community outreach project launched by the Multiculturalism in Action Project this year, co-organized the Art Connection Carnival on 24 January, 2016. The event was held in Yuen Long Catholic Secondary School, and apart from the volunteers from different universities, we were joined by Miss Tang Pui Ching and Pakistani students from the Salesians of Don Bosco Ng Siu Mui Secondary School. The event was organized by Yuen Long Town Hall Support Service Centre for Ethnic Minorities. Over ten booths from different organizations were present. They included the Equal Opportunities Commission, ICAC, and Castle Peak Hospital, among others. Through games and activities such as henna painting, sand bottle handicraft, balloon twisting, Chinese calligraphy, and board games, the different organizations jointly promoted the messages of ethnic integration and appreciation of cultural diversity.

(First row, from right) Dr. Tang Wai Man, Prof. Maria Tam, Miss Tang Pui Ching, Mr. Tan Nan, and volunteers

Our Exhibition on South Asian Communities in Hong Kong with English and Chinese explanations from our docents was well received. Moreover, a kabaddi session was held by our kabaddi instructors, Dr. Tang Wai Man and Mr. Tan Nan. The audience was invited to take part in this exciting South Asian sport. Both kids and adults from different ethnic origins had a great time!

Our docents explaining the exhibition to audience

Having fun with kabaddi

Our booth

There was also a full program of performance, ranging from band songs to Nepali dance; as well, singers presented wonderful pop and folk songs. 

Gurung dance performance

Despite the freezingly cold weather, the event was a hit! Thank you to all volunteers who helped to make this event a success!

Prof. Tam presenting the flag to Ms. Ruth Kong of Yuen Long Town Hall, our co-organizer

Friday Seminars Schedule (Spring 2016)

The Friday seminars schedule of this semester is out. Don't forget to mark down the dates on your calendar! 

Seminars in this semester will take place at 1:00P.M.–2:30P.M. at Room 401, Humanities Building, CUHK. All interested are welcome!

Friday Seminars (Spring 2016)

[The 8th Annual CUHK Anthropology Postgraduate Student Forum] Transforming Asian Anthropology Imaginations & Dialogues

The 8th Annual CUHK Anthropology Postgraduate Student Forum, 'Transforming Asian Anthropology: Dialogues and Imaginations' was successfully held on 22–23 January 2016. This year, we invited over 30 participants coming from different countries to present their research in the forum. Nine panels were organized, which included “Practicing Religion in Asia: Diversity and Comparison”, “Culture in Display”, “Producing Space, Consuming Culture”, “En/gendering New Subjectivities”, “Managing Health and Bodies Beyond Self”, “Negotiating Ethnic Boundaries”, “Alternative Future and Popular Protest”, “Remaking Lives in a Multifaceted Market” and “Asian Migrations: Trajectories, Meanings, Embodiments”. The wide range of topics brought forth by paper presenters gave the audience insights into different cultural phenomenon occurring across space and time relative to Asia.

Paper presenters

On the second day of the event, Dr. Nicole Constable gave a keynote speech on “Reproductive Labor at the Intersection of Three Intimate Industries: Domestic Work, Sex Tourism, and Adoption”. Her speech addressed the divergent forms of intimate and invisibilized labor undertaken by Southeast Asian migrant workers that contribute to both formal and informal economies of Hong Kong.

Dr. Nicole Constable

A field trip was also arranged for forum participants to know more about Hong Kong culture. Our postgraduate students led the participants to the Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage Trail in Fanling, in the northern areas of the New Territories. This trip highlighted the remnants of the Tang lineage and introduced participants to the clan's ancestral halls, temples, shrines, stone tablets, study halls located in both walled villages as well as other non-walled villages (tsuens).

Field trip

Last but not least, we would like to thank Dr. Nicole Constable, chairs and discussants of each panel, and all the participants who contributed to the success of this year’s forum. This forum indeed incited new dialogues and imaginations to help transform an ever-emergent Asian anthropology.

Group photo

[電台節目] 我講你信唔信

由一月十五日起，每逢星期五，新城知訊台（METROINFO FM99.7）的電台節目「我講你信唔信」（播放時間：下午六時至八時）將邀請本系的教師作嘉賓，講述有關文化、性別、飲食、以及考古等不同的話題。

上星期五（15/1），張展鴻教授就於節目內分享了一些有關人類學及生物演化等的知識。（按此收聽節目重溫。）

對節目內容有興趣的朋友，記得收聽新城知訊台今晚及每週五播出的「我講你信唔信」！

[Event] FUN with Interculturalism

Multiculturalism in Action Project will have a booth at the Art Connection Carnival on 24 January (coming Sunday!) at Shui Bin Tsuen Playground, Yuen Long. The carnival will start from 2 pm to 5 pm.

There will be an exhibition on South Asian communities in Hong Kong, and our volunteers will teach you the exciting South Asian sport - kabaddi - at 15:00 and 16:00 respectively.

We need your support! Don't miss the chance and come visit us!

Event poster

[PGSF8: Keynote Speech] Reproductive Labor at the Intersection of Three Intimate Industries: Domestic Work, Sex Tourism, and Adoption

Keynote Speech for 

The 8th Annual CUHK Anthropology Postgraduate Student Forum:

Transforming Asian Anthropology: Imaginations & Dialogues

23 January 2016

Reproductive Labor at the Intersection of Three Intimate Industries: Domestic Work, Sex Tourism, and Adoption

Speaker: Dr. Nicole Constable
Date: 23 Jan 2016
Time: 12:15pm – 1:15pm
Venue: Exhibition Zones, 1/F, An Integrated Teaching Building (AIT), School of Architecture, CUHK

Dr. Constable is currently JY Pillay Global-Asia Professor of Social Sciences at Yale-NUS College in Singapore and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include transnational migration and mobilities; the commodification of intimacy; gender, sexuality and reproductive labor; ethnographic writing and power.

Her geographical interests span Hong Kong, China, the Philippines and Indonesia. She has conducted fieldwork in Hong Kong on constructions of Hakka Chinese Christian identity, on resistance and discipline among Filipina and Indonesian domestic workers, and among migrant mothers. Her recent publications focused on cross-border marriages, migrant worker activism, undocumented workers, and new transnational family formations.

Her latest book is Born Out of Place: Migrant Mothers and the Politics of International Labor (University of California Press and Hong Kong University Press, 2014), about Filipina and Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong who become mothers, and the legal and personal struggles they face regarding migrant work, intimate relationships, and parenthood.

ALL ARE WELCOME
NO RSVP NECESSARY

[Event] Knowledge Enrichment Programme

The Office of Admissions and Financial Aid (OAFA) of CUHK collaborated with different faculties to organize the Knowledge Enrichment Programme for non-JUPAS local secondary school students on 22 December 2015. The Anthropology Department was invited by the Faculty of Arts to hold an archaeology workshop for the programme participants.

Knowledge Enrichment Programme

The workshop was facilitated by Professor Sharon Wong and our undergraduate student Saichia. Professor Wong taught the participants basic archaeological knowledge and introduced to them the archaeological features of our department.

Prof. Wong introducing archaeology to the participants

Students also had an opportunity to participate in the mini-excavation. Professor Wong first introduced to students the tools and technical terms commonly used by professionals in the field, then demonstrated to them the excavation procedures like digging, washing and handling artifacts. Saichia also introduced archaeobotany to the participants through interactive games.

Hands-on session

Saichia playing interactive games with the participants

The workshop helped students to understand that archaeology is not merely the study of remains, but is an investigation into the history, culture, and human activity of societies.     

[Upcoming Seminar] Consent in the Dark: Good Sex, Universities, and the State

"Consent in the Dark: Good Sex, Universities, and the State" 

Speaker: Professor Carole S. Vance (Columbia University)

Time*: 4:30p.m, 14th January 2016

Venue: LT4, Yasumoto International Academic Park, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

*Light refreshment will be available at the tea-reception area outside LT1 from 4:00-4:30p.m.

Poster of the seminar

Speaker's Profile:

Carole S. Vance, MPH, PhD, teaches anthropology at Columbia University of New York, USA. She works on integrating sexuality with human rights frameworks and rights-based health interventions. She has written widely on sexuality, science, gender, and policy; policy controversies about sexual expression and imagery; and sexuality theory and research methods. For the past ten years, she has directed a program on sexuality, gender, health and human rights, which advances policy-relevant scholarship and facilitates exchange between researchers and advocates on sexual health and rights issues. Dr. Vance has extensive experience in training students from developing countries, particularly on research methods in sexuality, and the practical application of sexuality research in a range of cultural, national, and policy contexts. Dr. Vance currently is involved in research on trafficking into forced prostitution, also known as sex trafficking, with particular focus on the ways in which ethnographic research can inform policy, as well as health and rights interventions. Dr. Vance edited the landmark collection, Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality, and is completing the edited volume, Ethnography and Policy: What Do We Know about Trafficking?, with publication in 2007. In 2005, Dr. Vance received the David R. Kessler Award for lifetime contributions to studies of sexuality.

All interested are welcome!

[Pakistani Culture Workshop] Ethnic Minority Enterprise and Social Innovation

Multiculturalism in Action Project presents a public seminar on Ethnic Minority Enterprise and Social Innovation. Speakers include Mrs. Arjumand Naveed, President of the Pakistan Women Association of Hong Kong, Mrs. Nigar Qureshi, Winner of HKMVC Award 2016, and Mr. Yasir Naveed, Founder of Chefo!. They will share their experiences on starting/running a business and social enterprise, and how these are personal achievements as well as empowerment for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. We also have Ms. Ada Wong, JP, Convener of The Good Lab, to talk about social innovation.

Please join us in this discussion at The Pakistan Club, on Saturday 16 January, 2016, at 2:30pm. Admission is free. All interested are welcome!! Due to limited seats, please register at lee-connie@cuhk.edu.hk by 14 January, 2016.

Seminar Poster