Language: English

Speaker: Dr. Ju-chen CHEN, Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Moderator: Prof. SONG Jing, Assistant Professor, Gender Studies Programme, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Free registration: https://goo.gl/wZ2JFK

Abstract: Foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong are often homogenized, exoticized, and stigmatized as people who live without purpose beyond remitting money home. My research, however, shows that, on Sundays, their only day off, they don’t just idling on the streets but actively juggle between personal chores, association board meetings, birthday parties, church volunteer works, sports events, and beauty pageants. This talk addresses aspirations of the nearly 200,000 Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong with a focus on active beauty pageant participants. Starting from examining the puzzling phenomenon of Filipino domestic workers “squandering” their time and money in beauty pageants, I will then turn to discussing the seemingly futile efforts of sending their children to colleges. Reflecting upon their pursuits of the beauty queen titles and children’s education attainment, new questions and understanding regarding women’s empowerment dawned on me. I would wrap up this talk by sharing these perspective and concerns.

Speaker's Biography: Dr. Ju-chen CHEN is lecturer at Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her scholarly interests cover a few topics and geographic locations: female migrant workers in China and their desperate efforts to obtain better houses for their sons; Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong and the wishes they realize through participation in beauty pageants; and independent musicians and music event organizers in Hong Kong and Taiwan with a focus on their non-accumulative lifestyles. Ju-chen is interested in the relationship between gender and migration and she uses aspiration as the keyword to analyze the pursuits of her various research subjects.