Graduate Reading Group: Current Debates in Migration Studies
Next meeting:
Date: 5 November 2009
TimeL 3-5pm
Location: Meeting Room A, Research Clusters, Block AS7, The Shaw Foundation Building, Level 6, National University of Singapore
Discussant: Ms Fiona-Katharina Seiger, Department of Sociology, NUS
Jointly organised by the Reading Group on Current Debates in Migration Studies and the FASS Migration Research Cluster.
Japanese-Filipino Youth in Japan and in the Philippines: identity construction and re-construction through migrant trajectories
My dissertation will address the dynamic processes of identity formation faced by Japanese-Filipino Children (JFCs) who spent a significant part of their lives in the Philippines.
The amendment in Japan’s Nationality Law in summer 2008 has provided new impetus to the identity politics surrounding JFCs who have thus far been barred from Japanese Nationality. Consequently, there has been an intensification of initiatives by activist NGOs geared towards engaging JFCs in discussions on the possibilities of acquiring Japanese citizenship, questions of belonging and the costs and benefits of migrating to Japan. Through this presentation, I aim to firstly provide a historical background to the “JFC issue” and to analyze the dominant discourses employed by NGOs such as DAWN, The Batis Center for Women and Maligaya House. I intend to illustrate how the recourse to certain family and gender ideologies frames their approach to the issue, determines what they identify as JFCs “rights” and “needs”, and ultimately how they influence the construction of the JFC identity.
Following meeting
Date: 12 November 2009
TimeL 3-5pm
Location: Meeting Room A, Research Clusters, Block AS7, The Shaw Foundation Building, Level 6, National University of Singapore
Discussant: Mr Joseph Nathan Cruz, Department of Sociology, NUS
Jointly organised by the Reading Group on Current Debates in Migration Studies and the FASS Migration Research Cluster.
Readings:
TBC
The reading group is open to all who are interested in migration studies and research. Reading materials will be circulated prior to each meeting. If you wish to receive the reading materials, or to be on the reading group's mailing list, please email fassmigration@nus.edu.sg with your name and your preferred email address.
