Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness. It does not believe that I do not want it.
Now I understand why the old poets of China went so far
and high into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist.
"The Old Poets of China" by Mary Oliver

Asian Center to Host Lecture on ‘New Forms of Migrant Labor Activism’

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Category: News @ UP Asian Center

Professor Michele Ford, Ph.D., Director of the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre at the University of Sydney, will deliver a public lecture, From Migrant to Worker: New Forms of Migrant Labor Activism in Asia, on Tuesday, 27 May 2014, 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m, at the Seminar Room, Hall of Wisdom, GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center, Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman.

In her lecture, Dr. Ford will “trace a fundamental shift in civil society responses since NGOs and international labor bodies began involving local unions in migrant worker issues in countries of origin such as Indonesia and the Philippines, but also in destination countries in East and Southeast Asia. "Using a comparative case study approach," Dr. Ford "interrogates the genesis of these initiatives and analyses their impact in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand." She argues “that, while much remains to be done, the conceptual shift from ‘migrant’ to ‘worker’ has created a space in which temporary labor migrants’ positionality can be re-imagined.”

The lecture is co-organized by the University of Sydney; the Department of Political Science, UP Diliman; The Third World Studies Center; and the Asian Center. The lecture is open to the public. Seats are limited and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Reservations won't be taken.  

Professor Michele Ford is an ARC Future Fellow and Director of the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre at the University of Sydney. Her research interests focus on the Southeast Asian labour movements, trade union aid, and trade union responses to labour migration in East and Southeast Asia. Michele Ford is the author of Workers and Intellectuals: NGOs, Unions and the Indonesian Labour Movement (NUS/Hawaii/KITLV 2009) and co-editor of Women and Work in Indonesia (Routledge 2008); Women and Labour Organizing In Asia: Diversity, Autonomy and Activism (Routledge 2008); and Labour Migration and Human Trafficking in Southeast Asia: Critical Perspectives (Routledge 2012).

For more information, call the Third World Studies Center at 63.2.981.8500 local 2488 or the Asian Center at 63.2.981.8500 local 3586. You may also email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman, offers M.A. and Ph.D programs in Philippine Studies, as well as masters degrees in Asian Studies covering any of four regions: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia.