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Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS)

CAPSTRANS CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS 2007

WINTER WORKSHOP ON WRITING SELF/REPRESENTING OTHER: MIGRATION, MOBILITY AND TRAVEL
(Held 12 -15 July 2007)

The Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS), with the support of the Asia-Pacific Futures Research Network (APFRN), held the third CAPSTRANS Winter Workshop for Doctoral Students and Early Career Researchers. This year’s theme was: “Writing Self/Representing Other: Migration, Mobility and Travel”.

Aims of Workshop

The aim of the workshop was:

• To explore recent work which critically engages with the question of writing/representing the subjects of research;
• To assist doctoral students and early-career researchers to enhance their academic knowledge and expertise in relation to research methodologies; and
• To provide opportunities for targeted reading and writing exercises that allow participants to explore different writing techniques.

This 3 day workshop was held at the Kioloa campus of the Australian National University on the south coast of New South Wales. The workshop provided an opportunity to explore the methodologies, approaches, and negotiations which underpin research relationships, dialogues and exchanges in the ‘field’. By focusing specifically on research which explores migration and other forms of mobility, participants critically engaged with the issue of power in research relationships which are characterised by a diversity of subject positions (marked by class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality) as well as temporal and spatial shifts (for both researcher and researched).
 
Through the process of discussion and the provision of writing time, the workshop strengthened the participant’s knowledge of research methodologies and enhanced their writing abilities. Unlike a typical academic conference, this workshop provided each participant with the opportunity to spend time writing and getting feedback on their writing from experienced scholars. Participants said the following about their experiences:

I have resolved several thorny issues and have also been inspired to write; I was hopeful that the workshop would contribute these things to me and my PhD process; it has exceeded these hopes!

The workshop was beyond my expectations. I expected to be talking, listening and in facts I have also been thinking.

Who were the facilitators?

Associate Professor Lenore Lyons is Director of CAPSTRANS. She has written extensively about the women's movement in Singapore and transnational feminist activism. She is currently working on two ARC Discovery projects – one on constructions of national identity in Riau, Indonesia (with Michele Ford at the University of Sydney), and the other on migrant worker rights activism in Singapore and Malaysia.

Dr Camille Nakhid is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at Auckland University of Technology. She coordinates the undergraduate programmes at the School, and teaches Aotearoa and Pasifika Studies, Analysis of New Zealand Social Data, Research Project and Approaches to Research. Her research interests are in indigenous research methodologies, minority students’ academic achievement and identity. Born in Trinidad and Tobago she has lived in Samoa and the USA before coming to Aotearoa/ New Zealand.

Dr Romit Dasgupta is a Lecturer in Asian Studies at the University of Western Australia. His research interests include popular and youth culture in Japan; construction of genders and sexualities (in particular, masculinities) in Japan and Asia; negotiations of 'minority' and 'in-between' identities. He is currently on a fellowship at the National University of Singapore.

Who were the participants?

The following people participated in the winter workshop:

Petra Buergelt, PhD candidate, Massey University, New Zealand
Alistair Cook, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne
Mary Ditton, Research Fellow, University of New England
Deborah Gough, PhD candidate, University of Wollongong
Aileen Hoath, Research Fellow, Curtin University of Technology
Chang-Yao Hoon, Lecturer, University of Western Australia
Kumiko Kawashima, Phd candidate, ANU
Angela Lehmann, PhD candidate, ANU
Claire Lowrie, PhD candidate, University of Wollongong
Aileen Paguntalan, PhD candidate, ANU
Tanzi Smith, PhD candidate, University of Technology Sydney
Katerina Martina Teaiwa, Lecturer, ANU
Risa Tokunaga, PhD candidate, ANU
Rosemary Wiss, Research Fellow, Macquarie University