9–10 August 2024
Hongkonger Diaspora Studies Forum
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
The exodus of Hong Kong residents in recent years has sparked an increased interest in Hongkonger diaspora studies, which has, in turn, brought forward debates around whether Hongkonger diaspora is a new phenomenon as well as how social movement–induced solidarity and geopolitics have affected the lives of Hongkongers in their host countries. In these debates, Hong Kong, as a place, an “outpost,” and a community, has been strategically employed by many countries as a proxy for relating to China as well as for creating a balance between economic benefits and political threats. The different post-2019 Hongkonger-specific migration policies, implemented by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Taiwan, are also the unique responses by the countries in question to the rise of China as both a trading partner and a “threat” to democracy. These migration policies are not simply reinforcement or redefinition of citizenship and rights but also an apparatus for reconstructing the nation states, alliances, and “threats” to the international communities (often meaning “the West”). Meanwhile, among Hong Kong immigrant communities in different countries, civic groups and activists have established different forms of social infrastructure to connect and to assert a unique cultural identity among Hongkongers. Their efforts are to delineate and consolidate the subethnic boundary that distinguishes Hongkongers from the nationalistic pan-Chineseness promoted by China. In addressing the nexus of social-civic-political practices and the emotionscape of Hongkongers, this two-day forum will provide a platform for academics from different disciplines conducting Hongkonger diaspora studies—in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Taiwan, and Hong Kong—to present their wide-ranging research as well as to showcase the diversity of their theoretical, empirical, and methodological interests.
This forum is organized by Dr. Miu Chung Yan (School of Social Work, University of British Columbia) and Dr. Sui-Ting Kong (Department of Sociology, Durham University) and co-sponsored by: UBC Hong Kong Studies Initiative, Department of Asian Studies, Centre for Chinese Research, Centre for Asian Canadian Research and Engagement (ACRE), and Department of Sociology Infrastructure and Integration Lab.
Attendance is by invitation only. Details and further information: Dr. Miu Chung Yan (Miu.Yan@ubc.ca)
See forum program.