THE HONG KONG ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY
AND THE HONG KONG MUSEUM OF HISTORY
PRESENT
An Anthropological Talk by Jeffrey Andrews and Dixon
Beyond Stereotypes: Ethnic Minority Voices in Present Day Hong Kong
Friday 8 November 2019, 7:00pm
Hong Kong Museum of History
Lecture Hall, Ground Floor, 100 Chatham Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
While Hong Kong is known as one of the most cosmopolitan and multicultural cities in Asia, there are few opportunities for the city's ethnic minorities to voice their experience of living in the city to the public. At times, this lack of voice can result in negative stereotyping of ethnic minorities across mainstream culture and in the media. An important question to ask is "Can Hong Kong become a more inclusive global city? What challenges exist in the pursuit of such goals?" In this dialogue, Jeffrey Andrews and Dixon will give a talk about their personal experience as ethnic minorities and as activists striving to improve the well-being of Hong Kong's ethnic minority communities. Both Jeffrey and Dixon will focus on changes in Hong Kong over the past five years and the challenges these have presented for their work. This talk seeks to build bridges of communication between different ethnic groups that move us beyond stereotypes towards a more inclusive Hong Kong of the future.
Jeffrey Andrews is a registered social worker at Christian Action, an organization focused on providing material and emotional support to Asylum Seekers in Hong Kong.
Dixon is the organization secretary at African Community Hong Kong, which promotes participation and community cohesion between African immigrants and Hong Kong society.
THE HONG KONG ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY
AND THE HONG KONG MUSEUM OF HISTORY
PRESENT
An Ethnographic Movie Screening
Migrant Women Domestic Workers and Their Plights
Friday 6 December 2019, 6:30pm (Earlier time due to film length)
Hong Kong Museum of History
Lecture Hall, Ground Floor, 100 Chatham Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
There are 11.7 million migrant domestic workers around the globe (ILO, 2015), predominantly women from developing countries. Their mistreatment is a global phenomenon as 60% have suffered verbal abuse, 18% physical and 6% sexual abuse (Mission for Migrant Workers, 2013). With over 350,000 migrant domestic workers, accounting for 10% of the total workforce of the city, there is much concern about this issue in Hong Kong. Despite their large number, migrant domestic workers face abuse, debt bondage, as well as racial and religious discrimination. Therefore, to help raise awareness on this issue, a movie screening on Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong will be held. Inspired by Jean Rouch's method of ethnographic cinema, the film was produced together with the people represented in it to best portray their lived experiences. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion on the migrant women domestic workers in Hong Kong's situation. Eni Lestari, Alberto Gerosa, Ju-chen Chen, and an Indonesian domestic worker in Hong Kong will answer questions raised by the movie screening and discuss the difficulties that women migrant workers in the world face. The goal of this event is to empower these women by showing the people of Hong Kong the invisible side of their lives and the various kinds of abuse they have to suffer.
Ju-chen CHEN is a senior lecturer at the Department of Anthropology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Eni Lestari is the chairperson of the International Migrant Alliance and also Indonesian migrant domestic worker.
Alberto Gerosa is an anthropologist and filmmaker, whose work has been acquired by the National Museum of Ethnology in Japan, Pinacoteca Civica di Como in Italy, Hong Kong Film Archive, Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts.
The HKAS is a member of the World Council of Anthropological Associations