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Webinar – Dear Hong Kong: Celebrating Diversity in Asia’s World City

Speakers: Oskar Valles, Aggie Lam and guests

Date: 10 December 2021 (Friday)

Time: 15:30 – 16:30

Zoom Link: https://eduhk.zoom.us/j/99541260267

Zoom Meeting ID: 995 4126 0267

This webinar is part of the event series Otherness and Belonging in Hong Kong.

 

Abstract:

Dear Hong Kong, is a photo book of 200 pages featuring inspiring people from different countries, all living in Hong Kong, and their contribution to our city. The final goal of the project is to show the cultural diversity of the city through personal stories that inspire, promote inclusivity, break existing stereotypes and widen horizons.

About the speakers:

Oskar Valles

After 9 years in Hong Kong Oskar wants to give back to the city doing a project to increase social awareness in diversity and inclusion. He deeply believes in the unity of all humans, regardless of race, occupation, religion, or any other excuses people sometimes use to separate themselves from others.

Aggie Lam

Aggie’s life mission is to collect and discover as many inspiring stories as possible. She’s driven to slowly influence people around her to be more compassionate in order to achieve mutual understanding and respect among people across different backgrounds. She currently works in a social enterprise focusing on cultural education.

Webinar – In local exclusivity lies global inclusion : The relational ontology of asylum-seekers, refugees and the local community in a Hong Kong walled village

Speaker: Dr. Isabella Ng

Moderator: Dr. Alex Chan

Date: 3 December 2021 (Friday)

Time: 15:30 – 16:30pm

Zoom Link: https://eduhk.zoom.us/j/97229523801

Zoom Meeting ID: 972 2952 3801

This webinar is part of the event series Otherness and Belonging in Hong Kong.

 

Abstract:

Dr. Ng’s project is an 24 month ethnographic study in the ethnic cluster of rural Hong Kong. Through in-depth interviews with 80 asylum-seekers and refugees, local walled villagers who live with the groups in the villages, as well as interviews with NGOs, social workers and legislators who work with the groups, the project examines the relationship between the local community and the asylum-seekers and refugees in post-colonial Hong Kong. Drawing on relational ontology, Dr. Ng examines the interactions and interrelations between these groups amidst social, structural and historical changes.

 

Speaker:

Dr. Isabella Ng is the Assistant Professor and Associate Head (Teaching and Learning) in the Department of Asian and Policy Studies at the Education University of Hong Kong. She receives her PhD in Gender Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. She focuses her research on Gender and Development in Asia, Feminist Geography, Feminist Research methods, anthropology of migration; migrants and diaspora, rural villages in Hong Kong and China and media studies, by drawing mainly on her training in anthropological research methods.

Moderator:

Dr. Alex Chan is a lecturer in Soka University, teaching Sociology of Globalisation and transnational migration. He was previously teaching in the Education University of Hong Kong on Media, International Relations, and Sociology. A renowned journalist in Malaysia, he received his PhD in Sociology of Media in Doshisha University in Japan. He has been actively advocating for the asylum-seekers and refugees issues and is an executive committee member of The Hong Kong Society for Asylum seekers and Refugees.

Filming Screening – Djembe in the 13 Streets and Walled Village

Both these award-winning short films explore the relationship between the local Chinese and other ethnic groups living in Hong Kong. Walled Village tells the story of an university professor Isabella Ng and Tariq Mehmood, a Pakistani asylum-seeker who co-founded a society with other asylum-seekers and Hong Kong students to support the needs of the asylum-seekers and refugees in Hong Kong. Djembe in the 13 Streets (2019) explores the relationship between the growing African population in Hong Kong and the local Chinese.

These events are part of the event series Otherness and Belonging in Hong Kong.

Director – Brian Hung

Dr Brian Hung graduated from the School of Film and Television of The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and received a Master’s Degree in Studio Art: Art in Media from New York University. He is the recipient of Jack Goodman Scholarship from NYU. He also has an EdD from The Education University of Hong Kong. Dr Hung’s creative outputs are focused on documentaries, short films and stories. His works have been selected by various international film festivals and exhibitions around the world, including Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the United States.

Moderator – Indie Chung

Indie Chung is a multi-visual educator and a trainer. A trained psychologist from HKU and Oxford, he has been working in different businesses and writing columns ranging in subjects from Arts to empowered skills training.

Djembe in the 13 Streets

Winner of the Social Change Award at the Asian American Film Festival, 2020 in Philadelphia, USA

Date: 19 Nov 2021 (Fri)

Time: 3:30pm – 4:30pm

Moderator: Indie Chung

Film details: https://tickets.paaff.org/2020/movies/djembe-in-the-13-streets/

 

Walled Village

Winner of the Gold Remi award in Documentary Shorts at the 51st Worldfest in Houston, USA and the Official selection, Documentaries of the World at the 42nd Montreal World Film Festival, Canada

Date: 26 Nov 2021 (Fri)

Time: 3:30pm – 4:30pm

Moderator: Indie Chung

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap7eoJ0mj6U

 

Event Series – Otherness and Belonging in Hong Kong

We are delighted to announce a 4 part series of events titled Otherness and Belonging in Hong Kong. The series includes the screening of two award winning short films followed by a dialogue with the director, a seminar on refugees and asylum seekers in a Hong Kong walled village and a discussion on Dear Hong Kong, a recently released 200-page photo book celebrating Hong Kong’s diversity. All events will be online. Stay tuned for further details on each event!

[Film screening] Djembe in the 13 streets

Followed by dialogue with Director Brian Hung

Moderator: Indie Chung

Date: 19 Nov 2021 (Fri)

Time: 3:30pm – 4:30pm

Zoom link: https://eduhk.zoom.us/j/96723024636 (Meeting ID: 967 2302 4636)

 

[Film screening] Walled Village

Film screening followed by dialogue with Director Brian Hung

Moderator: Indie Chung

Date: 26 Nov 2021 (Fri)

Time: 3:30pm – 4:30pm

Zoom link: https://eduhk.zoom.us/j/93743891324  (Meeting ID: 937 4389 1324)

 

[Seminar] Villagers and Asylum-Seekers/Refugees in a Postcolonial Walled Village: A Relational Perspective

Speaker: Isabella Ng, EdUHK

Date: 3 Dec 2021 (Fri)

Time: 3:30pm – 4:30pm

Zoom link: https://eduhk.zoom.us/j/97229523801 (Meeting ID: 972 2952 3801)

 

[Seminar] Dear Hong Kong: Celebrating Diversity in Asia’s World City

Speakers: Oskar Valles, Aggie Lam and guests

Date: 10 Dec 2021 (Fri)

Time: 3:30pm – 4:30pm

Zoom link: https://eduhk.zoom.us/j/99541260267 (Meeting ID: 995 4126 0267)

 

Webinar – Gamification of Economy: The Aesthetic Labour and Emotional Labour in Making Taobao a Theme Park Spectacle

Date: 25 October 2021 (Monday)

Time: 15:30 – 17:00pm

Speaker: Dr. Ling Tang

Language: English

 

Gamification of Economy: The Aesthetic Labour and Emotional Labour in Making Taobao a Theme Park Spectacle

 

Abstract:

In contrast to the “rational” Amazon which demonstrates an intensification of McDonaldization of the economy in the digital economic realm (Ritzer, 2018), this talk discloses how Taobao crafts itself into an emotion-fuelled theme-park for online shopping. Taobao wishes to establish itself as a platform full of adventurous products and unexpected encounters. Based on my one-year ethnography with businesswomen in the Internet age, many of whom Taobao shop owners, I show how they need to do an extensive amount of aesthetic labour and emotional labour in order to make the shopping experience more fun and entertaining for customers. This echoes Byung-Chul Han (2017)’s notion of the gamification of the economy where production and consumption are made into games of instant rewards and punishment.

Speaker:

Ling is an artist academic who considers sociology as art and vice versa. Her research interests includes Internet studies, Gender studies, Chinese studies and innovative methods. Her academic writings are published in journals including Journal of Sociology and British Journal of Chinese Studies. Besides, she also produces music, fine art pieces and public academic cultural products.

 

Zoom Link: https://eduhk.zoom.us/j/98246400615?pwd=T3dIaVdtZkFZUDFZNlJnTjIwSERvUT09

Zoom Meeting ID: 982 4640 0615

Passcode: 462291