Events

The workshop is organised by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, and is funded by the Tan Chin Tuan Foundation Grant (IG22-SG007) on “Diligent Daughters: Chinese Women’s Educational Revolution”. 

In the post-pandemic era, new patterns of knowledge and talent circulation are transforming Asia and beyond. These shifts in educational mobilities—spanning students, graduates, academics, and institutions—include increasing inter-Asian flows, digital brokerage, Asia-Africa linkages, and gender-sensitive caregiving circuits. These developments are shaped by shifting social, political, and economic realities, including population decline, US-China rivalry, rising Western xenophobia, and the weakening of colony-metropole dynamics in favour of inter-Asian connections. They carry profound geopolitical and geoeconomic implications, influencing brain circulation, higher education financing, nation-building, and economic development.

Gender plays a pivotal yet underexplored role in these dynamics, shaping the drivers, experiences, and outcomes of migration. As states confront declining birth rates, women are outpacing men educationally and delaying marriage across Asia. Gender influences decisions at every level—from family support and migrants’ career paths to institutional and state responses to demographic challenges. However, scholarship often treats gender as secondary, overlooking its centrality in structuring educational mobilities. This workshop positions gender as a core analytical lens to address these gaps.

Drawing from multiple perspectives—including feminist geopolitics, intersectionality, and queer studies—the workshop explores how gender both shapes and is shaped by migration flows, while intertwining with race, class, nationality, sexuality, ability, and generation. It aims to denaturalise gender as a static category and investigate its embeddedness in mobility practices, state regulations, education-to-work transitions, and labour markets vis-a-vis migration actors and infrastructures. Key topics include:

• Gendered multi-scalar flows, linking domestic and international spaces;
• Embodied statecraft, examining how geopolitics and biopolitics intersect in state efforts to manage populations and borders;
• Affective dimensions, exploring how migrants navigate emotions, identities, and relationships;
• Education-to-work transitions, analysing gendered nation-building strategies and labour-market dynamics;
• Intimate politics, considering how family decisions, caregiving, and reproductive choices shape state policies and geopolitical strategies.

This two-day interdisciplinary workshop aims to bring together international, regional, and local scholars to reflect on the role of gender in shaping how emergent educational mobilities are produced, experienced, and governed.

WORKSHOP CONVENORS

Dr Kris Hyesoo LEE | Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
Dr Yi’En CHENG | NUS College, National University of Singapore
Assoc Prof Zachary M. HOWLETT | Department of Sociology & Anthropology, National University of Singapore

REGISTRATION

Registration is closed, and registered attendees have been given instructions on participating in this hybrid event. Please write to valerie.yeo@nus.edu.sg if you would like to attend the event.