Constructing Images,Constructing Policy: The case of Filipina migrant performing artists

In 1991 a Filipina performing artist died while working in Japan. Her death became an international incident and a catalyst for action on the issue of migrant exploitation. In particular, a series of policies was constructed by the Philippine Government in an attempt to afford protection to migrant workers. In this paper I critically examine the construction of these policies, with the purpose of identifying how specific notions of gender and sexuality are incorporated into the construction and reconstruction of policy. I demonstrate how the representation of exploitation within systems of labor migration serves the purposes of dominant factors of society, with little regard to the actual lived experiences of migrant workers. Findings indicate that current policy is based on an image that only illegally-deployed, hence immoral and disreputable women are exploited, overlooking the observation that both illegally- and legally-deployed women are susceptible to abuse. At one level this paper reflects an ontological attack against the employment of categories previously conceptualized as natural within the construction of migration policy. At a second level this paper is also concerned with the issue of 'who speaks for whom,' and the implications of this for viable protective policies. The significance of this paper extends beyond the confines of the Philippines, for it encompasses a growing international awareness of abuses toward migrants.     

The spatial dimension of agency: the everyday urban practices of Filipina domestic workers in Amman,Jordan

This article examines the strategies that Filipina migrant domestic workers in Jordan have developed to create new opportunities within the restrictive Kafala migration system. Based on short-term live-in contracts, the Kafala system tends to confine migrant women to employers’ homes, thus restricting their access to urban amenities and limiting their interactions with co-ethnics. However, Filipina migrant domestic workers transform temporary migration into a longer-term experience by increasing their knowledge of the city and going from live-in workers to live-out or freelance workers. This article contributes to understandings of migrant women’s agency by considering the spatial construction of agency in urban spaces. I argue that space and agency are entwined. In order to highlight the spatial dimension of agency, I use the concept of ‘regime of visibility’ to show how migrant women make their agency visible to others by accessing public spaces. Connecting agency with regimes of visibility allows me to question the place and role of migrant women in urban public spaces. Especially, I analyze that tensions in public spaces are not merely a reaction to the presence of women, but are also intended to prevent the visibility of individual agency.     

美国在华领事裁判权的形成与撤废

领事裁判权问题是近代以来阻碍中美关系发展的主要症结。1844年的中美《望厦条约》将美国在华领事裁判权以法律形式加以固定。1927年1月,美国出于远东战略利益的需要,决定通过谈判途径“尽快”解除美在华享有的治外法权,但因当时美国对华政策无确定对象,加之中国政局动荡,致使美国放弃在华领事裁判权的立场有所动摇。1928年中美签订新关税条约后,在中方的坚持下,中美开始就撤消美在华领事裁判权问题进行谈判。其间,美国采取拖延、推委战术,致使谈判久拖不决。‘‘九一八”事变后远东局势发生突变,中美长达三年之久的谈判因之被迫中断,撤消美在华领事裁判权问题被搁置一边。     

The Paradox at the Heart of American Conservatism

Abstract

This essay considers the state of American conservatism focusing initially on social and political institutions and concluding with a few comments on conservatism as an intellectual movement. A paradox is described as lying at the heart of American conservatism: the economic policies supported by conservatives promote economic conditions that are the main causes of the social problems conservatives lament most loudly.     

Race, Class, and Political Activism: Black, Chicana/o, and Japanese-American Leftists in Southern California, 1968–1978

This paper explores the third-world left in Los Angeles, from 1968–1978. In it I examine the political ideology and foci of one organization for each of the major racial/ethnic groups of the time: African Americans (Black Panther Party), Chicanas/os (El Centro de Accion Social y Autonomo [CASA]), and Japanese Americans (East Wind). In addition to reclaiming this relatively unknown history, I seek to explain the differences in the various organizations by analyzing them within the context of differential racialization. I argue that the distinct nature of each organization is at least partly due to the particular racial position of each racial/ethnic group within the local racial order.     

Community and Identity: The Making of Modern Gibraltar since 1704

Building on recent historiography that has questioned traditional assumptions regarding the altruism of post-war Canadian foreign policy, this article examines Canada's response to the emergence of the Afro-Asian bloc at the United Nations in 1960. Canadian diplomats initially greeted the emergence of the Third World, hoped to influence delegations from these newly emergent states and had notions of working as a bridge between the west and the rest. However, the increasing radicalism of African and Asian resolutions targeting Canada's traditional allies made this task increasingly difficult. Ultimately, Ottawa was forced to face the fact that it was a western country.