Gender Relations Centre
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
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Gender Relations Centre
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
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Students
Nathan Boyle commenced his PhD (Anthropology) in March 2002, and is examining how human rights non-government organisations (NGOs) practice and embody human rights and, in particular, contest state powers as well as relate to states, donors and target groups. Nathan undertook ethnographic fieldwork for one year in Thailand, and focused his research on Forum-Asia, a prominent regional human rights NGO in Bangkok. Nathan’s research has enabled him to enter important debates, such as examining tensions and relations between state, society and civil society, how political space and opposition is being defined and contested, the role of NGOs in promoting human rights, the impact of the 1997 Thai Constitution on consolidating democracy and human rights, and the influence of global discourses, such as good governance on NGO practices. Prior to joining the Gender Relations Centre Nathan completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at Monash University in 2001 and majored in Anthropology. His Honours thesis is entitled "Indigenous Rights: Developing Human Rights Theory to Secure Cultural Membership", which is concerned with providing a theoretical space for the development of indigenous rights within human rights theory. Nathan is also a research assistant at the Centre for Educational Development and Academic Methods at ANU, and is involved with Amnesty International Australia and focuses his attention on queer rights. Nathan’s academic interests include human rights, Southeast Asian politics, NGOs and social movements, state-society relations, development and good governance discourses, labour and migration, and feminist theory. Thesis title: Accounting for human rights practices: making sense of audit cultures and professionalism in Forum-Asia
Mei-Ling Ellerman commenced her PhD studies in March 2008. She received her MA in International Development with a concentration in Gender and Rights, from American University’s School of International Service. In 2005, Mei-Ling started a two year independent research project on Chinese migrant domestic workers’ workplace issues, with funding from the Fulbright and David Boren Fellowships. As a Visiting Scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, Gender and Law Center, she founded the “Action Research Project on Domestic Workers.” For two years she carried out 100 individual interviews with the crucial support of Chinese volunteer interviewers, and taught domestic workers in employment agencies. In her second year, Mei-Ling also designed and carried out a project funded by UNESCO. The project aimed to improve the qualitative research capacity of a local NGO by conducting research on domestic workers. In March 2007 she held a UNESCO-funded conference in Beijing bringing together NGOs and other organizations working on migrant issues to discuss their work, and possible outreach and collaboration regarding domestic workers. After two years of researching domestic work, many unresolved problems were revealed such as discrimination, abuse, sexual harassment, restricted freedom of movement and substandard provision for basic needs. After identifying these issues, it became clear that without the legal means to protect workers, the next step should be to explore feasible solutions. Mei-Ling’s doctoral research will evolve from this understanding, and will investigate factors that inhibit the development of Chinese female migrant domestic workers’ voice, critical awareness, engagement, and autonomy. She will draw upon multi-disciplinary theory to research women’s self-perceptions, decision-making and reasons for silence and inaction in the workplace. Analysis of interview data will feed into the participatory workshops, the goal of which is to start a process of growth, critical thinking, and a feeling of group power through dialogue that can engender behavioral changes in the workplace. Mei-Ling’s interests include social change, gender and development in China, domestic violence, sexual harassment and trafficking issues, action research, critical pedagogy and feminist theory and practice. Thesis title: Investigating the Barriers and Potential Pathways to Critical Consciousness and the Empowerment of Chinese Migrant Domestic Workers
Catherine started her PhD studies at the Gender Relations Centre in April 2005. Her most recent work has been in women's empowerment projects in Pakistan, particularly through women engaging through education. Working with the post-graduate programme of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, she has been involved in setting up a Continuing Education project for women that offers the opportunity for module-based study towards higher degrees. Economic and social pressures as well as global changes in the post 9/11 environment have made this a necessity. It is a first for Pakistan. She has completed her first degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Exeter University in England, including a year at Alexandria University, Egypt. Her honours thesis titled "Violence against Women in Pakistan" received the inaugural departmental prize for an honours thesis. Having lived for many years in Egypt and Pakistan, Catherine’s research interests are gender, Islam, and the status and roles of women in Muslim societies. She has a particular interest in issues of violence against women in these societies. Catherine's thesis is seeking to look at how women's organizations are able to engage with the state and society in order to negotiate for change for women. In strongly patriarchal societies where religion is used as a tool to justify the state's position, how can women initiate engagement and what discourse can they use to bring about change. Women's movements in Pakistan are trying to find a voice to challenge the framework within which violence is perpetrated and perpetuated. Thesis title: Negotiating Change: Violence and Women in Pakistan 
Kumiko KAWASHIMA Kumiko Kawashima commenced her PhD in March 2005 and joined the Gender Relations Centre in January 2006. She is a PhD candidate in Anthropology. Kumiko's previous academic background is in women's studies and linguistics. She completed a BA (Honours) degree at the University of New South Wales in 2002. Her Honours thesis was titled Disciplining the Feminine Self: Critical analysis of interpersonal meaning in Australian and Japanese women's magazines and she graduated as the top Honours student from the Department of Linguistics. Prior to commencing her study at ANU, Kumiko developed her research skills as a social research consultant in Sydney, where she worked with all levels of government, as well as with private businesses and local residents. As part of her professional development, she also gained a Graduate Certificate in Policy Studies from the University of New South Wales in 2004. Through her doctoral research on Japanese migration to Australia, Kumiko hopes to explore, from a gendered perspective and with an anthropological approach, the intersections of individual hopes and desires, consumption of experience through transnational mobility, and work practice.
Thesis title: Labouring towards Self-Actualisation: Japanese Working Holiday Makers in Australia
Sam commenced her PhD studies at the Gender Relations Centre in February 2007. She holds honours degrees in both Asian Studies (Chinese) and Law from the ANU, and was awarded the 2006 University Medal in Asian Studies. For her PhD project, Sam is exploring the strategies used by Chinese popular organisations to negotiate for social change in the areas of gender equality and environmental protection. She is particularly interested in the factors which contribute to the success or failure of popular activism in China today. Prior to commencing her PhD studies, Sam worked in the area of gender and development for AusAID, the Australian international aid agency. Sam's academic interests include Chinese politics and law, popular organisations and social movements, gender relations in contemporary China, and the interrelation between official and popular/activist discourses in China. Thesis title: Strategies for Social Activism in Contemporary China
Tracy Lee commenced her study toward a PhD degree in the Gender Relations Centre in March 2007. A native of Hong Kong, Tracy received her first degree in Chinese and English-Chinese Translation from the University of Hong Kong in 2000. She worked as a journalist and editor after graduation and obtained a master’s degree in Communication Studies from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore in 2005. She is also a translator and writer for Chinese magazines. She is currently doing a project on men’s magazines in contemporary China under the supervision of Dr Tamara Jacka. The study will be the first comprehensive scholarly research into men’s magazines in China. It is expected that, by employing both critical and empirical methods, it will shed light on the interpretation of gender and its interactions with mass media and popular culture in a time when China is rapidly merging into global capitalism. Tracy is also a part-time teacher of Cantonese in the China and Korea Centre of the Faculty of Asian Studies. Thesis title: Reading Men's Magazines in Contemporary China
Ayami NORITAKE B.A.in literature in the Department of Spanish Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Tokyo M.A. of International Studies, Graduate School of Area Studies, Major Field in Asian and Pacific Area (Latin America), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Tokyo During her MA studies, Ayami spent two years for the field research in Mexico City for the MA thesis research on women's participation in the Urban Popular Movement in Mexico City. After completing the first year in the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo, Ayami worked in the UNIFEM South Asia Regional Office in Indiaas Programme Officer for two years. Areas of interest: gender and development, women's participation in social construction and place making, women in non-wage labour/informal sector, changes in gender relations in contemporary South Korea
Thesis Title: Gender Relations in Urban Space: The Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul, Contemporary South Korea
Aileen May Mijares commenced her PhD studies at the Gender Relations Centre in March 2005. She is an International Postgraduate Research Scholarships (IPRS) awardee from the Philippines. Before coming to ANU, Aileen has been involved with AnthroWatch since its inception in 1994. AnthroWatch is an NGO composed of anthropologists and other social scientists engaged in development work with indigenous peoples --assisting them in the claim-making and management of ancestral domains and undertaking advocacy work on issues concerning indigenous peoples and gender. She has also been involved in reproductive rights advocacy and was a research associate of the International Reproductive Rights Research Action Group (IRRRAG-Philippines) and a fellow of the Institute of International Education —Leadership Development Mechanism (IIE-LDM). For her PhD research project, Aileen is investigating the phenomenon of migration among indigenous women. She would like to look into how migration shapes the ethnic and gender identities of indigenous women in the Philippines. Thesis title: Moving Narratives: Gender, Indigeneity and Agency in Central Philippines  Christine STEWART Christine Stewart was awarded a BA Hons I degree from Sydney University, majoring in Anthropology and Indonesian & Malayan Studies, which was followed by a year's study in Jakarta before moving to Papua New Guinea, where she received a law degree at the (then) very new University of Papua New Guinea. The next two decades Christine spent between beef farming in Australia, working in legislative drafting and law reform in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. One of the most recent achievements in this regard was the preparation of Papua New Guinea's HIV/AIDS Management and Prevention legislation while working with the AusAID National HIV/AIDS Support Project. Christine’s scholarly interests and specialties range from Pacific fisheries law to HIV/AIDS law and legal issues and gender matters. In a related role, Christine was working in the Papua New Guinea Law Reform Commission 1989-1994 during its high-profile domestic violence campaign. Christine’s PhD project is an interdisciplinary study of the role of the introduced law, and particularly the criminal law, in perceptions of gender and sexuality in Papua New Guinea. Her study is strongly informed and framed by the current moral panic surrounding the spread of HIV/AIDS and harassment and victimisation of sex workers. Thesis title: Sex Work and Sodomy: the role of the introduced law in Papua New Guinea
The gender construction of illness and culture: studies of pregnancy rituals and discourses in traditional Taiwan
Lichao (Lee) Yang commenced her PhD in Anthropology in March 2007. Prior to this, Lee achieved her M.Sc. degree in Sustainable Resource Management at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Her Master’s thesis was on participatory land planning and community development in Northern China. She has also been involved in many activities on gender issues and community development. In 2004, alongside completing her Master’s degree, Lee worked as project officer for the GTZ Poverty Alleviation Monitoring Project in Jiangxi Province, as well as for the AusAID Grassland Management Project in Inner Mongolia. Thesis title: Myth and Truth: Participation and Development in Rural China |
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Page last updated:
August 28 2008 Please direct all enquiries to: GRC Administrator Page authorised by: Director, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies |
| The Australian National University — CRICOS Provider Number 00120C |
Nathan BOYLE
Mei-Ling ELLERMAN
Catherine HINE
Sam KEECH-MARX
Tracy K. LEE
Aileen May Mijares
Ms Jin-Shiu (Jessie) SUNG
Lichao (Lee) YANG