This multi-disciplinary panel brings together scholars studying Chinese migration to 20th century Malaya and contemporary Singapore. The overarching concern is to assess how geopolitics and class differentiation have shaped the experiences of Chinese migrants to the region as well as their local reception. The speakers hail from anthropology, labor relations, and history, and will discuss the experiences of Chinese university students in Singapore amid a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape; the responses and interactions of local industrial workers towards their migrant counterparts, including Chinese workers, in contemporary Singapore; and how racialized citizenship policies in Cold War-era Malaya and Singapore reshaped the Chinese diaspora's relationship to China.

Panelists:

Zach Howlett, Associate Professor, Sociology and Anthropology, National University of Singapore

Wen Li Thian, PhD student, ILR, Cornell University

Darren Wan, PhD student, History, Cornell University

Moderator: Shaoling Ma, Associate Professor, Asian Studies, Cornell University