![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/ell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Biopolitics-Workshop-1-1024x575.png\")
<\/p>\n
A slide from Prof. Ong\u2019s presentation<\/em><\/p>\n Throughout the day on July 16, 2021, academics and postgraduate students Zooming in from NUS, National Taiwan University, the University of Hong Kong, and the University of California, Santa Barbara approached the workshop\u2019s broad and expansive area of interest \u2014 the critical intersection between human biology and politics in relation to the world\u2019s largest continent \u2014 from various theoretical, disciplinary, and historical standpoints.<\/p>\n Prof. Ong\u2019s presentation was followed by Prof. Michelle Huang\u2019s presentation on the biopolitical and geopolitical bodies of discourse that pertain to pregnant Mainland women who travel to Hong Kong to access the city\u2019s medical services. While they are officially desired for their economic contributions (to childbirth tourism and the city\u2019s population growth in the long term), their presence has also created a stigmatising \u201clocust imaginary\u201d in mainstream and online discursive spaces.<\/p>\n A screenshot of Prof. Huang\u2019s presentation<\/em><\/p>\n After a short break, three postgraduate students each presented an inquiry of cultural texts from different historical contexts. Md Firoz Mahmud Ahsan (HKU) examined how the perilous positionality of the Biharis are represented in two novels: Aquila Ismail\u2019s Of Martyrs and Marigolds<\/em> (2012) and Ruby Zaman\u2019s Invisible Lines<\/em> (2011). Gloria Yan Dou (HKU) explored the intersections of language, biopolitics, and neoliberal ideology in the product descriptions written by Hong Kong-based Carousel sellers. Finally, Koh Yee Cheng (NUS) recuperated the cultural history of Theatre Ox (a now-defunct Singaporean theatre company) and illuminated how its performances and aesthetic philosophy negotiated with the advent of national biopolitics.<\/p>\n The workshop ended with two seminars which were held concurrently. Participants either discussed the cultural politics of the People\u2019s Republic of China\u2019s birth control policies in a seminar coordinated by Yawen Li (NUS), Ying Xing (HKU), and Yiming Ma (UCSB) \u2014 or examined the currency of the interrelated words \u201crestriction\u201d and \u201cbecoming\u201d in A\/P John W. P. Phillip\u2019s \u201cRestrictions in Biopolitics: Asian Viewpoints\u201d seminar.<\/p>\n The Biopolitics and\/in Asia Workshop was jointly organised by the NUS Department of English Language and Literature and the Coalition of English Departments in Asia (COEDA). The organisers would like to thank the ELL Department, in particular the HOD Professor Michelle Lazar, for the support and funding provided to make the workshop possible. Many thanks, also, to all speakers, presenters, seminar coordinators, and participants. A final thank you to ELL faculty members Dr Tania Roy, who served as the respondent to the paper presentations; and A\/P Anne Thell who facilitated communications with COEDA.<\/p>\n The recordings for the plenary talks and A\/P John Phillips\u2019s seminar may be found below.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/ell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Biopolitics-Workshop-2-1024x575.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/ell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/Biopolitics-Workshop-3-1024x575.png\")
<\/p>\nA screenshot from the \u201cCultural Politics of Birth Control
\nMethods in Contemporary China\u201d seminar<\/em>\n