Hsiao-Chuan Hsia Shih Hsin University, Taiwan
Hsiao-Chuan Hsia, Ph.D.Professor at the Graduate Institute for Social Transformation Studies of Shih Hsin University, Taipei, Taiwan. She was the Institute’s founding faculty and served as the Director from August 2010 to July 2016. She also established the served as Directors the University’s Center for Indigenous People’s Cultures, Communication and Empowerment and Center for Research and Empowerment of Migrants.
As the first scholar studying marriage migration issues in Taiwan, her first well known book is titled “Drifting Shoal (????): the ‘Foreign Brides’ Phenomenon in Capitalist Globalization” (in Chinese). Her other publications analyze issues of immigrants, migrant workers, citizenship, empowerment and social movement. Hsia is also an activist striving for the empowerment of immigrant women and the making of im/migrant movement in Taiwan. She initiated the Chinese programs for marriage migrants in 1995, leading to the establishment of TransAsia Sisters Association, Taiwan (TASAT). She is also the co-founder of the Alliance for the Human Rights Legislation for Immigrants and Migrants (AHRLIM) in Taiwan.
In addition to being actively participating in the advancement of the im/migrant movement in Taiwan, Hsia has also been active in linking with organizations and movements outside of Taiwan and thus become active in various regional and international organizations. She has been instrumental in forming the international network for marriage migrant issues, Action Network for Marriage Migrants’ Rights and Empowerment (AMMORE). Moreover, she serves as the board member of Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) and elected as the member of Regional Council of Asia Pacific Women, Law and Development (APWLD), and the member of the international coordinating body of the International Migrants Alliance (IMA).
Hsia’s praxis-oriented research leads her to collaborate closely with im/migrant organizations in her research and publications. For instance, to identity issues faced by migrant domestic workers and come up with methods to help organize them, Hsia led a research titled “The Power to Organize and Engage: the Use of ICT by Women Migrant Domestic Migrants Organizations.” This research was in collaboration with APWLD and funded by the International Research Center in Canada. After conducting a series of workshops with migrant organizations in Taiwan and Hong Kong, a primer on using mobile phones to mobilize migrant workers was produced to contribute to the migrant workers’ “Right to Organize” campaign.
Another example is her edited a book titled For Better or For Worse: Comparative Research on Equity and Access for Marriage Migrants as the results of collaborating with member organizations of AMMORE to address of issues of marriage migrants in the Asia Pacific region. To analyze of the methods and results of grassroots organizing and alliance building in Hong Kong, she collaborate with NGOs and grassroots migrant organization in Hong Kong and publish an article titled “The Making of a Transnational Grassroots Migrant Movement—A Case Study of Hong Kong’s Asian Migrants’ Coordinating Body” (Critical Asian Studies: Vol 41 (1): 113-141).
She has also published many journal articles on the issues of citizenship and multiculturalism. Her recent English book is the result of collaborative work with scholars in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, titled Multiculturalism in East Asia: A Transnational Exploration of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan (edited by Koichi Iwabuchi, Hyun Mee Kim and Hsiao-Chuan Hsia, Rowman and Littlefield, in print).
