2020/4/1 The Role of Ethnography in Studying Taiwan's Migrant Workers and the Broker System

Topic 2 ： "The Role of Ethnography in Studying Taiwan's Migrant Workers and the Broker System"
主持人 ： 林淑芬教授/交通大学社会与文化研究所
（ Moderator: Shu-fen Lin , Institute of Social Research and Cultural Studies, NCTU. ）
时间（Time）： 2020年4月1日（周三）April 1 14:00-17:00
地点（Venue）：国立交通大学人社二馆106A教室（106A HA Building 2 ,NCTU）

主持人:林淑芬教授/交通大学社会与文化研究所
Moderator: Shu-fen Lin , Institute of Social Research and Cultural Studies, NCTU.

简介（Lecture Description）：
The lecture is an informal discussion focused on methodology, primarily about the role of ethnography in the project "Broker & Employer Practices and Working Conditions Foreign Migrant Workers in Taiwan" (Qualitative Study- June 2019-November 2020). This project is still ongoing, in collaboration with faculty and researchers at Mahidol University/ IPSR, NCTU/ICCS and National Dongwa University, Department of Sociology. Taiwan’s formal international labor migration began in March 1989 when the government pursued fourteen large infrastructural projects like Highway 3, the MRT, which utilize the broker system to hire a majority of Thai workers, with Filipinos and Indonesians. That year Taiwan signed the Taiwan Beneficial Relations Act (1989), designating favorable import quotas for the Philippines. By 1992, the process of hiring foreign migrant workers in construction, industry, domestic caretaking, and fisheries sectors became more formalized (Chen, 2006). While after 2005, such infrastructural construction projects slowed, the demand for labor in personal care services, SME factories and both long-and short haul fisheries sectors increased. While some receiving countries like Thailand and South Korea have moved toward Government to Government direct hiring systems through MOU processes and government run migrant worker services, Taiwan continues to utilize the private broker industry (recently amended direct employer hiring), waranting more careful study of broker and employer practices.
These developments in Taiwan are rather public and can be followed in the news, but how do we study brokering as social practices. The talk will consider methodological challenges of accessing interviews with broker companies, developing trust with manpower agencies, employers, and migrant worker populations, as well as the demands of NGO/Union solidarity practices in research.
*因应疫情，请与会者携带口罩入场。
* Regarding the COVID-19, please make sure that you wear a mask before you enter into the lectures.  
*English Lecture (本次活动为英文演讲)

主办单位:
国立交通大学暨台联大文化研究国际中心、亚际文化研究国际硕士学位学程（台湾联合大学系统）、交通大学社会与文化研究所、交通大学人文社会学系、TAIWAN FELLOWSHIP (MOE)。