Seminar on Labour in Asia: A Comparative Perspective
Date: Thursday September 14, 2000
Time: 12:00-17:30 pm.
Place: IISH, Cruquiusweg 31, 1019 AT Amsterdam

Provisional Programme

12:00-13:00 Lunch

13:00-13:15 Introduction
Dr. Ratna Saptari (CLARA, IIAS/IISG), Dr. Mario Rutten (IIAS, University of Amsterdam)

13:15-13:45 Peasant Movements and Labour in India
Prof. Utsa Patnaik (School of Social Sciences, JNU, Delhi)

13:45-14:15 Bonded Labour in the Sindh, Pakistan
Dr. Kristoffel Lieten (University of Amsterdam)

14:15-14:45 Discussion

14:45-15:00 Tea/Coffee

15:00-15:30 Bangladeshi Women to Malaysia
Mrs. Anja Rudnick, MA (Amsterdam Research Institute for Global Issues and Development Studies)

15:30-16:00 Homeworkers in the Garment Industry in Thailand
Mrs. Isabelle Vagneron, MA (Université d'Auvergne, Clermont)

16:00-16:30 Japanese Policies on Southeast Asian Female Migrants
Dr. Nicola Piper (Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen)

16:30-17:00 Discussion

17:30-18:30 Reception

Aims of the Seminar
Labour studies in Asia are either general in nature with an emphasis on quantitative anlysis, or have a strong regional focus based on a case study approach. Comparison between labour relations in different regions of Asia is less common. At the same time, the importance of the specific historical circumstances, state policies, and social context in the shaping of labour relations is widely acknowledged. The aim of this afternoon session is to bring together scholars working on labour issues in different parts of Asia. For that reason the seminar consists of lectures on labour in South Asia (India and Pakistan), Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Thailand) and East Asia (Japan). The second aim is to bring together labour scholars to exchange information on ongoing research. An increasing number of scholars in the Netherlands are studying work processes, industrial and non-industrial relations, labour migration, etc., in Asia, past and present. Many of them are incorporated in discussion groups in different research schools but often have little knowledge of the work of scholars outside their respective research schools. Within this framework, the international research programme Changing Labour Relations in Asia (CLARA) sponsored by the International Institute of Asian Studies (IIAS), branch office Amsterdam, and the International Institute of Social History (IISH), plans to organise a meeting of all these social scientists, historians and economists who are studying Asian labour relations and are based in the Netherlands.

Registration, Information
For registration and further information, please contact Drs. Heleen van der Minne, IIAS Branch Office Amsterdam, tel 020-5253657

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