The international conference on “Gender, Geopolitics, and Forced Migration” took place on March 4-5, 2024, in Bangkok, Thailand. Aligned with International Women’s Month 2024’s theme of “Inspire Inclusion,” the conference aimed to advocate for Gender Equality through advocating for a gender-sensitive approach to geopolitics in international relations, foreign policy making, and national politics.
Hosted by the Centre on Gender and Forced Displacement (CGFD) at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), the conference featured four panels with active participation from IDRC Research Chairs.
Taking feminist perspectives on war, conflicts, displacements, migration, and peace, the three-fold objectives of the conference are
- To Investigate the gendered assumptions/stereotypes in the study of forced migration, displacements, international relations, and national and foreign policy making, including their explicit geopolitical and biopolitical reasoning and how political spatialization renders women and vulnerable groups even more vulnerable.
- To examine the implications of militarized notions of territorial citizenship, using the masculinist ideas of power, space, and security and feminine representations of peace, security, and victimhood.
- To explore how the practical everyday implications of geopolitics and biopolitics and their intersectionalities impact the causes and consequences of displacements.
Panel One: Gender, Geopolitics, and Internal Displacements
Chair: Professor Paula Banerjee (IDRC Research Chair, Director of CGFD, AIT)
- IDP’s in Myanmar
Speaker: Dr. Nyi Nyi Kyaw (IDRC Research Chair for Chiang Mai University, Thailand) - Spatial Confinement and Displacement: The Bedouins (Badu) of the Negev (Naqab)
Speaker: Dr. Priya Singh (Post Doctoral Researcher, CFGD, AIT, Thailand) - IDP’s and Climate Change
Speaker: Mr. Bradley Mellicker (Senior Regional Emergency Post Crisis Specialist, Regional Office for Asia Pacific, International Organization for Migration)
Panel Two: Gendered Vulnerabilities under the Rubrics of Citizenship and Statelessness
Chair: Professor Geraldine Forbes (Professor, State University of New York Oswego, USA)
- LTBTQ Community in Lebanon
Speaker: Dr. Houwayda Matta Ramia (IDRC Research Chair, St. Joshep University, Lebanon) - Women in 1971 Conflict
Speaker: Dr. Purna Banerjee (Associate Professor, Presidency University, Kolkata, India) - Biometric Data, Identity and Refugee Protection: the Case of Rohingya Camp in Bangladesh
Speaker: Professor Nasreen Chowdhory (Professor, Department of Political Science, Delhi University)
Panel Three: Gender, Biopolitics and Displacements
Chair: Professor Lydia Potts (Coordinator, European Masters in Migration and Intercultural Relations, Carl Von Ossietzky University, Germany)
- “The Complex Nexus of Geopolitics and Biopolitics on the Health and Well-Being of the Displaced: Evidence from Rohingya Refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh”
Speaker: Dr. Monira Ahsan (Postdoctoral Researcher, CGFD, AIT, Thailand) - “Security of the Rohingya Refugees among Thai Muslims”
Speaker: Dr. Amporn Marddent (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, Thammasat University)
Panel Four: Geopolitics and Biopolitics: Everyday Experiences of the Displaced
Chair: Dr. Mike Hayes (Lecturer, the Institute for Human Rights and Peace Studies, Mahidol University)
- “The ‘abandoned’ Identities and Realities of being a Migrant Worker: The Case of the Bangladeshi Women Domestic Migrants in Asia”
Speaker: Dr. Poonam Sharma (International Center for Cultural Studies, NYCU, Taiwan) - “The Compounded Victimization of Women in Assam’s NRC Process – A Geopolitical Analysis”
Speaker: Ms. Shuma Talukder (Corporate Lawyer and Corporate Governance Professional and Director of LexED Research, Kolkata, India) - “Gendering Salaita: Dissent in American Academia in the Era of Zionism”
Speaker: Dr. Debojoy Chanda (Assistant Professor, Department of English, Panskura, Banamali College, India) - “Brothels and its relationship with geopolitics: A case study on Migrant women in Kolkata”
Speaker: Dr. Sangbida Lahiri (Assistant Professor, JK Lakshmipat University, India)
View the conference agenda for a full list of panel topics, keynote addresses, lectures, and speakers: