International Center for Cultural Studies

Report｜Workshop: The Production and Reproduction of Social Inequalities

2024-09-20

Workshop: The Production and Reproduction of Social Inequalities

Event｜Workshop: The Production and Reproduction of Social Inequalities

Time｜September 20-21, 2024

Venue｜HC201, HA Building 3, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) & Hybrid event.

Event Info｜https://iccs.chss.nycu.edu.tw/en/activity.php?USN=1505

Event Photo｜https://iccs.chss.nycu.edu.tw/zh/album_list.php?year=2024

Event Recording｜https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzLn5TDx5vGfup-tUIcsDqrkWdx-yO1zS&si=7ClrEXx5ZIX-9LTK

Organizer｜International Center for Cultural Studies, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University. & Social Inequalities Research Unit (SIRU), University of Cologne. & Africa-China Research Network, Academia Sinica.

ICCS Sub-project｜Migration, Unequal Citizens, and Critical Legal Studies & The Geopolitics and Cultural Economy of Societal Relations in a New GreaterChina

ICCS Principal Investigator｜Prof. Joyce C.H. Liu, Yu-Fan Chiu & Prof. Allen Chun

Introduction

The "Production and Reproduction of Social Inequalities" workshop was a two-day collaborative event between the Social Inequalities Research Unit (SIRU) at the University of Cologne, Germany, the International Center for Cultural Studies (ICCS) at the National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, and the Africa-China Research Network in Taiwan based at Academia Sinica. It explored conceptual frameworks and methodologies for studying inequality.

Each research group focused on different aspects of inequality, including migrant labor, human trafficking, indigeneity, statelessness, and the role of the political economy of capitalism in shaping social inequalities in Asian countries and the Global South during the 21st century.

Michaela Pelican, professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Cologne and the speaker for the research unit “The Production and Reproduction of Social Inequalities: Global Contexts and Concepts of Labor Exploitation,” stated that the workshop aimed not only to explore conceptual frameworks and methodologies, fostering exchange and collaboration among participants and organizers.

Day 1- Friday, 20 September

On day 1, the workshop was divided into two topics: Historical and Political Crisis of Forced Labor with three panels and Migration as Logistical Process with two panels.

Historical and Political Crisis of Forced Labor

Panel 1 focused on The International Labor Organization, Colonialism, and the History of "Forced Labor” with Tu Huynh, Principal Investigator at the Global South Studies CenterUniversity of Cologne, as moderator.

In this panel, Ulrike Lindner, Professor of Modern History at the Department of History, University of Cologne, and Ya-Wen Yang, Assistant Research Professor at Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica, explored the role of the ILO and its relationship with forced labor through the lens of an historical approach and a legal approach.

Ulrike Lindner explored the history of the International Labour Organization (ILO) as an entity closely tied to imperialism in creating regulations, including the standard of forced labor in native labor. She linked the ILO's standards regarding native labor to the stereotype of "lazy Africans" between 1919 and 1930, which was used as a justification for Western imperialism to secure cheap labor from colonized populations.

In short, the stereotype of “lazy Africans” has fostered the racist notion of a division of labor between native and European workers, suggesting that Africans were only capable of working in tropical and Southern climates, while Europeans were needed to oversee them and perform intellectual tasks. Europeans used this stereotype to enforce the dependency of “lazy Africans” on labor, as their businesses in Africa relied on cheap labor for plantations, farming, and infrastructure.

In the mid-1920s, the ILO began to address forced labor, but the standards for forced labor were problematic. The ILO attempted to regulate the violent forced labor regimes in the Global South by establishing the Expert Commission on Native Labour in 1926. During discussions, the colonial experts—almost all of whom were former colonial officials—sought to uphold existing work regimes, often basing their recommendations on racist assumptions. Ideas of "education for labor" influenced the internal workings of the commission and shaped the discourses within the ILO.

Ya-Wen Yang brought up cases of human trafficking in Taiwan involving Filipino migrant workers to criticize the Taiwanese judiciary’s narrow interpretation of forced labor. Yang discussed the case of Chiang, the head of a brokerage company who was prosecuted for exploitation through debt bondage. Some of the charges against him included overcharging workers by five times the legal cap, creating false advertisements, providing poor living conditions, and withholding wages and passports.

The court determined that he was not guilty for several reasons, including the claim that his overcharging and withholding of wages and the passport were done with the worker’s consent. Yang viewed the judiciary’s decision as reflective of a coercion-centered and rather than an exploitation-centered perspective, which prioritizes formal consent and freedom of contract without considering economic necessity and structural inequalities as forms of coercion. These views contrast with the interpretation of forced labor as defined by the ILO C29 standard.

Yang suggested that Taiwan needs a more comprehensive approach to address coercive practices and the broader conditions perpetuating inequality and exploitation.

Panel 2 focused on Pan-Asia Politics and Racialized Capitalist Relations, with Joyce C. H. Liu, Director of the International Institute for Cultural Studies at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, serving as the moderator.

Fabiana Kutsche*, a Doctoral Researcher in the Department of History at the University of Cologne, explored the voices and contributions of Asian members to the International Labour Conferences from the 1920s to the 1940s and followed patterns of Pan-Asian thought in the debates. Samia Dinkelaker*, from the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, examined Taiwan’s migrant labor system from the perspective of racialized capitalism. She suggested this perspective to describe migrant workers’ intensified exploitation and their segregation from local workers. She discussed how current divisions of workers are related to earlier divisions in Taiwan’s capitalist history, and which role migrant workers’ racialization plays in the contemporary phase of Taiwan’s capitalism.

Panel 3 focused on Export Processing Zones and Labor Politics, with Derek Sheridan, Assistant Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, as a moderator.

In this panel, Meron Zeleke, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Principal Investigator at the Center of Human Rights, Addis Ababa University, and Hao-Yu Cho, Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, explored labor policies and their impact on labor union conditions in Ethiopia and Mexico.

Meron Zeleke analyzed the weakening of labor unions in the Ethiopian garment industry, specifically at the Hawassa Industrial Park post-2018. This weakening process aligned with a policy shift towards a developmental state model centered on state-led industrialization. Since the early 2000s, the Ethiopian government has issued new legislation, established institutions, and heavily invested in infrastructural development to enhance manufacturing industries in the country.

The new policy was designed to attract foreign investment. In pursuing foreign direct investment, countries often compromise labor rights and enforce exploitative working conditions to lure multinational corporations. Industrial interests frequently take precedence in such a competitive capitalist landscape, weakening labor legislation.

In 2017, Ethiopia emerged as the top destination for foreign apparel firms in East Africa and the second largest in Africa. The political transition in Ethiopia in 2018 is celebrated for its significant reforms, which included expanding political and civic freedoms, particularly in advocating for labor rights.

However, the political transition and the ratification of 23 ILO conventions, including Convention No. 87, No. 98, and No. 155, are insufficient to ensure freedom for labor unions in Ethiopia. Zeleke identified several challenges to the strength of labor unions, including the persistence of a suppressive industrial tradition regarding associational rights. The obstacles to unionization violate Ethiopia’s international commitments, the country’s constitution, the labor proclamation, and other relevant legal instruments.

Similarly, Hao-Yu Cho examined the impact of labor policies in Mexico, specifically within the Maquiladora industry, and their relation to dispatched labor. Mexico initiated the “Border Industrialization Program” (BIP) along the U.S.-Mexico border in the late 1960s to attract foreign investment. The BIP, along with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), successfully positioned Mexico as a prime production location for global transnational corporations looking to enter the North American market. The Maquiladora became a crucial economic site for foreign investment.

To meet the demands of economic development, the Mexican government frequently introduced new regulations, including the 2012 labor reform. This reform relaxed labor regulations to attract foreign investment by making hiring and firing practices easier and promoting the growth of temporary employment and dispatched workers. These conditions have led to social fragmentation, preventing dispatched labor from forming collective bargaining agreements. Additionally, the frequent movement of workers disrupts social bonds, weakening solidarity as the precarious nature of their work undermines labor unions.

Migration as Logistical Process

Panel 4 focused on Transformations in Migration Governance and Forced Labor with Ulrike Lindner as a moderator.

Jonathan Ngeh, senior researcher at the Global South Studies Center, University of Cologne, and Yu-Fan Chiu, Associate Professor at the School of Law, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, explored migration as a logistical process and its relation to creating modern slavery and human trafficking.

Jonathan Ngeh analyzed the gender dynamics of human trafficking in Cameroon, focusing particularly on the women who migrate to work in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. As the starting point, he referred to the Palmero Protocol to see what is defined as human trafficking in his study cases.

Based on the Palmero Protocol, human trafficking is trafficking in persons, which refers to the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of individuals through various coercive means, including force, fraud, deception, or abuse of power. It can involve obtaining consent from someone in a position of control over the victim through payments or benefits.

The primary goal of trafficking is exploitation, which encompasses activities such as sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, servitude, and organ removal.

In his case, a woman called Mira was recruited by her pastor under false pretenses, lying about a job in Kuwait, withholding important information, and pocketing the travel expenses sent by the employer. He also charged her additional fees.

The primary goal of trafficking is exploitation, which encompasses activities such as sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, servitude, and organ removal.

Once in Kuwait, her employer confiscated her passport, forced her to work over 15 hours a day, and subjected her to physical and verbal abuse. He withheld her pay and demanded repayment of about $3,000 for travel costs before allowing her to leave. She also faced sexual harassment. Despite escaping three times and seeking help from the recruitment agency that brought her, they returned her to her abuser and dismissed her complaints about the harassment.

Ngeh explained what Mira has experienced is human trafficking based on the Palmero Protocol. However, the case did not see any legal pursuit of justice. In conclusion, he stated that institutional practices, including migration regulations, residency policies, and labor market guidelines, reinforce structural barriers that disproportionately impact migrant women, heightening their vulnerability to coercive labor exploitation and sexual abuse. Additionally, migrants' interactions with employers and officials in state institutions and businesses further entrench social hierarchies and perpetuate violence against women.

Yu-Fan Chiu discussed modern slavery within the context of the seafood supply chain in Taiwan. She seeks to explore the legal issues related to the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and its influence on forced labor in non-EU countries.

Taiwan is not currently a member of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Hence, Taiwan cannot ratify ILO Conventions C29 and C188. Chiu explained that the concept of forced labor in Taiwan’s legal system differs from that outlined in ILO C29 and that the working conditions for fishers do not align with the standards set by C188.

Taiwan has its basic labor law, but for overseas fishers, Taiwan has specific regulations, particularly for those recruited at sea. The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) has established an Overseas Employment System for migrant fishers on Taiwan-flagged vessels in distant water fishing (DWF), which effectively excludes these fishers from basic labor law protections in Taiwan. Unfortunately, this regulation creates injustice and makes them live in vulnerable situations.

Chiu argued that the CSDDD presents an opportunity for Taiwan, as a non-EU country, to engage with international law to eliminate forced labor in the seafood supply chain industry. While the CSDDD will not be directly incorporated into Taiwan’s national law, it is significant given Taiwan's seafood exports to the EU and the high risk of forced labor in its DWF sector. This research uses Taiwan's DWF industry as a case study to analyze the legal implications of the CSDDD on forced labor in non-EU countries.

Although the CSDDD includes direct extraterritorial legislation and enforcement measures applicable to third-country companies that meet specific turnover criteria, it does not bind non-EU countries directly.

Therefore, it cannot serve as a legal basis for requiring the Taiwanese government to alter its definition of forced labor or improve working conditions for fishers. Under Pillar One of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), states are responsible for protecting against human rights abuses through effective policies and legislation, ensuring that businesses within their jurisdiction, including those operating on Taiwan-flagged vessels in DWF respect human rights throughout their operations.

Panel 5 focused on Forced Labor and Supply Chains, with Meron Zeleke as a moderator.

Joyce C.H. Liu examined the reemergence of Tianxia in 21st-century China by exploring the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Liu argued that the BRI materialized and technologically implemented the Tianxia vision. Chinese emperors historically used the concept of Tianxia to legitimize their governance and strategically organize resources to secure the production and circulation of goods and the stability of the state. The concept of Tianxia also contributed to the tributary system, which has a darker side, including collusion and corruption, underground connections with gangs, smuggling of goods, and the kidnapping of forced labor.

All aspects of the Tianxia vision are reflected in the BRI, in which 154 countries and 32 international organizations have signed over 200 cooperation documents for the Belt and Road Initiative by March 2024. China has created a global infrastructure network, including the Maritime Silk Road, special economic zones, and digital infrastructure. However, the BRI has unintended side effects, revealing the dark corners of scam compounds and their underground rhizomes, emphasizing the geo-historical factors and semi-tributary trading practices involved.

In the end, Liu proposed the V – M+ model of digital capital operation in the 21st century, focusing on the techniques of capital operation through compound capitalism, or the Samoan Model, which produces legal exceptional zones. In this model, “V” is the void with no cost and violence with no law, indicating that there are no limits to the multiplication of capital. She argued the model integrates transnational corporations, overseas special economic zones that facilitate various favorable legal exceptions, and digital automation that accelerates capital flow and human labor extraction transactions.

Jonathan S. Parhusip, a PhD student at the Institute of Social Research and Cultural Studies, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, examined the exploitative recruitment practice among Indonesian migrant fishers who work aboard Taiwanese distant water fishing vessels. Parhusip found the exploitation has been going on since the first time the crew registered to work in Indonesia. The broker from their hometown usually overcharged them for the paperwork involved in the recruitment process.

The broker also attempted to deceive them by providing false information regarding wages and contracts. The recruiters, the broker, and the state exploit fishers' vulnerable conditions, such as being far from land and lacking communication access while at sea. As a result, the fishers are forced to pay brokerage fees and sign loan agreements, leading to significant debt, with their wages often illegally deducted.

Moreover, Taiwanese law establishes a lower minimum wage for distant-water fishing than for regular labor, as outlined in the Taiwan Labor Law. The minimum wage for distant-water fishing is approximately USD 550, compared to USD 889 for regular labor. Consequently, the net salary for these fishermen is minimal due to deductions for loans and other additional charges incurred on board.

One of Parhusip's key recommendations is that employers should cover all costs associated with recruitment, including any fees related to documentation and recruitment processes, in accordance with international standards on recruitment fees and the "employer pays principle."

Day 2 Saturday, 21 September

On day 2, the workshop was divided into two topics: Governing Migration and Care with two panels and Ramifications of Uneven Development with one panel.

Governing Migration and Care

Panel 6 focused on Beyond Labor: Governing and Challenging Migrant Categories with Fabiana Kutsche as moderator.

In Tu Huynh’s speculative inquiry, she explored the intersection of global capitalism, Chinese labor migration, and the transformation of social status in the 19th century, focusing on how migration allowed Chinese laborers to renegotiate their social standing both abroad and within China. She argued that while Chinese laborers in colonial societies faced exclusion and rigid social categories, their economic success abroad provided moments of mobility that enabled some reconfiguration of China’s strict liangjian (良贱) system of social hierarchy.

The liangjian system classified individuals into two main categories: liangmin (良民), or good/free commoners (including scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants), and jianmin (贱民), or debased/low-status people. This system reinforced the power structures of the Qing dynasty, serving both as a tool of governance and a mechanism for maintaining social order.

However, merchants held an ambiguous position within the system, one that fluctuated based on regional context and economic success. This created a precarious situation for merchants, where their economic power was acknowledged, but their social status remained constrained by entrenched cultural norms and legal restrictions.

During the global capitalist transformations of the 19th century, Chinese laborers and merchants abroad found opportunities to renegotiate the rigid boundaries of the liangjian system. Their economic success overseas often led to higher social status upon returning to China. The prestige associated with wealth, international experience, and participation in global markets began to outweigh traditional Confucian ideals that had previously marginalized merchants in Chinese society.

In conclusion, through this inquiry, Huynh encouraged us to rethink how migration, beyond its exploitative aspects, catalyzes social transformation. Economic mobility in global capitalism challenged the stability of pre-existing social systems like the liangjian hierarchy.

Tzu-Chi Ou*, Assistant Professor at the International College of Innovation, National Chengchi University, examined the experiences of Indonesian migrant mothers who give birth and raise children in Taiwan, focusing on the concept of “short-distance parenting.”

Panel 7 focused on Care, Migration, and Inequality, with Yu-Fan Chiu as a moderator.

Wasiq Silan (I-An Gao) *, a researcher at the Center of Ethnic Relations and Nationalism, University of Helsinki, delved into the complex dynamics of indigeneity and migration within this vulnerability quandary, with a specific focus on the Tayal, Taiwan.

Qi Li, a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Social Research and Cultural Studies, National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University, presented a territorial contest between the state, civil society, and migrant workers through informal housing in urban villages located in Zhangjiang Science City, Shanghai.

Zhangjiang Science City is the core hub for China's strategic high-tech industries, including semiconductors, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence. Over the past three decades, Zhangjiang has transformed from a rural commune into a critical infrastructure supporting China's high-tech ambitions. This development and the expansion of Zhangjiang Science City have led to several implications, including urbanization, land shifts, and housing problems. To understand the struggles faced by displaced individuals regarding the uncertain conditions of their land, Qi traced the routes of the Science City's expansion by mapping the paths of the displaced people.

In her analysis of Zhangjiang Science Park, she proposed the concept of the politics of deterritorialization as migrant territoriality: a territory for displaced persons characterized by fragmented and localized mobilization. While the Science Park territory is typically associated with investment, innovation, and advancement, this migrant territoriality reflects the attempts of displaced individuals to reoccupy and reproduce space by informally reclaiming land, constructing extralegal housing, and navigating the irregular boundaries of the Science City. Their reoccupation and reproduction differentiate their territory from that of Zhangjiang Science Park, even though their location falls under state regulation for the Science Park.

Ramifications of Uneven Development

Panel 8 focused on Moral Geographies and the Reproduction of Inequality, with Wasiq Silan (I-An Gao) as a moderator.

I-Yi Hsieh, a postdoctoral fellow of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, analyzes the stigmatization of the Asian food market, especially the wet market, during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the Taiwanese food infrastructure. As the pandemic shifted from Asia to Euro-America in early 2020, "wet markets" became scapegoated in the narrative surrounding the virus, reflecting broader issues of ecological devastation, urban trade practices, and inadequate public health responses.

Hsieh investigated how lockdown measures in 2021 disrupted the food supply chain, exacerbating food insecurity and social inequality within a working-class community in Taipei. She also brought the translation politics of the term "wet market," which originated in Singapore and is often misunderstood in Taiwan and mainland China.

Derek Sheridan analyzed the decisions and rationales of Chinese migrants moving to Africa and how these relate to transformations in uneven global political economies. He examined the life histories of Chinese migrants and their families in Tanzania and Uganda.

Based on their stories, Sheridan found that migrants viewed the continent as an attractive destination for earning money to achieve a better life. Many cited its underdevelopment as an opportunity while claiming to lack the capability to keep up with China’s development or migrate and succeed in America or Europe.

Sheridan explained that for Chinese migrants in Tanzania, perceiving uneven development feels like time travel. When they look at Tanzania, it evokes memories of China’s past conditions. The migrants view both China and Africa as still developing, but within this context, they either see hope in Africa or see the two regions as distinct.

Sheridan explained that these imaginaries reflect China's rapid development, and moving to Africa becomes a journey back to China’s past. At the same time, this imagination fosters the belief that South-South cooperation can bring development to African countries, following the flying geese model. However, it also reinforces hierarchical views of Chinese development and African underdevelopment.

At the end of the workshop, all participants discussed the upcoming collaborative project and publication as a continuation of their work from the workshop.

Note: Please be advised that an asterisk (*) indicates that the participant has not authorized the publication of their content.