Dear friends and colleagues,



I am writing to invite you to the next meeting of the PhD Kenkyukai,

hosted by the Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo, from

12:15-1:45 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2019




SPEAKER: Tricia Okada


TITLE: The Migration Experience and Gender Performance of Filipino Transgender Women Entertainers in Japan



TIME: February 21 (Thursday), 12:15-1:45pm


PLACE: Rm. 108 (第一会議室), ISS / Shaken Main Building


https://www.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/guide/index.html





­­­ABSTRACT


Female Filipino entertainers are widely recognized in Japan, but little is known about Filipino male-to-female transgender women or transpinay, a portmanteau of "transsexual" and "Pinay" (Filipino woman). Through interviews and participant observation in Japan and the Philippines, I examine the narratives of transpinay entertainers in Japan­ as a means to understand their gender performance and ­­their life course from pre-migration, to migration in Japan, to return to the Philippines. Drawing on concepts of gender, intersectionality, and transnationalism, I investigate how transpinay entertainers negotiate their identity and how the flows of migration to and from Japan affect gender affirmation in their professional and private lives.


Short Bio


Tricia Okada is a PhD candidate at the Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies in Waseda University. She is an assistant professor at the Center for English as a Lingua Franca, Tamagawa University. Her research interests are gender, migration, and sociolinguistics.