THE HONG KONG ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY
AND THE HONG KONG MUSEUM OF HISTORY
PRESENT
An Anthropological Talk by Evelyn KWOK
Migrant Domestic Workers in Hong Kong: Spatial Agency and Occupation
Friday 16 October 2026, 7:00pm
Hong Kong Museum of History
Lecture Hall, Ground Floor, 100 Chatham Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
In this talk, I discuss a decade of research on how migrant domestic workers claim and activate their agency through creative space making. As a spatial design researcher, I engage with the long-discussed topic of migrant domestic workers through the framework of space: space that is restricted and disciplined in the domestic sphere, juxtaposed with the 'loose' and available public space that is ripe for transformation. My research uses visual methods to illustrate the private and public spaces inhabited by these workers in diagrams, maps, sketches and photographs, to add a lived-in dimension to the topic. I also consider broader questions: With the encroachment of artificial intelligence replacing all kinds of labour, what will happen to domestic work? How will care work continue to be valued and outsourced? How will the landscape of foreign domestic work evolve over the foreseeable future?
Dr. Evelyn KWOK is an interdisciplinary researcher and educator in design, visual arts and urban studies. Over the last decade, her research focused on how marginalised communities engage in creative practices to cultivate a sense of belonging, home and community, which resulted in her book Spatial Agency and Occupation: Migrant Domestic Workers in Hong Kong, published by Edinburgh University Press in 2024.
THE HONG KONG ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY
AND THE HONG KONG MUSEUM OF HISTORY
PRESENT
An Anthropological Talk by Michael RIVERA
Race/ism in Hong Kong, Asia, and the world
Friday 13 November 2026, 7:00pm
Hong Kong Museum of History
Lecture Hall, Ground Floor, 100 Chatham Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Ideas about race, ethnicity, and cultural belonging appear in daily conversations about human diversity. However, what is less commonly known is the evolutionary history behind skin color, facial structure, and shared family ancestry-biological traits that many use as markers of group identity. This talk takes a bioanthropological and historical view of the construct of race/ism, tracing human evolution over time and how earlier imperialists conceived classification systems to hierarchize 'foreign' bodies as part of 'civilizing' and expansionist missions. We will then consider the unique dynamics of race/ism that persist in today's Hong Kong and Asia. Race, ethnicity, and racism have become social constructs that continue to hold power in current world affairs, media representations, and notions of cultural identity. How and why do race concepts maintain ideological power? Why has it often become socially taboo to speak about racism? Where do biology and genetics fit into our understanding of race? Where are conversations about race/ism heading in the future?
Dr. Michael Rivera is a biological anthropologist and critical race scholar at The University of Hong Kong. His research examines racial disparities in healthcare, education systems, multicultural societies, environmental exposure to climate change, and mental health. Dr. Rivera also endeavors to promote accurate and humanistic conversations surrounding race/ism and identity with schools, NGOs, and diverse public audiences.
THE HONG KONG ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY
AND THE HONG KONG MUSEUM OF HISTORY
PRESENT
An Anthropological Talk by Adam LIEBMAN
Recycling gifts in a Chinese city: Authenticating real and fake goods, destabilizing social relations
Friday 4 December 2026, 7:00pm
Hong Kong Museum of History
Lecture Hall, Ground Floor, 100 Chatham Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
"Gift recycling" thrived amid the rapid economic growth of early 21st-century China. The largely unregulated urban trade emerged to re-circulate gifts that bosses and government officials received in excess, especially high value cigarettes and alcohol. The still prevalent but declining economic sector has thus long been associated with corruption, while also providing opportunities for the circulation of counterfeit goods. Authenticating real and fake goods is therefore an essential aspect of the industry. The many actors involved in producing, exchanging, and halting the circulation of inauthentic gift-products generates a milieu of uncertainty, which can extend to cast doubt on the authenticity of social relationships grounded in the mutuality of gift exchange. Based on ethnographic research in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, we analyze the different strategies that gift recyclers use to authenticate goods. Doing so shows how a market that is intimately tied to regulating social relationships reorients trust and bends to accommodate widespread uncertainty and suspicion. We end by drawing parallels with the current proliferating circulation of "misinformation," "deep fakes," and other AI-generated outputs that are similarly intended to deceptively pass as "real."
Adam Liebman is an assistant professor of anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is currently completing a book titled Uncontained: Scrap Worlds in and Beyond China.