The Workshop on Gender, Socialism and Globalization in Contemporary Vietnam and China addressed the issues concerning the relationship between gender relations, the state and globalization in two East Asian socialist societies undergoing market liberalization. These issues are at the forefront of concern in the social sciences today.
The workshop addressed the following thematic questions:
- How might a comparative analysis of gender in contemporary China and Vietnam suggest new models or theories of state-society relations, social change and/or development in socialist societies?
- In what ways has gender shaped or been implicated in discourses of development and modernity in contemporary Vietnam and China?
- How might a “history of the present” of gender in China and Vietnam indicate both continuities and disjunctures between colonialism, socialism and post socialism?
- How have gender relations been shaped in the intersections between state socialism and global capitalism in China and Vietnam?
The workshop was an opportunity for in-depth discussion on topics that to date have received relatively little attention, amongst active researchers who share common concerns but have few opportunities to compare ideas and findings. It will result in dialogue and cooperation between scholars in Australia, Vietnam, China and elsewhere; an improved theoretical understanding of the interconnections between gender relations, social and political change, and globalization; and an enhanced appreciation of the effects on gender relations of the transition from socialism to post socialism in China and Vietnam.