News
March 5 2008
International Conference: "Breaking Down Chinese Walls: The Changing Faces of Labor and Employment in China"
September 26-28, 2008
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
This conference brings together both established and young scholars from around the world who are currently doing "cutting edge" research on labor issues in China. In addition, graduate students from around the world will also showcase their current research at this conference.
Hardly a day goes by without extensive coverage in the world press regarding working conditions and other labor issues in China. The purpose of this conference is to examine a variety of labor issues in analytic terms, based on new research. Thus, we will examine the changes in the institutional regulation of labor and work, the changes within the labor movement, including labor unions and their new strategies, informal workers groups and their strategies and how these groups intersect with other civil society organizations. The conference will also examine the changes in work organization and shop-floor practices in a variety of industries such as automobiles, oil and gas, retail and large-scale manufacturing. Selected papers from the conference will be included in a volume edited by Sarosh Kuruvilla, Ching Kwan Lee and Mary Gallagher, and will be published by a reputed university press. Selected articles will also be considered for publication at leading industrial relations journals subject to the journal's peer-review process.
In addition, this conference is the first step in creating a sustainable network of China labor scholars. In the longer term, we expect that the network will be able to do larger projects together.
Conference Organizers
Sarosh Kuruvilla: Professor of Comparative Industrial Relations, Collective Bargaining & Asian Studies, Cornell University
Ching Kwan Lee: Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Michigan
Mary Gallagher: Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan
Invited Paper Presenters and Discussants
Marc Blecher, Oberlin College
Anita Chan, Australian National University
Lance Compa, Cornell University
Mary Gallagher, University of Michigan
Amy Hanser, University of British Columbia
Dimitri Kesseler, Ethical Trading Initiative
Lu Jialing, Tsinghua University
Wu Jieh-Min, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
Hilary Josephs, Syracuse University
Li Kunchin, National University of Singapore
CK Lee, University of Michigan
Mingwei Liu, Rutgers University
Albert Park, Oxford University
Jian Qiao, China Institute of Industrial Relations
Bill Taylor, City University of Hong Kong
Lu Zhang, Johns Hopkins University
Student Presenters
Kuei-min Chang, Academia Sinica
Edgar Chen, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Julia Chuang, University of California, Berkeley
Kristin King, University of Michigan
Thomas Peng, National Tsing-Hua University
Sarah Swider, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jing Wang, University of Toronto
John Zinda, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The conference schedule is full and we regret there are no additional spaces for presenters. If you are interested in attending the conference, please register here. If you are not from the Ithaca area please reserve a hotel room without delay. There is a shortage of available rooms in September.
Conference Schedule
Friday, September 26: Conference Session 8:30am-5:30pm; Conference Dinner for Presenters - Kahin Center, 640 Stewart Avenue
Saturday, September 27: Conference Session 8:30am-5:30pm, ILR Conference Center - Room 423
Sunday, September 28: Additional Sessions 9am-1pm, ILR Conference Center - Room 423
** The full conference program will be posted in early June.
This conference is made possible with generous funding from the:
Waks Family Fund for International Education & Research
Pierce Memorial Fund, School of Industrial Labor Relations, Cornell University
Jeffrey S. Lehman Fund for Scholarly Exchange with China
