[2026 Emerging Scholars’ Talk Series] Critical Feminist Interventions in Asia

This lecture series brings together emerging scholars working critically on gender and sexuality across diverse Asian contexts, highlighting feminist scholarship that challenges dominant narratives, foregrounds local and situated knowledges, and advances intersectional and critical perspectives. Through dialogue among speakers, discussants, students, and researchers, the series aims to foster academic exchange, strengthen regional feminist conversations, and create a space for critical engagement across disciplines and locations.

October Lecture

Speaker: Christina Louise Belleza (MA, Women’s Studies, Ewha Womans University)

Discussant: Hyuna Moon (Senior Research Fellow, Center for Transnational Migration and Social Inclusion (CTMS), Seoul National University)

Date: Wednesday, 7 October 2026

Time: 17:00 KST

Title:

Reclassifying Skilled Care as Domestic Work: Institutional Misrecognition of Filipina Caregivers in Seoul’s “Foreign Housekeeping Managers Pilot Program”

Abstract:

This study examines the institutional misrecognition of Filipina caregivers in South Korea’s Foreign Housekeeping Managers Pilot Program. Drawing on Nancy Fraser’s and Axel Honneth’s theories of recognition, the study shows how state policies, labor regulations, visa classifications, and credential recognition systems reclassified skilled caregivers as domestic helpers. It argues that institutional misrecognition emerges not from a lack of qualifications, but from the incompatibility between the Philippine and South Korean care systems, reinforced by broader gendered, racialized, and political structures.

Speaker Bio:

Christina Louise Belleza recently graduated from Ewha Womans University with a Master’s degree in Women’s Studies. Her research interests include migration, sexuality, and popular culture, with a focus on gender and transnational issues.

All sessions will be conducted online via Zoom (https://ewha.zoom.us/j/7344040131) and in English. Please note that interpretation will not be provided.