First World Forum on China Studies

For immediate release:

Cal State L.A. Anthropology Professor Invited
to First World Forum on China Studies

Los Angeles, CA -- ChorSwang Ngin (Diamond Bar), professor of anthropology at California State University, Los Angeles, was one of only 19 scholars from the Americas invited to participate in the First World Forum on China Studies in Shanghai, China, August 19-22, 2004. She will be presenting a paper, “Multiculturalism and the Public Sphere,” that explores the idea of creating a human relations organization in China as the framework for dealing with community conflicts and controversies.

Professor Ngin, a Wellesley College alumna, received her Ph.D. from UC Davis and is the director of Cal State L.A.’s Asian and Asian American Studies. The CSULA program has recently been approved to offer a bachelor’s degree whose new approach is unique in the nation, combining the study of Asia with Asian American studies. Ngin was born in China and grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She has served as a consultant for the World Bank on involuntary resettlement of populations in China affected by World Bank-financed hydroelectric dam projects in Henan, Sichuan, Guangxi and Hainan Autonomous Region.

Ngin’s most recent visit to China was to facilitate exchanges of scholars and students between Xinjiang Autonomous Region and Cal State L.A. She has received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities on “Chinese Diaspora in Southern California” and from the Ford Foundation on “Re-visioning Asian and Asian American Studies.” She has done research in Southeast Asia and California to rethink the connection between ethnographic data and theories on “race,” “ethnicity,” and “culture.” Her recent publications are focused on racialization and racialized discourses as ways to understand local social relations in a global world. Ngin is currently working on a book on racialized relations in Southern California.

Under the invitation of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, this First World Forum on China Studies will be the first platform for exchange and dialogue among scholars engaged in China Studies around the world. The field of China Studies is as varied as its scholars and diverse as China’s experiences. The proposed theme of this conference is “China in Multi-Perspectives.” Scholars from all disciplines are invited to share their knowledge, expertise, and research on a related topic of their choosing.

WORKING FOR CALIFORNIA – California State University, Los Angeles: A comprehensive university at the heart of a major metropolitan city. The 175-acre hilltop campus is located five miles east of Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. Since 1947, Cal State L.A. has been a leader in providing quality higher education. Today, the campus comprises a faculty of internationally recognized scholars and artists, and more than 21,000 students with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds that reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Cal State L.A. is one of 23 campuses in the CSU system.