Organizer: New York Southeast Asia Network; NYU’s Masters Program in International Affairs (MAIR)

Type/Location: Hybrid / New York, NY

Description:

Join NYSEAN for a talk by Taomo Zhou, Associate Professor of Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore, on the life and legacy of Francisca Casparina Fanggidaej (1925–2013)—a left-wing Indonesian activist in the Afro-Asian movements, a mother of seven, and a woman who endured decades of forced separation from her family. Through Fanggidaej’s story, Taomo explores how Indonesia and China shaped notions of motherhood and how a transnational figure like Fanggidaej navigated her role within revolutionary anticolonialism in Indonesia, state socialism in China, and the global shift toward capitalist neoliberalism—ultimately displacing the Third World internationalist vision both nations once championed.

The discussion will be moderated by Rianne Subijanto, Assistant Professor at Baruch College, CUNY.

About the Speaker:

Taomo Zhou is Associate Professor in the Department of Chinese Studies and Dean’s Chair at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore. Her first book, Migration in the Time of Revolution: China, Indonesia, and the Cold War (Cornell University Press, 2019), was named one of Foreign Affairs’ “Best Books of 2020” and received an Honorable Mention for the 2021 Harry J. Benda Prize from the Association for Asian Studies. Taomo’s second book tentatively project entitled, “Made in Shenzhen: A Global History of China’s First Special Economic Zone,” is under advance contract with Stanford University Press.

Registration Links:

To attend the event in person, please register here.

To attend the event virtually, please register here.