教师及职员
Siumi Maria Tam

Associate Professor
OfficeNAH 303
OfficeTel.3943 7676
Emailsiumitam"at"cuhk.edu.hk
EducationqualificationPhD in Anthropology, University of Hawaii at Manoa
MA in Anthropology, University of Hawaii at Manoa
BA (summa cum laude) in Anthropology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
LanguagesCantonese, English, Putonghua
Introduction

Prof. Siumi Maria Tam joined the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1989. Her research interests include cultural identity in social transformation, family and migration, and gender and ethnic relations. She has completed a pioneering study on mistressing across the Hong Kong-China border, and believes that the mistress-keeping behavior of Hong Kong men has to be understood in the specific cultural context of Hong Kong's colonial history and the identity politics with mainland China. Her most recent research is on the Nepalese community in Hong Kong. She looks at the interface between transnational migration, ethnicity, and gender, by studying the experience of three generations of Nepalese women. Another aspect of her research is on the change and continuity of tradition and selfhood among the Gurungs. She hopes that the study could be expanded to the understanding of other South Asian communities, and could contribute to eradicating social marginalization and ethnic discrimination in Hong Kong.
Research interests

Cultural identity and social transformation, family and marriage, cross-border mobility and social marginalization, gender and ethnic relations
Geographicalareas of research

Hong Kong SAR, Mainland China, Nepal, India
Courses taught

Fall 2015On leave


Spring 2015

ANTH 1410 / UGEC 1835 Culture of Hong Kong

ANTH 3350 / ANTH 5365 Food and Culture

Awards

Faculty of Arts Outstanding Teaching Award 2012
Other positions held

Internal positions heldCo-Director, Gender Studies Programme

Associate Head, New Asia College

Member, Assembly of Fellows, New Asia College

Member, Executive Committee, Gender Research Centre, Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies

Fellow, Institute of Future Cities

Editorial board memberships

Member, Editorial Board, Asian Anthropology

Member, Editorial Board, Asian Women

Selected Publications

Books
**. (Siumi Maria Tam and Yip Hon Ming,editors). Tung Chung beforeand after the New Airport: An ethnographic and historical study of a communityin Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Antiquities and Monuments Office, HKSAR. [abstract]
2005A Bibliography of Gender Studies in Hong Kong 1998-2003. (compiled by Siumi Maria Tam and Trisha Leahy). Hong Kong: GenderResearch Centre, CUHK. [abstract]
2003编《性别观察》[Observing Gender]. 香港: 麦穗. [abstract]
1999Culture and Society of Hong Kong: A Bibliography. (Sidney Cheung and Siumi Maria Tam). Hong Kong: Department ofAnthropology, CUHK.
1997Hong Kong: the Anthropology of a ChineseMetropolis. Grant Evans and Siumi Maria Tam, eds. London: Curzon Press, andHonolulu: University of Hawaii Press. [abstract]
Bookchapters and journalarticles
2005Engendering Minnan Mobility: Women sojourners ina patriarchal world. In SouthernFujian: Reproduction of Traditions in Post-Mao China. Tan Chee Beng, ed.Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. [abstract]
2005We-women and They-women: Imagining mistressesacross the Hong Kong-China border. In Rethinking and Recasting Citizenship:Social Exclusion and Marginality in Chinese Societies. May Tam, Ku Hok-bun,and Travis Kong, eds. Hong Kong: Centre for Social Policy Studies, the HongKong Polytechnic University. [abstract]
2004Country Institutional Report: Hong Kong SAR. In Women’s/Gender Studies inAsia-Pacific. Philip Bergstrom, ed. Pp.244-266. Bangkok: UNESCO Asia andPacific Regional Bureau for Education.
2004GenderDifferences in the Career Development of Professionals in Hong Kong. (Mandy Hoi, Fanny Cheung and Siumi Maria Tam).Hong Kong: Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies Occasional Paper No.152.
2004女性的想像与现实：中港跨境一夫多妻关係.《广西民族学院学报》26 (6):18-25.. [Imaginations and Realities of Femininity: Polygynyacross the Hongkong-China border. Journalof Guangxi University for Nationalities 26(6):18-25]
2004编《分隔家庭对性别关係的冲击》. [Impactof the Split Household on Gender Relations] Hong Kong: Institute ofAsia-Pacific Studies, CUHK, occasional paper no. 151.
2004传统的力量与改变的力量──香港的性别研究教学经验. [Forces of Tradition, Forces of Change:Experiences in teaching gender studies in Hong Kong] 《妇女学教学本土化──亚洲经验》. 王金玲主编. 北京:当代中国出版社.
2003Empowering Mobility: ‘Astronaut’ Women inAustralia. In Gender andChange in Hong Kong: Globalization, Post-Colonialism and Chinese Patriarchy.Eliza Wing Yee Lee, ed. Pp.177-199. Vancouver: University of British ColumbiaPress. [abstract]
2003Eating Metropolitaneity: Hong Kong Identity inyumcha. In Hong Kong: Legaciesand Prospects of Development. Benjamin K.P. Leung, ed. In the series The International Library of SocialChange in Asia Pacific - Hong Kong. Pp.459-468. Ashgate. (reprint from TheAustralian Journal of Anthropology 8(3): 291-306.) [abstract]
2003「功成身退」: 香港女性「航天员」的责任的与自主. 《中国文化与女性》。魏国英，王春梅主编。北京:北京大学中外妇女问题研究中心，香港中文大学性别研究中心。[Goal Achieved, Time to Retreat: Duty andAutonomy among Hong Kong's 'Astronaut' Women. In Chinese Culture and Women. WeiGuoying and Wang Chunmei, eds. Beijing: Women’s Research Centre, PekingUniversity, and Gender Research Centre, Chinese University of Hong Kong.]
2002Heunggongyan Forever:Immigrant life and Hong Kong style yumcha in Australia. In The Globalization of Chinese Food.David Wu and Sidney Cheung, eds. Pp.131-151. Surrey: Curzon Press.
2001Lost, and Found?: Reconstructing Hong KongIdentity in the Idiosyncrasy and Syncretism of yumcha. In Changing Chinese Foodways in Asia.David Wu and Tan Chee Beng, eds. Pp.49-69. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press.
2001饮茶与香港身分认同 [Yumcha and Hong Kong identity. In Reading Hong Kong Popular Cultures1970-2000. Revised edition. Ng Chun Hung and Cheung Chi Wai, eds. Pp.400-405. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.]
2000Modernization from a Grassroots Perspective:Women Workers in Shekou Industrial Zone. In China'sRegions, Polity and Economy: A Study of Spatial Transformation in thePost-Reform Era. Si-ming Li and Wing-shing Tang, eds. Pp.371-390. Hong Kong:Chinese University Press.
2000 Practicing Gender and Practicing Medicine:‘Tradition’ and ‘Modernity’ in Post-colonial Hong Kong. Intersections: Gender History andCulture in the Asian Context Issue3 (January 2000).http://www.sshe.murdoch.edu.au/intersections/issue3/siumi.html
1998个人与妇女：人类学对中国现代化研究的两个切入点 [TheIndividual and the Female: Two Starting Points in the Anthropological Study ofChinese Modernization]. In TheDevelopment of Sociology and Anthropology in China. C. Chiao, ed. Pp.439-445. New Asia College Academic Monographs, CUHK.
1998Teaching as “Culturalization”: Reflections onHongkong-specific Anthropological Pedagogy. In On the South China Track:Perspectives on Anthropological Research and Teaching. S.Cheung, ed.Pp.199-210. Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, CUHK.
Research projects

2005-2007Engendering Ethnic Existence: An ethnographic study ofNepalese women in Hong Kong.
2004-2005Fatherhood in Hong Kong: An Anthropological study ofmen’s views and behavior.
2001-2004The Social Construction of Family and Gender: Aninvestigation of polygyny across the Hong Kong-China border.
1999-2002Coming ‘Home’?: Cultural Identity of Former EmigrantsReturning to Post-colonial Hong Kong.
1998-1999Globalizing Local Identity: Hong Kong ImmigrantFamilies in Australia.
1997-1999Co-investigator. Tradition, Change and Identity: AStudy on the Minnan People in China and Southeast Asia.
1995-1997Co-investigator. Cooking up Hong Kong Identity: A Studyof Food Culture, Changing Tastes and Identity in Public Discourse.
1994-1998Gender and the Professions in Hong Kong: The Politicsof Work and the Social Construction of Gender.
Commissioned research

1999-2000Convenor for Qualitative Section, “Family StatusDiscrimination Research”. Equal Opportunities Commission.
1993-1994Study on the Community Needs of Women and Men inShatin. Shatin District Board, Hong KongGovernment.
1993-1994Co-investigator. Survey on Public's Perception of EqualOpportunities for Women and Men. City and New Territories Administration, HongKong Government.
1993-1994Behavior and Perception of Shatin Youth towardsElection. Shatin District Board.
1992-1993Community Involvement of Women in Shatin. ShatinDistrict Board, Hong Kong Government.
1992-1993Ethnographic Study on Tung Chung and SanTau. Antiquities and Monuments Office, Hong Kong Government.
Teaching-related activities

UNESCORepresented Hong Kong at the UNESCO RegionalConsultation on Women’s/Gender Studies Programmes in the Asia-Pacific Region,Bangkok, December 2003.Office of International Studies Programmes, CUHK (Associate Director (1991-1996) and ActingDirector (Jul-Dec 1993))

“InternationalEducation at the Chinese University of Hong Kong”. Presentation at the NationalAssociation for Foreign Student Affairs, Miami, 30 May- 3 June 1994. “What Should International Schools Teach about China?”.Invited lecture, “In Touch with China: A Conference for InternationalEducators”, CERCOS, Hong Kong International School, 10-11 Nov 1995.Gender StudiesProgramme, CUHK

Forces of Tradition, Forces of Change: UniversityWomen in Gender Studies in Hong Kong. Paper presented at InternationalConference on “The Indigenization of Women’s Studies Teaching: AsianExperiences”, Chinese Women’s College, Beijing, 18-20 October 2002. Reflections on Teaching Gender Studies Courses.Video presentation in "Bringing Women's Studies into the Curriculum"Session, Conference on "Women and Gender in the Curriculum of HigherEducation", Chiang Mai, 25 February 1994. Gender Studies at the Chinese University of HongKong. Presentation at Workshop on Approaches to Women Studies in Asia, EwhaUniversity, Seoul, February 1993.
Biographical note

I was born and raised in Hong Kong, and went to school here until my first degree and I enjoy yumcha, egg tarts, and milk tea Hong Kong style, so I consider myself a “local”. I had a chance to take part in the Semester at Sea Program in the early 1980s, which was held on board the SS Universe as it sailed around the world. It was one of the most eye-opening experiences that young people could have, when I learned about how politics and religion shape Indonesians’ daily life, about the disappearance of a culture in Egypt, and how poverty and pride coexist in India. It was the catalyst for my taking up anthropology as a major in college.

My year on exchange at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania made me realize that snow is not romantic at all (most Hong Kong people tend to romanticize snow) as I hated to feel cold, but the warmth of my American host families made up for everything. The other degrees I got were from the University of Hawaii at Manoa—which I guess was a sub-conscious effort to get away from the cold of the American Midwest.

I joined the Department of Anthropology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, in 1989, after finishing PhD thesis fieldwork in Shekou, an industrial zone in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. Ever since I have been teaching and doing research on Hong Kong and China related topics, and I feel there are still many issues that deserve studying but that I haven’t time for.

Off work, my greatest interest is observing all sorts of cultural phenomena, and guessing what people really mean when they say or do something. This is anthropology in everyday practice—or “occupational disease”, depending on whether you like it! I also enjoy immensely the music of qin, an ancient Chinese instrument which is still being played by a small group of musicians. While it is not a popular instrument that people take up as a hobby, it is an important cultural symbol in the Han intellectual tradition. It also has a most calming effect for anyone who needs to wind down after a hard day’s work!