[BelMix Seminar Series] “Women and Their Transnational Families: The Persistent Challenge of Overcoming the Perpetrator-Victim Narrative” by Bettina BEER

[BelMix Seminar Series] “Women and Their Transnational Families: The Persistent Challenge of Overcoming the Perpetrator-Victim Narrative” by Bettina Beer (Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Lucerne, Switzerland)

Date: 16 May 2025, 10:30 am - 12 pm (Brussels Time)
Venue: Room K.3.201 (Building K, 3rd floor)

Registration required: https://forms.gle/iHeoLAW8qmNaJpzM6

Abstract

Women and Their Transnational Families: The Persistent Challenge of Overcoming the Perpetrator-Victim Narrative

Over thirty years ago, my research into German-Philippine marriages was motivated, amongst other things, by the often sexualised portrayal of Asian women, depicting them as victims of a so-called 'modern slave trade' and portraying Filipinas as helpless and hopeless. Such imagery prompted me to delve deeper into their life stories, matrimonial journeys, and present living conditions. Today, it's disheartening to observe how little these public perceptions and discourses have changed. Several factors contribute to this stagnation. Firstly, the media continues to operate on the notion that 'sex sells'. Secondly, overcoming essentialist views – such as the stereotypical 'Asian Woman' or the 'Sex tourist' – remains a significant challenge. Thirdly, many of the individuals engaging with these topics primarily aim to 'do the right thing' by denouncing social injustice and inequality, often overlooking the importance of first understanding and explaining the nature of these situations and grasping their underlying social mechanisms. Such understanding is particularly difficult with topics to which we have strong gut reactions that bespeak moral judgement, as it requires one to step back, detach oneself, and strive for comprehension. In this discussion, we will explore what alternative approaches might exist. How can we move beyond these entrenched narratives to gain a more nuanced understanding of migration and migrant biographies?

Biography

Bettina Beer received her PhD in anthropology from the University of Hamburg, in 1995, with a dissertation on German-Philippine marriages. Interethnic marriages and the migration of women. She habilitated in 2001 with a project on Body concepts, interethnic relations and theories of racism. She has conducted long-term fieldwork in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, and research on cultural diversity in German-speaking Europe. She is committed to the importance of the connection between research and teaching in all aspects of anthropology.

She received the Siemers-Preis of Hamburg University, and later a Heisenberg fellowship from the German Research Foundation. In 2003, she was elected a member of the Young Academy (of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Science), and in 2006 became full professor of social and cultural anthropology at the University of Heidelberg. Since 2008 she has been professor for social and cultural anthropology at the University of Lucerne; in 2011, was elected to the Leibniz Chair at the Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology, Bremen. She is co-editor of the journal Sociologus.

Her current research project is focused on ruptures in intimate relations and conceptual questions in the anthropology of kinship; it is informed by empirical research on separation and the annulment of marriages in the Philippines.