Aihwa Ong

Aihwa Ong (simplified Chinese: 王爱华;

traditional Chinese: 王愛華; pinyin: Wáng
Ài Huá) is Professor of Anthropology at
the University of California, Berkeley, a
member of the Science Council of the
International Panel on Social Progress,
and a former recipient of a MacArthur
Fellowship for the study of sovereignty
and citizenship. She is well known for her
interdisciplinary approach in
investigations of globalization, modernity,
and citizenship from Southeast Asia and
China to the Pacific Northwest of the
United States. Her notions of 'flexible
citizenship', 'graduated sovereignty,' and
'global assemblages' have widely
impacted conceptions of the global in
modernity across the social sciences and
humanities.
 Aihwa Ong
Native name Wáng Ài Huá

Born February 1, 1950

Georgetown, Penang,
Malaysia

Occupation Professor of
Anthropology

Academic background

Education Ph.D.

Alma mater Columbia University[1]

Thesis 'Women and Industry:

Malay Peasants in
Coastal Selangor,
1975-80[2] (1982[2])

Doctoral advisor Joan Vincent, Myron

Cohen, Robert F.
Murphy[2]
 Academic work

Discipline Anthropology

Sub-discipline Sociocultural
Anthropology,
Anthropology of
Southeast Asia

Institutions University of California,

Berkeley

Main interests Science Technology

and Society,
Anthropology of
Citizenship,
Neoliberalism,
Modernity

Notable works Spirits of Resistance

and Capitalist
Discipline: Factory
Women in Malaysia;
Neoliberalism as
 Exception: Mutations
in Citizenship and
Sovereignty, Buddha is
Hiding: Refugees,
Citizenship, the New
America, Flexible
Citizenship: The
Cultural Logics of
Transnationality, Global
Assemblages:
Technology, Politics,
and Ethics as
Anthropological
Problems

Notable ideas Global Assemblages,

Flexible Citizenship,
Graduated Sovereignty,
Fungible Life
Her major works include Fungible Life:
Experiment in the Asian City of Life
(2016), Neoliberalism as Exception:
Mutations in Citizenship and Sovereignty
(2006), Buddha is Hiding: Refugees,
Citizenship, the New America (2003),
Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logics of
Transnationality (1999), Spirits of
Resistance and Capitalist Discipline:
Factory Women in Malaysia (1987), and
the edited volume Global Assemblages:
Technology, Politics, and Ethics as
Anthropological Problems (co-edited with
Stephen J. Collier, 2005).

Biographical Points
Ong received her B.A. in anthropology
(1974) from Barnard College and earned
her Ph.D. (1982) in anthropology from
Columbia University. She was visiting
lecturer at Hampshire College (1982–84)
before joining the Department of
Anthropology at the University of
California Berkeley (1984 – present).[3]
She was the Chair of the Center for
Southeast Asian Studies, Berkeley
(1999–2001); was Visiting Professor at
City University of Hong Kong (2001),
Visiting Professor at Yonsei University
(2010), and a senior researcher at the
Asia Research Institute of the National
University of Singapore (2010). She was
awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for the
study of sovereignty and citizenship
(2001-2003) and has been awarded
grants from the National Science
Foundation and the Sloan Foundation for
the Social Science Research Council. She
received the Cultural Studies Book Award
for Flexible Citizenship (1999) from the
Association for Asian American Studies
as well as a prize from the American
Ethnological Society. She received
honorable mention for Buddha is Hiding
(2003) from the Society for Urban,
National, and Transnational
Anthropology. In 2007, Ong was invited to
the World Economic Forum in Davos. She
was the Chair of the US National
Committee for Pacific Science
Association from 2009-2011, and was
named Robert H. Lowie Distinguished
Chair in Anthropology in 2015. She
continues to teach, publish, and lecture
internationally.

Academic work
Aihwa Ong's work deals with particular
entanglements of politics, technology,
ethics and affects in rapidly changing
situations on the Asia Pacific rim. Ong
approaches research from vantage
points outside or athwart the United
States. This angle of inquiry unsettles
and troubles stabilized viewpoints and
units of analysis in the social sciences,
such as gender, class, citizenship, cities,
sovereignty and the nation-state.[4][5]

As an anthropologist, Ong employs

ethnographic observation and analytical
concept-work to investigate diverse
subjective and institutional effects of the
global on emerging situations for ways of
being human today.[6][7] From the novel
freedoms and accompanying restrictions
experienced by Malaysian female
workers in multinational factories[5] to
the accumulative strategies of Asian
entrepreneurs in relocating family and
capital overseas;[8] from the disciplining
of Cambodian refugees towards an
embrace of American values[9] to the
neoliberal reasoning and graduated
modes of governing at work;[10] from the
transformation of cities[11] to the rise of
contemporary art in Asia;[12] Ong's work
tracks the interplay of global forces and
everyday practices as they crystallize into
myriad and uneven contexts for human
living and belonging in modernity.

Her current work focuses on regimes of

governing, technology, and culture that
shape new meanings and practices of
the human in an emerging global region.
Her field research shifts between
Singapore and China in order to track
emerging global hubs for biotechnical
experiments with genomic science in
contemporary East Asia.[13][14]

Publications
Books and Edited Volumes

Fungible Life: Experiment in the Asian

City of Life, Duke University Press,
2016.
Worlding Cities: Asian Experiments with
the Art of Being Global, ed. with Ananya
Roy, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
Asian Biotech: Ethics and Communities
of Fate, ed. with Nancy N. Chen, Duke
University Press, 2010.
Privatizing China, Socialism from Afar,
ed. with Li Zhang, Cornell University
Press, 2008.
Neoliberalism as Exception: Mutations
in Citizenship and Sovereignty, Duke
University Press, 2006 [Italian,
Japanese].[15]
Global Assemblages: Technology,
Politics, and Ethics as Anthropological
Problems, ed. with Stephen J. Collier,
Blackwell Publishers, 2005.
Buddha is Hiding: Refugees, Citizenship,
the New America, University of
California Press, 2003 [Italian].[16]
Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logics
of Transnationality, 1999
[German].[17][18] Recipient of the
Cultural Studies Book Award by the
Association of Asian American Studies
in 2001.
Ungrounded Empires: The Cultural
Politics of Modern Chinese
Transnationalism, ed. with Donald
Nonini, Routledge, 1997.[19]
Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender
and Labor Politics in Southeast Asia, ed.
with Michael Peletz, University of
California Press, 1995.
Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist
Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia ,
State University of New York Press,
1987 [2010].[20]
Selected Articles and
Chapters

"Why Singapore Trumps Iceland:

Gathering Genes in the Wild," Journal of
Cultural Economy, vol. 8, no. 3, 2015.[21]
"A Milieu of Mutations: The
Pluripotency and Fungibility of Life in
Asia," East Asian Science, Technology
and Society, 7, (2013).[22]
"What Marco Polo Forgot: Asian Art
Negotiates the Global," Current
Anthropology, vol. 53, no. 4 (2012).[23]
"Hyperbuilding: Spectacle, Speculation,
and the Hyperspace of Sovereignty," in
Worlding Cities eds. Ananya Roy and
Aihwa Ong, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.[24]
"The Human and Ethical Living," in
Globalizing the Research Imagination,
Jane Kenway and Johannah Fahey
eds. pp. 87–100. London: Routledge
(2008).[25]
"Neoliberalism as a Mobile
Technology," Transactions of the
Institute of British Geographers, vol. 32,
no. 3 (2007).[26]
"Please Stay: Pied-a-Terre Subjects in
the Megacity," Citizenship Studies, vol.
11, no. 1 (2007).[27]
"Mutations in Citizenship," Theory,
Culture, and Society, vol. 22, no. 3,
(2006).[28]
"Experiments with Freedom: Milieus of
the Human," American Literary History ,
vol. 8, no. 2 (2006).[29]
"(Re)Articulations of Citizenship,"
Political Science and Politics, vol. 38,
no. 4 (2005).[30]
"The Chinese Axis: Zoning
Technologies and Variegated
Sovereignty," Journal of East Asian
Studies, vol. 4, no. 1 (2004).[31]
"Cyberpublics and Diaspora Politics
among Transnational Chinese,"
Interventions, vol. 5, no. 1 (2003).[32]
"A Higher Learning: Educational
Availability and Flexible Citizenship in
Global Space," in Diversity and
Citizenship Education, ed. James
Banks, Wiley, 2003.[33]
"Graduated Sovereignty in Southeast
Asia," Theory, Culture, and Society, vol.
17, no. 4 (2000).[34]
"Muslim Feminists in the Shelter of
Corporate Islam," Citizenship Studies,
vol. 3, no. 3 (1999).[35]
"Strategic Sisterhood or Sisters in
Solidarity? Questions of
Communitarianism and Citizenship in
Asia," Indiana Journal of Global Legal
Studies, vol. 4, no. 1 (1996).[36]
"Cultural Citizenship as Subject-
Making: New Immigrants Negotiate
Racial and Ethnic Boundaries," Current
Anthropology, vol. 37, no. 5 (1996).[37]
"On the Edge of Empires: Flexible
Citizenship among Chinese in
Diaspora," Positions, vol. 1, no. 3
(1995).[38]
"The Gender and Labor Politics of
Postmodernity," Annual Review of
Anthropology, vol. 20 (1991).[39]
"State versus Islam: Malay Families,
Women's Bodies, and the Body Politic
in Malaysia," American Ethnologist, vol.
17, no. 2 (1991).[40]
"The Production of Possession: Spirits
and Multinational Corporation in
 Malaysia," American Ethnologist, vol.
15, no. 1 (1988).[41]

References
1. Ong, Aihwa (2015). "Aihwa Ong -
Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Retrieved
October 20, 2016.
2. Ong, Ai-hwa (1982). Women and
Industry: Malay Peasants in Coastal
Selangor, 1975-80 (Ph.D.). ProQuest
Dissertations Publishing. Retrieved
October 20, 2016.
3. "Personal Page" . Retrieved 6 August
2012.
4. Sassen, Saskia; Ong, Aihwa (2014).
Reassembling International Theory .
Palgrave Pivot, London. pp. 17–24.
doi:10.1057/9781137383969_2 .
ISBN 9781349480722.
5. "Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist
Discipline, Second Edition" .
www.sunypress.edu. Retrieved
2017-12-13.
6. Andsersen, Nina Trige (2015-04-23). " "I
Don't Do Theory - I Do Concept-Work" An
Interview With Aihwa Ong" . Kvinder, Køn &
Forskning (in Danish). 24 (1). ISSN 0907-
6182 .
7. "Wiley: Global Assemblages:
Technology, Politics, and Ethics as
Anthropological Problems - Aihwa Ong,
Stephen J. Collier" . www.wiley.com.
Retrieved 2017-12-13.
8. "Flexible Citizenship" . Duke University
Press. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
9. Buddha Is Hiding .
10. "Neoliberalism as Exception" . Duke
University Press. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
11. Worlding cities : Asian experiments
and the art of being global . Roy, Ananya.,
Ong, Aihwa. Chichester, West Sussex:
Wiley-Blackwell. 2011.
ISBN 9781405192767. OCLC 682895182 .
12. Ong, Aihwa (2012-08-01). " "What
Marco Polo Forgot": Contemporary
Chinese Art Reconfigures the Global" .
Current Anthropology. 53 (4): 471–494.
doi:10.1086/666699 . ISSN 0011-3204 .
13. "Fungible Life" . Duke University Press.
Retrieved 2017-12-13.
14. "ROROTOKO : Aihwa Ong On her book
Fungible Life: Experiment in the Asian City
of Life : Cutting-Edge Intellectual
Interviews" . rorotoko.com. Retrieved
2017-12-13.
15. Stevens, Maila (May 2007).
"Neoliberalism as Exception: Mutations in
Citizenship and Sovereignty (Review)".
Intersections: Gender, History, and Culture
in the Asian Context (15).
16. Rhee, Young Ju (2004). "Buddha is
Hiding: Refugees, Citizenship, and the
New America (Review)". Journal of
Refugee Studies. 17 (4): 477–478.
doi:10.1093/jrs/17.4.477 .
17. Karam, John (January 2001). "Flexible
Citizenship: The Cultural Logics of
Transnationality (Review)".
Anthropological Quarterly. 74 (1): 45–46.
doi:10.1353/anq.2001.0006 .
18. Douglas, Christopher (Summer 2000).
"Review of "Flexible Citizenship: The
Cultural Logics of Transnationality." " .
Brwn Mawr Review of Comparative
Literature. 2 (1).
19. "Book Awards" . Association of Asian
American Studies. Retrieved 2 August
2012.
20. Hathaway, Donna (1989). "Review of
"Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist
Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia." ".
Signs. 14 (4): 945–947.
doi:10.1086/494558 .
21. Ong, Aihwa (2015-05-04). "Why
Singapore Trumps Iceland" . Journal of
Cultural Economy. 8 (3): 325–341.
doi:10.1080/17530350.2015.1009149 .
ISSN 1753-0350 .
22. Ong, Aihwa (2013-03-01). "A Milieu of
Mutations: The Pluripotency and
Fungibility of Life in Asia" . East Asian
Science, Technology and Society. 7 (1):
69–85. doi:10.1215/18752160-2075241 .
ISSN 1875-2160 .
23. Ong, Aihwa (August 2012). "What
Marco Polo Forgot: Asian Art Negotiates
the Global" (PDF). Current Anthropology.
53: 473–494. doi:10.1086/666699 .
24. Ong, Aihwa (2011). Roy, Ananya; Ong,
Aihwa, eds. Worlding Cities . Wiley-
Blackwell. pp. 205–226.
doi:10.1002/9781444346800.ch8/summ
ary . ISBN 9781444346800.
25. "Globalizing the Research Imagination
(Paperback) - Routledge" . Routledge.com.
Retrieved 2017-12-12.
26. Ong, Aihwa (2007-01-01).
"Neoliberalism as a mobile technology" .
Transactions of the Institute of British
Geographers. 32 (1): 3–8.
doi:10.1111/j.1475-5661.2007.00234.x .
ISSN 1475-5661 .
27. Ong, Aihwa (2007-02-01). "Please
Stay: Pied-a-Terre Subjects in the
Megacity" . Citizenship Studies. 11 (1):
83–93.
doi:10.1080/13621020601099898 .
ISSN 1362-1025 .
28. Aihwa Ong (2006-05-01). "Mutations in
Citizenship" . Theory, Culture & Society. 23
(2–3): 499–505.
doi:10.1177/0263276406064831 .
ISSN 0263-2764 .
29. Ong, A. (2006-01-01). "Experiments
with Freedom: Milieus of the Human" .
American Literary History. 18 (2): 229–
244. doi:10.1093/alh/ajj012 . ISSN 0896-
7148 .
30. Ong, Aihwa (October 2005). "
(Re)Articulations of Citizenship" . PS:
Political Science & Politics. 38 (4): 697–
699. doi:10.1017/S1049096505050377 .
ISSN 1537-5935 .
31. Ong, Aihwa (April 2004). "The Chinese
Axis: Zoning Technologies and Variegated
Sovereignty" . Journal of East Asian
Studies. 4 (1): 69–96.
doi:10.1017/S1598240800004392 .
ISSN 1598-2408 .
32. Ong, Aihwa (2003-01-01).
"Cyberpublics and Diaspora Politics
Among Transnational Chinese" .
Interventions. 5 (1): 82–100.
doi:10.1080/13698032000049815 .
ISSN 1369-801X .
33. "Anthropology Publications" .
dpg.lib.berkeley.edu. Retrieved
2017-12-29.
34. Aihwa Ong (2000-08-01). "Graduated
Sovereignty in South-East Asia" . Theory,
Culture & Society. 17 (4): 55–75.
doi:10.1177/02632760022051310 .
ISSN 0263-2764 .
35. Ong, Aihwa (1999). "Muslim feminism:
Citizenship in the shelter of corporatist
Islam1" . Citizenship Studies. 3 (3): 355–
371. doi:10.1080/13621029908420720 .
36. Aihwa, Ong, (1996). "Strategic
Sisterhood or Sisters in Solidarity?
Questions of Communitarianism and
Citizenship in Asia" . Indiana Journal of
Global Legal Studies. 4 (1).
37. Ong, Aihwa; Dominguez, Virginia R.;
Friedman, Jonathan; Schiller, Nina Glick;
Stolcke, Verena; Wu, David Y. H.; Ying, Hu
(1996). "Cultural Citizenship as Subject-
Making: Immigrants Negotiate Racial and
Cultural Boundaries in the United States
[and Comments and Reply]". Current
Anthropology. 37 (5): 737–762.
doi:10.1086/204560 . JSTOR 2744412 .
38. Ong, A. (1993-08-01). "On the Edge of
Empires: Flexible Citizenship among
Chinese in Diaspora" . positions: east asia
cultures critique. 1 (3): 745–778.
doi:10.1215/10679847-1-3-745 .
ISSN 1067-9847 .
39. Ong, Aihwa (1991). "The Gender and
Labor Politics of Postmodernity". Annual
Review of Anthropology. 20: 279–309.
doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.20.1.279 .
JSTOR 2155803 .
40. Ong, Aihwa (1990). "State versus
Islam: Malay Families, Women's Bodies,
and the Body Politic in Malaysia".
American Ethnologist. 17 (2): 258–276.
doi:10.1525/ae.1990.17.2.02a00040 .
JSTOR 645079 .
41. Ong, Aihwa (1988). "The Production of
Possession: Spirits and the Multinational
Corporation in Malaysia". American
Ethnologist. 15 (1): 28–42.
doi:10.1525/ae.1988.15.1.02a00030 .
JSTOR 645484 .

External links
University of California, Berkeley
Faculty Page
http://anthropology.berkeley.edu/users
/aihwa-ong
Personal Page
http://www.aihwaong.info
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/
Aihwa_Ong
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Aihwa_Ong&oldid=840367777"

Last edited 6 months ago by Citati…

Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless

otherwise noted.