CHENG YI EN 曾乙恩 Postdoctoral Fellow Division of Social Sciences, Yale-NUS College yien.cheng@yale-nus.edu.sg :: http://chengyien.wordpress.com EDUCATION 2016 Doctor of Philosophy University of Oxford, Geography & the Environment Completed thesis entitled Restructuring of education, youth and citizenship: an ethnographic study of private higher education in contemporary Singapore 2012 Masters of Social Sciences National University of Singapore, Geography Completed thesis on the topic of student migration and youth identities 2010 Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours, First) National University of Singapore, Geography Major in Geography and Minor in Gender Studies; completed thesis on the topic of international marriage and masculinities ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS Jul 2016- present July 2017- present Postdoctoral Fellow Yale-NUS, Division of Social Sciences, Urban Studies ARI Associate Asia Research Institute, NUS, Asian Migration cluster RESEARCH My research interests are global education, youth, transnational im/mobilities in Asian cities. Specific themes include: Youth, temporary work, and im/mobilities Higher education and youth citizenship International student migration and urbanisms Transnational families, marriage, and gender TEACHING & COURSES TAUGHT Youth Urbanisms: Global Trends, Local Perspectives Urban Soundscapes Week 7 Lab Introduction to Urban Studies Methods in Social Sciences (Qualitative) Creative Cities (Knowledge Economy and Education Hubs) PUBLICATIONS Refereed Articles Danicar, M.; Yeoh, BSA and Cheng, YE (2017) Crossing borders of state and religious power: reproductive mobilities in Singapore. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 58(2): 203-215. Cheng, YE (forthcoming) Educated non-elites pathways to cosmopolitanism: the case of private degree students in Singapore, Social & Cultural Geography. DOI: 10.1080/14649365.2016.1266026 Cheng, YE (2016) Critical geographies of education beyond value : moral sentiments, caring, and a politics for acting differently, Antipode, 48(4): 919-936. Cheng, YE (2016) Learning in neoliberal times: private degree students and the politics value coding in Singapore, Environment and Planning A, 48(2): 292-308.
Cheng, YE (2015) Biopolitical geographies of student life: private higher education and citizenship lifemaking in Singapore, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 105(5): 1078-1093. Cheng, YE; Yeoh, BSA and Zhang, J (2015) Still breadwinners and providers : Singaporean husbands, money, and masculinity in transnational marriages, Gender, Place and Culture, 22(6): 867-883. Cheng, YE (2014) Time protagonists: student migrants, practices of time, and cultural construction of the Singapore-educated person, Social and Cultural Geography, 15(4): 385-405. Cheng, YE (2014) Telling stories of the city: walking ethnography, affective materials, and mobile encounters, Space and Culture, 17(3): 211-223. Yeoh, BSA; Chee, HL; Vu, TKD and Cheng, YE (2013) Between two families: the social meaning of remittances for Vietnamese marriage migrants in Singapore, Global Networks, 13(4): 441-458. Cheng, YE (2012) Transnational masculinities in situ: Singaporean husbands and their international marriage experiences, Area, 44(1): 76-82. Book/Volume Chapters Cheng YE (2016) Cultural politics of education and human capital formation: learning to labour in Singapore, in Tatek, A. and Waters, J. (eds) Labouring and Learning, Vol. 10 of Skelton, T. (ed) Geographies of Children and Young People, Singapore, Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-981-4585-97-2_11-1. Yeoh, BSA; Huang, S and Cheng, YE (2015) Transnational domestic work and the politics of development, in Coles, A.; Gray, L. and Momsen, J. (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Gender and Development, London, Routledge, pp. 298-308. Yeoh, BSA and Cheng, YE (2013) Singapore: from postcolonial plural society to globalizing city-state, in P. Spoonley and E. Tolley (eds) Diverse Nations, Diverse Responses: Approaches to Social Cohesion in Immigrant Societies, Canada, McGill-Queen s University Press, pp. 193-214. Yeoh, BSA and Cheng, YE (2013) Family migration, in I. Ness (ed) Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration, US, Wiley-Blackwell. DOI: 10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm217. Book Reviews Cheng, YE (forthcoming) Passing through Shanghai: ethnographic insights into the mobile lives of expatriate youths, By Marie Sander, Reviewed in Children s Geographies. Cheng, YE (2013) Geographies of alternative education: diverse learning spaces for children and young people, By Peter Kraftl, Reviewed in Children s Geographies, 12(3): 369-370. Cheng, YE (2011) Translocal geographies: spaces, places, connections, By Katherine Brickell and Ayona Datta, Reviewed in Localities, 1: 261-266. Manuscripts Under Preparation Educational friction among Singapore s private degree students: striated routes, transitions velocity, and value recuperation. Special Issue in Journal of Intercultural Studies. (Submitted) Introduction: Aspiring mobiles : youth im/mobilities in the Asia-Pacific (with Shanthi Robertson and Brenda Yeoh). Editorial work for Special Issue in Journal of Intercultural Studies. (Accepted 1 Mar 2017) Introduction: Theorizing Citizenship in Higher Education: Students as Agents of Change? (with Mark Holton). Editorial work for Special Issue in Area. (Accepted 10 Jul 2017) CONFERENCES Cheng, YE (2017) Liberal arts experiments in Asia and the Youth Citizenship Question. Paper presented at Theorizing Citizenship in Higher Education: Students as Agents of Change?, 5-9 April 2017, Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Boston.
Cheng, YE (2016) Tracing differentiation, contradiction, and correlation in youths degree-seeking strategies within Singapore. Paper presented at Youth Mobilities and Immobilities in the Asia-Pacific, 7-8 November 2016, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Cheng, YE (2015) Learning in neoliberal times: private degree students and the politics value (trans)coding in Singapore. Paper presented at Geographies of Education, 19-23 August 2015, 4th Global Conference on Economic Geography, Oxford. Cheng, YE (2014) Chasing the degree: emotional life under neoliberalisation through the lens of private degree students. Paper presented at Educational Transitions: Changes, Contexts and Geographies, 26-29 August 2014, RGS-IBG Annual Conference, London. Cheng, YE (2014) Becoming included in neoliberal times: private degree students and their strategies to belong in contemporary Singapore. Paper presented at Inclusionary Youth: Changes, Challenges and Responsibilities, 18-22 August 2014, IGU Regional Conference 2014, Krakow, Poland. Cheng, YE (2014) The emotional dimension of cultural capital: Singaporean youth doing aspiration through private higher education. Paper presented at Youthful Futures? Aspirations, Education and Employment in Asia, 5-6 May 2014, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Cheng, YE, Yeoh, BSA and Zhang, J (2013) Marriage, money and masculinity: Singaporean husbands and their negotiations of transnational topographies, Paper for Transnationalism, Gender Hierarchies and Masculinities in Asia, 11-12 March 2013, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Cheng, YE (2012) We don t care how much better, it s just better : student mobilities, aspirations, and the construction of left-behind places, Paper presented at Education Mobilities in East Asia, 16-18 May 2012, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Cheng, YE (2012) Student migrants in Singapore: reading transnational intimacies through time and space, Paper presented at Critical Geographies of Young People: Globalization, Time, and Space, 24-28 February 2012, Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, New York. Cheng, YE (2012) Student migrants in Singapore: time-space narratives of youth, transition, and futurity, Paper presented at Asia-Pacific Worlds in Motion Graduate Conference, 21-22 February 2012, National University of Singapore (in collaboration with St. John s College, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia and Metropolis British Columbia), Singapore. Cheng, YE and Yeoh, BSA (2010) Marriage, money and masculinity: Singaporean husbands and their negotiations of transnational topographies, Paper presented at The Nexus of Migration and Masculinity in the Asian Context, 15-16 July 2010, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. INVITED TALKS / LECTURES Guest Lecturer, Nanyang Technological University. Invited to deliver a lecture for module on Sociology of Education ; on topic of transnationalizing higher education and the youth question, Mar 2017. Guest Lecturer, Nanyang Technological University. Delivered a lecture for module on Cities and Urban Life ; on topic of urban spaces, politics, and citizenship, Mar 2016. Cultural Production of Values beyond Value : a Case of Private Degree Students in Singapore, Presented at HSSE Brown Bag Seminar, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 24 Feb 2016. Guest Lecturer, National University of Singapore. Invited to deliver a lecture for module on Geographies of Social Life ; covered key geographical concepts in the field of social geographies with particular focus on identities, Aug 2013. Education, Youth, and Globalisation: Young People s Experiences of Private Higher Education in Singapore, Presented at St Peter s College Foundation & Diggle Scholarship Luncheon with Scholar, University of Oxford, 7 Feb 2013.
GRANTS, AWARDS & HONORS 2017 Yale-NUS Internal Grant of S$74,934 (Ref: IG16-LR106), Liberal Arts Experiments in Asia: Redefining Education, Economy, and Citizenship in the 21 st Century, 2017-2019, Collaborator 2013 Fieldwork grant of 3,978, St Peter s College Foundation Graduate Research Award, University of Oxford 2012-15 Full tuition/college fee waiver & 13,590 p.a., Clarendon Fund (& St Peter s College Diggle) Scholarship, University of Oxford 2012 Conference grant of S$2,000, Graduate Student Conference Funding, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, NUS 2012 Conference grant of S$500, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography Conference Award, Geography, NUS 2011 Fieldwork grant of S$1,445, Graduate Research Support Scheme, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, NUS 2010-12 Full tuition fee waiver & monthly stipend of S$1,500, Research Scholarship, National University of Singapore 2006-09 Dean s List for 4 semesters, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, National University of Singapore PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Teaching 2017 Instructor, Yale-NUS College. Proposed and developed course on Youth Urbanisms. Proposed and developed Week 7 on Urban Soundscapes. 2016-17 Instructor, Yale-NUS College. Semester 1: Co-taught (with Jane M. Jacobs) course Introduction to Urban Studies ; Co-taught (with Jane M. Jacobs) course Creative Cities. Semester 2: Taught qualitative methods in the course Methods in Social Sciences. 2011-12 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Geography, NUS. Conducted tutorial classes for undergraduate modules Globalization and Asian Cities, Changing Landscapes in Singapore, and Honours year class Development of Geographic Thought Research Feb-Jun 2016 Researcher (Part-time), Asia Research Institute, NUS. Provided research support to Professor Brenda Yeoh Saw Ai on project basis. Co-authored papers, conducted literature review 2010-13 Research Assistant (Casual Scheme), Geography, NUS. Assisted Professor Brenda Yeoh Saw Ai in various projects (Asian MetaCentre s CHAMP-SEA project on transnational families and left-behind children; Asia Research Institute s State boundaries, cultural politics, and gender negotiations in commercially arranged international marriages in Singapore and Malaysia ; Globalizing Universities and International Student Mobilities ), conducted literature review and co-authored articles 2009-10 Undergraduate Research Assistant, Asia Research Institute, NUS. Conducted ethnographic fieldwork for research project State boundaries, cultural politics, and gender negotiations in commercially arranged international marriages in Singapore and Malaysia (Principal investigator: Brenda Yeoh Saw Ai) 2008 & 2009 Undergraduate Research Assistant, School of Business, NUS. Conducted ethnographic fieldwork for research project on Hungry Ghost Festival auction dinners (Principal investigator: Tambyah Siok Kuan)
May-Jun 2008 Research Intern, Transient Workers Count Too. Conducted original research with male foreign workers and produced an unpublished report on foreign workers experience with Ministry of Manpower s temporary job scheme, Singapore (Advisor: Russell Heng Hiang Khng) PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS 2017 on Associate, Migration Cluster, Asia Research Institute, NUS 2011 on Member, Association of American Geographers 2015 on Member, Royal Geographical Society-IBG 2014-15 Postgraduate Fellow, Royal Geographical Society-IBG 2013-14 Visiting Student Affiliate, Asia Research Institute, NUS ROLES & SERVICES Supervision and Mentoring 2017/18 Capstone supervision, Yale-NUS College. Supervising two undergraduates on Urban Studies capstone. 2017 Faculty-Led Summer Research Program, Yale-NUS College. Mentoring undergraduate on summer research project on liberal arts education in Asia. Journal Manuscript Reviewer Children s Geographies: Apr 2016 Children, Youth and Environments: Aug 2016 Critical Studies in Education: Oct 2015; Apr 2016; Oct 2016; Dec 2016 Emotion, Space and Society: Jul 2016 Gender, Place, and Culture: Sep 2015; Jan 2016 Geoforum: Aug 2016 Global Networks: Aug 2017 Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies: Jan 2016 Conference/Symposium 2017 Session Convenor, American Association of Geographers, Boston. Organized and chaired session (with Mark Holton, Plymouth) on Theorising Citizenship in Higher Education: Student, Agency, and Change, 5-9 April 2017. 2016 Workshop Convenor, Asia Research Institute, NUS. Organized workshop (in collaboration with Shanthi Robertson and Brenda Yeoh) on Youth Mobilities and Immobilities in the Asia-Pacific, 7-8 Nov 2016. 2016 Panel Chairperson, Asia Research Institute, NUS. Chaired a panel at workshop Children, Family and Migration in East Asia, Singapore, 7-8 Jul 2016 (Invited) 2014 Panel Chairperson, Asia Research Institute, NUS. Chaired a panel at workshop Encountering Urban Diversity in Asia: Class and other Intersections, Singapore, 15-16 May 2014 (Invited) 2013 Organizing Team Member, Project Southeast Asia, University of Oxford. Assisted in the 2nd Annual SEA Studies Symposium, Oxford, 9-10 Mar 2013; Conference website administration; Conference programme booklet 2012 Session Facilitator, Population Geography Research Group, RGS-IBG. Facilitated session on Lifecourse/Family Migration at Britain on the Move: A Migration Conference, RGS-IBG Headquarters, London, 17-18 Dec 2012
2012 Session Convener, Association of American Geographers, New York. Organised and chaired session (with Tracey Skelton, NUS) on Critical Geographies of Young People: Globalization, Space and Time, New York, 24-28 Feb 2012 2012 Committee Chair, Migration Cluster, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, NUS. Coordinated and organised Pacific Worlds in Motion IV Graduate Conference, a joint effort by National University of Singapore, University of British Columbia, Metropolitan British Columbia, Singapore, 20-21 Feb 2012 COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT 2008-12 Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), an advocacy non-governmental society for migrant workers welfare in Singapore. Main activities involved: Volunteer Ambassador for Day Off Campaign 2008 for foreign domestic workers TWC2 Day School, a Public Education Workshop on Advocating Migrants Rights Research on Ministry of Manpower s Temporary Job Scheme for Foreign Workers