Maruja Milagros B. Asis
Visiting Toronto Metropolitan University
Fall 2024
Research focus while a CERC Scholar
While visiting CERC Migration, Maruja will be part of a Scholars of Excellence Workshop on October 22, “How she thinks: Re-centring academic leadership in migration studies.” Her contribution will draw on her work on migration knowledge production in Asia, which she has been working on in collaboration with Nicola Piper and Parvati Raghuram. Maruja will also aim to undertake fruitful exchanges on migration issues that link Asia and Canada with researchers at CERC Migration and other universities in Canada.
Career achievements
Maruja is a sociologist with more than 30 years of research experience studying international migration and social transformation with a special focus on the Asian region. Her research and publications explore the themes of gender, family and migration; migration and development; and migration governance. She has a long experience in working on transnational research projects and is actively involved in various scientific and consultative bodies on international migration. She served as Director for Research and Publications for many years and as Director (2019-2024) of the Scalabrini Migration Center (SMC). She was involved in various capacities – Associate Editor, Co-Editor and Editor – of the Asian and Pacific Migration Journal between 1997 and 2023. She continues to be affiliated with SMC as a senior researcher working on selected projects.
Relevant publications
With Jordan, L.P., Yao, F., Ygeoh, B.S.A., Lam, T., & Garabiles, M. (2024). Migration, remittances and the search for a better life: longitudinal evidence from the Philippines. In Piper, N. & Datta, K. (Eds.), The Elgar companion to migration and the sustainable development goals (pp. 193-212). Edward Elgar Publishing.
With Piper, N. & Raghuram, P. (2019). From Asia to the world: “Regional” contributions to global migration research. Revue européenne des migrations internationales, 35(1/2): 13-37.
OECD/Scalabrini Migration Center. (2017) Interrelations between public policies, migration and development in the Philippines. OECD Development Pathways, OECD Publishing/ tp://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264272286-en [Maruja M.B. Asis is one of the co-authors.]
International Organization for Migration and Scalabrini Migration Center. (2013). Country migration report: The Philippines 2013 (291 pp.). International Organization for Migration and Scalabrini Migration Center. [Principal authors: Graziano Battistella and Maruja M.B. Asis]
With Battistella, G. (2012). Multicultural realities and membership: States, migrations and citizenship in Asia.” In Eng, L.A. Collins, F.L. & Yeoh, B.S.A. (Eds.), Migration and diversity in Asian contexts (pp. 31-55). Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
With Roma, G.M. (2010). Eyes on the prize: Towards a migration and development agenda in the Philippines. In Baggio, F. (Ed.), Brick by Brick: Building Cooperation between the Philippines and Migrants’ Organizations in Italy and Spain (pp. 35-138). Scalabrini Migration Center.
With Piper, N. & Raghuram, P. (2010). Migration and development in Asia: Knowledge frameworks, International Migration, 48 (3): 76-106.
(2008). Human trafficking in East and Southeast Asia: Searching for structural factors. In Cameron. S. & Newman, E (Eds.), Trafficking in humans: Social, cultural and political dimensions (pp. 181-205). United Nations University Press.
(2006). Living with migration: Experiences of left-behind children in the Philippines, Asian Population Studies, 2 (1): 45-67.
(2005) Caring for the world: Filipino domestic workers gone global. In Huang, S., Yeoh, B.S.A. & Rahman, N.A. (Eds.), Asian Women as Transnational Domestic Workers (pp. 21-53). Marshall and Cavendish.
With Huang, S. & Yeoh, B. S. A. (2004). When the light of the home is abroad: Unskilled female migration and the Filipino family. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 25 (2): 198-215.
(2003). Unauthorized migration in Southeast Asia (310 pp.). Scalabrini Migration Center.