Kusakabe has contributed mightily to the field of gender studies in
Asia with the release of two scholarly publications that are destined
to become required reading.
A faculty member of the School of Environment, Resources and
Development’s Gender and Development field of study, Assoc. Prof.
Kusakabe recently co-authored one book titled Thailand's Hidden
Workforce: Burmese Migrant Women Factory Workers and edited
another titled Gender, Roads and Mobility in Asia.
Both works have received considerable favorable reviews from
experts in academia, nongovernmental organizations and the media.
Thailand’s Hidden Workforce: Burmese Migrant Women
Factory Workers
In Thailand's Hidden Workforce: Burmese Migrant Women Factory
Workers, pp. 215, published by Zed Books (2012), Prof. Ruth
Pearson, a professor of International Development at the University of
Leeds, UK, and Prof. Kasukabe opine on the largely forgotten story of
women who migrate from Myanmar to work in Thailand’s export-focused
industries, as part of “a large and exploited workplace.”
It sheds light on the
difficult plight of countless young female workers who are often
illegal or ‘unregistered’ migrants. Casting an insightful look at a
very dark and wholly unseen part of the global economy, the nine
chapter book offers a unique empirical and engendered study of the role
of women migrant workers in Thailand’s factories, and exposes the harsh
realities they face.
Some early
reviews:
'The authors give a voice to a part of Thailand's workforce invisible
to many Thais and to consumers across Asia and around the world who buy
the cheap goods they produce. That voice is authentic, and paired with
sound analysis of the issues raised.'
Chris Hogg,
former BBC correspondent in Asia
'The labels
on your clothes do not say "Made by Burmese migrant women in Thailand",
but once you have read this book you will carry that information with
you. Many thanks to the authors for exposing these conditions.'
Jackie
Pollock, Director, MAP Foundation, Thailand
'This book
reveals the hidden face of Thailand's industrial and migration
policies. It is a compelling story about ordinary women making hard
decisions under the precarious conditions as they live transborder
lives.'
Brenda
Yeoh, National University of Singapore
Gender, Roads and Mobility in Asia
Gender, Roads and Mobility in Asia, pp. 225, published by
Practical Action Publishing (2012) and supported by the ASEAN
Foundation, was edited by Assoc. Prof. Kusakabe, who also wrote the
introduction and conclusion chapters.
It is a twenty-one chapter
collection of case-based research that assesses how poor roads,
transport infrastructure, and lack of mobility in Southeast Asia are
key factors of the marginalization of women and other disempowered
groups.
The book explores the
inter-relations between gender, poverty, and mobility, especially in
the context of transportation development in the region, through a
nuanced overview of the influence and impact of infrastructure
development on people’s lives.
Gender, Roads and
Mobility in Asia should be a useful tool for policy makers,
transportation planners, development practitioners and researchers,
undergraduates, postgraduates, and academics in areas of gender and
development studies and transportation planning and
management.
Some early reviews:
'Finally, a book that does not compromise the complexity of mobility
in a transport context. Drawing on mobility as capability, Gender,
Roads and Mobility in Asia brings a variety of much-needed Asian voices
to the growing discourse of mobility and social justice, underscoring
how the free movement of some is often guaranteed by the immobility of
others.'
David O.
Kronlid is Docent of Ethics and Senior Lecturer in
Curriculum Studies at Uppsala University, Sweden
'Explosive growth in
infrastructure across Asia has implications which extend far beyond
transport logistics. This book should be of considerable interest to
development planners and regional specialists across a range of
disciplines.'
Gina
Porter, Senior Research Fellow, Department
of Anthropology, Durham University
'This book successfully
demonstrates the need to support women's capability as part of the
core objectives of transport development.'
Sonomi
Tanaka, Principal Social Development Specialist
(Gender and Development), Asian Development Bank
