APPLICATION for

New Faculty Research Grants, Regular Faculty Research Grants, and

Summer Excellence Research Grants

COVER PAGE

Title of Project: A new age for Rosie the riveter: Filipina factory workers in Taiwan

Principal Investigator: Stephen J. Sills

Work Telephone: 4-3696 (cell 336 404-4932) Dept: Sociology

E-mail address: sjsills@uncg.edu Campus Address: 320 Graham Building

Date of appointment to UNCG faculty: Aug 2006 Current rank: Assistant Professor

Type of Application? [ ] New Faculty [ ] Regular Faculty [X] Summer Excellence

Amount of funding requested? $5000 ($4000 stipend $1000 Kohler Fund)

Duration of funding? June 1, 2007 to August 1, 2007

To which subcommittee would you like to have your proposal assigned?

[ ] Arts & Humanities [X] Social Sciences [ ] Sciences

Resubmission? [X] No [ ] Yes

If this is a New Faculty Research Grant proposal, have you registered in COS? [ ] No [X] Yes

Does the project contain an international component? [X] Yes [ ] No

Does the proposal involve research with human participants, animals, radioactive or hazardous materials that
require review by a designated individual, office, or committee?
[X] Yes [ ] No
Date protocol submitted for review. If approval of a protocol is pending, give date the protocol was submitted to the
appropriate committee. Proposals marked “pending” with no date will be returned.
Humans (IRB) _September 15, 2006__

Dates of previous intramural support and submission of final report (last 5 years).
New Faculty Regular Faculty Summer Excellence EPDIP*
Award Report Award Report Award Report Award Report
2005-06 _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
2004-05 _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
2003-04 _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
2002-03 _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
2001-02 _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
*External Program Development Incentive Program

SIGNATURES:
_________________________________ ____________________
Applicant Date

_________________________________ ____________________
Department Head or Designee Date
Summer Excellence Research Grant Proposal
Section A. Not Applicable.
Section B. Proposal Description

Goals and procedures of the project

This goal of the project is to produce a short documentary on the everyday lived experiences of female labor migrants in
Taiwan. This documentary project will consider the various social, cultural, political, and economic aspects of Taiwan as
a receiving context and observe how women migrants from the Philippines negotiate the various impediments to their
incorporation into Taiwanese society. The project utilizes the methods of visual ethnography and includes digital
recording of face-to-face interviews with factory workers, activists, and government officials
The proposed video will be distributed free via the internet, thus potentially reaching a broader audience of viewers.
Academic presentations at conferences (International Visual Sociological Association, NY 2007) and within the
classroom (Soc 202 Global Social Problems and Soc 344 Global Society) will encourage debate on the topic of
globalization and migration. The short format of ten to twelve minutes is intended to provide ample time for student
discussion and debate. Talking points and instructors’ notes will be provided to encourage classroom discussion.
Additionally, interviews will be transcribed and analyzed using Atlas.ti for academic publication in peer-review journals
(principally Visual Studies, International Migration Review, and Asian and Pacific Migration Journal).
Background and significance
Purpose of the study
Labor migration has been depicted as a South-North movement of men in search of work. Participation of women in
international migration has been traditionally characterized as the “trailing spouse” of a husband who has found
permanent placement in a receiving country. As statistical evidence of the movement of women has become more
precise, this myth has been dispelled (Zlotnik 2003). UN estimates show that 51% of migrants are female. My project
will provide data based on the everyday lived experiences of female labor migrants to Taiwan as well as produce a short
documentary film on this female labor migration. The project builds on my previous ethnographic work with this
population and will form the pilot for a broader study on female labor migration in Southeast Asia.
Review of the literature
The Philippines has a long history as a sending nation and has become one of today’s leading exporters of migrants
(Abella 1993; Martin 1993; Tan 2001). By the early 1980s, many Filipinos had permanently emigrated to the US and
other countries and nearly a half million labor migrants were working abroad as domestic servants, construction workers,
skilled technicians, nurses, factory workers, and seafarers. The government of the Philippines, seeing the potential in
remittances and reduction of unemployment, further encouraged labor migration as one of its official development
strategies (Martin 1993; Aguilar 2000; Tan 2001). In 1982, the government established the Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration (POEA) to promote and regularize a then mostly illegal labor migration. Throughout the
1980s and 90s, remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) accounted for up to 9% of the GNP (Tan 2001;
Migration News 2001).
Maruja Asis (2003), foremost author on Philippine migration, notes that “female migrants began to outnumber male
migrants after 1992”. The impact on gender relations, child rearing, the extended family, marriage, and other social
structures has been widely discussed. Husbands and wives live decades apart visiting infrequently. Care for children has
passed to the extended family. Family members remaining in the homeland have become dependent upon remittances.
“Fictitious” marriages are commonplace in the exterior. Nonetheless, the government of the Philippines continues to
promote the export of labor as the “salvation” for the country’s development problems.
Taiwan, newly developing as a destination for Southeast Asian labor migrants, offers a difficult receiving context where
economic benefits are meager and opportunity for social integration is almost nonexistent. The system for recruiting
Filipino laborers for Taiwanese employers is highly bureaucratic and economically exploitive. It involves a number of
governmental and pseudo-governmental agencies, as well as labor brokers in both countries. There are many claims of
systematic abuse because of corruption at all levels of this system. The primary cause of this corruption can be found in
huge sums of legal and illegal fees charged by brokers and placement agencies. In addition, the considerable legal and
illegal fees charged to workers leads to a cycle of debt. Worker borrow money at high rates of interest to pay for the
opportunity to work, and then spend a year or more working to pay off that debt before actually saving money. Often, by
the third year of a contract workers have saved only enough to live on for the few months they are back in the
Philippines awaiting another placement opportunity.
There are a great number of researchers currently exploring the transnational labor migration (Borjas 1988; Sassen 1988
Borjas 1990; Stalker 1994; Stalker 2000; Valenzuela 2000; Chiswick and Hatton 2001; UN 2002; Castles 2003; Taran
and Geronimi 2003). Likewise, there are many who look specifically at overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) (Abella 1993;
Martin 1993; Tigno 1994; Saith 1997; Groves and Chang 1999; Aguilar 2000; Barber 2000; Parreñas 2001; Tan 2001;
Asis 2002; Lindio-McGovern 2002; Tyner 2002; Arnado 2003Weekley 2003; Young 2004). Yet, though Taiwan presently
has nearly 400,000 imported laborers (a quarter of whom are Filipino), few academic studies have been conducted on the
country as a receiving context. Little is known of the social incorporation of these migrants into Taiwanese society.
Moreover, the majority of studies that are being conducted focus only on domestic workers (Cheng 1996; Lin 1999;
Cheng 2003; Lan 2000a; Lan 2000b; Lan 2002; Lan 2003a; Lan 2003b; Lan 2003c; Lan 2003c; Loveband 2003). Yet,
fifty-percent of laborers are employed in manufacturing. To date, only a couple of studies are available regarding
contract factory work in Taiwan (Tseng and Lee 2001; Tierney 2002).
Like the academic press Taiwan as a receiving country has been largely overlooked in documentary film production. A
review of documentaries produced in the past ten years shows only a few films that fit within the genre of Southeast
Asian women migrants in globalized labor production. In 2003, Bill Moyers produced a segment entitled, "Women's
Work," looking at the impact of globalization on women’s work in Thailand. The International Labour Office (ILO)
produced a 1999 program on globalization and women’s work (entitled “Her way to work: the road to quality jobs for
women”) that included segments on women migrants and export processing zones around the world. More recently, a
documentary entitled “B.A.T.A.M. a documentary” (produced in 2005) compared the lives of two women in Indonesia,
one working in the factory of a multinational corporation and the other in the illicit, but thriving market for prostitution
on Batam Island. Closer to the topic is “Behind the labels: garment workers on U.S. Saipan,” a 2001 production by Tia
Lessin (funded by Sundance with Susan Sarandon as narrator and music by Peter Gabriel). This film looks at sweatshops
that import female laborers from China and the Philippines, focusing on the anti- globalization movement. There are no
films found in English databases depicting women migrants in Taiwan.
Significance of the project
The results from this project will build on previous work by researchers who study the impact of globalization on
everyday lives and the feminization of labor migration. However, in the case of Southeast Asia it fills an important gap in
the literature. While much has been documented of the lives of domestic workers, little has been done with the much
larger population of factory workers. As more countries invest in the infrastructure of Export Processing Zones and the
importation of laborers, the issues of the impact of labor migration on the family, universal labor rights, and demographic
changes in labor become increasingly more important. It is anticipated that this project would generate a great deal of
interest, not only among researchers of migration and globalization, but also among the general public. The project, by
means of the publicly-accessible documentary, also attempts to bring the issue of labor migration into a broader forum.
Project design
Methods and procedures:
This project draws upon the methods of visual ethnography. Traditional ethnographic techniques commonly employed in
Sociology (interviews, observations, and content analysis of periodicals, government documents, etc.), as well as more
innovative visual methods (photo-documentation, video observations, and photo-elicitation) are used to document the
everyday life experiences of the labor migrant and form the bulk of the research materials. As ethnography, the research
follows the characteristics outlined by LeCompte and Schensul (1999): the research is carried out in a naturalistic setting;
it involves face-to-face contact between researcher and participants; it frames the phenomena within a socio-historical
context; and it attempts, through a triangulation of perspectives (participants, experts in the field, and the researcher), to
represent a credible reflection of the nature of the social impact of the feminization of labor migration. Another important
element of ethnography is its exploratory nature. It is more than the documenting of a phenomenon. It is the flexible
investigation of a social situation that requires the participation of the ethnographer in the process of discovery. Jay Ruby
(DATE) notes that ethnography is as much the process as the final document.
One product of the ethnography will be a short documentary. The outline of the documentary is as follows. After a brief
biographical vignette depicting one Filipina factory worker’s everyday life experiences in Taiwan, the will include a two
to three minute introduction to the economic, demographic, and political circumstances that lead to the importation of
labor from the Philippines to Taiwan. Representatives from Non-Governmental Organizations (Fr. Bruno Ciceri of Stella
Maris among others) and Philippine governmental agencies in Taiwan (Aty. Salud of the Manila Economic Council
Office) will explain the history and dynamics of the migration. The video will then depict of the everyday lives of factory
laborers, covering life in government dormitories, restriction on movement, factory work conditions (dirty, difficult, and
dangerous), and life after work in the small Filipino enclave that has developed around the factories in the NanTze
Export Processing Zone (EPZ) outside of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The narratives of individual migrants will be presented
and video of daily life will be shot by the participants. Interviews will cover the migrants’ reasons for leaving the
Philippines and coming to Taiwan as well as the experience of being an “indentured servant” to a labor broker system
that charges them an exorbitant placement fee to work in Taiwan. The video will conclude with a two to three minute
discussion of the impact of female labor migration on the homeland from the perspective of the factory workers, the
relief agencies, and the governmental representatives. The website, on which the documentary will be disseminated, will
combine this new content produced in the summer of 2007 with media created in a 2002 PhotoVoice project I conducted
with participants in NanTze. This previous project produced more than 350 photos of everyday life taken by the
participants. Full texts and audio of their deconstruction of the images will be provided online.
Transcriptions of interviews will also be made. The text, as well as video clips, will be entered into Atlas.ti for coding.
Primary documents, the transcriptions and observation notes, will be marked following a grounded coding scheme.
Atlas.ti also allows for the exploration of the relationship between concepts by means of the “Network Editor” tool.
As part of the “text” that this project seeks to produce is a documentary of the lives of individual migrants and their
experiences. The Interpretivist paradigm, therefore, is a good fit for this type of visualethnography as there is an
established tradition of reflexive and subjective documentaries and direct application of this approach in film. Denzin
(DATE) notes, that Interpretivist films are unique from more positivistic documentaries as they recognize the nature of
film as a simulacrum that is often mistaken as reality: Citing Trinh T. Minh-Ha (1991), Denzin explains that traditional
documentary style: “like ethnography, starts with the real world: It uses an aesthetic of objectivity and a technological
apparatus that produces truthful statements (images) about the world…. These aesthetic strategies define the
documentary style, allowing the filmmaker to create a text that gives the viewer the illusion of having ‘unmediated
access to reality.’” However, this technological, positivistic view is false as it is equally constructed and manipulated
through the lens of ‘objectivity’ of the ethnographer. All texts of modernist ethnographers, he explains “attempt to
capture and re-present, through photographs, transcribed interviews, and audiotapes the authentic, original voices heard,
seen, and felt in the field setting” yet fail as they are filtered and reconstructed by the situated viewpoint of the
ethnographer.
These interviews will be open-ended and conversational in tone. They will be recorded with a digital video camera.
Footage will be combined with video shot in 2002 and edited into a ten to twelve minute digital video for broadcast via
the internet, presentations at documentary film festivals and academic conferences, as well as for a DVD used in courses
on globalization and migration. I envision that this will become the first installment in a collection of publicly-accessible
videos on women migrants, eventually including Latin American, North American, European, and African migration
flows.
Project time line.
The project timeline begins in Fall of 2006 with application to the UNCG Institutional Review Board. Photo/Video
release forms and informed consent forms will be submitted for approval. Travel arrangements will follow, as well as
maintaining contact with representatives in Taiwan (relief workers, factory workers, and Philippine government official)
with whom I have corresponded since 2002.
During the months of June and July 2007, a series of interviews will be conducted with factory workers, relief workers,
and governmental officials. Approximately 15 to 20 Filipina migrants from the Filipino Community in NanTze, Taiwan
and snowball sampling thereafter. Additionally, approximately 5 NGO/Relief workers will be recruited through current
contacts with the Taiwan International Workers Association, Taiwan Migrants' Forum, Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants,
Taichung Maryknoll Migrant Center, and Stella Maris International Service Centre in Kaohsiung Taiwan. Finally, about
3-4 governmental representatives will be interviewed representing the Taiwan Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) and the
Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO).
Recruitment of participants will occur in mid-June. Interviews will be conducted throughout late June and early July.
Footage will be reviewed and a preliminary story-board created for a “rough-cut” of the documentary. This cut will be
shown to participants in mid-to-late July for critique. As needed, additional footage will be shot to complete the
documentary. Final editing and encoding of the video for online dissemination will occur in early August after return to
the US. Previously recorded music performed by Filipina migrants in Taiwan will be included in opening, transition, and
credit segments. The video produced from this effort will be online by late August 2007. Transcriptions of raw footage
from interviews will be made throughout the fall of 2007 and will provide data for academic publications into 2008.
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Supporting documents: Interview Protocol

Interview Protocol
These questions will be modified as needed to maintain the natural flow of the interview and to explore topics which arise in
the course of the conversation. They are a general guide to direct the conversation. Probes will be revised as needed to
encourage elaboration on answers. If a participant goes off topic, but is providing useful content, probing and follow-up
will continue as needed then a redirect to original script may be used. If off topic conversation does not appear relevant, a
casual redirect to original script will be made. Interview will be video recorded. Notes of most salient points will be made
during interview. Notes will be used to help guide in where to look on recording for respondents’ verbatim answers.
II. Statement of Purpose and Introduction
Explanation to the participant who I am and why I am doing this research (to better understand the impact of globalized
labor markets on families and individuals).
III. Consent
Go over consent form with interviewee. Verify selection under confidentiality section. Review photo/video release. Verbally
ask permission to video record the interview. Explain that recordings will be used for public and academic airing as well as
analysis and academic writings.

BEGIN VIDEO RECORDING:

IV. Background Information
Tell me a little about yourself
1. Age?
2. Region of the Philippines?
3. Languages?
4. Educational background?
Tell me a little about your family…
5. Does the participant have children?
6. a spouse?

V. Migration Experiences
Tell me a little about being an OFW (overseas Filipino worker)
1. Why did you seek work overseas?
2. How long in Taiwan?
3. Job that they currently hold?
4. Have they been here before?
5. Other migration experiences?
a) Other countries
b) Year(s) migrated
How did you choose to come to Taiwan rather that another country?
6. Have other family members been here?
7. Other friends?
8. Are they here now?
9. Did they come together with someone?

Date:________/________/_________
VI. Placement – Broker System
Tell me about the Placement agency in the Philippines…
1. How much was the placement fee?
2. Did you borrow money to come? From whom?
3. How did you choose the placement agency?
4. Were there any difficulties?
Tell me now about the Taiwanese broker?
5. How much do you pay the broker monthly?
6. What does the broker do?
VII. Work Life
Tell me about your employer?
1. What are the terms of the contract?
2. How many days off?
3. Pay?
4. Bonuses?
5. Overtime
6. Healthcare? Etc.
Tell me about the work you do?
7. What schedule?
8. What is a typical day like?
9. Managers?
10. Problems?
VIII. Life outside of work:
Let’s move on to what you do when not a work… what do you do?
1. What do you do in their free time? Days off?
2. Do you play sports on a team, go to any group activities, take classes or any other formal activity?
3. What is the role of the church or other institutions?
4. Were they religious before coming here?
Where do you live?
5. Conditions of dorms/ apartments?
6. Curfew?
7. How many people per room?
8. Rent?
9. Other charges?

Where do you shop/eat?

10. Shop owners Filipino or Taiwanese? (participate in enclave economy?)

Friends?
11. Taiwanese or Filipino or other migrant groups?

Romance?
12. Partnerships?
13. To what end?
14. Marriage?

How are you treated by Taiwanese?

IX. Culture:
How is Filipino culture maintained while in Taiwan?
1. Probe on food, language, dress, style, music, dance, dating, etc.
What examples of Taiwanese culture have you adopted?
2. Probe on food, language, dress, style, music, dance, dating, etc.

X. Home contact
How often are you in contact with friends/ family at home?
1. 1. What mode of communication: internet, phone, text message, mail, etc?
2. 2. Frequency of contact?
3. 3. Duration of contact?

Do you send money or gifts (pasalubong)?

4. To who are remittance and gifts sent?
5. What mode of remittance?
6. Frequency?
7. Amount?

XI. What are the major problems facing life in Taiwan?

XII. Concluding Remarks: Do you have any concluding remarks regarding the being an PFW, life in Taiwan, or anything
else?

TURN OFF RECORDER

Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today.

EXTRAMURAL FUNDING - Information must be provided about (Part A) planned proposal submissions and, if you have previously received
a New Faculty or Regular Faculty Research Grants or a Summer Excellence Research Award, information must be provided about (Part B) previous
proposal submissions. Failure to provide this information will result in the application not being reviewed. The Office of Sponsored Programs
can assist with finding appropriate extramural funding agencies.
Part A – Planned Proposal Submissions
1. ACLS/SSRC/NEH International and Area Studies Fellowships
Funding agency:
ACLS/SSRC/NEH International and Area Studies Fellowships
Office of Fellowships and Grants
ACLS
633 3rd Avenue
New York, NY 10017-6795
email: grants@acls.org
fax: (212) 949-8058
Date on which it will be submitted:
September 27, 2007 (Based on 2006 deadline)
Link to intramural funding request.
The International and Area Studies Fellowships provide salary replacement to help scholars devote
six to twelve continuous months to full-time research and writing with the ultimate goal of the
project being a major piece of scholarly work. Data gathered during the Summer of 2007 will be
combined with that of interviews conducted in 2002 to form the basis of a book-length work or
series of articles on the feminization of labor migration in Southeast Asia.
2. NSF Social, Behavioral & Economic (SBE) Regular Research Award
Funding agency:
The National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, Virginia 22230
Patricia E. White
pwhite@nsf.gov
(703) 292-8762
Date on which it will be submitted:
August 15, 2007
Link to intramural funding request.
Proposal to NSF will be to develop cross-cultural study of the role of the receiving context on
female labor migration. Summer 2007 study will serve as pilot material for eventual study to
include other Southeast Asian receiving areas (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan).

Part B – Previous Proposal Submissions

Funded Grants
 Wayne State University Evaluation Research:

• “Evaluation of the Skillman Good Schools:

Making the Grade Initiative” Year 2 Awarded
2006-2007
o Funding Source: Skillman Foundation
o Award Amount $150,000
• Broadening Participation In Computing
(BPC) Evaluation Proposed 2006-2008
o WSU Dept of Computer Science (NSF)
o Requested Amount $36,203
• “Youth Sports and Recreation Commission
Evaluation” Awarded 2006
o Funding Source: Skillman Foundation
o Award Amount $108,000
• “Evaluation of the Providence – St. John
Community Health Abstinence Curriculum”
Awarded 2004-2007
o Funding Source: Providence – St. John
Community Health (HRSA)
o Award Amount $85,000
• “Yad Ezra Kosher Food Pantry Evaluation”
Awarded 2005
o Funding Source: Yad Ezra Kosher Food Pantry
o Award Amount $6,883
• “Community Needs Assessment - Multistage
Cluster Sampling Design” Awarded 2005
o Funding Source: Arab Community Center for
Economic and Social Services (ACCESS)
o Award Amount $10,790

Academic Research:

• “The Impact of Cultural and Linguistic

Competency of Service Coordinators on Latino
Families Receiving Early Intervention Services”
Awarded 2005
o Funding Source: Wayne State University
Undergraduate Research Grant
o Award Amount $2,298
• “Street Life Society: Homelessness on Mill
Avenue Project” Awarded 2002
o Funding Source: Center for Urban Inquiry,
Arizona State University.
o Award Amount $6800
• “Arizona State University International
Student Surveys.” Awarded 1999
o Funding Source: Graduate and Professional
Student Association Research Award, Arizona State
University.
o Award Amount $800

4. CURRICULUM VITAE-
Education
Doctorate of Philosophy - Sociology 2004
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State
University
 • Dissertation Title: “Transnationalizing the self :marginalized Filipino
labor migrants in Taiwan”
• Concentrations: Globalization; Migration; Methods.

Master of Arts - Sociology 2000

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,
Arizona State University

• Thesis Title: “Social, economic and symbolic ties : an analysis of

transnationalism in Mexican communities.”

Bachelor of Arts - Spanish 1991

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of
North Carolina Greensboro

• Teaching certificate K-12 Spanish

Publications Accepted & In Print

Henry, S. and Sills, S. “The Informal Economy” chapter in Lippens, R and Ponsaers,
P. (Eds.) The Informal Economy Re-visited: Organisational Process,
Occupational Culture, Informal Economies, and Crime. [Forthcoming]
Petrova, P., Cialdini, R., & Sills, S. “Consistency-based Compliance across
Cultures.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology [In Press]
Marsiglia, F., Kulis, S., Hecht, M. and Sills, S. 2004. "Ethnicity and Ethnic Identity
as Predictors of Drug Norms and Drug Use Among Preadolescents in the
US Southwest." Substance Use Misuse 39, no 7:1061.
Marsiglia, F.F., Miles, B.W., Dustman, P., & Sills, S. 2002. “"Ties That Protect: An
Ecological Perspective on Latino/a Urban Pre-Adolescent Drug Use." In:
de Anda, D. (Ed.) Social Work with Multicultural Youth. (pp. 191-220).
Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Social Work Practice Press.
Marsiglia, F., Miles, B., Dustman, P., and Sills, S. 2002. "Ties That Protect: An
Ecological Perspective on Latino/a Urban Pre-Adolescent Drug Use."
Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work 11 Part 3/4:191-220.
Sills, S. and Song, C. 2002. "Innovations in Survey Research: An Application of
Web-Based Surveys." Social Science Computer Review 20, no 1:22-30.
Sills, S.. 2001. “Return Migration.” Article in Ciment, J (Ed.) Encyclopedia of
American Migration. M.E. Sharpe: New York, NY.
Presentations
Miles, B. and Sills, S. 2006. "Community Of Origin & Risk Factors For Homeless
Youth" Paper to be presented at The Society for the Study of Social
Problems 56th Annual Meeting. Montreal, Canada.
Miles, B. and Sills, S. 2006. "A Deconstruction Of Power And Problems Faced By
Qualitative Researchers And Ethics Review" Paper to be presented at The
Society for the Study of Social Problems 56th Annual Meeting. Montreal,
Canada.
Sills, S. & Child, H. 2006. “Cultural Flexibility and Program Evaluation: Lessons
Learned From Mixed-Method Evaluation Of A Kosher Food Pantry” Paper
to be presented at the 2006 International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry
Urbana-Champaign, IL.
Miles, B., Byrnes, M., & Sills, S. 2006. “Power, Policy, and Politics: Reflections of
Three Visual Ethnographers.” Paper to be presented at the 2006
International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. Champaign-Urbana, IL.
Sills, S. 2006. “Using Visual Ethnography to Influence Policy: Experiences Of The
Street Life On Mill Study” Center For Urban Studies Brown Bag Series.
Wayne State University. Detroit, MI.
Sills, S. 2006. “Perspectives On The Integration Of Migrants - The Role of Context:
Case Studies on Transnational Labor Migrants” International Symposium
on Immigration and Ethnic Relations In European And North American
Cities. January 26-27, 2006. Wayne State University. Detroit, MI.
Nehan, N., Colombo, M., Miles, B., and Sills, S. 2005. “Understanding University
Internal Review Boards: Multiple perspectives on strategies for surviving
and learning from the review process” Panel presentation at the American
Evaluation Associate 2005 meeting.
Miles, B. and Sills, S.2005. “Get a Job: Deconstructing the myth of homeless people
and work.” The Society for the Study of Social Problems 55th Annual
Meeting. Philadelphia, PA.
Thompson, L., Bales, S., Hulleza, C., and Sills, S. 2005.”Evaluation of Michigan’s
Early Intervention System: Impacts and Recommendations” Presentation at
the American Psychological Association Annual Convention. Washington,
DC.
Sills, S & Miles, B. 2005. “The Landscape of Metropolitan Homeless Services: A
spatial survey of Detroit area homeless services” presented at the Urban
Affairs Association 35th Annual Meeting Salt Lake City, Utah.
Sills, S and Miles, B. 2005. “Investigating Visual Researchers‚ Experiences with
Institutional Review Boards” presented at the 2005 International Congress
of Qualitative Inquiry Urbana-Champaign, IL.
Thompson, L., Bales, S., Hulleza, C., and Sills, S. 2005.”Evaluation of Michigan’s
Early Intervention System: Impacts on Families and Children” Presentation
at the Michigan Council for Exceptional Children 65th Annual Conference.
Grand Rapids, MI.
Sills, S. 2004. “Kabayan! Experiences of Filipino Guest Workers in Taiwan” Paper
presented at the Pacific Sociological Association Meeting. San Francisco,
CA.
Sills, S. 2004. “Seeing Culture: Visual Methods in Cross-Cultural” Paper presented at
the Pacific Sociological Association Meeting. San Francisco, CA.
Sills, S. 2004.” Filipino Labor Migrants in Taiwan - Caretakers, Nursing Aids, and
Domestic Workers.” Video Presentation and Discussion screened at the
Pacific Sociological Association Meeting: San Francisco, CA.
Sills, S. & Miles, B. 2003. “Homelessness on Mill Avenue” Documentary Video
Presentation and Discussion presented at Carl Couch-Greg Stone Winter
Symposium of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. Tempe, AZ.
Sills, S. & Miles, B. 2002. “Street Life Society: A Video Ethnography/Documentary
on Homeless Youth” Thematic Session at the Pacific Sociological
Association Meeting. Vancouver, BC.
Sills, S. & Miles, B. 2002.”Video Ethnography with Hidden Populations.” Invited
presentation to the Midwest Homeless Adolescent Research Project.
University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Lincoln, NE
Sills, S. 2001. “Symbolic Ties: An Exploration of Transnationalism in Mexican
Communities.” Refereed Roundtable on Latinos/as in the United States.
 Organizer: Silvia Pedraza, University of Michigan. Paper presented at the
American Sociological Association Meeting: Anaheim, CA.
Sills, S. 2001. “Settlement, Circulation and Return: An Analysis of Strengths of
Transnational Ties.” Paper presented at the Pacific Sociological Association
Meeting: San Francisco, CA.
Sills & Song. 2001. “Innovations in Survey Research: An Application of Web Based
Surveys.” Paper presented at the Pacific Sociological Association Meeting:
San Francisco, CA.

Documentary Film Projects

 Sills, S. 2003. “Filipino Labor
Migrants in Taiwan – Caretakers
and Domestic Workers
Documenting the lives and issues
of domestic labor migrants in
Taiwan”
Sills, S. and Miles, B. 2002.
“Street Life on Mill: Homeless
youth on Tempe Arizona’s Mill
Avenue.”
Sills, S. 2002. “The People of the
Shadows: An Exploration of
Boundary Management Among
Homeless Individuals” adapted
and directed by Dr. Kurt
Lindemann from interview
material by Lisa Armijo Arizona
State University.
Positions Held
Director - Evaluation Research Unit 2005-Present
CENTER FOR URBAN STUDIES
Office of the Provost
Wayne State University. Detroit, MI.
Research Associate 2004-2005
CENTER FOR URBAN STUDIES
Office of the Provost
Wayne State University. Detroit, MI.
Teaching Associate 2001-2004
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
Arizona State University.Tempe, AZ.

Adjunct Instructor 2001-2004

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
Mesa Community College. Mesa, AZ.

Lead Field Ethnographer 2001

HEALTH-RISK BEHAVIORS OF LONG HAUL TRUCKERS PILOT STUDY
Department of Sociology.
Arizona State University. Tempe, AZ.

Data Analyst 2000-2001

DRUG RESISTANCE STRATEGIES PROJECT.
Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center
Arizona State University. Tempe, AZ.

Field Interviewer 2000-2001

ADOLESCENT & FAMILY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT.
Department of Psychology.
Arizona State University. Tempe, AZ.

Graduate Research/Teaching Assistant 1999-2002

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY.
Arizona State University. Tempe, AZ.

Professional Memberships & Affiliations

• International Visual Sociologists Association

• Pacific Sociological Association
• American Evaluation Association
• American Sociological Association
 • Urban Affairs Association

5. BUDGET SUMMARY AND WORKSHEETS

Not Applicable

BUDGET SUMMARY for

Summer Excellence Research Grant
International Programs Center (IPC) Research Grants (Kohler Fund)
IPC Grants and New Faculty Research or Regular Faculty Research must
cover the same time period.

NAME: Stephen Sills CAMPUS PHONE:4-3696

DEPARTMENT: Dept of Sociology UNCG

CAMPUS ADDRESS: 320 Frank Porter Graham Building, The University of North Carolina at
Greensboro

Justification for each item listed in the budget must be provided on the pages following this form.

DESCRIPTIO COST OTHER FUNDS KOHLER APPROVAL

N REQUEST (FOR IPC
USE ONLY)
Source Amount Amount
Transportation $1,627 $1,000
– Air
Rail

Road

Other

Accommodatio
ns (apt 2 mo
 Meals

Other expenses
(specify)

TOTAL $1,627 $1,000

BUDGET
(for all
columns)

Your grant application has been received in the Office of Research and Public/Private Sector Partnerships.

THE OFFICE OF RESEARCH

AND PUBLIC/PRIVATE
SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS
WILL STAMP THE DATE
YOUR PROPOSAL WAS
RECEIVED BELOW:

[ ] New Faculty Research Grant

[ ] Regular Faculty Research Grant

 [X] Summer Excellence Research Grant

This form will be returned to you when your application is received in Office of
Research and Public/Private Sector Partnerships. Fill in your campus mailing
address on the reverse side.

Stephen J. Sills, PhD

Sociology Department
312 Frank Porter Graham Building,
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170
Work Phone: 336-334-5295
Home Phone: 336-404-4932
Fax: 336-334-5283
Email Address: sjsills@uncg.edu