Petula Sik Ying HO

I received my Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong. I pursued my Ph.D. in Ideology and Discourse Analysis at the University of Essex (UK) as a British Commonwealth Scholar. I joined the Department of Social Work & Social Administration as a fieldwork supervisor in 1985, was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1998, re-titled as Associate Professor in 2007 and promoted to professorship in 2016.

My pedagogical and teaching philosophy as a social work academic has always been about creating different forms of knowledge concerning gender and sexuality whilst encouraging my students, my research participants and the community to do the same. This has particular relevance for the discipline of social work which as a profession is typically concerned with the disadvantaged and vulnerable.

With reference to a post-structuralist feminist perspective, the focus of my research and scholarship is the development of a theory of gender and sexuality that challenges existing conceptualization of intimacy and modernity leading to an epistemological reconstruction that does not grant a priori supremacy to scientific knowledge produced in the Global North with its colonialist, imperialist, racist and sexist assumptions (Connell 2014; Santos, 2014; Bhambra, 2015). In my work, I have combined conventional with innovative and creative forms of knowledge production and exchange that are useful to help me achieve three aims:

1. To engage in an intercultural dialogue through my own experiments with different critical knowledge production and exchange practices;
2. To make use of these reflections in cross-cultural comparisons that will deepen these epistemological reflections;
3. To use these perspectives to precipitate constructive change both at individual and community levels in Hong Kong society and China.

Education

• D.Phil., University of Essex, 1992-1997, in Ideology & Discourse Analysis
• M.Phil., University of Hong Kong, 1987-1990, in Master of Social Sciences (Distinction)
• B.A., University of Hong Kong, 1978-1981, in Social Sciences (IIA)

Areas of Expertise

Gender; Sexuality; Homosexuality; Feminism; Culture & society; Qualitative research methodology; Narrative analysis; Discourse analysis

Awards

• Asia Leadership Fellow, The International House of Japan, Japan Foundation, 2007
• Fellow, Centre of Asian Studies, 2005 to date
• Fellow, Centre for Civil Society and Governance, 2006 to date
• Visiting Scholar, Harvard Yenching Institute, Harvard University, 2001-2002
• University Teaching Fellow, University of Hong Kong, 2000-2001
• Commonwealth Scholarship for Academic Staff, 1992-1995
• Social Work Training Fund (for D.Phil.), 1987-1990
• Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank Scholarship (for M.Phil), 1980-1981
• Jean Robertson Memorial Book Prize, 1980-1981