Press release 02-2020

PREMEHCHi is pleased to announce the addition of six exceptional scholars and students to the team in 2020: Dr. Setsuko Sonoda, from Hyogo University in Japan, Dr. David Ibarra Arana, from the University of Costa Rica, M.B.A. Iris Lam Chen, from the Pacific Branch of the University of Costa Rica, Dr. Marcela Hío Soto, from the Children's Laboratory Center at University of Costa Rica, Daniela Murillo Castro, candidate for the Master's Degree in Chinese Philosophy, Religion and Culture from Renmin University in China and, Cheng Yeung Yang, Bachelor of French and student of the Bachelor of Political Science at the University of Costa Rica.

As a result of a number academic initiatives affiliated to and organized by the School of Modern Languages ​​and the Pacific Branch of the University of Costa Rica, we have managed to form a high-level team with people who have specialized in history, foreign languages, anthropology, law , pedagogy, philosophy, art and culture in higher education institutions in Costa Rica, Mexico, the United States, Spain, France, Japan and China. All these people join forces today in order to undertake various actions aimed at rescuing the diasporic memory of the Chinese immigrants from Costa Rica.

The Project for the Recovery of the Historical Memory of Chinese Migrations to Costa Rica was born in 2015 through an alliance among the Université de Bordeaux, the Université de Bordeaux Montaigne, the State Distance University and the University of Costa Rica. What began as a commemoration of the 160th anniversary of the arrival of the first Chinese immigrants turned into an international, inter-institutional and interdisciplinary academic project of two historians and an expert in English literature of Chinese origin and in an attempt to expand the lines of research around these mobilizations.

Supported by the Confucius Institute at the University of Costa Rica, the School of Modern Languages, UNED, the French universities, and the Latin American and Hispanic Academic Network on Sinological Studies, PREMEHCHI has evolved into a unique conglomerate in Latin America. In five years, since joint cooperation began, we have individually published a total of 20 scientific journal articles and book chapters, exploring different aspects of Chinese immigrants in Costa Rica from unexplored perspectives, there are also 6 papers to be released in the book of the first International Conference of China Studies and 6 chapters to be published in the book Overseas Chinese, Volume 3.

Consequently, these efforts to integrate scholars with a variety of institutional affiliations and disciplinary interests within a single research team will continue to promote the creation of a database of unpublished material on Chinese migrations to Costa Rica, the publication of original studies, the emergence of a solid line of research, and the internationalization of academic production with publications in Mexico, Brazil, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Japan and Costa Rica, in three languages, Spanish, English and Japanese.