Keynote Speakers

Dr. Anne Raffin, Associate Professor

Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Biography: Anne Raffin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of Singapore (NUS). She completed her undergraduate studies in France before pursuing graduate training at the New School for Social Research in New York, USA, where she earned a PhD in Sociology and Historical Studies under the supervision of the renowned Professor Charles Tilly. Following her doctorate, she served as a Campbell Teaching Fellow in History at Brigham Young University, Provo, USA. She has since been a faculty member in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at NUS. She is the author of Republican Citizenship in French Colonial Pondicherry: 1870–1914 (Leiden: Amsterdam University Press, January 2022) and Youth Mobilization in Vichy Indochina and its Legacies, 1940–1970 (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2005). In recognition of her research contributions, she received the 2023 Distinguished Woman Researcher Award from the Venus International Foundation, Chennai.

Topic: French Retirees in Asia: From Ageism to Voluntarism

Abstract: This paper examines the migration of French retirees to Asia, based on 68 interviews in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Puducherry. It shows gendered patterns in retirement choices: men often settle full-time in Southeast Asia, seeking freedom and escape from ageism, while women favor part-time retirement in India, where volunteer opportunities add meaning to their lives. The study argues that retirement abroad reflects the search for 'aging in the right place,' with environments offering lifestyles tailored to different groups.