## Breadcrumb 1. [Home](/index%2Ephp/) 2. [Overview](/index%2Ephp/academics) 3. [Faculty Members](/index%2Ephp/academics/explore-faculty) 4. [Lynne Milgram](/index%2Ephp/markdownify/node/3968) # Lynne Milgram ![](https://ultima7-its.ocadu.ca/bios/lmilgram/portrait) lmilgram@ocadu.ca Faculty Information Professor, Emerit/Emerita/Emeritus Faculty of Arts & Science Areas of ExpertisePhilippines alternative economies social enterprise public space governance food security GENDER Lynne Milgram’s research while rooted in gender studies and anthropology lends itself to a range of interdisciplinary collaborations. Analyzing the commoditization of local craft production and its contribution to household economies in Ifugao province, northern Philippines, Milgram’s doctoral research charted the criteria women artisans use to determine their differential engagement in cultivation, wage labour, and crafts (weaving, woodcarving, basketry). Subsequently investigating the socioeconomic and political impacts of microfinance development projects mounted throughout the Philippines, Milgram explored the relationship between the institutional claim to empowerment and the capacity of microfinance program structures to generate “real” opportunities for women. Further pursuing these issues but with regard to other emergent so-called “informal” spheres of women’s entrepreneurial work, Milgram analyzed Philippine women’s engagement in the global trade of second hand clothing, specifically that between the Philippines and Hong Kong, and women’s work as street vendors and public market traders. These enterprises straddle formal/informal and legal/illegal practice and are growing alternative arenas of labour and livelihood given increasing rural-to-urban migration and the lack of formal-sector jobs. Milgram’s current Philippine research continues to problematize the concepts of informality, extralegality, governmentality, and social entrepreneurship regarding public market modernization and food provisioning systems in Baguio City, the northern region’s emergent Arabica coffee industry, and social entrepreneurs’ growing use of the internet to globally market artisanal production. Throughout her research, Milgram argues that producers (women and men) operationalize multiple work options to simultaneously negotiate their positions as sites of globally competitive economic activity and local struggles over state restructuring. Milgram makes her findings applicable for policy formation and implementation by government and non-government organizations seeking to support livelihood opportunities via a range of sustainable initiatives. ### Works #### Diasporic entanglements: Philippine-Toronto entrepreneurs reinventing food, business and belonging pre- and post-COVID-19 International Development Planning Review Published: December 31st 2025 [View Article »](https://doi.org/10.3828/idpr.2025.30) #### Social entrepreneurship and Arabica coffee production in the Northern Philippines: Navigating opportunities and constraints Human Organization Published: October 7th 2021 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85108689725&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Fashioning frontiers in artisanal trade: social entrepreneurship and textile production in the Philippine Cordillera South East Asia Research Published: December 31st 2020 [View Article »](https://doi.org/10.1080/0967828X.2020.1834336) #### Gift-commodity entanglements: Repositioning (in)formality in a transnational Philippine market trade Anthropologica Published: October 7th 2019 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85069638824&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Informality and legality in women’s livelihoods in Baguio city Routledge Handbook of the Contemporary Philippines Published: October 7th 2018 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85047025648&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Informality, advocacy, and governmentality in urbanizing Northern Philippine Cities: Baguio, Benguet and Dagupan, Pangasinan Routledge Handbook of Urbanization in Southeast Asia Published: October 7th 2018 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85059187495&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Reclaiming materials and fashion-work in the urban philippines The Force of Fashion in Politics and Society: Global Perspectives from Early Modern to Contemporary Times Published: October 7th 2016 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85109220037&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### From street to store to shopping mall: Extralegal zones of commerce for pirated audio-visual goods in Baguio, The Philippines Sojourn Published: October 7th 2015 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84949986925&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Food provisioning and wholesale agricultural co Mmodity chains in northern Vietnam Human Organization Published: October 7th 2014 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84896829569&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Remapping the Edge: Informality and Legality in the Harrison Road Night Market, Baguio City, Philippines City and Society Published: October 7th 2014 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84905682163&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### From secondhand clothing to cosmetics: How Philippine-Hong Kong entrepreneurs fill gaps in cross-border trade Globalization from Below: The World's Other Economy Published: October 7th 2012 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84906365730&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Reconfiguring margins: Secondhand clothing and Street vending in the Philippines Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture Published: October 7th 2012 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84865225062&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Tangled fields: Rethinking positionality and ethics in research on women's work in a Hong Kong-Philippine trade Critical Arts Published: October 7th 2012 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84863601637&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Reconfiguring space, mobilizing livelihood: Street vending, legality, and work in the philippines Journal of Developing Societies Published: October 7th 2011 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-80052386980&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### From trash to totes: Recycled production and cooperative economy practice in the Philippines Human Organization Published: October 7th 2010 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-77951575933&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Negotiating urban activism: Women, vending and the transformation of streetscapes in the urban Philippines Dissent and Cultural Resistance in Asia's Cities Published: October 7th 2009 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-80052379754&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Activating frontier livelihoods: Women and the transnational secondhand clothing trade between Hong Kong and the Philippines Urban Anthropology Published: October 7th 2008 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-48749093698&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Edgy things: Negotiating borders and identity in Asian material culture–a foreword Asian Studies Review Published: October 7th 2005 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85066188743&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Fair(er) trade for global markets: Capitalizing on work alternatives in crafts in the rural Philippines Petty Capitalists and Globalization: Flexibility, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development Published: October 7th 2005 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84899609688&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### From margin to mainstream: Microfinance, women's work and social change in the Philippines Urban Anthropology Published: October 7th 2005 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-33646582982&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Piña cloth, identity and the project of Philippine nationalism Asian Studies Review Published: October 7th 2005 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84868136831&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Artists and aesthetics: Case studies of creativity in the ethnic arts market Anthropology of Work Review Published: October 7th 2004 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85040403968&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Operationalizing microfinance: Women and craftwork in Ifugao, upland Philippines Human Organization Published: October 7th 2001 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-0034786501&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### Locating "Tradition" in the Striped Textiles of Banaue, Ifugao Museum Anthropology Published: October 7th 1999 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85062756103&partnerID=MN8TOARS) #### The textiles of highland Luzon Philippines: a structural analysis Ars Textrina Published: October 7th 1992 [View Article »](http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-0026796583&partnerID=MN8TOARS) ### Education #### PhD **Type:** Department of Anthropology York University #### MA **Type:** Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary Studies York University ### Employment #### Professor Emerita and Adjunct Professor **Type:** Faculty of Arts & Science OCAD University #### Professor of Anthropology **Type:** Faculty of Arts & Science OCAD University ### Funding #### Philippine-Canada Transnational Alternative Economies **Type:** Grant #### Contested Livlihoods: Food Provisioning Systems in Urbanizing Southeast Asia **Type:** Grant #### Engaging Social Entrepreneurship Through Philippine-Canada Artisanal Trade **Type:** Grant #### From Market to Market: Filipino-Canadian Entrepreneurs Refashion Transnational Business Landscapes. **Type:** Grant #### Reconfiguring Economy and Customary Practice: Women’s Weaving Cooperatives in the Northern Philippines. **Type:** Award #### Resilient Urban Communities & Local Food Systems after COVID-19: Developing Knowledge Partnerships Beyond the Pandemic **Type:** Grant urban food systems; resiliency; sustainability; local communities; global knowledge sharing; digital infrastructure; public dissemination #### Contested livelihoods: food provisioning systems in urban Southeast Asia **Type:** Grant fresh food provisioning systems; marketplace development; resistance; gender and work; urban public space; citizenship rights; Philippines; Vietnam; globalization #### Alternative transnational economies: exploring the progressive potential of Canada-Philippines migrant connections **Type:** Grant transnationalism; migration; diaspora; social economies; diverse economies; philanthropy; remittances; development #### Alternative transnational economies: exploring the progressive potential of Canada-Philippines migrant connections **Type:** Grant transnationalism; migration; diaspora; social economies; diverse economies; philanthropy; remittances; development #### Contested livelihoods: food provisioning systems in urban Southeast Asia **Type:** Grant fresh food provisioning systems; marketplace development; resistance; gender and work; urban public space; citizenship rights; Philippines; Vietnam; globalization #### Thirsty for Alternative Sources of Agri-Beverages? New Commodity Provisioning from the Rural Philippines and Vietnam **Type:** Grant agri-beverages; agri-food; commodity chains; systems of provisioning; added value; alternative food networks; ethnic minorities; artisanal distilled alcohols; specialty coffee; Philippines; Vietnam #### Thirsty for Alternative Sources of Agri-Beverages? New Commodity Provisioning from the Rural Philippines and Vietnam **Type:** Grant agri-beverages; agri-food; commodity chains; systems of provisioning; added value; alternative food networks; ethnic minorities; artisanal distilled alcohols; specialty coffee; Philippines; Vietnam #### Exploring urban resistance: street vending and negotiations over public space livelihoods in the Philippines and Vietnam **Type:** Grant street vending; informal economy; household economies; gender; public space; resistance; activism; Philippines; Vietnam #### Fashioning alternative economies: women and the sourcing, circulation and consumption of secondhand clothing in the Philippines **Type:** Grant gender; development; cooperatives; microfinance; globalization; commodity flows; political economy; material culture; museums; culture and representation; Southeast Asia (Philippines) #### Women and microfinance development initiatives in the Upland Philippines **Type:** Grant microfinance; gender; development; microeconomics; women and work; craft cooperatives; Philippines ### Invited Positions #### Visiting Professor Fellowship **Type:** College of Social Sciences University of the Philippines Baguio #### Residency Fellowship Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology #### Street Economics, Politics and Social Movements in the Urban Global South (co-applicant) **Type:** Senior Seminar Series Award Program School for Advanced Research #### Research Collaborator, WASTE-ECON: The Waste Economy in Mainland Southeast Asia **Type:** Department of Geography, University of Toronto Canadian International Development Agency ### Distinctions #### First-Place Winner of the 2nd Annual Anthropology Day Photo Contest Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (SAFN) #### SAW Book Prize: Street Economies in the Urban Global South, Karen Tranberg Hansen, Walter E. Little, B. Lynne Milgram, editors. Society for the Anthropology of Work #### Fellow of SFAA Society for Applied Anthropology #### OCAD Award for Distinguished Research and Creation - From Margin to Mainstream: Refashioning Women’s Informal Sector Work in the Philippines. OCAD University #### R. L. Shep Textile Book Award for the publication, Material Choices: Refashioning Bast and Leaf Fibres in Asia and the Pacific, (co-edited with R. W. Hamilton) Textile Society of America #### Harold K. Schneider Prize in Economic Anthropology Society for Economic Anthropology #### Nomination for the Ph.D. Dissertation Prize **Type:** Anthropology York University