Searching for the Macanese – 2026.11.11

“Searching for the Macanese: Toward a Narrative History and Information on the Diaspora”

Date: 11 November 2026 – 6.30 PM

The presentation will include an overview of my research on the history of the Macanese and a short discussion on the 2024-2025 Luso-Asian-Macanese Survey.

The conclusion will discuss the use of DNA methods and AI in future research.

Speaker: Prof. Roy Eric Xavier

Moderator: Dr. José Sales Marques

BIO:

Roy Eric Xavier, Ph.D.

Director, The Center for Luso-Asian Diaspora Studies,

Visiting Research Scholar, Asian American Research Center,

Visiting Scholar, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues,

University of California, Berkeley

Dr. Xavier is the Director of the Center for Luso-Asian Diaspora Studies (2025) and a visiting scholar at U.C. Berkeley’s Asian American Research Center and the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues. His research focuses on the history of Luso-Asian and Macanese communities around the world, as well as cultural and economic diversity in modern-day Macau, a Special Administrative Region of China. His articles have appeared in several publications, including the Macau Government’s “Review of Culture,” the Macau daily newspapers “Jornal Tribuna de Macau” and “Ponto Final,” the University of Hong Kong’s “Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,” and Prof. Geoffrey Gunn’s anthology “Wartime Macau” (2017) published by the University of Hong Kong and Columbia University. Dr. Xavier is also the author of “The Macanese Chronicles: A History of Luso-Asians in a Global Economy” (2020), which presents the first documentary history of the Portuguese in Asia from 1511 to the present.

A seventh-generation descendant of Macau and born in Hong Kong, Dr. Xavier was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Macau (Hengqin) in 2015 and a project researcher for the “Portuguese Gallery” in 2019-2020 at the Hong Kong Museum of History. In 2023, under a United States Consulate General – State Department grant, he studied Macau’s economic diversity within China’s Greater Bay Area region. At present, he is researching the biographies of historical figures for a new book and developing a digital archive. His website, “Far East Currents,” maintains current information about Luso-Asian (Macanese) communities worldwide, including demographic data, vintage images, and video interviews. It can be accessed at www.MacStudies.net. Peer-reviewed research articles can be read at: https://berkeley.academia.edu/RoyEricXavier