Is blood thicker than water? Single Indian Singaporean women and the geographies of ‘being’ family

Gender, Place and Culture

Volumn 22, Issue 2, 2015, Pages 255-270

  Ramdas, Kamalini ^a  

^a NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE   (Singapore)

Author keywords

care; family; feminist ethics; friendship; proximity; responsibility

Indexed keywords

EID: 84937251964     PISSN: 0966369X     EISSN: 13600524     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2013.879098     Document Type: Article

References (63)

1. K.Bhopal, 1997. “South Asian Women Within Households: Dowries, Degradation and Despair.” Women's Studies International Forum20 (4): 483–492.
2. S.Bowlby, 2011. “Friendship, Co-presence and Care: Neglected Spaces.” Social and Cultural Geography12 (6): 605–622.
3. T.Bunnell,, S.Yea, L.Peake, T.Skelton, and M.Smith. 2012. “Geographies of Friendships.” Progress in Human Geography36 (4): 490–507.
4. A.Chan, 2001. “Singapore's Changing Structure and the Policy Implications for Financial Security, Employment, Living Arrangements and Health Care.” In Asian MetaCentre Research Paper Series No. 3. Singapore: Asian MetaCentre for Population and Sustainable Development Analysis.
5. D.Chan, 2001. Attitudes on Family. Singapore: Ministry of Community Development Youth and Sports.
6. K.Davies, 2001. “Responsibility and Daily Life: Reflections Over Timespace.” In TimeSpace, edited by J.May, and N.Thrift, 113–148. London: Routledge.
7. P.Esara, 2004. “Women Will Keep the Household: The Mediation of Work and Family by Female Labour Migrants in Bangkok.” Critical Asian Studies36 (2): 199–216.
8. Filial Piety Facebook Page. 2013. Accessed September 20, 2013. https://www.facebook.com/myfilialpiety.
9. M.Foucault, 1997. Society Must Be Defended. New York: Picador.
10. M.Foucault, 2004. Security, Territory, Population. New York: Picador.
11. M.Friedman, 1998. “Feminism and Modern Friendship: Dislocating the Community.” In Social and Political Philosophy: Classical Western Text in Feminist and Multicultural Perspectives, edited by J.P.Sterba, 530–547. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
12. E.Gallo, 2006. “Italy Is Not a Good Place for Men: Narratives of Places, Marriage and Masculinity Among Malayalam Migrants.” Global Networks6 (4): 357–372.
13. S.M.George, 2005. When Women Come First: Gender and Class in Transnational Migration. Berkeley: University of California Press.
14. C.Gilligan, 1982. In a Different Voice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
15. E.N.Glenn, 2010. Forced to Care: Coercion and Caregiving in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
16. I.Hardill, 1998. “Gender Perspectives on British Expatriate Work.” Geoforum29 (3): 257–268.
17. H.Hartmann, 1998. “The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union.” In Social and Political Philosophy: Classical Western Text in Feminist and Multicultural Perspectives, edited by J.P.Sterba, 384–394. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
18. E.Ho, 2008. “‘Flexible Citizenship’ or Familial Ties That Bind? Singaporean Transmigrants in London.” International Migration46 (4): 145–175.
19. E.Ho, 2009. “Constituting Citizenship Through the Emotions: Singaporean Transmigrants in London.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers99 (4): 788–804.
20. A.Hochschild, 2000. “Global Care Chains and Emotional Surplus Value.” In On the Edge: Living with Global Capitalism, edited by W.Hutton and A.Giddens, 130–146. London: Jonathan Cape.
21. Housing and Development Board. 2013. Accessed September 20, 2013. http://www.hdb.gov.sg/.
22. E.Kofman,, and P.Raghuram. 2006. “Gender and Global Labour Migrations: Incorporating Skilled Workers.” Antipode38 (2): 282–303.
23. V.Lawson, 2007. “Geographies of Care and Responsibility.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers97 (1): 1–11.
24. C.Leccardi, 1996. “Rethinking Social Time: Feminist Perspectives.” Time & Society5 (2): 169–186.
25. S.Legg, 2005. “Foucault's Population Geographies: Classifications, Biopolitics and Governmental Spaces.” Population, Space and Place11 (3): 137–156.
26. C.Li, 1994. “The Confucian Concept of Jen and the Feminist Ethics of Care: A Comparative Concept.” Hypatia9 (1): 70–89.
27. D.Massey, 2004. “Geographies of Responsibility.” Geografiska Annaler B86 (1): 5–18.
28. C.Milligan,, and J.Wiles. 2010. “Landscapes of Care.” Progress in Human Geography34 (6): 736–754.
29. Ministry of Social and Family Development. 2013. Commissioner for the Maintenance of Parents. Accessed October 3, 2013. http://app.maintenanceofparents.gov.sg/.
30. R.Nagar, 1998. “Communal Discourses, Marriage, and the Politics of Gendered Social Boundaries Among South Asian Immigrants in Tanzania.” Gender, Place and Culture5 (2): 117–139.
31. C.Nash, 2005. “Geographies of Relatedness.” Transactions IBG30: 449–462.
32. National Family Council Website. 2013. Accessed September 20, 2013. http://www.thinkfamily.sg/web/general/homepage.asp.
33. A.Ong, 1995. “Making the Biopolitical Subject: Cambodian Immigrants, Refugee Medicine and Cultural Citizenship in California.” Social Science Medicine40 (9): 1243–1257.
34. A.Ong, 1996. “Cultural Citizenship as Subject-Making: Immigrants Negotiate Racial and Cultural Boundaries in the United States.” Current Anthropology37 (5): 737–751.
35. N.Oswin, 2010. “Sexual Tensions in Modernising Singapore: The Postcolonial and the Intimate.” Environment and Planning D28 (1): 128–141.
36. R.Parrenas, 2000. “Migrant Filipina Domestic Workers and the International Division of Labour.” Gender and Society14 (4): 560–580.
37. R.Parrenas, 2005. “Long Distance Intimacy: Class, Gender and Intergenerational Relations Between Mothers and Children in Filipino Transnational Families.” Global Networks5 (4): 317–336.
38. R.Parrenas, 2012. “The Reproductive Labour of Migrant Workers.” Global Networks12 (2): 269–275.
39. G.Pratt,, and B.S.A.Yeoh. 2003. “Transnational (Counter) Topographies.” Gender, Place and Culture10 (2): 159–166.
40. N.PuruShotam, 2004. “Bride Pride and Grooming Prejudices: Race Matters in Marriage.” In Untying the Knot: Marriage and Reality in Asian Marriage, edited by G.W.Jones and K.Ramdas, 192–232. Singapore: Asian Research Institute.
41. N.Puwar,, and P.Raghuram. 2003. South Asian Women in the Diaspora. Oxford: Berg.
42. P.Raghuram, 2009. “Caring About ‘Brain Drain’ Migration in a Postcolonial World.” Geoforum40: 25–33.
43. P.Raghuram, 2012. “Global Care, Local Configurations: Challenges to Conceptualisations of Care.” Global Networks12 (2): 155–174.
44. P.Raghuram,, and E.Kofman. 2004. “Out of Asia: Skilling, Re-skilling and Deskilling of Female Migrants.” Women's Studies International Forum27: 95–100.
45. K.Ramdas, 2012. “Women in Waiting? Singlehood, Marriage and Family in Singapore.” Environment and Planning A44 (4): 832–848.
46. S.Sevenhuijsen, 1998. Citizenship and the Ethics of Care: Feminist Considerations on Justice, Morality and Politics. London: Routledge.
47. Singapore Department of Statistics. 2010. Census of Population 2010: Statistical Release 1: Demographic Characteristics, Education, Language and Religion. Singapore: DoS.
48. Singapore Department of Statistics. 2011. Population Trends, 2011. Singapore: DoS.
49. P.Teo,, B.S.A.Yeoh, G.L.Ooi, and K.P.Y.Lai. 2003. Changing Landscapes of Singapore. Singapore: McGraw-Hill.
50. Y.Y.Teo, 2011. Neoliberal Morality in Singapore: How Family Policies Make State and Society. London: Routledge.
51. L.L.Thang,, E.MacLachlan, and M.Goda. 2002. “Expatriates on the Margins – A Study of Japanese Women Working in Singapore.” Geoforum33: 539–551.
52. D.Thien,, and N.Hanlon. 2009. “Unfolding Dialogues About Gender, Care and ‘The North’: An Introduction.” Gender, Place and Culture16 (2): 155–162.
53. J.Toronto, 1993. Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care. New York: Routledge.
54. G.Valentine, 2008. “The Ties That Bind: Towards Geographies of Intimacy.” Geography Compass2 (6): 2097–2110.
55. S.Velayutham,, and A.Wise. 2005. “Moral Economies of a Translocal Village: Obligation and Shame Among South Indian Transnational Migrants.” Global Networks5 (1): 27–47.
56. E.Wilkinson, 2009. “The Emotions Least Relevant to Politics? Queering Autonomous Activism.” Emotion, Space and Society2: 36–43.
57. K.Willis,, and B.S.A.Yeoh. 2003. “Gender Marriage and Skilled Migration: The Case of Singaporeans in China.” In Wife or Worker?: Asian Women and Migration, edited by N.Piper and M.Roces, 101–119. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield.
58. A.Wise,, and S.Velayutham. 2008. “Second-Generation Tamils and Cross-Cultural Marriage: Managing the Translocal Village in a Moment of Cultural Rupture.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies34 (1): 113–131.
59. N.Yeates, 2009. Globalising Care Economies and Migrant Workers: Explorations in Global Care Chains. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
60. N.Yeates, 2012. “Global Care Chains: A State-of-the-Art Review and Future Directions in Care Transnationalisation Research.” Global Networks12 (2): 135–154.
61. B.S.A.Yeoh,, and K.Willis. 1999. “‘Heart’ and ‘Wing’, Nation and Diaspora: Gendered Discourses in Singapore's Regionalisation Process.” Gender, Place and Culture6 (4): 355–372.
62. B.S.A.Yeoh,, and K.Willis. 2004. “Constructing Masculinities in Transnational Space: Singapore Men on the ‘Regional Beat’.” In Transnational Spaces, edited by P.Jackson and P.D.Crang, 147–163. London: Routledge.
63. B.S.A.Yeoh,, S.Huang, and T.Lam. 2005. “Transnationalising the ‘Asian’ Family: Imaginaries, Intimacies and Strategic Intents.” Global Networks5 (4): 307–315.