Migration and the Negotiation of NationalIidentity Among Singaporean Elite Adolescents

Throughout its post-
independence history, Singapore has attempted to construct a sense of national identity (Kong and Yeoh, 2003) as the “social glue” to create a “nation” out of a plural society shaped by overlapping diasporas. With the intensification of globalizing pressures in the recent decade, questions of national identity and survival as a “nation” are increasing pertinent in the context of globalization. This makes discussions on Singapore’s national identity intertwined with issues of migration and its varied manifestations in Singapore.

The formation of expectations and intentions regarding migration is increasingly a feature in adolescence, a period differentiating puberty from adulthood. Identity issues in adolescents influence their decisions to stay on in or migrate away from places where they live. The adolescent years are an important threshold when young people consider the availability of resources in different places appropriate for living out desires, lifestyles and livelihoods that they would like to have in future.

Negotiations of national identity are particularly salient in a young nation (like Singapore) confronting a global future. To date, there has not been a systematic study done on expectations and intentions concerning transnational migration among Singapore youth, although the need to examine this is becoming more critical. The Straits Times reported that about two-thirds of Singapore teens would like to work abroad, and highlighted the challenge of keeping them connected to Singapore. In my proposed topic, I aim to uncover how migration expectations and intentions are formed and how they interact with the way national identity is negotiated among Singaporean elite adolescents.