Ph.D. Candidate
Ms Kamalini RAMDAS

Mobility, Career, Marriage and Ethnic Identitiy: The Perspective of Single Female Singaporean Indian Elites

The proposed PHD thesis will study how the interactions of mobility, career and marriage impact negotiations of ethnic identity among single elite Singaporean Indian women.

It will attempt to uncover how ethnic identity is negotiated at the level of the individual, community and nation.

These negotiations of ethnic identity are tied closely to notions of marriageability within the Indian community in Singapore, and need to be understood within the context of the Singapore’s nation-building ideology which emphasises the importance of multiracialism in terms of the state’s CMIO (Chinese-Malay-Indian-Other) discourse and the family.

To meet these objectives, interviews will be conducted with single elite Singaporean Indian women who are currently based in or have been based in a global city (e.g. New York or London) for work-related overseas postings.

Interviews will also be conducted with single and married elite Indian women living in Singapore to act as a contrast.