Governance of Transnational Domestic Workers in Singapore: A Critical Discourse Study

Sammanfattning

The thesis examines Singapore’s official discourses on the governance of migrant domestic workers by looking at the state’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) website. Focusing on the discursive representations of stakeholders, including migrant domestic workers, employers, the state authority and employment agencies, I analyze how these discourses sustain the state’s migrant domestic labour regime. While the migrant domestic regime in Singapore is well studied, few research focuses on the role of discourses. Most studies remain descriptive by revealing the state’s current labour-migration-care regime, its historical and socio-economic contexts, and how it affects migrant domestic workers’ lives. Few studies explain why such a regime has lasted for three decades despite its controversy and perceived unsustainability. Drawing on Fairclough’s (2003) textually oriented approach to critical discourse analysis, the thesis contributes to the existing literature with a linguistically informed analysis and argues that official discourses play a key role in sustaining the state’s unjust migrant domestic labour regime. The analysis involves three governance genres, including legislation, administrative guidelines and advisory guidance. It shows that the state authority constructs itself into contrasting roles with a mix of genres, discourses and styles. While xenophobic discourses about migrant domestic workers are dominant in justifying the transient labour-migration-care regime, inclusive but contradictory discourses are utilized to sustain such a regime simultaneously. In line with results from previous studies, the governance discourses reproduce both patriarchal and neoliberal ideologies that correspond to Singapore’s feminized and marketized care regime. It is suggested that alternative discursive resources, such as the ethics of care, should be considered in addressing the issue and in moving towards constructive critiques.