About the speaker

1. Monday 19 August 2013, 2:30-4 pm Research Seminar Room 42, Level 6 AS7 Shaw Foundation Building, NUS Conversations Over Walls: Friendship and Aspiration amongst Low Wage Migrants in Singapore and Dubai’ by DrLaavyKathiravelu Abstract Despite being in geographically different parts of Asia, the city-states of Singapore and Dubai share many similarities and affinities. They are both small, paternalistic states that play host to large foreign populations – of middle class migrants from across Asia, as well as an army of low wage transients. In examining understudied networks of care and discourses of aspiration amongst low wage migrants in Singapore and Dubai, this research augments and extends our understanding of residential projects and the social lives of residents who live within them. This paper seeks to make contributions to understandings of marginalised migrant populations, public and privatised spaces and the negotiated identities of the popular classes in Asia. About the speaker Dr LaavyKathiraveluis a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. She is currently working on a multi-sited project that looks at everyday diversity across three cities. Her previous research explored labour migration and the urban condition in Dubai. Please RSVP to fasrda@nus.edu.sg