In Southeast Asia, many impoverished Indonesian women migrate to Singapore to work as domestic workers in households. Though employers are required to provide domestic workers with food and housing, there have been numerous reports of employers withholding food. This thesis explores the ways in which Indonesian domestic workers navigate towards food security in the context of social relations in their employers’ homes in Singapore. I draw on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2016, where I interviewed Indonesian domestic workers and employers. Not only were the majority of domestic workers experiencing food insecurity, food was additionally symbolically used to denigrate them. Drawing on a concept I term markings, which denotes the process of demarcating social roles through symbols and boundaries, I argue that employers control food in order to produce markings that construct and reinforce relations of inequality in households. These relations around food emotionally and physically shape domestic workers in ways that allow them to know their positions in the household. Despite their subordination, domestic workers use strategies to contest and endure their unequal conditions in Singapore in ways that demonstrate their resilience. This research demonstrates the importance of protecting the food security of migrant women, and advocates for the fair treatment of domestic workers. / Graduate / 2018-12-05

The presence of pre-packed items contributes toward littering in schools and at home milieu. Most people particularly, and learners’ discard packages of pre-packed wrappers on the ground, thus contribute to littering. This study is intended to help all relevant stakeholders to plan activities that could reduce littering. The study is grounded within the critical theory and living paradigm exploring the effect of household and school practices on learners’ environmental awareness (EA) towards littering. This case study employed action research as a methodology to unpack the problem. Fourteen learners, who are referred to as co-researchers in this study, were selected randomly from seven classes and their parents were inevitably included in the study. Three cycles were conducted with the co-researchers. Five data collection methods are used to collect data. Tables, score total percentages and coding used to analyse data. The results of the study show that environmental activities could be useful within home and school setup and continued practice of environmental activities will in the end conscientise learners towards littering if approached through action research. / Science and Technology Education / M. Ed. (Environmental Education)