Hamid, W and Tutt, D (2019) "Thrown away like a banana leaf": Precarity of labour and precarity of place for tamil migrant construction workers in Singapore. Construction Management and Economics, 37(9), pp. 513-536. ISSN 01446193
Abstract
Despite labouring for three decades in Singapore, and being connected to the existing Tamil diasporic community there, Tamil migrant construction workers have been left out of state rhetoric and face economic marginalization and social exclusion. In this article, we draw on rich ethnographic data on their everyday experiences of working construction and living in Singapore, and we espouse the distinctive qualities and mission of ethnographically-informed methodologies to enact change in this space. The methods include in-depth interviews with 11 Tamil labourers, and the subsequent use of worker photo diaries, known as auto-photography, with a total of 108 photographs taken. All the participants either worked construction, were on medical leave, or were seeking compensation after workplace injury. The analysis of the interview data develops themes around precarity and discrimination on construction sites (precarity of work), and the exclusory social practices experienced by workers in their offsite world (precarity of place). Following the goals of decolonized research, our innovative methods have enabled Tamil construction workers to present their lives through their own lens. By involving migrant construction workers, we identify new sites of inquiry and knowledge in examining the inequalities and injustices they face.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | auto-photography; ethnography; migrant workers; Singapore; tamil construction workers; visual research methods |
| Index terms: | construction worker, compensation, diary, inequality, ethnography, Singapore, discrimination, methodology, social practice, migrant worker, face, construction site, interview, injury |
| Subjects: | practitioner, dispute resolution, data collection methods, psychology, work location, Geography, qualitative and interpretive research, social theory, management, research methods, professional ethics, sociology, health conditions and diseases |
| Topics: | Site Management, Organizational Design, International Construction, Ethics, Legal Issues, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Health and Safety |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here