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‘You’re not big, you’re just in Asia’: expatriate embodiment and emotional experiences of size in Singapore

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Open access

Abstract

This article brings together work on privileged migration with critical geographical work on body size. In uniting these areas together I focus on the role of embodiment within expatriate experiences of migration to Singapore. I argue that despite a developing body of critical work on migration, this work has failed to explore embodied experiences of size. To counter this gap, this research demonstrates the importance of recognising how sized narratives and experiences are shaped through gendered migration and the need to explore the multiplicity of experiences of women in different places of the city. Drawing upon empirical research with expatriate women in Singapore I advance work within critical geographies of body size by presenting original work that challenges dominant and medicalised understandings of fatness as inherently bad. Furthermore, I contribute to the growing area of work that places emphasis on the subjective nature of size through recognition of work on migration. In this article I explore how migration was embodied and discussed through size, firstly by looking at how women discussed losing their sense of identity. Secondly, the temporal and spatial embeddedness of size. Finally, how women rejected and resisted dominant discourses through humour and indifference.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 806-825

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

Social and Cultural Geography (Volume 20, Issue 6)

Publication milestones

  • Accepted/In press - 29/08/2017
  • Published - 03/10/2017

Publication status

Published - 03/10/2017

ISSN

1464-9365

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/622831
  • Scopus: 85030557736

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