LIVING OUT DIASPORIC IDENTITIES: UNDERSTANDING WHY FOREIGN DOMESTIC WORKERS IN SINGAPORE USE FACEBOOK

Abstract

This study investigates why foreign domestic workers (FDWs) in Singapore use Facebook, a popular social networking site. It reveals that they are motivated to use Facebook as it enables them to live out their diasporic identities, in which they strategically employ the application to better deal with separation from their home countries and cope with their limited mobility in the host country. Adopting the Uses and Gratifications (U&G) approach, face-to-face interviews with 25 FDWs working in Singapore revealed four main motivations behind Facebook usage: socialisation, information, self-disclosure and entertainment. Through an analysis of these motivations, this thesis argues that FDWs live out their diasporic identities by using Facebook to (a) maintain ties with their home countries, (b) cope with daily life in Singapore and/or (c) reaffirm a sense of self. Firstly, FDWs use Facebook to reconnect with selected elements of their home countries — they thus gain a sense of identity tied to ‘home’ and challenge the notion of identity tied to one’s physical location. Secondly, they cope with everyday life in Singapore by connecting with useful information or stress-relieving entertainment on Facebook. Lastly, FDWs employ Facebook to free themselves from the repeated reduction to an immigrant ‘other’ by curating the personal information they disclose online, thus engendering a sense of their ‘best’ self. FDWs also demonstrate a sense of determination and agency to circumvent obstacles that may result in a potential disconnection from ‘home’, including constraints on their access to WiFi and mobile phones. In arguing the importance of Facebook to FDWs in Singapore, this study attempts to raise issues concerning their access to mobile phones and WiFi.