FOREIGN CONSTRUCTION WORKERS IN SINGAPORE: THE EVERYDAY LIFE EXPERIENCES OF THE BANGLADESHIS

Abstract

Here, I seek to amplify the voices of the unheard, and the stories of the silenced ? that of the foreign construction worker. By taking the case of Bangladeshi workers as an example, I explore their taken-for-granted Everyday Life experiences as lived and felt by them. This throws light on the different ways they are discriminated against by various agents; namely the State, supervisors at the construction site, and Singaporeans in general. The workers' reactions towards such discriminatory practices will also be taken into consideration. Essentially, the worker functions within the construction site as a good, docile worker, who inevitably succumbs to discrimination, thereby perpetuating discriminatory mechanisms unwittingly. Such mechanisms however, face rupture as some of the workers employ passive resistance in rising above that which subjugates them.