Chua Wan Qian Eunice

Fluid Boundaries: Navigating Singaporean Water Identity

Eunice is a final-year undergraduate majoring in Global Studies. Her project aims to uncover the relationship between water and Singaporean identity. It proposes that the understanding of water in Singapore and its impact on identity cannot be divorced from considerations of globalisation, shedding light on how vulnerable, malleable and ever-changing the Singaporean identity always is in relation to its environment, as well as how its multi-faceted complex nature is fundamentally constantly in tension. Read More >>

Dakshayani Ravindran

Understanding Legal Consciousness Amongst Sri Lankan Migrant Domestic Workers in Singapore

Dakshayani is a 5th year student in the double degree programme with NUS Law and Yale-NUS. Her project explores whether Sri Lankan migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in Singapore are aware of their legal entitlements within a system marked by power imbalances. Ultimately, she seeks to understand how to reform laws and enforcement mechanisms to empower MDWs and to hold employers accountable. Read More >>

Jordan Yeo

The Built Language of Inequality: An Urban Case Study on Marine Parade

A survey conducted by the Department of Statistics Singapore in 2021 hypothesised the possibility of an unequal distribution of opportunities, wealth, racial-religious groups, age groups, infrastructural amenities etc, across different geographies and neighbourhoods in Singapore. These forms of inequalities are often produced and facilitated by architectural elements and their wider urbanity. Jordan, a 3rd year student majoring in Architecture, seeks to investigate the built language of inequality using Marine Parade, one of the most unequal neighbourhoods in Singapore, as a case study. Read More >>

Lance Wu

Who Says They are Lazy? : (Re)Contextualising ‘Lazy’ Malay Images in 19th Century Malaya Through the Lives of Frank Athelstane Swettenham and Isabella Lucy Bird

Negative stereotypes can result in prejudice and marginalisation, inflicting real hurt. Lance, a 4th year History major with a minor in Southeast Asian studies, argues that ‘laziness’ in British colonial writings was a superficial and incomplete observation. The colonial narratives of Frank Swettenham and Isabella Bird revealed that 19th century Malays were not condemned as morally deficient due to their supposed ‘laziness’ but rather, they acted rationally within prevailing environmental and social realities. Read More >>

Maximilian Neo Jun Hao

ASEAN and Human Rights: Fundamentally Irreconcilable or a Work-in-progress?

In its post-Asian Financial Crisis efforts to regain legitimacy, ASEAN aimed to present itself as a more unified and effective regional body, capable of promoting and enforcing human rights. However, ASEAN has fallen short of these aspirations. Its failure to effectively address the Myanmar Crisis has highlighted its credibility and legitimacy challenges. In this project, Maximilian, a final-year Philosophy, Politics, and Economics student, aims to examine ASEAN's human rights approach, compare it with other regional organisations, and identify necessary reforms for meaningful change. Read More >>

Wang Liurong

Between ‘Two Worlds’: the ‘Story’ of ‘Home’ at Bukit Brown Cemetery

Bukit Brown Cemetery, with around 100,000 tombs dating from 1922 to 1973, is more than just a burial ground; it's a reflection of Singapore's lesser-known history. Despite being overshadowed by modernisation, it gained unexpected attention in 2011 when plans for its clearance were announced. This sparked calls for preservation from individuals with distant connections to the graves. Why do people, expected to embrace modernisation, feel drawn to this seemingly forgotten space? In this project, Liurong, final-year Sociology undergraduate, explores their shared nostalgia and the social amnesia they encounter in negotiating their identity. Read More >>