Experiencing exclusion and reacting to stereotypes? Navigating borders of the migrant body

Abstract

In her seminal work on the body, Robyn Longhurst (1994) outlines that the body can be seen as the ‘geography closest in’. However, in contemporary society, when restrictions are placed upon the body and the body is subjected to boundary making and territorialisation, how does the geography of the body begin to change? The paper investigates the way in which emotional experiences of situated bodies alter over time and how public perceptions of particular (migrant) bodies changes the spaces through which they are materialised. It critically discusses the specific ways in which female migrants' bodies may be bordered in place and how particular stereotypes surrounding the migrant body lead to a very particular sense of territoriality. Territory has been defined as ‘a portion of geographic space which is claimed or occupied by a person or group of persons or by an institution’ (Storey D 2001). This paper looks at how territory is inscribed on, in and through the body, utilising the migrant body as an example that enacts and performs particular aspects of territory as a response to the classificatory stereotypes that challenge it. Drawing on feminist embodied research in Singapore, the paper demonstrates the different ways in which female migrants' bodies operate on the margins of society, creating specific territorial borders around their bodies. Discussions of the experiences of foreign domestic workers and expatriates in Singapore highlight how these bodies are stigmatised and categorised, demonstrating how social and cultural separations lead to a re‐territorialising and renegotiation of bodies.