Women negotiating the local-global interface: cosmetics in Singapore
This thesis is concerned with the negotiations that Singapore women make as they traverse an ever-changing landscape that is caught in the local-global dialectic. Through field study and archival research the author investigates the effects of the globalization of the economy on the local practic...
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2009
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2429/5334 |
| Summary: | This thesis is concerned with the negotiations that Singapore women make as they
traverse an ever-changing landscape that is caught in the local-global dialectic. Through field
study and archival research the author investigates the effects of the globalization of the economy
on the local practices of women. This thesis includes the global influences of the international
division of labour, consumer culture and the media. Balancing the global is the local controls of
the Singapore government, through various social mechanisms. The social landscape of
Singapore and women’s position in the landscape are central to the argument that women are
especially affected by the globalization and the local controls. The multiple roles women play as
they adapt to rapidly changing images of femininity and womanhood are discussed in the context
of the local and the global through the cosmetics industry and the use of cosmetics. The agency
of women is discussed as women were found to devise different looks to adapt to the many roles
they are asked to play in their daily experiences. Women actively seek out methods to
accommodate the changing social landscape in Singapore and cosmetics is one way they take
control of their femininity as Singapore experiences the local-global dialectic. |
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