ABSTRACT

This paper adopts a care ethics lens to examine multicultural encounters in the institutional care space of nursing homes in Singapore. We focus on the interactions between foreign and local care workers of different nationalities and ethnicities in their interactions as they work alongside one another to take care of elderly residents, as well as in the time they spend together after working hours. Drawing upon qualitative data, we seek to understand the practices and processes of how different groups “do” care in negotiating the boundaries of diversity that characterize their everyday encounters. Providing a perspective from Singapore contributes to a more plural understanding of multicultural care ethics from a location outside the western world.