This project was undertaken in response to the rapid increase in the extent and complexity of transnational migration within and out of Asia over the last two decades which has had a great impact on reconstituting the institution of the “family”. In the context of shifting global patterns of immigration and settlement, the “transnational family”–generally regarded as a family where one or more constituent core members are distributed in two or more nation-states, but who continue to share strong bonds of collective welfare and unity–has become a more common feature across a wide spectrum of societies in Asia. For many middle-income Asian families from the region’s less developed countries, the education of children in a more developed country has become a major “project” requiring the transnational relocation of one or more members of the family.

As an aspiring global education hub, Singapore has been a recipient of many international students. The project examined the case of mothers from the People’s Republic of China (PRC)–known locally as pei du ma ma (study mothers)–who accompany their young pre-teen and teenage children to Singapore during the course of their study, while leaving their spouses (and parents) at home, a phenomenon which has recently become an issue of public debate and concern. These women have to not only negotiate their transnational family situations, but also struggle to maintain their lives in Singapore, taking on a variety of low-end service sector jobs including, sometimes, sex work because of employment restrictions placed on them by the Singapore state.