Brief Introduction Top

Dr Brenda S.A. Yeoh read geography at Cambridge and went on to complete her doctorate at Oxford University. She also holds a Diploma-in-Education from the Institute of Education, Singapore. She teaches social and historical geography at the Department of Geography, NUS, and leads the research cluster on Asian Migrations at the Asia Research Institute. Currently, she is Principal Investigator of the Asian MetaCentre for Population and Sustainable Development Analysis (funded by the Wellcome Trust, UK) at the Asia Research Institute. Her research foci includes the politics of space in colonial and post-colonial cities; and gender, migration and transnational communities.

Teaching Areas Top

• Historical Landscapes and Heritage
• Gender, Space and Place
• Changing Landscapes of Singapore
• Development of Geographic Thought

Current Research Top

On-going Research Projects include:

• State Boundaries, Cultural Politics and Gender Negotiations in Commercially Arranged International Marriages in Singapore and Malaysia
  
• CHAMPSEA (Transnational Migration in SE Asia and the Health of Children Left Behind)
  
• Transnational Care Workers, State Policies and Gender Dynamics in Ageing Societies: A Comparative Study of Singapore and Japan
  
• Migrant women as paid domestic labour
  
• British and Singaporean skilled migration to China 
  
• Globalising cities 
  
• Cosmopolitan cities
  
• Fertility, the family and intergenerational relationships in Singapore 

Research Interests Top

• the politics of space in colonial and postcolonial cities 
• landscapes of heritage
• global cities, transnationalism and diaspora
• gender and migration
• health geographies 

Publications Top

BOOKS (FROM 2000)

• Devasahayam, T.W. and B.S.A. Yeoh (eds.), Working and Mothering in Asia: Images, Ideologies and Identities, Singapore: Singapore University Press and Denmark: NIAS Press, 2007.
   
  
• Sleigh, A.C., H.L. Chee, B.S.A. Yeoh, K.H. Phua and R. Safman (eds.), Population Dynamics and Infectious Diseases in Asia, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 2006.
   
  
• Lee, Y.S. and B.S.A. Yeoh (eds.), Globalisation and the Politics of Forgetting, London: Routledge, 2005.
   
  
• Lorente, B.P., N. Piper, Shen H.H. and B.S.A. Yeoh, Asian Migrations: Sojourning, Displacement, Homecoming and Other Travels, Singapore: Asia Research Institute, 2005.
   
  
• Jatrana, S., M. Toyota and B.S.A. Yeoh (eds.), Migration and Health in Asia, London: Routledge, 2005 [republished as paperback, 2006].
   
  
• Huang, S., B.S.A. Yeoh and N. Abdul Rahman (eds.), Asian Women as Transnational Domestic Workers in Asia, Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2005.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A. and T. Wong (eds.), Over Singapore 50 Years Ago: An Aerial View in the 1950s, Singapore: Editions Didier Millet and National Archives of Singapore, 2007.
   
  
• Teo, P.C.C., B.S.A. Yeoh, G.L Ooi and K.P.Y. Lai, Changing Landscapes of Singapore, Singapore: McGraw-Hill, 2004.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A. and K. Willis (eds.), State/Nation/Transnation: Perspectives on Transnationalism in the Asia-Pacific, London and New York: Routledge, 2004.
   
  
• Charney, M.W., B.S.A. Yeoh and C.K. Tong (eds.), Chinese Migrants Abroad: Cultural, Educational, and Social Dimensions of the Chinese Diaspora, Singapore: World Scientific and Singapore University Press, 2003.
   
  
• Charney, M.W., B.S.A. Yeoh, and C.K. Tong (eds.), Asian Migrants and Education, Boston, Dordrecht and London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003.
   
  
• Goh, R.B.H. and B.S.A. Yeoh (eds.), Theorizing the Southeast Asian City as Text: Urban Landscapes, Cultural Documents and Interpretative Experiences, Singapore: World Scientific, 2003.
   
  
• Kong, L. and B.S.A. Yeoh, The Politics of Landscape in Singapore: Constructions of “Nation”, Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2003.
   
  
• Pflegerl, J., S.E. Khoo, B.S.A. Yeoh and V. Koh (eds.), Researching Migration and the Family, Singapore: Asian MetaCentre for Population and Sustainable Development Analysis, 2003.
   
  
• Savage, V.R. and B.S.A. Yeoh, Toponymics: A Study of Singapore Street Names, Singapore: Eastern Universities Press by Marshall Cavendish International, 2nd edition, 2004 (1st edition, 2003).
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., Contesting Space in Colonial Singapore: Power Relations in the Urban Built Environment, Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2003 (first edition published in hardback by Oxford University Press, 1996).
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., M.W. Charney and C.K. Tong (eds.), Approaching Transnationalisms: Studies on Transnational Societies, Multicultural Contacts, and Imaginings of Home, Boston, Dordrecht and London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003.
   
  
• Tan, E.S., B.S.A. Yeoh and J. Wang (eds.), Tourism Management and Policy: Perspectives from Singapore, Singapore: World Scientific, 2002.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., P. Teo and S. Huang (eds.), Gender Politics in the Asia-Pacific Region, London: Routledge, 2002.
   
  
• Willis, K. and B.S.A. Yeoh (eds.), Gender and Migration. The International Library of Studies on Migration Series, edited by R. Cohen, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2000.
   
  

INTERNATIONALLY REFEREED JOURNAL ARTICLES (FROM 2000)

• Yeoh, B.S.A. and A.E. Lai, ‘Talent’ migration in and out of Asia: challenges for policies and places. Asian Population Studies, 4, 3 (2008), 235-245.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A. and K. Annadhurai, Civil Society Action and the Creation of “Transformative” Spaces for Migrant Domestic Workers in Singapore. Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 37, 5 (2008), 548-569.
   
  
• Huang, S., B.S.A. Yeoh and T. Lam, Asian Transnational Families in Transition: The Liminality of Simultaneity. International Migration, 46, 4 (2008), 3-13.
   
  
• Huang, S. and B.S.A. Yeoh, Heterosexualities and the Global(ising) City in Asia: Introduction. Asian Studies Review, 32, 1 (2008): 1-6.
   
  
• Rahman, M.M. and B.S.A. Yeoh, The Social Organization of Hundi: Channeling Migrant Remittances from East and Southeast Asia to Bangladesh. Asian Population Studies, 4, 1 (2008), 5-30.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A. and S. Huang, Placing ‘Gender’ in ‘Geography’ across Southeast Asia. BELGEO, 3 (2007), 383-398.
   
  
• Muzaini, H. and B.S.A. Yeoh, Memory-making ‘from below’: Rescaling remembrance at the Kranji War Memorial and Cemetery, Singapore. Environment and Planning A, 39, 6 (2007), 1288-1305.
   
  
• Huang, S. and B.S.A. Yeoh, Emotional Labour and Transnational Domestic Work: The Moving Geographies of “Maid Abuse” in Singapore. Mobilities, 2, 2 (2007), 195-217.
   
  
• Huang, S., B.S.A. Yeoh and P. Straughan, Sustaining the Household in a Globalizing World: The Gendered Dynamics of Business Travel. Philippine Studies, 55, 2 (2007), 243-274.
   
  
• Muzaini, H., P. Teo and B.S.A. Yeoh, Intimations of Postmodernity in Dark Tourism: The Fate of History at Fort Siloso, Singapore. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 5, 1 (2007), 28-45.
   
  
• Toyota, M., B.S.A. Yeoh and L. Nguyen, Editorial Introduction: Bringing the ‘Left Behind’ Back into View in Asia: a Framework for Understanding the Migration-Left Behind Nexus. Population, Space and Place, 13, 3 (2007), 157-161.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., Singapore: Hungry for Foreign Workers at all Skill Levels. Migration Information Source, January 2007, http://www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/display.cfm?ID=570.
   
  
• Lam, T., B.S.A. Yeoh and S. Huang, ‘Global Householding’ in a City-State: Emerging Trends from Singapore. International Development Planning Review, 28, 4 (2006), 475-497.
   
  
• Nguyen, L., B.S.A. Yeoh and M. Toyota, Migration and the Well-being of the ‘Left Behind’ in Asia: Key Themes and Trends. Asian Population Studies, 2, 1 (2006), 37-44.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., Mobility and the City. Theory, Culture and Society, Special Issue on Problematizing Global Knowledge, 23, 2-3 (2006), 150-152.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A, Bifurcated Labour: The Unequal Incorporation of Transmigrants in Singapore. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie (Journal of Economic and Social Geography), 97, 1 (2006), 26-37.
   
  
• Teo, P., B.S.A. Yeoh and S. N. Ong, SARS in Singapore: Surveillance Strategies in a Globalising City. Health Policy, 72 (2005), 279-291.
   
  
• Muzaini, H. and B.S.A. Yeoh, Contesting ‘Local’ Commemoration of the Second World War: the Case of the Changi Chapel and Museum in Singapore. Australian Geographer, 36, 1 (2005), 1-17.
   
  
• Huang, S. and B.S.A.Yeoh, Transnational Families and their Children’s Education: China’s “Study Mothers” in Singapore. Global Networks (Special Issue on “Asian Transnational Families”), 5, 4 (2005), 379-400.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., S. Huang and T. Lam, Transnationalizing the “Asian” family: Imaginaries, intimacies and strategic intents. Global Networks (Special Issue on “Asian Transnational Families”), 5, 4 (2005), 307-315.
   
  
• Piper, N. and B.S.A. Yeoh, Introduction to special issue: Meeting the challenges of HIV/AIDs in Southeast and East Asia. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 46, 1 (2005), 1-5.
  
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., “Observations on transnational urbanism: Possibilities, politics and costs of simultaneity”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31, 2 (2005), 409-413.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., The Global Cultural City? Spatial Imagineering and Politics in the (Multi-)Cultural Marketplaces of South-east Asia. Urban Studies, 42, 5/6 (2005), 945-958.
   
  
• Muzaini, H. and B.S.A. Yeoh, “Reading Representations of Women’s War Experiences in the Changi Chapel and Museum, Singapore”, Geoforum, 36, 4 (2005), 465-476.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A. and K. Willis, “Singaporeans in China: Transnational women elites and the negotiation of gendered identities”, Geoforum, , 36, 2 (2005), 211-222.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A. and K. Willis, “Singaporean and British Transmigrants in China and the Cultural Politics of ‘Contact Zones’”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31, 2 (2005), 269-285.
   
  
• Lee, Y.S. and B.S.A. Yeoh, "Introduction: Globalisation and the politics of forgetting", Urban Studies, 41, 12 (2004), 2295-2301.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., "Cosmopolitanism and its exclusions in Singapore", Urban Studies, 41, 12 (2004), 2431-2445.
   
  
• Asis, M., S. Huang and B.S.A Yeoh, "When the Light of the Home is Abroad: Unskilled Female Migration and the Filipino Family", Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 25, 2 (2004), 198-215.
   
  
• Devasahayam, T., S. Huang and B.S.A. Yeoh, “Southeast Asian Migrant Women: Navigating Borders, Negotiating Scales”, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 25, 2 (2004), 135-140.
   
  
• Lam, T. and B.S.A. Yeoh, “Negotiating ‘Home’ and ‘National Identity’: Chinese-Malaysian Transmigrants in Singapore”, Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 45, 2 (2004), 141-164.
   
  
• Muzaini, H. and B.S.A. Yeoh, War Landscapes as ‘Battlefields’ of Collective Memories: ‘Reading’ the Reflections at Bukit Chandu, Singapore. Cultural Geographies, 12, 3 (2005), 345-365.
   
  
• Muzaini, H. and B.S.A. Yeoh, Reading Representations of Women’s War Experiences in the Changi Chapel and Museum, Singapore. Geoforum, 36, 4 (2005), 465-476.
   
  
• Wong, T., B.S.A. Yeoh, E.F. Graham and P. Teo, “Spaces of silence: single parenthood and the ‘normal family’ in Singapore”, Population, Space and Place, 10, 1 (2004), 43-58.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., S. Huang and T. Devasahayam, “Diasporic subjects in the nation: Foreign domestic workers, the reach of law and civil society in Singapore”, Asian Studies Review, 28 (2004), 7-23.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., S. Huang, and T. Wong, “Gender representation in geography: Singapore”, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 28, 1 (2004), 121-131.
   
  
• Boyle, P., E. Graham, and B.S.A. Yeoh, “Editorial Introduction: Labour Migration and the Family in Asia”, International Journal of Population Geography, 9, 6 (2003), 437-441.
   
  
• Huang, S. and B.S.A. Yeoh, “The difference gender makes: state policy and contract migrant workers in Singapore”, Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 12, 1-2 (2003), 75-98.
   
  
• Pratt, G. and B.S.A. Yeoh, “Transnational (counter) topographies”, Gender, Place and Culture, 10, 2 (2003), 156-166.
   
  
• Sidaway, J.D., T. Bunnell and B.S.A. Yeoh, “Editors’ introduction: Geography and postcolonialism”, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 24, 3 (2003), 269-272.
   
  
• Teo, P., E. Graham, B.S.A. Yeoh and S. Levy, “Values, change and inter-generational ties between two generations of women in Singapore”, Ageing and Society, 23 (2003), 327-347.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., W. Lutz, V. Prachuabmoh and E.N. Arifin, “A brief survey of fertility decline in Asia: Trends, implications and futures”, Journal of Population Research, 20, 1 (2003), iii-ix.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., K. Willis and S.M.A.K. Fakhri, “Transnationalism and its edges”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 26, 2 (2003), 207-217.
   
  
• Lam, T., B.S.A. Yeoh and L. Law, “Sustaining families transnationally: Chinese-Malaysians in Singapore”, Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 11, 1 (2002), 1-11.
   
  
• Tan, B. H. and B.S.A. Yeoh, “The remains of the dead and the spatial politics of nation-building in post-war Singapore”, Human Ecology Review, 9, 1 (2002), 1-13.
  
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., E. Graham and P. Boyle, “Migrations and family relations in the Asia-Pacific region”, Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 11, 1 (2002), 117-143.
   
  
• Chan, A. and B.S.A. Yeoh, “Gender, Family, and Fertility in Asia: An Introduction”, Asia-Pacific Population Journal (Special Issue on “Gender, Family, and Fertility in Asia”), 17, 2 (2002), 5-10.
  
   
  
• Graham, E., P. Teo, B.S.A. Yeoh and S. Levy, “Reproducing the Asian family across the generations: ‘tradition’, gender and expectations in Singapore”, Asia-Pacific Population Journal (Special Issue on “Gender, Family, and Fertility in Asia”), 17, 2 (2002), 61-86.
  
   
  
• Willis, K. and B.S.A. Yeoh, “Gendering transnational communities: A comparison of Singaporean and British migrants in China”, Geoforum, 33, 4 (2002), 553-565.
   
  
• Willis, K., B.S.A. Yeoh and S.M.A.K. Fakhri, “Transnational elites”, Geoforum, 33, 4 (2002), 505-507.
   
  
• Boyle, P., E. Graham and B.S.A. Yeoh, “International Workshop on Migration and the ‘Asian Family’ in a Globalising World”, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 22, 2 (2001), 202-203.
   
  
• Teo, P. and B.S.A. Yeoh, “The viability of theme parks in Singapore during the Asian economic crisis and beyond”, Pacific Tourism Review, 5 (2001), 97-111.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., “Postcolonial Cities”, Progress in Human Geography, 25, 3 (2001), 456-468.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A. and T.C. Chang, “Globalising Singapore: Debating transnational flows in the city”. Urban Studies, 38, 7 (2001), 1025-1044.
   
  
• Driver, F. and B.S.A. Yeoh, “Constructing the tropics: Introduction”, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 21, 1 (2000), 1-5.
  
   
  
• Huang, S., P. Teo and B.S.A. Yeoh, “Diasporic subjects and identity negotiations: Women in and from Asia”, Women’s Studies International Forum, 23, 4 (2000), 391-398.
  
   
  
• Willis, K. and B.S.A. Yeoh, “Gender and transnational migration strategies: Singaporean migration to China”, Regional Studies, 34, 3 (2000), 253-264.
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., “From Colonial neglect to post-independence heritage: The Housing landscape in the Central Area of Singapore”, City and Society, 12, 1 (2000), 103-124.
  
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A. and S. Huang, “Teaching gender(ed) values in Singapore”, International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 9, 1 (2000), 71-74.
  
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A. and S. Huang, “‘Home’ and ‘away’: Foreign domestic workers and negotiations of diasporic identity in Singapore”, Women’s Studies International Forum, 23, 4 (2000), 413-429.
  
   
  
• Yeoh, B.S.A., S. Huang and K. Willis, “Global cities, transnational flows and gender dimensions: The view from Singapore”, Tijdschrift Voor Economische En Social Geografie (Journal of Economic and Social Geography), 2, 2 (2000), 147-158.
  
   
  

Other Information Top

Editorial Boards of Peer Reviewed Journals:

• Gender, Place and Culture (International Advisory Board member, 2001-2004; Editor, 2004 - 2007; Editor-in-chief, 2008 - present)
• Ecumene: A Journal of Environment, Culture and Meaning , renamed Cultural Geographies (International Advisory Board member) 
• Geoforum (Editorial Board member)
• Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography (Editorial Board member, 1991-1996; Editor, 1996-2000; Book Review Editor, 2000 - present) 
• Journal of Southeast Asian Studies (Editorial Advisory Board member) 
• Asia-Pacific Migration Journal (International Advisory Board member)

Academic Awards:

• North Senior Scholarship, St John's College, Oxford (1990-91) 
• FASS Teaching Excellence Award (1994) 
• Fulbright Scholarship, attached to the Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley (2000) 
• Outstanding University Researcher Award (2000), awarded by NUS for research on transnational migration and global cities

Previous Positions Top

Appointments Held
Jun 1986 - Apr 1987     General Education Officer, Victoria Junior College, Singapore
May 1987 – Feb 1988   Senior Tutor, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore
May 1991 – Dec 1995   Lecturer, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore (Aug – Dec 1998, redesignated Assistant Professor)
Jan 1999 – Dec 2004    Associate Professor, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore 
Jul 2004 – present        Research Leader, Asian Migration Research Cluster, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
Jan 2005 – present       Professor, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore
Jan 2006 – present       Head, Department of Southeast Asian Studies, National University of Singapore

Key University Administrative Positions
1996 – 1997                  Acting Deputy Head, Department of Geography
1998 – 2001                  Director, Centre for Advanced Studies
1999                              Vice-Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
2000                              Associate Dean, Office of Research and Graduate Studies