GROWING 'COMMUNITY', PLANTING RESPONSIBILITY, SOWING GOVERNMENTALITY: SINGAPORE'S COMMUNITY GARDENS AS SPACES OF INCLUSIONS AND EXCLUSIONS

Using the `Community in Bloom? (CIB) community gardening project established by the Singapore National Parks Board (NParks) as a case study, this thesis addresses the ways in which the `community? has been conceptually and empirically studied in relation to inclusions and exclusions. By proposing how the `community? may be understood as a technique of governmentality, the thesis seeks to understand how and why CIB gardens, despite its purported benefits as spaces of inclusions, are also necessarily spaces of exclusions. The thesis proceeds in two parts. Firstly, I show how community gardening in Singapore is embroiled in, and produced by a broader set of governmental techniques that ultimately organize the `community? to produce ?community-centric? responsibilities in favor of the Singaporean state?s intentions of inclusive community bonding. Secondly, I contend that community gardening as a governmental project comprises not only ?community-centric? responsibilities but ?garden-centric? responsibilities as well. The ethos of these two broad categories of responsibilities are sometimes in conflict with each other, which then results in varied forms of spatial exclusions. The thesis concludes by reflecting on the future of community gardening in Singapore, and suggests future research directions to deepen geographical understandings surrounding the socio-spatial (un)makings of `community? and its related in/exclusions through the perspective of governmentality.

Author dc:creator

• CHUA CHENG YING

• Governmentality, Inclusion, Exclusion, Community Gardens, Foucault, Responsibility