Alon: Journal for Filipinx American and Diasporic Studies

This article examines the way Sundays at Lucky Plaza Singapore are an anomaly where conceptual hierarchies are temporarily turned upside down, albeit only one day a week. It is divided into two themes—the politics of visibility and the politics of appearances—illustrating how Filipina domestic workers have been able to demonstrate consumer power and reject society’s attempts to fashion them into invisible minorities and unattractive women. Deriving theoretical inspiration from historians writing about Early Modern Europe, this study reveals how carnival and misrule can unsettle social hierarchies temporarily as well as initiate social change despite the limits of consumer power.