The demands of displacement, the micro-aggressions of multiculturalism: performing an idea of “Indianness” in Singapore

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the ways in which state-defined discourses of multiculturalism can unintentionally create a framework through which micro-aggressions are enacted against those interpreted as “other”. These definitions cascade down from the state to majority and then minority ethno-national groups, who leverage positions of relative dominance to establish the terms of acceptance and integration into society. By negotiating these terms, ethnicity becomes a performative construct through which difference is asserted and reified. We illustrate these ideas through an empirical analysis of Singapore’s minority Indian community, and how Singaporean Indians perform an idea of “Indianness” in response to their Singaporean Chinese fellow citizens on the one hand, and their migrant Indian counterparts on the other. This positioning causes Singaporean Indians to be subject to micro-aggressions vis-à-vis the Chinese majority, and to perpetrate micro-aggressions against Indian non-national minorities. In turn, this causes Singaporean Indianness to be underperformed throughout daily life.

KEYWORDS:

• Multiculturalism
• superdiversity
• micro-aggression
• performance
• Indianness
• Singapore

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Meena Siddharthan and Shee Siew Ying for fieldwork assistance, and to the anonymous reviewers for helpful feedback on an earlier draft of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 All names have been changed to ensure anonymity.

2 The practice of putting coconut oil in the hair, which is commonly associated with Indians.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Singapore under grant: MOE2018-T2-2-102, “New Religious Pluralisms in Singapore: Migration, Integration and Difference”.