Ethnicity in research with young children: invitation/barrier

Abstract

This paper explores special issues that a novice, minority researcher encountered at a multi-racial research site. The first author's personal experiences as a female, Tamil-speaking Indian Singaporean shaped the research process and its reception at the research site. In this paper, she observes that, while her ethnic membership operated as a barrier at times, it also shaped the research process in positive and unexpected ways. It invited conversation about ethnicity in a multi-racial setting, creating opportunities for meaningful dialoguing of sensitive topics, culminating in an expansive definition of differences. She also explores the place for researcher subjectivity in qualitative research analysis. The data presented are selected from her dissertation which studied if race and ethnicity affected friendship choices among preschool children in Singapore.

Keywords:

• children
• race
• ethnicity
• researcher effect
• subjectivity and qualitative research

Notes on contributors

Mercy Karuniah Jesuvadian is a lecturer in the Early Childhood and Special Needs Department, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore where she is also a PhD candidate. Mercy's research interests include minority family issues, voice in research with children and art-based research modalities.

Susan Wright is chair of Arts Education at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research interests include artistic development across the lifespan, arts education, semiotics and multi-modality. Her recent books are Understanding Creativity in Early Childhood (UK: SAGE) and Children, Meaning-Making and the Arts (2nd Ed.) (Sydney: Pearson Education).

Notes

1. UMNO is Malaysia's largest political party; as a founding member of the Barisan Nasional coalition, it has played a dominant role in Malaysian politics since Malaysia's independence in 1963. Singapore was a state in the Federation of Malaysia till 1965, when it separated to form an independent nation. The years 1963–1964 were marked by racial tension and political upheaval on both sides of the border.

2. The 1964 Race Riots were a series of riots that took place in Singapore during two separate periods in July and September involving members of two ethnic groups: the Chinese and Malays. About 36 people were killed in the violence. These riots are also known as the Prophet Muhammad Birthday riots, 1964 Racial riots and the 1964 Sino-Malay riots.

3. HDB is the acronym for the Housing Development Board of Singapore. HDB is Singapore's public housing authority and a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development. It was set up in 1960 to alleviate the lack of sanitary dwelling places for the majority of the population. HDB remains the sole provider of public housing for all Singaporeans today.

4. The centre did not have enough boys enrolled in both the Nursery and Kindergarten 1 classes who were representatives of the major races. Hence, the sample had to be restricted to girls.

5. Ethnic group refers to a person's race. The Singapore population is classified into the following four categories:Chinese: Persons of Chinese origin such as Hokkiens, Teochews, Cantonese, Hakkas, Hainanese, Hockchias, Foochows, Henghuas, Shanghainese, etc.Malays: Persons of Malay or Indonesian origin, such as Javanese, Boyanese, Bugis, etc.Indians: Persons of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Sri Lankan origin such as Tamils, Malayalis, Punjabis, Bengalis, Singhalese, etc.Other Ethnic Groups All persons other than Chinese, Malays and Indians, such as Eurasians, Caucasians, Arabs, Japanese, etc.(The Singapore Department of Statistics, 2010)

6. For the full study, see Jesuvadian (2010).

7. The terms in the bracket translate to (age/ethnic membership) – for example, Christopher is 4 and is Chinese. C, Chinese; I, Indian; M, Malay and O, Others.

8. Pottu (Tamil) also known as Bindhi (Hindi) is a red dot worn on the lower forehead (between the eyebrows) that signifies that a woman is married. This tradition is common to South Asian women and women of South Asian Hindu background in South East Asia.