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ABSTRACT
Through a study of Singapore’s integration and naturalisation processes, this paper examines how the Singaporean state has negotiated the twin challenges of embracing cultural pluralism in its population while also forming a common national identity. Employing Benedict Anderson’s conception of ‘bound serialities’, it argues that the Singaporean state has developed a framework of multiracialism to imagine the Singaporean nation through three serialities or collective identities. First, the Chinese, Malay, Indian and Other (CMIO) categories organise individuals into groups that have clear cultural identities. Second, the CMIO categories constitute a fixed image of the multicultural Singaporean nation. Third, being Singaporean requires an ethos of accepting the cultural differences that the CMIO structure represents. However, such a top-down imagining of the multicultural nation is increasingly challenged by the arrival of new citizens who embody alternative imaginings of their own ethnic and national identities, raising questions about the continued effectiveness of Singapore’s multiracialism.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Favell, Philosophies of Integration, 2–3.
2. Modood, “The Promise of Multicultural Nationalism.”
3. Anderson, The Spectre of Comparisons, 29.
4. Rocha, “Multiplicity within Singularity,” 98–100.
5. Spencer, Race and Ethnicity, 41–42.
6. Meer, “Race and Ethnicity,” 115–17.
7. Spencer, Race and Ethnicity, 42.
8. See note 4 above.
9. PuruShotam, Negotiating Language, Constructing Race, 12.
10. Caponio and Borkert, “Introduction,” 9.
11. Favell, Philosophies of Integration.
12. Modood, Multiculturalism: A Civic Idea, 143.
13. Modood, “Multiculturalism, Interculturalisms and the Majority,” 312–13.
14. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights; Parekh, Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory; and Modood, Multiculturalism: A Civic Idea.
15. Goh, “From Colonial Pluralism to Postcolonial Multiculturalism,” 233.
16. Anderson, Imagined Communities.
17. Anderson, Imagined Communities, 168–69; Anderson, The Spectre of Comparisons, 36.
18. Chatterjee, “Anderson’s Utopia,” 128.
19. Anderson, The Spectre of Comparisons, 32–35.
20. Anderson, Imagined Communities, 184–85.
21. Yeoh, “Transnational Migrations and Plural Diversities.”
22. Goh, “From Colonial Pluralism to Postcolonial Multiculturalism.”
23. Kathiravelu, “What Kind of Indian Are You?”; Ang, “The “New Chinatown”“; Liu, “Beyond Co-Ethnicity”; Rocha and Yeoh, “Managing the Complexities of Race”; and Rocha, “Multiplicity within Singularity.”
24. Tan, “Managing Female Foreign Domestic Workers in Singapore”; Huang and Yeoh, “Maids and Ma’ams in Singapore”; Zolberg, “Wanted but Not Welcome”; Goh, “Super-Diversity and the Bio-Politics of Migrant Worker Exclusion in Singapore”; and Yeoh, “Cosmopolitanism and Its Exclusions in Singapore.”
25. Goh, “Arrested Multiculturalisms”; Rocha and Yeoh, “Managing the Complexities of Race”; and Chua, “The Cost of Membership in Ascribed Community.”
26. Hong, Our Journey, Our Stories, 23–24.
27. Ibid., 20–23.
28. Tan, “Defanging Public Discontent in an Authoritarian Regime.”
29. Chong, “Flyer Listing Benefits for Grassroots Volunteers.”
30. Lee, “Stricter Primary 1 Priority Rules for Grassroots Workers.”
31. Weiss, “Going to the Ground (or AstroTurf)”; Tan, “Democracy and the Grassroots Sector in Singapore.”
32. “4,000 Turn up at Speakers” Corner for Population White Paper Protest.”
33. Lee, “The Politics of Civil Society in Singapore”; and Koh and Ooi, “Relationship between State and Civil Society in Singapore.”
34. Morgenbesser and Weiss, “Survive and Thrive.”
35. Wise, “Sensuous Multiculturalism”; Goodman, “Integration Requirements for Integration’s Sake?.”
36. Gray and Griffin, “A Journey to Citizenship.”
37. Kong and Yeoh, “The Construction of National Identity”; Goh, “Multicultural Carnivals”; Han, “National Education and “Active Citizenship”“; Lee, “In Full: PM Lee on Race”; and Lim, “Singapore Must Rethink Problems.”
38. Mathews, “Indicators of Racial and Religious Harmony.”
39. Anderson, The Spectre of Comparisons, 38.
40. Kuah-Pearce, “The Cultural Politics of Clan Associations in Contemporary Singapore.”
41. Lee, The British as Rulers Governing Multi-Racial Singapore 1867–1914, 36.
42. Xie and Cavallaro, “Attitudes towards Mandarin–English Bilingualism.”
43. Moore, “Multiracialism and Meritocracy”; and Mutalib, “Constitutional-Electoral Reforms and Politics in Singapore.”
44. Lian, “Multiculturalism in Singapore,” 15.
45. Clammer, Race and State in Independent Singapore 1965–1990, 41.
46. Chua, “Being Chinese under Official Multiculturalism in Singapore,” 240.
47. Rocha, “Multiplicity within Singularity.”
48. Anderson, The Spectre of Comparisons, 44.
49. Rozaini, “What Growing Up Privileged Taught Me About Being Malay”; Lam, “We‘re More Than an ‘Other’“; and Tham, “In Singapore, Is It So Unforgivable.”
50. Kidangoor, “Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Holi.”
51. Tsuda, “Introduction: Diasporic Return and Migration Studies,” 9.
52. Yuen, “Deepavali or Diwali?.”
53. Ang, “The ‘New Chinatown’”; Liu, “Beyond Co-Ethnicity”; Yeoh and Lin, “Chinese Migration to Singapore.”
54. Mong, “Are Filipinos Malays?.”
55. Ong, “New Citizens from Philippines.”
56. Ho and Kathiravelu, “More than Race.”
57. Rocha, “Multiplicity within Singularity”; Rocha and Yeoh, “Managing the Complexities of Race.”
58. “Login – SCJ.”
59. National Integration Council, “What Does It Mean to Be Singaporean?.”
60. Prichep, “A Campus More Colorful Than Reality,” 2013.
61. Berry and Bell, “Expatriates”; Fechter and Walsh, “Examining “Expatriate” Continuities.”
62. Chew, “Commentary.”
63. Beaverstock, “Servicing British Expatriate,” 721.
64. Talib, “Hadramis in Singapore.”
65. Alexander, “Theorizing the “Modes of Incorporation,” 246.
66. Lee, “In Full: PM Lee on Race.”
67. Liu, “Beyond Co-Ethnicity.”
68. Ortiga, “Multiculturalism on Its Head,” 956.
69. Ho and Kathiravelu, “More than Race,” 646–48.
70. Martin, “Multiculturalism: Consumerist or Transformational?.”
71. Blokland and Eijk, “Do People Who Like Diversity Practice Diversity in Neighbourhood Life?.”
72. Parzer and Astleithner, “More than Just Shopping,” 1128.
73. Mathews, “Channel NewsAsia-Institute of Policy Studies (CNA-IPS) Survey on Race Relations.”
74. Velayutham, “Everyday Racism in Singapore”; and Velayutham, “Races without Racism?.”
75. See note 11 above.
76. Manning and Roy, “Culture Clash or Culture Club?”; and Cook, “Robin Cook”s Chicken Tikka Masala Speech.”
77. Yahya, “Singapore Has to Adapt Policies to Accommodate More Diverse Families.”
78. Hong, Our Journey, Our Stories, 101–2.
Additional information
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Rebecca Grace Tan
Rebecca Grace Tan is a lecturer at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the National University of Singapore. She studies how multiculturalism and migration affect national identity in culturally diverse societies, such as Singapore.