Events

CHAIRPERSON

Dr Yang Wang, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

This presentation discusses how mixed racial and ethnic identities are positioned and lived in Singapore, looking particularly at Peranakan and Eurasian communities and identities. I draw on the findings of 6 recent papers, published as part of the 2017 ARI research project Changing Identities: Peranakans and Eurasians Across Generations, which conducted a series of qualitative interviews with individuals who identified themselves, or their families as Eurasian or Peranakan.

As a multicultural city state with a long history of migration, intermixing and diversity, Singapore presents a fascinating window into the histories around ethnic and cultural mixture in Asia. With the population classified as 74.3% Chinese, 13.4% Malay, 9.0% Indian and 3.2% Other, these groupings mask significant diversity in terms of heritage, dialect, birthplace, and even mixedness. The everyday salience and practical impacts of race and racial classification are thus particularly evident when looking at “mixed” racial identities, which do not fit comfortably with established racial labels: this can be seen in the way two key mixed populations, Peranakans and Eurasians, are classified within the CMIO framework, with markedly different outcomes for identity, inclus ion and belonging.

This presentation outlines the impacts of classification on Eurasian and Peranakan communities, where lived multiplicity is positioned against a well-established, singular racialized framework. Eurasian identities are constructed as both historically mixed and as a new form of ethnic identity. Frequently classified as Other, the meanings of Eurasian have shifted over time, encompassing hybridity, fusion and mixedness, while also describing a particular set of cultural practices and backgrounds. In contrast, Peranakan identities are classified as Chinese, yet have similarly shifted away from political and historical mixedness, towards an “authentic” Singaporean cultural hybridity. Peranakan identities are shaped by ideas of mixedness and purity, from identifying as “true blue” and pure, to generational shifts towards being part Peranakan.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Zarine L. Rocha is a sociologist and researcher, and the Editor-in-Chief of Sociology Compass and Managing Editor of Current Sociology, an official journal of the International Sociological Association. She is Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Auckland, and Affiliated Researcher with the Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore. Zarine specializes in issues of mixed race/mixed ethnic identity, narratives of belonging, multiculturalism and diversity, and clinical/applied sociology in Asia and the Pacific, and has worked as a researcher in academic institutions and international organizations, including at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development and the United Nations Environment Programme. She has published 5 books and over 30 journal articles and chapters on issues of identity and belonging, race and ethnicity, and applications of sociology.

REGISTRATION

Registration is closed. Please write to aritm@nus.edu.sg if you would like to attend the talk.