Events

CHAIRPERSON

Prof Brenda Yeoh, Asia Research Institute, and Department of Geography, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

The contestations surrounding migration and globalisation have birthed a new discourse on national identity, citizenship, and intercultural relations in recent years. This body of research is primarily informed by the way nationhood boundaries are socially constructed and the consequent impact to the politics of immigrant inclusion. It focuses on unpacking the constituents of recipient nationality, and in identifying the key attributes for being and becoming a member of the host society. The common attributes include ascribed indicators such as birthplace, ancestry, ethnicity, and religion, and other malleable indicators such as language use, participation in heritage maintenance, and conforming to established norms.

At the national level, the markers of national identity are used as a means to either lay claim on their own cultural distinction or to accept or deny the claimed of others. Identity markers are emblems of a nationality group, and there are rules that determine how these markers should be interpreted and contextualised. Identity markers are also theorised as benchmarks of naturalisation that recipient nationals use (e.g., language skills, attitudes, and behaviours) in deciding whether a migrant is considered a part of the host community (Leong, 2014). In short, what does it take to be “one of us”?

In recent years, the attention has shifted to examine the ease of acquisition (i.e., how realistic or easy for immigrants to achieve the prescribed attribute) in recognition that some of the signposts are in fact, an implicit form of selection bias. The current study extents the field of acculturation research by incorporating both perceived importance of markers and the difficulty in gaining or attaining the desired attribute (i.e., is it easy to attain?). Cross cultural comparisons of markers from six different recipient societies (Singapore, Japan, Australia, Finland, Canada, Germany) will be presented and discussed.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Leong Chan-Hoong is Head of Social Lab and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS). He received his PhD (Psychology) from Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand), a M.Sc. (Statistics) from the NUS, and is currently a M.Sc. graduate student for Applied GIS at Department of Geography, NUS. Dr Leong’s research focuses on immigration, social resilience, and the management of cultural diversity. He is the principal investigator for several national surveys, including the State of the Overseas Singaporeans Survey (2017), and the Youth Study on Transitions and Evolving Pathways in Singapore (2018). Dr Leong sits on the editorial board for the Asian Journal of Social Psychology, and he was the consulting editor for the International Journal of Intercultural Relations(2013-2014), and guest editor for the journal’s 2013 special issue, “Multiculturalism: Beyond Ethnocultural Diversity and Contestations”, and the 2018 special issue, “Viewing Intercultural Adaptation and Social Inclusion through Constructs of National Identity”. He is a board member of National Integration Workgroup on Community (Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth), and a fellow of the International Academy for Intercultural Research.

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