The demands of displacement, the micro-aggressions of multiculturalism

Performing an idea of “Indianness” in Singapore

Bibliographic Data

ID18979136
AuthorsOrlando Woods (0000-0001-9218-1264, Singapore Management University, corresponding author), L Kong (0000-0003-4107-4762, Singapore Management University)
Year2023
Volume46
Issue1
Pages119-140
Publication date2023-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01419870.2022.2059387
OpenAlexW4226039777
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited47

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

Aesthetics · Dominance (genetics) · Ethnic group · Leverage (statistics) · Minority group · Multiculturalism · Negotiation · Performative utterance · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Asian Studies and History · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Socioeconomic Development in Asia

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