The Singapore Way of Multiculturalism

Western Concepts/Asian Cultures

Bibliographic Data

ID6086465
AuthorsI Ang (0000-0002-4877-0026), J Stratton (0000-0001-6787-9388)
Year1995
Volume10
Issue1
Pages65-89
Publication date1995-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0217-9520 • E-ISSN: 1793-2858
PublisherISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute (PUBLISHER • SG)
DOI10.1355/sj10-1e
OpenAlexW2052617691
LanguageEN
Citations received46
References cited8

This paper traces symbolic significance of Singapore's policy of multiracialism by bringing it in connection with city-state's postcolonial problematic of national identity. Against currently dominant, nativist rhetoric which aims to construct Singapore as an authentically Asian nation diametrically opposed to its counterparts, this paper stresses necessary and inevitable hybridity of Singaporean identity. Like other successful dragons of East Asia, Singapore has become interesting for - and here we do not have time to nuance and qualify our use of term West - mainly for reasons of economic self-interest. As Asia-Pacific region is set to become main site of global economic activity and wealth in next century, old, Western heartlands of modern capitalism are now eager to do business in this region and to exploit its booming markets. This shift in relations of economic power is being accompanied by a shift in geo-cul turai relations. The impressive economic ascendancy of nation-states of East and Southeast Asia, most successful of which has been Japan, has led to a growing cultural self-confidence within these nations, which, Samuel Huntington warns us, increasingly have desire, will and resources to shape world in non-Western ways (Huntington 1993, p. 26). This situation marks a transformation, but not a cancellation, of parameters of discourse of the versus rest.1 While in past could luxuriate in speaking about rest as a passive, silent other, as in discourse of Orientalism, rest is now talking

Multiculturalism · Political science · Sociology · Cultural Identity and Representation · Gender Studies · Globalization and Cultural Identity · Socioeconomic Development in Asia

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