Stretching out the categories
Chinese/European narratives of mixedness, belonging and home in Singapore
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6256159 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Z L Rocha (0000-0003-0284-7144, National University of Singapore, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 279-302 |
| Publication date | 2014-04-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ethnicities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1468-7968 • E-ISSN: 1741-2706 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1468796813505554 |
| OpenAlex | W2086487165 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 26 |
Racial categorization is important in everyday interactions and state organization in Singapore. Increasingly, the idea of ‘mixed race’ and new conceptions of mixedness are challenging such classification along racial lines. Although contemporary Singapore is extremely diverse, the underlying ideology of multiracialism remains grounded in distinctly racialized groups, leaving little space for more complex individual identities. This paper explores the identifications of individuals of mixed Chinese and European descent in the Singaporean context, looking at how complexity is lived within firmly racialized structures. Drawing on a series of 20 narrative interviews, this research examines the relationship between categorization and identity, focusing on the identities of individuals with multiple national, cultural and ethnic ties. The practical impacts of racial categorization shape many aspects of life in Singapore, and individuals of mixed descent illustrated a constant tension between official categorization and personal mixedness, seen in the frustrations experienced and strategies developed by individuals around race and belonging. Individuals negotiated their connections around race and nationality both in practical terms around language, social policies and culture, and personally in terms of symbolic feelings of connection
Aesthetics · Categorization · Context (archaeology · Ethnic group · Feeling · Generality · Geography · Identity (music · Ideology · Immigration · Linguistics · Narrative · Nationality · Political science · Politics · Race (biology · Racism · Sociology · Anthropology · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Law · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Socioeconomic Development in Asia
Who counts as multiracial
The People’s Action Party and the Singapore Presidency in 2017
Tracing Genealogies of Mixedness
What does it mean to be Eurasian in South East Asia, Malaysia
Managing the complexities of race
Hierarchies of mixedness
Narratives of ‘mixed race’ youth in South Korea
A Global Look at Mixing
Fluidity amidst structure
Strict versus flexible categorizations of mixedness
Eurasian Emigration from Singapore
Singapore
Racially mixed people in America
Domicile and Diaspora
The Multiracial Experience
Communitarian Ideology and Democracy in Singapore
Singapore
Multiplicity within Singularity
The Revitalization of Eurasian Identity in Singapore
Conflict and Change at the Margins
Introduction
When English is Not a Mother Tongue
History, Memory, and Identity in Modern Singapore
Multiracial Asians
Multiracialism and Meritocracy
The Chinese Diaspora
Racing to Theory or Retheorizing Race? Understanding the Struggle to Build a Multiracial Identity Theory
The Phenomenology of Ethnicity
Subversive Stories and Hegemonic Tales
The Meaning and Measurement of Ethnicity in Malaysia
Eurasians
Multiculturalism in Singapore
Symbolic ethnicity
The narrative constitution of identity
| Citations per year | 0.92 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2014 - 2022 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |