COMMERCIALISING WEDDINGS : NEGOTIATING CULTURE AMONG MALAYS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

This study focuses on a particular social practice m the Singapore Malay community- "The Malay Wedding". In attempting to understand the Wedding, it informs one the complex process of how social interactors work to reproduce "norms" which are taken to be static and unchanging. In examining these "norms" and the process of the reproduction of these "norms" in society, interesting observations pertaining to other related processes- negotiation for status, ethnic identity, class, can be informed. An analysis of the social construction of "The Malay Wedding" however will reveal that social limits do exist. What makes the study of Malay weddings interesting is the many layers of meaning that are associated with it. We shall see whether these different layers in turn reveal different levels of cultural contestation.