SHIFTING MEANINGS OF ETHNIC IDENTITY : THE CASE OF CHINESE IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Ethnic identity is something that every citizen of Singapore is made acutely aware of. This is because of the multi-racial mix or the population, and government policies concerned with the management of the races. In Singapore, ethnicity is "regarded as an unchangeable and irreducible fact of life" ( Benjamin, 1976: 81). This is a primordial perspective or ethnicity, which also sees the family as being the primary vehicle or transmission or ethnic identity. A study or members or two interconnected families allows us to examine how meanings of ethnic identity have shifted across three different generations of these families. The impact of historical processes and state policies on ethnic identity are seen. The study also looks at how conceptions of ethnic identity may change throughout individual lives. It examines the relevance of situational theories of ethnicity in explaining bow some respondents manipulate their ethnic identities to suit their own purposes. It rinds that the conflicts that some Chinese face over their ethnic identity are a result of the contradictions of state policies and the realities of their everyday lives. Members of the same family differ in their conceptions of ethnic identity because of different life experiences. Meanings of "Chinese identity" differ and some members choose to highlight their "Chinese dialect identity" or "Singaporean Chinese identity." Other members distance themselves from a "Chinese" ethnic identity, and instead choose to opt out of ethnicity.