SEEING AND CRAFTING CHINESE SELVES : A STUDY ON BEING CHINESE IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Chineseness as a phenomenon has been understood in terms of its interacting relationship with non-Chineseness (Wee: 1989). On the other hand, Wickberg (1998) conceived Chineseness as having two levels - "lived Chineseness" and "expressed or asserted Chineseness" while Kwok (1998) separated the awareness of Chineseness into three levels - as lived out in the family milieu, as a personal problem and as "politics of difference or recognition". However, they have failed to see Chineseness in terms of individuals' subjective meanings as framed by the social systems and social structures and by the larger social context. The meanings of Chineseness are different for different people and the differences deserve scrutiny. This is what forms the essence of this academic exercise - why are there different meanings of Chineseness and what are the implications upon emotional responses and behavior in different social circumstances? Hence, the relationship between meanings and social and biological backgrounds, and social experiences; the relationship between meanings and emotional responses in terms of feelings, attitudes, desires and the like; and the relationship between meanings and behavior in social interactions would be analyzed here. These three relationships compose a framework that is used to organize the findings in order to present Chineseness as emerging frames of constructed meanings. Moreover, the analyses of the three relationships are made within the context of Singapore and the larger social context to take into account of structural conditions and bounds upon subjective meanings of Chineseness. Therefore, the attempt to see Chineseness as it is in the complex world means that many issues had to be tackled simultaneously. Given the constraints of time and resources, the problems and limitations of this research, the conclusions drawn cannot be presented as representative with absolute certainty. Whatever it is, utmost effort has been spent so as to illuminate a little more of what we see of the constructed world of Chineseness.