Showing papers in "Asian Ethnicity in 2006"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the politics of multiculturalism and its efficacy in managing cultural diversity and differences and deploys the concept of hybridity to describe as well as analyze the complex identity politics of the ethnic Chinese in contemporary Indonesia.
Abstract: The dominant discourse in accommodating the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia during Suharto’s regime was one of assimilation, which forcefully aimed to absorb this minority into the national body. However, continuous official discrimination towards the Chinese placed them in a paradoxical position that made them an easy target of racial and class hostility. The May 1998 anti-Chinese riots proved the failure of the assmilationist policy. The process of democratization has given rise to a proliferation of identity politics in postSuharto Indonesia. The policy of multiculturalism has been endorsed by Indonesia’s current power holders as a preferred approach to rebuilding the nation, consistent with the national motto: ‘Unity in Diversity’. This paper critically considers the politics of multiculturalism and its efficacy in managing cultural diversity and differences. It deploys the concept of hybridity to describe as well as analyze the complex identity politics of the ethnic Chinese in contemporary Indonesia.
113 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the notion of fair skin and its relationship to the construction of a Hong Kong 'racial' identity by Hong Kongers is explored. But the authors focus on a local television advertisement for a cosmetic product named UVWhite whitening softener.
Abstract: This paper explores the notion of fair skin and its relationship to the construction of a Hong Kong ‘racial’ identity by Hong Kongers. It examines a local television advertisement for a cosmetic product named ‘UVWhite whitening softener’. Based on the interpretations of focus-group participants in Hong Kong and the UK, and his own in the role of analyst, the author explores three different perspectives on the advertisement. A triangulation of these three perspectives reveals a number of possible meanings and symbolic functions of fair skin in forming identities of ‘self’ and ‘other’, and their relationships with class, gender and, above all, race in various sociocultural contexts. These perspectives, and the differences between them, also closely reflect the sociocultural backgrounds of the participants and provide clues to an understanding of the ways in which skin colour operates as a visual agent in defining the boundaries of cultural identity, and in identifying a person's place in a local social hier...
69 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated dress as a form of cultural exclusion among Pakistani women in Hong Kong and how mainstream society constrains the bodies of its members through dress, and they found that there is a close relation between ethnicity and social exclusion.
Abstract: Underneath a veneer of racial harmony and acceptance, racial discrimination is widespread at many different levels of life in Hong Kong, the so-called ‘global city’. For decades, some minority communities have lived with subtle but institutionalized and cultural discrimination permeating their existence. In recent years, social exclusion has been one of the important themes in policy debates in Hong Kong. It is increasingly recognized that there is a close relation between ‘ethnicity’ and ‘social exclusion’. According to our research on the life situation of the South Asian minority in Hong Kong, experiences of exclusion are common. This paper focuses on investigating dress as a form of cultural exclusion among Pakistani women in Hong Kong and how mainstream society constrains the bodies of its members through dress.
48 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors look at whether convincing empirical evidence of physical and cultural genocide in Tibet exists, in light of the most common understanding of such practices as rooted in efforts to destroy a people and its culture, and conclude that a critique of China's policies and practices in Tibet would be best served by focusing on actual problems experienced by Tibetans.
Abstract: A central element of the narrative circulated by the Tibet Movement has been that China has carried out genocide and practised colonialism in Tibet. These notions are, for the most part, uncritically accepted by politicians and the media, especially in the West. This essay challenges such characterizations as inept and as obstacles to resolving the Tibet Question. It looks at whether convincing empirical evidence of physical and cultural genocide in Tibet exists, in light of the most common understanding of such practices as rooted in efforts to destroy a people and its culture. The essay also considers what the contours of colonialism have been in light of its principal modern experience, that of European, US and Japanese colonization, and determines whether the Tibet case fits these characteristics. The essay concludes that a critique of China's policies and practices in Tibet would be best served by focusing on actual problems experienced by Tibetans.
46 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the discourses of "old-comer" Korean communities in Japan in relation to the recent advent of notions of coexistence (kyōsei) and multiculturalism (tabunka) and argued that although the discursive recognition of Japan as multicultural is an important step away from ubiquitous notions of monoculturality, this relatively new direction needs to be balanced with critical interrogation of how it is being represented.
Abstract: This paper explores the discourses of ‘old-comer’ Korean communities (zainichi) in Japan in relation to the recent advent of notions of coexistence (kyōsei) and multiculturalism (tabunka). I adopt an analytical framework that has been used to critically examine Australian multiculturalism, recognising that although the Australian context is different, this analytical framework is useful for the examination in hand. I argue that although the discursive recognition of Japan as multicultural is an important step away from ubiquitous notions of monoculturality, this relatively new direction needs to be balanced with critical interrogation of how it is being represented. The results of this research clarify the positions adopted by the Korean diaspora in Japan and offer a possible alternative perspective on the way forward.
41 citations
TL;DR: Singapore's modernisation push "From Third World to First" was the long-term strategy of establishing a Singapore identity based on multiracialism, multilingualism, multiculturalism and multireligiousity (the 4Ms) as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Fundamental within Singapore's modernisation push ‘From Third World to First’ was the long-term strategy of establishing a Singapore identity based on multiracialism, multilingualism, multiculturalism and multireligiousity (the ‘4Ms’). But while wholesale landscape changes have largely removed earlier associations between ethnicity and residence, government promotion of a shared Singapore identity has been frustrated by the lagging educational and socio-economic achievements of Singapore's Malay minority. Prior to the events of ‘9/11’ government concern had centred on the growing popularity of private Islamic schools, or madrasahs, which in the government's view could affect educational standards in the city-state. However, following the destruction of the World Trade Center government attention was quickly shifted to the promotion of ‘racial harmony’ and Singaporeans were urged to ‘get to know your neighbours’ in a tacit admission that 40 years of ‘racial’ assimilation had yet to produce ethnically integ...
20 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the notion of Malaysian identity is conceptualized within a framework of identity and difference, drawing on contemporary theorisations of ethnicity linked to the notions of difference, and the author draws on the narratives of 16-year-old Malaysian schoolgirls to illustrate the discourses of ethnicity these girls negotiate in their ways of being and knowing.
Abstract: In this paper, the notion of Malaysian identity is conceptualised within a framework of identity and difference, drawing on contemporary theorisations of ethnicity linked to the notion of difference. The notion of Malaysian is problematised as being linked to the interplay between nationalistic official and essentialistic labelling, present and historical social and political events, and experiences of daily living in Malaysia. The author draws on the narratives of 16-year-old Malaysian schoolgirls to illustrate the discourses of ethnicity these girls negotiate in their ways of being and knowing. Being Malaysian and more importantly being Malay, Chinese, Indian or Other is not a simple matter of government-imposed labelling. It is more complicated and negotiated. Ways of being and knowing in Malaysia are multiple, shifting and contradictory as each Malaysian has to negotiate with these labels in their daily lives. The author argues that the politics of ethnic identification in Malaysia are intertwined wit...
20 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss how tactical voting in the mixed constituency has helped the National Front to secure its two-thirds majority in parliament and maintain inter-ethnic calm in Malaysia.
Abstract: Malaysia is often touted as an exemplar of a peaceful multiracial country, with the tensions in inter-ethnic relations engendered by the 13 May 1969 race riots overcome. However, three decades of steady economic growth coupled with the New Economic Policy have helped to strengthen consciousness of ethnic identity and social polarisation in society. This paper discusses how tactical voting in the mixed constituencies has helped the National Front to secure its two-thirds majority in parliament and maintain inter-ethnic calm.
16 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the ways in which Hong Kong Sindhis and Sikhs talk about ethnic identities and their relationships to culture and language, and found that Sikhs tend to draw more on an essentialist model of ethnicity than do Sindhis, while the Sindhis seem to be more prepared to draw on more flexible models of the relationships between identity, culture and languages.
Abstract: Using data from four focus groups, this paper examines the ways in which Hong Kong Sindhis and Sikhs talk about ethnic identities and their relationships to culture and language. It finds that in all the groups, a range of different ‘cultural models’ (Gee, 1999) of ethnicity, culture and language are drawn upon, with the same participants sometimes using several different models as they position themselves within the group discussions. However, the data also suggest that there may be a tendency for the two communities to foreground different models of ethnicity. Specifically, Sikh participants tend to draw more on an essentialist model of ethnicity than do the Sindhis, while the Sindhis seem to be more prepared to draw on more flexible models of the relationships between identity, culture and language.
15 citations
TL;DR: The authors highlights the evolution of the Nepali dairy farmers as an important economic group within the larger group of Nepali migrants in Northeast India, and looks at the issues that led to a redefinition of their relations in the host country and articulations for reassertion/or search for an identity in India.
Abstract: The migration of the Nepalis to Northeast India for cattle grazing and dairy farming since the last years of the nineteenth century evolved as a mainstay of later Nepali migrations in the twentieth century. It is significant that this group of migrants enjoyed active colonial patronage, along with the labourers and Gurkha soldiers in the army, but was among the first to face the impact of changing colonial land and taxation policies. Government policies of exclusion and nativist attitudes in post-independence India caused them considerable insecurity about their status in the region. This paper highlights the evolution of the Nepali dairy farmers as an important economic group within the larger group of Nepali migrants in Northeast India, and looks at the issues that led to a redefinition of their relations in the host country and articulations for reassertion/or search for an identity in India.
14 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a study of a particular group of Han migrants, known in English as the sent-down youths, sent by the government to Inner Mongolia, in the movement of "going up to the mountains and down to the villages" or the rustication movement, which reached its height during the Cultural Revolution (1966, − 1976).
Abstract: The Han Chinese migration into Inner Mongolia has been an ongoing process. There have been academic studies on such migration, and on Han Chinese peasant migrants and their interactions with the Mongols. This paper is a study of a particular group of Han migrants, known in English as the sent-down youths, sent by the government to Inner Mongolia, in the movement of ‘going up to the mountains and down to the villages’, or the rustication movement, which reached its height during the Cultural Revolution (1966 – 1976). Among the total of 17 million urban middle school graduates sent to various parts of China to become farmers, about 200,000 went to Inner Mongolia. By the mid-1980s the majority of these sent-down youths had returned to the cities and regained their urban household status. Based on works written by those who went to Inner Mongolia, and especially the interviews I conducted with some of them, this paper analyses their experiences, what it meant to them and the impact they had on the ecology and...
TL;DR: This article argued that rather than projecting a cosmopolitan vision of community, British liberalism naturalised ethnicity through the concept of civil society, which presented a global vision of societies being independent and emerging from the local landscape.
Abstract: This article focuses on the introduction of ethnicity into Southeast Asia, as a component of the nineteenth century British projection of empire. The argument is that rather than projecting a cosmopolitan vision of community, British liberalism naturalised ethnicity through the concept of civil society. This presented a global vision of societies being independent and emerging from the local landscape. These liberal notions of civil society represent an early incarnation of self-determination. The British Empire in Southeast Asia emerged within this intellectual climate, and its early construction reflected this vision. In essence, the British Empire in Southeast Asia was founded on the nebulous idea of providing self-determination to Southeast Asian nations. This notion of self-determination was a qualified concept of independence, framed around opening these civil societies to British trading hegemony.
TL;DR: In this article, the effect of minority ethnicity on neighbourly relations in China was examined using data collected in Lanzhou, and the results showed that the Hui as a whole express a higher level of satisfaction at relations with neighbours than the Han do.
Abstract: Using data collected in Lanzhou, this paper examines the effect of minority ethnicity on neighbourly relations in China. It shows that the Hui as a whole express a higher level of satisfaction at relations with neighbours than the Han do. It also shows that the Hui advantage is removed with key background characteristics controlled. Finally, this paper shows intra-group variation among the Hui. These findings suggest that social status is a better predictor of neighbourly relations than the focus on inter-group contrast in traditionality in the existing scholarship of the Hui. Both inter- and intra-group variation in urban life must be examined to attain a more balanced picture of Hui Muslims in China.
TL;DR: In this paper, a detailed examination of the main factors affecting the drop-out rate of students in Tibetan nomadic areas is presented, which is carried out by a senior Tibetan scholar who was born in eastern Tibet and has wide experience in working with governments, international organisations, academic institutions and private foundations.
Abstract: This study takes a thorough look at basic education in some Tibetan nomadic communities. It is carried out by a senior Tibetan scholar who was born in eastern Tibet and has wide experience in working with governments, international organisations, academic institutions and private foundations. The paper provides a detailed examination of the main factors affecting the drop-out rate of students in Tibetan nomadic areas. (Ed.)
TL;DR: The 2006 Asian Ethnicity Conference on Affirmative Action in Minority Education as discussed by the authors focused on China and most of the papers dealt with that country, but there was also quite a bit of consideration of affirmative action in the United States.
Abstract: On 14 and 15 April 2006, Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in the United States was host to a conference dealing with the general subject of affirmative action for ethnic minorities, especially as it applies to the education system. The focus was on China and most of the papers dealt with that country, which is why it can be reviewed in this journal. However, there was also quite a bit of consideration of affirmative action in the United States. The organizers of the conference were Dr Zhou Minglang, Associate Professor in the East Asian Studies Department, and Professor Ann M. Hill of the Anthropology Department, both of Dickinson College. The title of the conference was ‘China’s Positive (Affirmative Action) Policies in Minority Education’. As the title suggests, the Conference was very focused. The total number of participants was about thirty, almost all from the United States and China, with one from Australia (the author of this review). The format of discussion was to present papers on particular themes, followed by questions and relevant commentary from discussants. Most of the papers were given in English, although there were a very few in Chinese. The standard both of the papers and the discussion that followed each paper was very high. This review aims to take up a few of the issues that struck me most as most interesting from the conference. My purpose is to look at the conference as a whole, not to pick out individual papers for praise or blame. I was in general impressed with the conference, its aims and its papers. Two points struck me as adding very strongly to the deliberations. In addition to well-known Western specialists on ethnic questions, notably writer on Marxism and the nationalities question Walker Connor, there were quite a few members of ethnic minorities from China and the United States. From China the Tibetans, Uygurs, Mongolians, Yugurs and Koreans were represented, as well as the majority Han. From the United States, minorities represented included the Afro-Americans, Chinese and Latinos. Most of the Chinese present had come especially for the conference, although the organizer Zhou Minglang and several others lived in the United States. Some students from Dickinson College presented papers on their own experience of affirmative action in the United States, which added a personal and grass-roots dimension to the conference. The other point I especially liked about the conference was that all sessions were in plenum. It seems to me that one gets better-focused discussion when all attendees are together, considering a particular issue that matters to them. Certainly, discussion was Asian Ethnicity, Volume 7, Number 3, October 2006
TL;DR: For example, the Solon nomads in North Manchuria have a reputation as nomads and Russian penetration into the region in the late nineteenth century Russified many of them, which alarmed the Chinese government into action.
Abstract: The Solon tribes, including the Oroqen, the Ewenk and the Daur, have lived in Heilongjiang (North Manchuria) for millennia. For centuries, the Solon led a hunting life in the mountains and along the rivers. Their constant migration earned them a reputation as nomads. Russian penetration into the region in the late nineteenth century Russified many of the Solon, which alarmed the Chinese government into action. The Chinese persistently embraced every opportunity to win them over. The principal policy adopted by both the Qing dynasty and the Chinese Republic was to turn Solon nomads into sedentary farmers. The government erected villages for the Solon, helped them to adapt to new life, and educated them to be Chinese citizens. These paternalistic yet preferential measures, however, rapidly Sinicized the Solon in just three decades.
TL;DR: The first positive identification of one of the languages in the texts as Parthian was made by Tedesco in 1921 as mentioned in this paper, and since then the term has usually been adopted by scholars working on this language.
Abstract: Herodotus lists the Parthians, along with the Chorasmians, the Sogdians and the Arians in the sixteenth satrapy of the Persian Empire at the time of Darius I. Although Parthava is mentioned several times in the Old Persian Achaemenian inscriptions, its exact, or even comparative, locality cannot be established from these owing to different orders of enumeration. From later Classical sources we can piece together a picture of this Iranian people, but evidence is also available from Manichaean texts discovered in Central Asia in the early part of the nineteenth century. The first positive identification of one of the languages in the texts as Parthian was made by Tedesco in 1921. Since then the term has usually been adopted by scholars working on this language. The justification for and implications of this identification from an ethnic and linguistic point of view are discussed in this article.