Showing papers in "Asian Ethnicity in 2013"

Coming to terms with the nation: ethnic classification in modern China

Abstract: Coming to terms with the nation: ethnic classification in modern China, edited by Thomas Mullaney, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, University of California Press, 2011, 232pp., £19.95 (paperback), I...

Commercially arranged marriage and the negotiation of citizenship rights among Vietnamese marriage migrants in multiracial Singapore

Abstract: Globalization and increased mobilities have multiplied cross-border transactions not only in the economic sphere but have also a major impact on human relationships of intimacy. This can be seen in the increased volume of differently mediated forms of international marriage, not just straddling ‘east’ and ‘west’, but within Asia and across different ethnicities and nationalities. International marriage raises a host of social issues for countries of origin and destination, including challenges relating to the citizenship status and rights of the marriage migrant. This paper examines the negotiation of citizenship rights in the case of commercially matched marriage migrants – namely Vietnamese women who marry Singaporean men and migrate to Singapore as ‘foreign brides’. While they are folded into the ‘family’ – what is often thought of as the basic building block of the nation in Asian societies – they are not necessarily accorded full incorporation into the ‘nation’ despite Singapore's claims to multicult...

Making foreign women the mother of our nation: the exclusion and assimilation of immigrant women in Taiwan

Abstract: Citizenship awarding is politicised. Conceiving female marriage migration as a national threat, Taiwan's citizenship legislation is consciously designed and purposefully utilised to achieve exclusion and assimilation. Driven by a nationalistic impetus, it shows how Taiwan imagines itself as a modern, prosperous and homogenous nation and projects upon the immigrant outsiders as a threat to its self-identity. Examined through immigrant women's lived experiences, this citizenship legislation is biased by gender, class and ethnicity. The implementation of the legislation is not only an example of symbolic politics but also banal nationalism realised at grassroots level in the private domain. Immigrant women's lived experiences show that exclusion and assimilation stemmed from banal nationalism is not just an operation of symbolic politics but is also enmeshed with their everyday life.

Korean, Chinese, or what? Identity transformations of Chosŏnjok (Korean Chinese) migrant brides in South Korea

Abstract: Chosŏnjok migrant brides are Korean Chinese women who married South Korean men (hereafter Korean men). The number of Chosŏnjok migrant brides increased rapidly until recently due to the attempts of the central and local governments of Korea to resolve bride shortages in rural areas in the early 1990s and the Koreans' preference for ethnic Korean brides over non-Korean foreign brides. Currently there are more than 26,000 Chosŏnjok migrant brides in Korea. Due to the drastic changes to their post-migration lives in their ethnic homeland of Korea, most Chosŏnjok migrant brides experience changes in their ethno-national identity(ies). This paper investigates this process and the underlying reasons for these post-ethnic return migration identity changes. It also looks at the types of identity changes that occur through in-depth interviews with 22 Chosŏnjok migrant brides in Korea.

Critical Han studies: the history, representation, and identity of China's majority

Abstract: Critical Han studies: the history, representation, and identity of China's majority, edited by Thomas S. Mullaney, James Leibold, Stephane Gros, and Eric Vanden Bussche, Berkeley, University of Cal...

Sovereignty at the edge: Macau and the question of Chineseness

Abstract: Sovereignty at the edge: Macau and the question of Chineseness, by Cathryn H. Clayton, Harvard University Asia Center, 2010, 420 pp., £38.32 (hardback), ISBN 978-0674-03545-4 The history of the twe...

Secular state, religious lives: Islam and the state in Malaysia

Abstract: Debates on secularism in Malaysia often revolve around the legal, especially the constitutional, framework To this end several NGOs organised a road show in 2006 to debate issues surrounding freedom of religion Not only were these events mobbed by angry crowds, but also the state intervened and shut down these and future discussions on the topic of religion, deeming such debates sensitive This article addresses the particularities of secularism in Malaysia vis-a-vis Olivier Roy's thesis in ‘Secularism Confronts Islam’ that sees religious space and secular space as discernable yet not antithetical and Charles Taylor's thesis in the ‘Secular Age’, where he points to a new definition of secularism as a pluralist and transcendent notion of belief In Malaysia both variants are present, with the state playing a dangerous game situating itself between reactionary Muslim forces and a moderate majority

Integration policy in Singapore: a transnational inclusion approach

Abstract: A number of models of integration have been developed to highlight the experiences of immigration and integration in the Western world. However, the existing models do not adequately capture the complexities of contemporary international immigration and integration, especially the integration process in the light of migrant transnationalism in Asia. This study examines the models of integration through a case study of Singapore. This paper introduces a new concept ‘transnational inclusion’ to conceptualize Singapore's initiative to embrace its transnational global Singaporeans as well as its transnational immigrants, estimated to make up one-fourth of the total population. The paper shows that a transnational inclusion model of integration can provide better insights into the dynamics of transnationalism and integration in today's complex migration scenario. We point to Singapore's integration approach that regards integrating migrants into the different spheres of the society as a process rather than an end.

Census enumeration, religious identity and communal polarization in India

Abstract: Census is considered to be a scientific exercise. However, it leaves a deep impact on religious and ethnic identities. This is because through census enumeration not only are boundaries of communities fixed, but also actual size and growth are known. This adds a new sense to the identities of the religious communities in the sphere of democratic politics. In India, the census was started around 1872 during the British rule, seven decades after the first census was held in Great Britain in 1801. The question on religion was included right from the first Indian census, unlike the British census which only included it in 2001. This paper shows that the inclusion of the question on religion, and the consequent publication of data on size and growth of population by religion during British rule, invoked sharp communal reactions. The demographic issues found a core place in the communal discourse that continued in independent India. The paper argues that the demographic data on religion was one of the important...

Racialization in a ‘homogenous’ society? The case of Buraku people in Japan

Abstract: This paper examines the puzzling status of Buraku people in Japan through the methodological prism of historical sociology. I develop a theoretical approach that emphasizes the concept of racialization to illuminate the historical and social construction of Buraku status. I propose this approach as a complementary alternative to prior analytic perspectives. Two major perspectives have dominated research on the status of Buraku people. First, an earlier approach that focused on the legacy of caste discrimination. The second framework focuses on Buraku people as part of the struggle for universal human rights. This article raises three basic, but interrelated questions about the historical development of Buraku status in Japan. Why did the Buraku people become subject to such overt discrimination in local community life, and through government policy? How was the state involved in the social construction of Buraku people? How did the Buraku liberation struggles challenge formalized discrimination?

One nationalism and two systems: the parallel regulations of Taiwan's marital immigration policies

Abstract: By investigating the regulation differentials between Chinese spouses and foreign spouses in Taiwan's marital immigration program, this article shows how a restrictive border policy reflects the characteristics of Taiwan's contemporary nationalism. This article notes that the similarities in language, culture and ethnicity are not key elements in the construction of Taiwan's contemporary nationalism. Instead, the uncertain condition of sovereign identity constitutes the nationalist agenda in Taiwan. Taiwan's nationalism is accordingly contingent upon the discursive externality of a Chinese spouse. The discrimination against Chinese spouses is primarily politically motivated.

Acculturation attitudes and affective workgroup commitment: evidence from professional Chinese immigrants in the Australian workplace

Abstract: The Australian workforce is becoming increasingly diverse and it is important to understand the role of individuals' acculturation attitudes in the workplace. The appreciation of the relationship between acculturation attitudes and affective workgroup commitment is critical for mangers to facilitate the performance of employees with diverse backgrounds. To gain a better understanding of this relationship, we assessed the acculturation attitudes of professional Chinese immigrants and the relationship between these attitudes and affective workgroup commitment in the Australian workplace. Our survey of a sample of 220 professional Chinese immigrants in the Australian workplace revealed that, even though many of them favor integration, the majority adopt separation and marginalization, which were found to be related with low affective workgroup commitment. This study underscored the importance of acculturation attitudes to cultivate positive job-related outcomes, and provided useful information for organizations to manage immigrant employees via effective acculturation programs.

Choosing the Gorkha: at the crossroads of class and ethnicity in the Darjeeling hills

Abstract: The Darjeeling hills in northern West Bengal, India are being demanded as a homeland for the Gorkha community living in India. While the origin of Darjeeling is steeped in the imperial legacy of the British Raj, the Gorkha, a colonial construct is ironically used as a means to challenge the contemporary political regression and neo-colonisation of Darjeeling. Although the Gorkha identity is deemed as representative of the Nepali community residing in India, it acquires special meaning and importance in the Darjeeling hills, where majority of the people suffer low wages, unemployment, underdevelopment and poverty. In spite of a large working force in the tea estates, economic underdevelopment and political disempowerment is voiced through the assertion of ethnic rather than a class-based identity. Through an examination of the interaction between class and ethnicity, the Gorkha identity will highlight the malleability of ethnicity to extend itself to any situation and the emergence of an ethnic identity fr...

Taiwan's identity in formation: in reaction to a democratizing Taiwan and a rising China

Abstract: The formation of Taiwanese identity is a good example to make sense of the theoretical debate between primordialism and constructivism. Based on the two-level multinomial logit results, this paper proves that primordial ethnicity in Taiwan becomes less salient; rather, changing sociopolitical contexts turn out to be the dominant factor in shaping ethnic identity. Specifically, it indicates how the democratic transition has brought about various types of mechanisms, which smoothly disenchant the dominant Chinese identity. As the Taiwanese renaissance emerges to take a leading role in Taiwan's political platform, ethnic identity might be reshaped in accordance with this mainstream Taiwanese ideology. This study also shows that reformation of ethnic identity in Taiwan relies as much on cognition of state boundaries as on the evaluation of political-economic conditions on both sides of the Taiwan straits.

Identity maintenance and identity shift: the case of the Tirok Chinese Peranakan in Terengganu

Abstract: This paper examines the state of identity maintenance and identity shift among the Tirok Chinese Peranakan in Terengganu who are an acculturated rural Chinese community in a Malay populated area. The current older generation still maintains the Peranakan identity, featuring strong Malay cultural influence. Their acculturation by the larger Malay community could be attributed to the combination of three factors: confinement to a Malay environment, common schooling with the local Malays and strong Sino-Malay ties. Malay cultural influence is most evident in their spoken language, building architecture, dressing style, cuisine, eating habits and female inheritance rights. However, amidst acculturation, they still maintain a strong Chinese identity that has been manifested through their observance of Chinese religious and cultural practices, their usage of the Chinese dialect as the home language, their preference for wearing Chinese-style attire in public and their preference for intra-ethnic marriages. But ...

Ethnic mobilisation for decolonisation: colonial legacy (the case of the Zo people in Northeast India)

Abstract: This article attempts to communicate the methodological tension between subjectivity and objectivity by recording the aspiration of communities who are problematised both by colonialism and the modern nation-state. It highlights how colonial policy and practice contribute to the postcolonial imbroglio in Northeast India. It delineates how British colonial cartography always gave priority to ‘administrative convenience’ in the demarcation of boundaries, resulting in the division of ethnic community. It argues that Northeast India and the Indo-Burma borderland are not yet decolonised, as the government of India, without any rearrangement or alteration, adopts the colonial administrative boundaries, which divided ethnic communities. Neither the State Reorganisation Act (1956) nor the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act (1971) fulfilled the aspiration of the segmented communities in the northeast, as they did in the mainland. The article also argues that the responses of the government of India towards t...

The dragon and the taniwha: Maori and Chinese in New Zealand

Abstract: The dragon and the taniwha: Maori and Chinese in New Zealand, edited by Manying Ip, Auckland University Press, 2009. x + 374 pp. index, notes, bibliography, $34.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-8694-0436...

Hybrid diaspora and identity-laundering: a study of the return overseas Chinese Vietnamese in Vietnam 1

Abstract: Among the overseas Vietnamese around the world, many are Chinese Vietnamese. They fled from Vietnam for different political and economic reasons during the 1970s and the 1980s. Many of them have returned to Vietnam since the 1990s to work, invest or retire. What is interesting about these returned Chinese Vietnamese migrants is the fact that when they left Vietnam they were called by the Vietnamese the Hoa (華, Chinese) or Hoa kiều (華僑, overseas Chinese) by the Vietnamese. This identity was actually one of the reasons for their escape. When they returned, they were lumped together with all other returnees into the category of Việt kiều (越僑, overseas Vietnamese) and enjoyed the special rights offered by the Việt kiều policy of the Vietnamese government, which was aimed at boosting the national economy. Although their ‘Chinese’ identity had once made them to risk their lives by sailing out on the roaring sea, their ‘Vietnamese’ identity brought them back to Vietnam at other turning points in their lives. The...

Ethnicization and identity construction in Malaysia

Abstract: than the other way around. In a few places, the writing seems a little hasty, or in need of tweaking. For example: ‘Buddhist and Taoist principles are such an intrinsic part of Chinese culture that it is common for these to be fundamental behavioural constraints without being recognized as religious’ (p. 134). The writer makes a valid point about constructed nature of ‘religion’ as an organizing category, but it is wrong to position Buddhist and Daoist thought as intrinsic to Chinese culture. But these minor points do not undermine the value of the book: The Dragon and the Taniwha adds a lot to the literature on ethnicity in New Zealand, and should provide useful comparative material to scholars who work on the cultural encounters engendered by Chinese migration in other contexts.

Sociology of ethnicity

Abstract: Sociology of ethnicity , by the Association of Sociology of Ethnicity, Sociology Society of China, Institute of Sociology and Anthropology, Peking University, Beijing, 1995–2012 The Sinophone resea...

Reading North Korea: an ethnological inquiry

Abstract: several books and papers based on solid qualitative research. Tan’s research, together with the numerous studies on hybridized cultures in Malaysia such as the Melakan Chittys, Eurasians, and Peranakan Cina, raise several significant questions in relation to the process of ethnicization. The persistence of such mixed cultures in the face of ethnicization, rather than simply the existence of contemporary ‘transethnic solidarities’ in the artistic fraternity and civil society in Malaysia, suggest that the process of ethnicization and its attendant hardening of ethnic boundaries is not as overpowering as one would assume. On the back cover of the book the blurb states that ‘While the focus of this publication lies on Malaysia, the concept of manifestations and implementations of ethnicization provides an analytical framework that can be applied in the study of ethnicization and identity construction elsewhere in the region and beyond’ and I fully concur.

Ethnic identities and the dynamics of regional and sub-regional assertions in Jammu and Kashmir

Abstract: The concept of regional and sub-regional identity as well as regional autonomy has captured the stage of Social Science. The regional autonomy aspirations and the sense of regional and sub-regional identity have offered a new dimension to the assertiveness of ethnic group. Regional identity demands in South and Southeast Asian societies have followed a uniform pattern. These regional autonomy demands evolved over a large span of time may be located in specific geographical and environmental spaces. At one level, these demands remained humane and inclusive, incorporating and reflecting broader human and universal values. At the other level, they acquired the traits of particularism which in the later stages of building multi-cultural and multi-ethnic nation states posed many problems. The plurality of politics is the hallmark of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) State, and this polarity is essentially the result of cultural diversities that criss-cross the geographical and cultural landscape of Kashmir. The J&K Stat...

Space and community between the local and the global: two examples from the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam

Abstract: The objective of this article is to situate the relation between the local and the global in the context of a specific region formation, namely the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam in India as a frontier. The article takes up two examples on the relation between space and community construct and how the relation forms part of the deeper relation between the local and the global in the Valley. The Brahmaputra Valley comprises the major area of the Indian state of Assam. Assam and its neighbouring areas are also referred to as ‘North East India’. The term came into use during the colonial period. It was used to refer to the British-Indian frontier which bordered on Bhutan, Tibet, China and Myanmar. In the first example of the article, the local–global relation is seen in terms of how the colonial-capitalism paradigm altered the pre-colonial socio-spatial relation, formulating and implementing new spatial and social classifications. The focus in the example is on the rearrangement of socio-spatial relations in th...

The use of GIS in exploring settlement patterns of the ethnic groups in Nan, Thailand

Abstract: This article implemented geographic information system and spatial statistics to explore the settlement patterns of ethnic groups in Nan, Thailand, in relation to geographic factors. The general findings reveal that people of the same ethnic group tend to live in clustered fashion. In addition, ethnic groups located on an elevation of 200–500 m above the mean sea level tend to live near both roads and rivers (within 1 km), while those on higher elevations tend to live further away from roads and rivers. Furthermore, the unique characteristics of the settlement patterns of each ethnic group were also identified.

Managing multi-mobility and multi-layered identity in China: how ethnic Chinese-Venezuelan returnees cope with Chinese language, culture and identity

Abstract: An increasing number of ethnic Chinese students born in Venezuela return to mainland China each year to study the language of their ancestors, Mandarin. This article examines how they expose themselves to multiple discourses of ‘identity’, develop a reflexive strategy to cope with a multi-layered identity and act out their identity in China. In order to do so three core topics – culture, language, and identity will be analyzed and elucidated. In today's world, different forms of mobility affect the negotiation of identity and belonging. Besides migration or the physical/corporeal mobility of people there are other forms of mobilities such as the mobility of commodities, the flows of information, ideas and beliefs, financial mobility as in the case of remittances, virtual travel through Internet. These mobilities intersect and affect different discourses of language, identity and culture. The identity and sense of belonging of this group will be elucidated in four interconnected realms of social life: (1) ...

The changing Xiangxi Miao marriage practices in contemporary China

Abstract: This essay describes elements of Xiangxi Miao marriage practices such as courtship, wedding ceremonies, and marriages between the Miao and Han, exploring how Xiangxi Miao marriage practices changed at the turn of this century, and disclosing social influences on the changes in marriage practices. The author uses a Miao village of Zalun as a case study. Through participant observation and intensive interviews, it was found that, before 2000, Xiangxi Miaos’ courtship practices and wedding ceremonies had strict processes and reflected agricultural rhythm. In addition, there were few marriages between the Miao and Han. Since the beginning of this century, Xiangxi Miao marriage practices have changed due to socioeconomic development, population mobility, and diverse communication between Miao young women and men. Dramatic shifts in marriage practices have produced social influences among Xiangxi Miao communities. The changes in marriage practices have promoted Xiangxi Miao free marriages, advancing social cohe...

Field experience from the multiethnic setting of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh

Abstract: Conducting research in the home country brings diverse experiences to a researcher as the researcher is considered as both insider and outsider by the informants. I conducted fieldwork in the Chittagong Hill Tracts – a multiethnic setting situated in the southeastern part of Bangladesh – where I was considered both insider and outsider. In the light of such experiences, in this article I discuss the researcher's position and the level of engagement – how a researcher situates himself or herself in the field and gathers information from different people. This article also discusses briefly the methodological procedures of the study.