Multiculturalism, Migration, and the Politics of Identity in Singapore (eBook)

This edited volume focuses on how multiculturalism, as statecraft, has had both intended and unintended consequences on Singapore's various ethnic communities. The contributing authors address and update contemporary issues and developments in the practice of multiculturalism in Singapore by interfacing the practice of multiculturalism over two critical periods, the colonial and the global. The coverage of the first period examines the colonial origins and conception of multiculturalism and the post-colonial application of multiculturalism as a project of the nation and its consequences for the Tamil Muslim, Ceylon-Tamil, and Malay communities. The content on the second period addresses immigration in the context of globalization with the arrival of new immigrants from South and East Asia, who pose a challenge to the concept and practice of multiculturalism in Singapore. For both periods, the contributors examine how the old migrants have attempted to come to terms with living in a multicultural society that has been constructed in the image of the state, and how the new migrants will reshape that society in the course of their ongoing politics of identity.

Prof Lian Kwen Fee was formerly Head of the Department of Sociology in the National University of Singapore before taking up an appointment in the Institute of Asian Studies as Professor of Sociology. His academic background is in political and historical sociology. His research interests are in race, migration, and the nation-state focusing on New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore. He is co-author of the highly cited 'The Politics of Nation Building and Citizenship in Singapore' (1995, Routledge). He was also contributor editor to 'Race, Ethnicity, and the State in Malaysia and Singapore' (2006) and to 'Social Policy in Post-Industrial Singapore' (2008), both published by Brill. His recent publications are on migrant entrepreneurship in colonial Malaysia, migrant remittances in Asia, migration entrepreneurship in Korea and Japan, and race and politics in Peninsular Malaysia.

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This edited volume focuses on how multiculturalism, as statecraft, has had both intended and unintended consequences on Singapore's various ethnic communities. The contributing authors address and update contemporary issues and developments in the practice of multiculturalism in Singapore by interfacing the practice of multiculturalism over two critical periods, the colonial and the global. The coverage of the first period examines the colonial origins and conception of multiculturalism and the post-colonial application of multiculturalism as a project of the nation and its consequences for the Tamil Muslim, Ceylon-Tamil, and Malay communities. The content on the second period addresses immigration in the context of globalization with the arrival of new immigrants from South and East Asia, who pose a challenge to the concept and practice of multiculturalism in Singapore. For both periods, the contributors examine how the old migrants have attempted to come to terms with living in a multicultural society that has been constructed in the image of the state, and how the new migrants will reshape that society in the course of their ongoing politics of identity.