Making sense of ethnic difference - a source of diversity or inequality?
Date: 16 Aug 2003
Speaker: Dr Lai Ah Eng
Time: 3:00 pm
Location: Asian Civilisations Museum, 1 Empress Place, Singapore 179555
Quick Links:
[ Quotes | Main Readings | Guest Speaker ]
Speaker: Dr Lai Ah Eng
Time: 3:00 pm
Location: Asian Civilisations Museum, 1 Empress Place, Singapore 179555
Quick Links:
[ Quotes | Main Readings | Guest Speaker ]
Race and ethnicity are distinctive features of social and political life in Singapore. While 'multiculturalism' is positioned as a fundamental principle and policy for containing difference and celebrating diversity, racial/ethnic divides continue to characterise social life as well as socio-economic and political achievement.
What does the policy of multiculturalism in Singapore assume and constitute, and what are its implications for ethnic identification, ethnic relations, and inclusion and marginalisation? Do racial/ethnic divides persist despite - or because of - this approach to ethnic difference? What does meaningful integration involve and entail? Is racism inevitable in the face of ethnic classifications? What are the historical, social, and biological bases for ethnic categorisation?
Share with us your views.
What does the policy of multiculturalism in Singapore assume and constitute, and what are its implications for ethnic identification, ethnic relations, and inclusion and marginalisation? Do racial/ethnic divides persist despite - or because of - this approach to ethnic difference? What does meaningful integration involve and entail? Is racism inevitable in the face of ethnic classifications? What are the historical, social, and biological bases for ethnic categorisation?
Share with us your views.
Quotes
"The fundamental question is whether as a society we value diversity... We may have begun the process of nation-building by trying to ensure that no group felt left out. But it is in our collective interest to move the process and be involved in the process of making diversity the centre-piece of our existence. What this means is that we view differences or variations not as sources of conflict but as resources for greater understanding, maturity and growth."
- Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Community Development and Sports, in a speech to the Wee Kim Wee Seminar on Cross-Cultural Understanding, 2 Aug 03.
"There is no biological basis for the separation of human beings into races and...the idea of race is a relatively recent social and political construction."
- Evolutionary biologist Joseph Graves' in The Emperor's New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium (p.1)
- Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Community Development and Sports, in a speech to the Wee Kim Wee Seminar on Cross-Cultural Understanding, 2 Aug 03.
"There is no biological basis for the separation of human beings into races and...the idea of race is a relatively recent social and political construction."
- Evolutionary biologist Joseph Graves' in The Emperor's New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium (p.1)
Main Readings
Accommodating Differences: Building a Culture of Understanding and Peace
Speech delivered to the Wee Kim Wee Seminar on Cross-Cultural Understanding, 2 Aug 03, outlining the key models, movements, and challenges to Singapore's approach to cultural difference and national identity.
Author: Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim
Interesting ***
Readable ****
Relevant ****
The Role of Dominant Ethnicity in Racism: Reportage on Chinese Rule in Multi-Racial Singapore
Author: Linda K. Fuller, Ph.D.
The management of multilingual and multicultural communities in Singapore
Author: Vanithamani Saravanan
Singapore is home to all races, or to none
Author: Asad Latif
Intervene early to bridge the colour divide
Article in The Straits Times on inter-racial mixing among schoolchildren
Author: Tan Tarn How
The Myth of the Melting Pot: America's Racial and Ethnic Divides
Series of articles that discuss the ambivalence if not myth of the American melting pot, defined more by Anglo-conformity than by meaningful integration on the basis of common democratic values. Articles focus on the impact of changing demographics on politics, jobs, and social institutions.
Part 1 and 6 are especially relevant.
Author: The Washington Post
Interesting *****
Readable ****
Relevant ****
Affirmative action is not a bad word
Essay arguing that affirmative action may promote, rather than undermine, meritocracy.
Author: M Nirmala
Interesting ***
Readable ****
Relevant ****
Speech delivered to the Wee Kim Wee Seminar on Cross-Cultural Understanding, 2 Aug 03, outlining the key models, movements, and challenges to Singapore's approach to cultural difference and national identity.
Author: Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim
Interesting ***
Readable ****
Relevant ****
The Role of Dominant Ethnicity in Racism: Reportage on Chinese Rule in Multi-Racial Singapore
Author: Linda K. Fuller, Ph.D.
The management of multilingual and multicultural communities in Singapore
Author: Vanithamani Saravanan
Singapore is home to all races, or to none
Author: Asad Latif
Intervene early to bridge the colour divide
Article in The Straits Times on inter-racial mixing among schoolchildren
Author: Tan Tarn How
The Myth of the Melting Pot: America's Racial and Ethnic Divides
Series of articles that discuss the ambivalence if not myth of the American melting pot, defined more by Anglo-conformity than by meaningful integration on the basis of common democratic values. Articles focus on the impact of changing demographics on politics, jobs, and social institutions.
Part 1 and 6 are especially relevant.
Author: The Washington Post
Interesting *****
Readable ****
Relevant ****
Affirmative action is not a bad word
Essay arguing that affirmative action may promote, rather than undermine, meritocracy.
Author: M Nirmala
Interesting ***
Readable ****
Relevant ****
Guest Speaker
We're happy to have Dr Lai Ah Eng join us at this session as a guest speaker.
Dr Lai Ah Eng is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Her major areas of research are in issues related to ethnicity, family, gender, community and social change. Her current research areas are in ethnic relations and family-work issues in Singapore. She has published a monograph on ethnic relations in Singapore and various articles on ethnic, gender and family issues.
Dr Lai has worked in various fields as a public education officer at the Consumers' Association of Penang, Malaysia, a tutor (economics) at the School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, a senior tutor (urban sociology) at the Dept of Sociology, National University of Singapore, a research officer at the Singapore Housing Development Board, a research officer at the Oral History Centre, National Archives of Singapore, a research fellow at the Institute of SouthEast Asian Studies, and an adjunct fellow at the Dept of Social Work, National University of Singapore.
Dr Lai received multidisciplinary training in economics, sociology and anthropology at University Sains Malaysia, the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex and the University of Cambridge.
Dr Lai Ah Eng is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Her major areas of research are in issues related to ethnicity, family, gender, community and social change. Her current research areas are in ethnic relations and family-work issues in Singapore. She has published a monograph on ethnic relations in Singapore and various articles on ethnic, gender and family issues.
Dr Lai has worked in various fields as a public education officer at the Consumers' Association of Penang, Malaysia, a tutor (economics) at the School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, a senior tutor (urban sociology) at the Dept of Sociology, National University of Singapore, a research officer at the Singapore Housing Development Board, a research officer at the Oral History Centre, National Archives of Singapore, a research fellow at the Institute of SouthEast Asian Studies, and an adjunct fellow at the Dept of Social Work, National University of Singapore.
Dr Lai received multidisciplinary training in economics, sociology and anthropology at University Sains Malaysia, the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex and the University of Cambridge.
