新加坡多元文化教育述评

一、新加坡的社会背景及多元文化政策新加坡人主要是由近一百多年来从亚洲、欧洲等地区迁移而来的移民及其后裔组成的其移民社会的特性加上殖民统治的历史和地理位置的影响,使得新加坡呈现出多元文化的社会特色。根据新加坡统计局公布的数据,截至2006年6月,新加坡人口达到44839     

制约马来西亚华人政党政治发展的种族政治因素

一、马来人特权地位的确立及其对华人政治发展的影响马来西亚政党政治发展的一大特色 ,就是具有浓厚的种族主义 ① 色彩 ,而奠定这一基础的可以说是马来人特权地位的最终确立。早在英国殖民统治时期 ,马来人就享有与其他民族不同的待遇和特殊地位 ,这主要缘于英国人很早就意识到 ,没有占人口多数的马来人的支持与合作是难以在马来亚实行有效统治的。因此 ,英国人进入马来半岛后 ,一开始就采取了与马来各邦世袭苏丹缔约的方式实行间接统治 ,并保留了马来人社会中大部分旧有的统治结构和统治方式。而为了避免马来人种族意识和对抗情绪的产生 ,…     

关于香港的民族构成、现状和发展趋势问题

本文从历史和现实的角度对香港的民族构成、现状。和发展趋势问题，提出了一些看法。认为作为国际金融、商业中心的香港也是一个多民族和多宗教的社会。但由于历史和社会的原因，香港的民族宗教问题一直未引起人们的关注。这一方面是由于英国殖民统治当局有意或无意淡化和抹杀民族问题。在传统上，英国没有，或很少提民族这一概念，不仅在各种统计上没有有关民族的内容，在社会生活中人们也很少提出有关民族的问题。在受英国殖民统治的地方，这种情况相当普遍。受英国殖民统治一百多年的香港，情况也基本如此。另一方面，香港作为自由港吸引不同民族不同肤色人的原因，主要在于经济上的强烈诱惑。长期以来，香港人口的流动十分频繁，本地人所占的比重长期比较偏低。一般来说，在流动性很大的人群中不会产生成熟的政治气氛，人们对种族、民族关系的关心度也不高，而全身。心地投入到各自的“发财之梦”之中。     

浅析第一次世界大战对埃及民主化进程的影响

英国对埃及30年的殖民占领是埃及民族陷入水深火热的殖民统治中,但是殖民主义者完成了"双重使命",埃及民主化的艰难启动与英国不免有直接间接的关系。第一次世界大战期间和前后,众多民族国家独立,形成地区民主浪潮,对埃及的民主化产生了积极影响;埃及的民族资本短暂繁荣而英国暗弱,埃及抓住有利时机赢得有条件的独立;民族矛盾触发民主革命,完成独立使命的同时,民主化取得突破,奠定了1952年前宪政结构。     

马来西亚国族建构研究

马来西亚的国族建构建立在特定的历史基础之上.英国的殖民统治不仅造成马来西亚多元社会的形成,“分而治之”的殖民统治也给马来西亚带来了族群差异和族群矛盾.在独立建国的过程中,三大族群围绕一系列重大问题进行博弈并达成一致,最终赢得了国家独立,为国族的建构奠定了基础.独立后的马来西亚在国族建构的途径上存在马来民族主义和文化多元主义之争,但马来民族主义始终占了上风.马来西亚国族建构实践可分为三个阶段.马来西亚的国族建构,虽然取得了一定的成功,但国族建构依然任重而道远.     

印象新加坡(之二)

鞭刑——“重典”之下的刑律一位刚从武汉去新加坡找工作的留美博士说,来新加坡天不怕,地不怕,就怕重罚挨鞭打。这引起了我的强烈好奇。原来新加坡的刑法制度源自英国和英属印度的刑法,新加坡社会治安之所以非常好,主要是靠的“重典”。     

华人移民与马来西亚的政治发展

华人移民是马来西亚政治发展的一个决定性因素.这里所谓的政治发展主要是指公共资源的分配从不合理状况向相对合理状况的变化.马来西亚原是英国的殖民地,其公共资源的分配权长期由英国殖民统治者把持.马来西亚政治发展的第一步就是推翻英国殖民统治,建立独立的国家.     

西方文化的冲击与东南亚的回应——以东南亚城市生活经济为例

本文选择东南亚代表性的国家——新加坡、马来西亚等国为观照对象,首选世界知名城市——新加坡、曼谷等城市为参照物,将东南亚城市生活变迁划分为:资本主义积累时期东南亚城市生活呈现出的无奈感伤;城市人在资本主义寻求原料产地和商品输出地的大工厂时期的委曲求全;西方资本输出时期民族独立的东南亚城市生活焕发的新时代风貌。     

太平洋岛民概述

在面积达6400万平方英里的太平洋海域内,岛群星罗棋布。其中一些岛屿,风景如画,堪称天堂之国,栖息着人类;另外一些岛屿则十分荒凉,是一些人兽罕至的不毛之地。经过几个世纪,在法国、英国、日本、美国以及第一次世界大战前的德国既具有战略动机,却又漫不经心的殖民统治之后,这些岛     

试析英国割占中国香港的外交政策及其特点

文章主要阐述了英国割占香港这一对华政策及其特点,首先,从中国割占一块领土(香港)本身是英国长时期对华外交的既定政策和目标。其次,英国处心积虑三次割占香港是其在华占领一地外交政策的具体实施。再次,英国割占香港的外交手段随着各个时期的具体条件和环境变化发生着相应的调整和变化。最后,在割占香港的过程中,为与其他国家争夺在华权益,英国传统的“均势外交”起着独特而重要的作用。     

红毛国在廓尔喀战争中的影响分析

廓尔喀战争,亦称清廓战争第二次中尼战争,是巴勒布战争(即第一次中尼战争)的继续,乾隆十全武功中的最后一件,邓锐龄先生称之为“中华民族共同捍卫领土完整的正义的战争”。通过对18世纪以来清廷上下特别是乾隆对英国、英属印度殖民地的认知,以及廓尔喀战争期间当清廷接到在尼泊尔以南存在着红毛国(英属印度)的情报时所采取对策的分析,阐述红毛国(英属印度)因素对廓尔喀战争的影响,以揭示在东南海疆频频对中国发起挑战的殖民者出现在中国西藏的陆地边疆时,传统的朝贡体系是如何应对的。     

中西文化交汇与新加坡儒教复兴运动的兴起

19世纪末20世纪初,在中西文化的交互作用下,在新加坡华人社会兴起了一场规模浩大的儒教复兴运动。新加坡儒教复兴运动虽明显受中国本土的孔教运动影响,但与康有为试图借助政治的力量将孔教定为国教不同,新加坡儒教复兴运动走的是民间化的道路。基于新华社会多元的语言状况,儒教复兴运动中一个重要的特点,就是运用中英双语来推广儒学。受新加坡地区浓郁的宗教氛围影响,新加坡儒教复兴运动以构建儒教为要旨,力图整合佛教、道教以及民间宗教信仰,并通过与基督教的论争来完善理论体系的建构。新加坡儒教复兴运动的兴起,是儒家文化在新加坡的传播由自发走向自觉的集中体现,同时也是儒学在宋明理学之后第二次转向的重要组成部分。     

Negotiating postcolonial Eurasian identities and national belonging in global-city Singapore

ABSTRACT

A racial classification regime, partly derived from colonial race categories that solidified during the British Empire, remains a key governance strategy in postcolonial Singapore, sorting citizens into the categories of Chinese, Malay, Indian or Other (CMIO). This racial grid continues to be a simplification of the actual complexity of lived identities and experiences, particularly for people of mixed descent. In this context, we explore the contemporary meanings and resonances of racial identity and national belonging as negotiated among members of a historic mixed-descent community – the Eurasians – in the context of a nation-state built on an institutionally fixed racial template. As a community, Eurasians are commonly attributed to the presence and mixing of especially Dutch, Portuguese and British – but also other Europeans – with an equally variegated palette of Asian cultures, since the 16th century. Based on 30 biographical interviews with self- identified Eurasians of two generations, this paper examines how individual and collective narratives of ‘old’ hybrid identities are changing in relation to the emergence of potentially new hierarchies of racial belonging with the arrival of new migration and the rise of international marriage in globalizing times. Given the lived reality of an expanding range of ‘race’ identities of different permutations and combinations, the politics of choice is played out between countervailing forces which draw racialized boundaries around the community more tightly on the one hand, and liberalize claims to racial and national belonging on the basis of self-identification on the other.     

The effects of multilevel governance on the rights of migrant domestic workers in Singapore

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the effects of multilevel governance (MLG) on the rights of migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in Singapore, focusing in particular on the case of Filipino MDWs. The paper argues that in the highly centralised, authoritarian setting of Singapore, there are very few instances of MLG in the field of migrant domestic work. The Singapore state has resisted the diffusion of norms and initiatives regarding labour migration at the international and regional levels into the national level, and the dispersion of authority to non-state actors such as civil society. However, there are a limited number of cases of MLG in this area, such as unilateral initiatives of the Philippines to protect its overseas workers, and an agreement between the Philippine Embassy and an association of employment agencies in Singapore. The paper contends that while these initiatives can provide an ad hoc and limited improvement of the working conditions of Filipino MDWs, they do not contribute to improved rights of all MDWs in Singapore. Instead, they increase the inequalities between the different national groups of MDWs, and they may have the effect of perpetuating Singapore’s existing policies with regard to MDWs.     

The Secular and the Religious in the Management of Islam in Singapore

This article examines the Singaporean model of “secularism” and its impact on the relations between the Singaporean government and the minority Muslim community in Singapore. While the Singaporean state defines itself as secular, its policies do not depict a strict dichotomy between religion and state. This paper argues that the obscure nature of secularism in Singapore has led to tensions on several issues between the government and Muslim community due to differing perceptions of what Singaporean secularism means. The first section of the paper deals with the concept of secularism as defined by the Singaporean state and examine the historical factors that led to the provision of special rights to Muslims in Singapore. The paper will then analyse the legal positions of institutions such as the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, MUIS) and the Syariah court which are tasked with managing Islamic affairs in Singapore. Lastly, the paper will analyse how the unique definition of secularism in Singapore led to tensions between the government and the Muslim community. These cases included the headscarf controversy that erupted in 2002 and 2013, the madrasah controversy in 1999, foreign policy issues and terrorism. The paper concludes by drawing a trajectory of the future relations between the Singaporean government and the Muslim community.     

“邦达昌”在康定设立商号后的第二次复兴

十三世达赖喇嘛时期,"邦达昌"是较早开始经营中国西藏与英印贸易的藏族大商家之一,西藏地方政府把出口英印的西藏羊毛列为专卖商品,"邦达昌"家族成为当时西藏地方政府经营羊毛的代理商。十三世达赖喇嘛圆寂后,"邦达昌"开始转向中国内地与西藏之间的贸易,并于1940年由邦达.多吉在康定设立了"邦达昌"商号,原来的中国西藏与英印贸易扩大到中国西藏、内地、英印三地,使"邦达昌"的经营规模比原来大了很多。而且,最重要的是"邦达昌"为汉、藏之间建立起良好的经济联系,从而促使汉、藏之间政治、文化关系的进一步发展并充当战略性先导,在客观上为后来顺利和平解放西藏作出了巨大贡献。因此,此段历史对于"邦达昌"来讲是第二次复兴。     

Sensing cities: the politics of migrant sensescapes

This paper explores the sensory misconduct of foreign workers in Singapore as identified by local residents in neighborhoods across the island city. Urban bodies and sensory differentiation form the focal point of discussion, given that complaints about sensory disturbances are sociocultural expressions of rejection which are connected to power relations in the city. I focus on two cases that have been identified from my research on Singapore newspaper archives dating between the 1800s and the present-day context. Employing the notion of transnational urbanism, the paper deliberates upon urban sensory politics in Singapore and shows how urban spaces are sensorially politicized by different groups through content analysis of media reports. By considering both historical and contemporary transnationalism, the paper contributes to further understandings on urbanity, migration, and sensory studies.     

The ‘new Chinatown’: the racialization of newly arrived Chinese migrants in Singapore

Studies of racism tend to rely on a presumed dichotomy between whites and ‘Others,’ whether Black or Asian. Even as many scholars have established that whiteness is manufactured, ethnographic studies of racism still have not escaped the color paradigm, basing their studies on the enactment of racism by white people on Others. Using the case study of Singapore, this article challenges the color paradigm by exploring racism between co-ethnic Chinese. I show that Singapore’s modernity is highly tied to place and that the ‘new Chinatown’ is used to ‘place’ and racialize newly arrived Chinese migrants. The racialization discourse, in this case, is subtle, and renders it a form of new racism - one that is reinforced by the media as well as state structures inherited from the nation’s colonial past. The aims of the article are two-fold: first, the paper aims to show parallels between the racialization of Chinese migrants in Singapore and colonial racism. However, this is not to say that locals are merely emulating colonial discourse which leads to the second aim of the paper: to locate this particular racialization process as a product of the intersection of global capital with Singapore’s local modernity. I conclude that although Singaporean-Chinese may enact racism against Chinese migrants, they do not hold unimpeded power. Rather, Singaporean-Chinese' construction of a ‘new Chinatown’ ironically acts to displace them.     

Becoming cosmopolitan: encountering difference in a city of mobile labour

ABSTRACT

Many who move countries today do so for work, and labour mobility – both temporary and permanent – is the mechanism by which countless people (both movers and stayers) come into contact with cultural difference. The domain of mobile labour is thus an important context through which to consider the transformative possibilities of encounters with racial and cultural difference. Situated within debates on everyday multi-culture and vernacular cosmopolitanisms, this essay considers the question of intercultural encounter at work in relation to the layered histories of race and variegated citizenships of mobile labour in Singapore. Exploring the micro-nature of cosmopolitan practices, the paper considers under what labour conditions might an outward-looking cosmopolitan sensibility and a convivial openness to otherness emerge among migrant workers, as against a set of survival-based intercultural capacities. I reflect specifically upon two cases of ‘incongruous encounter’ in workplaces reliant on precariously employed migrant labour: a mainland Chinese man and a Filipina woman who, because of Singapore’s racialised system of work visas, find themselves working in South Asian restaurants in Singapore’s Little India. They both engage ‘cosmopolitan practices’, yet their sensibilities differ sharply. Their stories highlight how, in a place like Singapore, the ‘encounter’ needs to be understood within a regime of mobile labour, situated racial hierarchies, and a highly stratified system of work visas. I further suggest that situational factors such as the nature of work including its spatial and temporal qualities, the mixture of co-workers, and recognition relations with superiors all mattered in framing the affective atmospheres of encounter. In a context of forced encounter, I argue that learnt capacities to function and interact across difference should not necessarily be romanticised as a cosmopolitan sensibility.     

Constructing poverty in anti-welfare Singapore

In recent years, attention on the issue of poverty in Singapore has been increasingly placed in the spotlight. This study examines the various types of attitudes among Singaporeans and how they are formed, relating them to the broader institutional context of Singapore. A mixed method design is employed where clusters or groups of attitudes are derived through the use of cluster analysis. Subsequently, discourses of poverty and welfare attitudes are construed through qualitative interviews with the aid of Foucauldian Discourse Analysis. Quantitative findings point to three clusters of attitudes: ‘Conservatives’, ‘Liberals’, and ‘Sui Generis’. Qualitative findings, however, show that ‘Sui Generis’ ultimately align themselves closer to either ‘Conservatives’ or ‘Liberals’ in their discourses of welfare. In fact, respondents in all three clusters reproduce state discourses, albeit in varying ways. In essence, this study explicates poverty and welfare attitudes as a product of social identities premised on subjective notions that are shaped by state discourses of meritocracy, self-reliance and anti-welfarism. It is thus argued that current socio-political constructions of poverty ensue a paucity of major welfare reform in the near future of Singapore.