The Decline of Pan-Indian Identity and the Development of Tamil Cultural Separatism in Singapore, 1856–1965

Abstract

This paper explores the rise and fall of pan-Indianism as the dominant identity narrative amongst the Indian diaspora in Singapore in the mid twentieth century, and its replacement with a normative Indian identity based primarily on Tamil culture. It will analyse some of the reasons why a Tamil cultural separatism came to dominate negotiations of ethnic identity in early post-war Singapore. This will include an examination of colonial ethnographic representations, the effects of demographic trends in Indian migration to Malaya during the colonial period, transnational political linkages between Singapore and India, and the effects of the Japanese occupation on Indian identity during World War II. The paper will also focus on the growth of the Tamil reform movement and the ways in which it came to shape the framing of Tamil ethnic identity in Singapore.