The demands of displacement, the micro-aggressions of multiculturalism: performing an idea of “Indianness” in Singapore

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores the ways in which state-defined discourses of multiculturalism can unintentionally create a framework through which micro-aggressions are enacted against those interpreted as “other”. These definitions cascade down from the state to majority and then minority ethno-national groups, who leverage positions of relative dominance to establish the terms of acceptance and integration into society. By negotiating these terms, ethnicity becomes a performative construct through which difference is asserted and reified. We illustrate these ideas through an empirical analysis of Singapore’s minority Indian community, and how Singaporean Indians perform an idea of “Indianness” in response to their Singaporean Chinese fellow citizens on the one hand, and their migrant Indian counterparts on the other. This positioning causes Singaporean Indians to be subject to micro-aggressions vis-à-vis the Chinese majority, and to perpetrate micro-aggressions against Indian non-national minorities. In turn, this causes Singaporean Indianness to be underperformed throughout daily life.