Tradition, tourism, and the cultural show: Malaysia's diversity on display

Abstract

This article explores the cultural show as a site of creative cultural production. It focuses on cultural shows performed at national, state, and grassroots levels in Malaysia (with an emphasis on the city of Malacca). No longer performed strictly for tourists, the cultural show has become both a primary icon of national multiculturalism and a forum in which meaning is contested and identity negotiated. On the one hand, the government uses cultural shows to display (and contain) ethnic diversity; on the other hand, minorities use them as a subversive vehicle to express and maintain difference.