Diasporas, Weddings and the Trajectories of Ethnicity

Description

In an age of increasingly fragmented migration, consumption, and globalisation, how do diasporic individuals navigate their ethnic identities? Diasporas, Weddings and the Trajectories of Ethnicity investigates the ways that Chinese Singaporeans shape their Chineseness through wedding rituals and artefacts. Proposing a framework of ethnic identity as a journey, this book will Interrogate the processes underlying diasporic ethnicity-making through weddings. Offer new concepts of transdiasporic space, ethnic tastes, and aesthetic dissonance. Explore the intersections between commercialism, ethnicity, and socio-economic divides. Map the micro-social ramifications of ethnic and racial policy in Singapore. As a former professional wedding photographer, Terence Heng brings a sociological lens to the scripted and spontaneous arena of social interactions that is the wedding day. By combining ethnographic observation, photography, and poetry, Heng reveals the many decisions and demands that underscore Singaporean Chinese weddings, offering novel insights into the roles of the bridal couple, their social networks, and the wedding industry. Cover Endorsement Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction The Problem of Diaspora and Ethnicity Laying out this Book Why Singaporean Chineseness? Conclusion Notes Chapter 1 Reconceptualising Diasporic Space as Transdiasporic Space Shifting the Focus of Diaspora Literature Settling in Singapore: A Story of Race, Ethnicity, Diaspora and Globalisation The Problem with ‘Diaspora’ Rethinking ‘Diasporic Space’ Conceptualising Transdiasporic Space Conclusion Notes Chapter 2 Configuring Transdiasporic Ethnicity, Ethnic Lifestyles, and Ethnic Tastes Diaspora and Ethnic Hybridity Concepts of Ethnicity (and the Singaporean State) Is Ethnicity as a Process of Personal Subjectivities Good Enough? Making Transdiasporic Ethnicity—Social Trajectories, Ethnic Lifestyles, and Ethnic Tastes Ethnic Lifestyles Ethnic Taste Understanding Aesthetic Markers in Ethnic Taste Conclusion Notes Chapter 3 Weddings as Sites of Ethnicity-Making The Sociology of Weddings Mapping the Singaporean Chinese Wedding Weddings are Crossroads of Personal Diasporas Weddings are Simulacrums and Extensions of Everyday Life The Wedding is a Performative Map of Intersecting Material Practices Conclusion Notes Chapter 4 Observation, Photography, and Poetry: A Methodological Framework of Creative Practice and Social Research Transforming Professional Practice and Personal Experience into Social Research A Visually-Focussed form of Participant Observation Doing Visually-Focussed Participant Observations at Weddings Autobiographical Poetry and Participant Observation Poetry and the Photograph as ‘Visual Poem’ Poetry as a Tool of Sociology Obstacles to Using Photographs in Social Research Photography as Visual Poetry How to Read and Write Visual Poetry Photography, Visual Poetry and Transdiasporic Ethnicity How Photographs will be used in this book Conclusion Notes Chapter 5 A Visual Introduction to Singapore and Singaporean Chineseness Don’t Tell Me about the Singapore Dream Throw Away Balcony Attraction Postcards from Chinatown Chapter 6 Taste Performances: Making Ethnic Lifestyles Interactive Taste Performances and their Characteristics Taste Performances have Ambiguous Responses How Singaporean Chineseness became linked to Economic Wealth A Snapshot of Socially Prominent Ethnic Lifestyles Tensions between ‘Cosmopolitan’ and ‘Heartlander’ Lifestyles Conclusion Notes Chapter 7 Ethnic Taste and Aesthetic Dissonance Mapping out Aesthetic Dissonance Aesthetic Dissonance is Multi-Scalar Aesthetic Dissonance is Multi-Sensory Aesthetic Dissonance is Experiential and Expected Aesthetic Dissonance and Social Disengagement amongst Chinese Singaporeans Aesthetic Dissonance and Social Intimacies Conclusion: Making Ethnicity through Aesthetic Dissonance Notes Chapter 8 Ethnic Taste, Everyday Commercial Activities and the Commercially Dominant Wedding Aesthetic Mapping a Commercially Dominant Wedding Aesthetic Valorising Aesthetic Markers of ‘Cosmopolitan’ Lifestyles Idealising ‘Cosmopolitan’ Environments Notes Chapter 9 Conclusion: Aesthetic Dissonance, Ethnic Hybridity, and Economic Life-Paths Ethnicity is Forged through Aesthetic Dissonance, in the Moments and Flashpoints of Everyday Encounters Ethnic Hybridity and Aesthetic Dissonance Economic Life-Paths and Ethnicity-Making Future Areas of Research Concluding Remarks Notes Epilogue: Look on my Hands and See it There Note References Index