Lanterns, Name Planks, Ancestral Portraits: Maintaining Chinese-Ness in the Identity Development of Chinese Malaysians
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Past historical events, government policies, and various levels of acculturation have given rise to new and distinct identities for the contemporary Chinese Malaysian community. Expressly, while the Chinese represent a distinct ethnolinguistic group, centuries of acculturation have made them part of the fabric of Malaysian society. This qualitative study explores how they continue to define and represent their identity in the contemporary landscape of Malaysia. Data consist of (1) photos of artefacts collected from the home domain of five Chinese participants from Penang, a city culturally and linguistically influenced by a long history of Chinese settlement, and (2) semi-structured interviews with five participants. The findings show that the participants used three types of artefacts, namely cultural (lanterns), historical (name planks and ancestral portraits), and festive (ang pows, fireworks, decorations, and traditional dishes), to mark their identity in Penang. This study contributes to further understanding the role of artefacts in unveiling how they are integral to the complex interplay of identity, culture, and belonging of the Chinese community in Malaysia.
Article Details
References
Andaya, B. W., & Andaya, L. Y. (2017). A history of Malaysia (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
Chan, R. S. K. (2018). In between worlds: The convergence of Chinese and western values as global habitus. JATI-Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 23(1), 156-190.
Chen, Y. W., & Collier, M. J. (2012). Discourses of intercultural identity positioning: Interview discourses from two identity-based non-profit organisations. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 5(1), 43-64.
Cheong, K. C., Lee, K. H., & Lee, P. P. (2013). Chinese overseas remittances to China: The perspective from Southeast Asia. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 43(1), 75-101.
Department of Statistics Malaysia. (2020). Population Statistics.
Dervin, F. (2012). Cultural identity, representation and othering. In J. Jackson (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of language and intercultural communication (pp. 181-194). Routledge.
Gill, S. K. (2005). Language policy in Malaysia: Reversing direction. Language Policy, 4, 241-260.
Gill, S. K. (2014). Language policy challenges in multi-ethnic Malaysia. Springer.
Goh, S. S. (2015). Penang Chinese customs and traditions. Kajian Malaysia, 33(2), 135-152.
Hall, S. (1990). Cultural identity and diaspora. In J. Rutherford (Ed.), Identity, community, culture, difference (pp. 222-237). Lawrence and Wishart.
Hall, S. (1992). New ethnicities. In J. Donald & A. Rattansi (Eds.), Race, culture and difference (pp. 252-259). Sage.
Hall, S. (1993). Cultural identity and diaspora. In P. Williams & L. Chrisman (Eds.), Colonial discourse and postcolonial theory: A reader (pp. 392-403). Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Hall, S. (2006). The future of identity. In S. Hier & S. Bolaria (Eds.), Identity and belonging: Rethinking race and ethnicity in Canadian society (pp. 249-274). Canadian Scholar’s Press.
Heidhues, M. S. (1992). Minority rights group international report: The Chinese of South-East Asia. Minority Rights Group.
Hirschman, C. (1988). Chinese identities in Southeast Asia: Alternative perspectives. In J. Cushman & G. Wang (Eds.), Changing identities of the Southeast Asian Chinese since World War II (pp. 23-32). Hong Kong University Press.
Holmes, P. (2015). Intercultural encounters as socially constructed experiences: Which concepts? Which pedagogies? In N. Holden, S. Michailova & S. Tietze (Eds.), Routledge companion to cross-cultural management (pp. 237-247). Routledge.
Keong, N. K. J. (2006). Economic change and the emergence of the Straits Chinese in nineteenth-century Penang. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 79, 59-83.
Ku, H. B. (2003). Moral politics in a South Chinese village: Responsibility, reciprocity and resistance. Rowman & Littlefield.
Lam, T., & Yeoh, B. S. A. (2004). Negotiating ‘home’ and ‘national identity’: Chinese-Malaysian transmigrants in Singapore. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 45(2), 141-164.
Landry, R., & Bourhis, R. Y. (1997). Linguistic landscape and ethnolinguistic vitality: An empirical study. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 16, 23-49.
Lee, D. P. Y., & Ting, S. H. (2016). Tracing ethnic socialisation of Chinese in Malaysia to Chinese-medium school. Global Chinese, 2(2), 163-187.
Li, M. (1998). Living among three walls? The Peranakan Chinese in the Netherlands. In E. Sinn (Ed.), The last half wcentury of Chinese Overseas (pp. 167-184). Hong Kong University Press.
Ling, H. S. (2008) Negotiating Malaysian Chinese ethnic and national identity across borders (Unpublished master’s thesis). Ohio University, USA.
Macalister, J., & Ong, T. W. S. (2020). Cast in iron: Remembering the past in Penang. In R. Blackwood & J. Macalister (Eds.), Multilingual memories: Monuments, museums and the linguistic landscape (pp. 213-235). Bloomsbury Academic.
Matondang, S. A. (2016). The revival of Chineseness as cultural identity in Malaysia. Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 19(4), 56-70.
Mujani, W. K. (2012). The history of the Indian Muslim community in Malaysia. Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences, 6, 1348-1353
Mukhopadhyay, J. (2010). Indian diaspora in South East Asia: Predicaments and prospects. The Indian Journal of Political Science, 71, 995-1002.
Oakes, P. J., Haslam, S. A. Haslam, & Turner, J. C. (1994). Stereotyping and social reality. Blackwell.
Ong, T. W. S. (2020). Contemporary Hakka maintenance in multilingual Penang, Malaysia. Revista Linguagem & Ensino: Special Issue on Minority Languages, 23(4), 1349-1369.
Ong, T. W. S. (2022). Building relationships with community members: Lessons learnt from fieldwork in Penang, Malaysia. NOTION: Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Culture, 4(1), 46-53.
Ong, T. W. S., & Ben Said, S. (2022). Language maintenance and the transmission of ideologies among Chinese-Malaysian families. In S. Makoni, A. Kaiper-Marquez & L. Mokwena (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of language and the global south/s (pp. 297-308). Routledge.
Ong, T. W. S., & Troyer, R. A. (2022). The double-edged sword of Mandarin Chinese: Multilingual repertoires, language shift, and cultural maintenance among middle-aged Chinese Malaysians. Manusya: Journal of Humanities, 25, 1-20.
Penang Institute. (2020). Penang Statistics, Quarterly 2. Penang Institute.
Qian, Y., & Huang, L. (Eds). (2009). Zhonghua chuantong wenhua chidian. Shanghai Daxue Chubanshe.
Reid, A. (1996). Flows and seepages in the long-term Chinese interaction with Southeast Asia. In A. Reid (Ed.), Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese (pp. 15-51). Allen and Unwin.
Rubdy, R., & Alsagoff, L. (Eds.). (2014). The Global-Local Interface and Hybridity. Multilingual Matters.
Suryadinata, L. (2006). Ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia: Overseas Chinese, Chinese Overseas or Southeast Asians? In H. Liu (Ed.), The Overseas Chinese, Volume III: Communities across the Globe (pp. 88-106). Routledge.
Tajfel, H. (1981). Human groups and social categories: Studies in social psychology. Cambridge University Press.
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behaviour. In S. Worchel and W. G. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7-24). Nelson-Hall.
Tan, C. B. (2000). Socio-cultural diversities and identities. In K. H. Lee & C. B. Tan (Eds.), The Chinese in Malaysia (pp. 37-70). Oxford University Press.
Tan, L. E. (2000). Chinese schools in Malaysia: A case of cultural resilience. In K. H. Lee & C. B. Tan (Eds.), The Chinese in Malaysia (pp. 228-254). Oxford University Press.
Tan, Y. S., & Santhiram, R. (2010). The education of ethnic minorities: The case of Malaysian Chinese. Strategic Information & Research Development Centre.
Ting, S. H., & Puah, Y. Y. (2017). Influence of gender on language attitudes of Hokkien speakers in Sarawak. In A. H. Omar & N. Norahim (Eds.), Linguistic minorities: Their existence and identity within larger communities (pp. 209-245). UNIMAS Publisher.
Wang, G. W. (1993). Greater China and the Chinese Overseas. The China Quarterly, 136, 926-948.
Yen, C. H. (1993). Early Fukienese migration and social organisation in Singapore and Malaya before 1900. In P. T. Chang & S. C. Liu (Eds.), Essays in Chinese maritime history, Vol. 5. (pp. 679-740). Academic Sinica.
Yen, C. H. (2000). Historical background. In K. H. Lee & C. B. Tan (Eds.), The Chinese in Malaysia (pp. 1-30). Oxford University Press.