Paper short abstract:

A healthy multiculturalism, as one of the founding myths of Singapore, has been hegemonic in its construction of a coherent nation, where “racial harmony” is proffered as a social good to be gotten at all costs. This paper considers both the discursive control of race from the perspective of those who pay the costs of harmony.

Paper long abstract:

In recent years, issues of race and racism in Singapore have gained unprecedented public visibility and attention. The troubled conditions of the Covid19 pandemic have exacerbated the situation, opening up a space for a more sustained critique than previously experienced in a nation-state built on a discourse of a healthy multiculturalism. The latter, being one of the founding myths of Singapore, has been hegemonic in its construction of a coherent nation, where “racial harmony” is proffered as a social good to be gotten at all costs. Complementary to this image of what constitutes a healthy nation is that of underlying “primordial fault lines” and “tribal instincts” that must be constantly kept in check. The recent outbursts have been co-opted by state actors as yet more evidence to support and in fact strengthen their position institutionally. This, however, has the effect of disciplining the counter-discourse and expressions of racialized others within the nation-state. The ethnography on which this paper Is based follows some of the public occasions and contexts in which the state attempts to control the discourse on race by setting the terms of “conversations” as well as some of the voices that refuse to be erased. Together, they raise questions about the costs of maintaining the coherent nation.