Convenor
Ker Pong Thock
Department of Chinese Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya
Abstract
The maintenance of identities of Chinese Overseas in various regions of the world has been a subject of academic study. As a migrant and minority ethnic group who settled down in various countries always encounters the problem of maintaining its identities. The Chinese communities in Southeast Asian countries exhibit varying degree of maintenance of their Chinese identity. This phenomenon is due to the effect of state policy as well as the size of the Chinese population in a particular country. The state policy on nation building in Southeast Asian countries ranging from assimilation to accommodation had impacted upon the identities of the Chinese. As a result the various Chinese communities in this region portraying differing level of Chineseness. However with the rise of China and its economic influences, some Chinese communities are even experiencing the process resinification. With these developments the Chinese communities in Southeast Asian countries and its identity’s maintenance attract many scholars from various disciplines to research on them.
The aim of this panel is to investigate the process of identity maintenance and elucidate the different levels of Chinese identities of Chinese communities in Southeast Asian region. The convener welcomes the participation of scholars from the field of anthropology and sociology who have done Southeast Asian research in this panel. A wider scope of different Chinese communities enables scholars from various parts of the world to address this issue in a comparative perspective.