Nations, National Narratives and Communities in the Asia-Pacific

Summary

Many states in the Asia Pacific region are not built around a single homogenous people, but rather include many large, varied, different national groups. This book explores how states in the region attempt to develop commonality and a nation and the difficulties that arise. It discusses the consequences which ensue when competing narratives clash, and examines the nature of resistance to dominant narratives which arise. It considers the problems in a wide range of countries in the region including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Un/settled Narrations: Nationalism in the Asia-Pacific Norman Vasu, Yolanda Chin and Kam-yee Law  Part 1: Constructing Commonality and the Nation  1. Rethinking the Who, What and When: Why not Singaporean Military Heroes? Ho Shu Huang  2. The Nation and its Murals: A Reading of Malaysian Images, 1957-1969 Lai Chee Kien  Part 2: Competing Narratives Clash  3. Between Assimilation and Multiculturalism: Social Resilience and the Governance of Diversity in Singapore Daniel PS Goh  4. (Un)Problematic Multiculturalism: Challenges and Opportunities for Social Cohesion in New Zealand Allen Bartley   5. Colonialism, Sinicization and Ethnic Minorities in Hong Kong: Social exclusion and barely citizenship Kim-ming Lee and Kam-yee Law  6. Globalization, Multicultural Society and Consensus Politics in S. Korea Inchoon Kim  Part 3: Resisting dominant narratives  7. Managing Conflict in Canberra: National Identity and Narrating Difference Catriona Elder  8. Renegotiating Unity and Diversity: Problematic Multiculturalism in Post-Suharto Indonesia Hikmat Budiman

Editor(s) Bio

Norman Vasu is an Assistant Professor in the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University

Yolanda Chin is a Research Fellow in the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University

Kam-yee Law is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the Hong Kong Institute of Education