May 7, 2019

At the inaugural Diversity and Singapore Ethnic Chinese Communities International Conference, academics both from local and overseas institutions gathered to discuss issues surrounding the Singapore Chinese community, foremost among them the changing notions of a Singaporean Chinese identity in light of a diverse and global world. Featured in a Straits Times article were Professors Kenneth Dean (NUS Department of Chinese Studies) and Brenda Yeoh (NUS Department of Geography), Associate Professors Chong Ja Ian (NUS Department of Political Science) and Elaine Ho (NUS Department of Geography), Assistant Professor Nala Lee (NUS Department of English Language and Literature) and Adjunct Assistant Professor Brenda Chan (NUS Department of Chinese Studies).

The two-day conference surfaced a wide spectrum of issues surrounding the Chinese community in Singapore, including how the Chinese diaspora contributed to the community’s formation in the early 1960s and how that has contributed to the Singaporean Chinese identity today, especially among the younger generation. In the words of Dr Brenda Chan, “We need to look at bottom-up efforts by young Singaporeans, dialect content created by youth for youth. They value content that is spontaneous and carries genuine emotions.”

In the same vein, Dr Nala Lee noted that preserving Chinese dialects was and continues to be key in preserving the Singaporean Chinese identity. The conference closed with a discussion centring on how cross-cultural communication could promote interracial understanding among Singapore’s major ethnic groups.

Read the full article here.