Writing identity in Peranakan literature : an ongoing and evolving project.

Abstract

For most of the time in post-independence Singapore, Peranakan identity has been largely subsumed under the state official categorisation of Chinese. Its younger generations are also assigned Mandarin as their mother tongue and English as a first language with the result that many Peranakans today may not even know or identify themselves as Peranakans anymore. Decline of the more visible and audible aspects of Peranakan material culture like speaking Baba Malay and the wearing of traditional clothes like the Sarong Kebaya presents a picture of gradual disappearance of the culture. Instead, this paper argues that it is the rise of the English language and everyday social-political realities which demanded the Peranakans to change the way they write identity in the texts we will be looking at. This paper thus seeks to define and track how Peranakan identity in Singapore has evolved and changed from its beginnings with the start of the Straits Chinese Magazine (1897-1907) till present day. It must be acknowledged too that further research on Peranakan literature and its contribution to Singaporean literature will be very insightful because of themes and issues like feminism and building an alternative Singaporean identity, the latter of which I do explore, albeit in a limited manner here.