Duit hantaran & masculinity.

Abstract

Duit hantaran, the Malay version of bride price, is an amount of money that the Malay community expects a groom to give his bride on their wedding day. Over the years, this ritual has different significances attached to it. This paper examines the ritual in particular to its relevance to masculinities. 31 qualitative semi-structured interviews had been conducted to understand four issues: The nuances and meanings that Malay youth in Singapore today place on the presentation of duit hantaran and masculinity; the association of duit hantaran and malu (shame); the significances to why deviants do not uphold the act of giving duit hantaran to their brides and how they negotiate their masculinity; the thoughts formed on the future of the ritual of duit hantaran. This research contributes to the sociological fields of hegemonic masculinity (Connell 2005), face, and deviance. It also contributes to the sociological literature on the Malay community in Singapore.