Benevolent technocracy: The Chinese Protectorate, migration control and racialised governmentality in colonised Malaya

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Siew-Min Sai
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Chinese Population ◽  
Single Point ◽  
Labour Migration ◽  
Chinese Migrants ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Migration Control ◽  
History Of ◽  
Flexible Adaptation ◽  
Chinese Migration

The Chinese Protectorate was first established in Singapore in 1877 with the limited objective of preventing abuses in Chinese labour migration, but it evolved multiple functions dedicated to governing Chinese migrants and residents in colonised Malaya. The Protector possessed extensive statutory powers and he was regarded as the official authority on all matters ‘Chinese’. This was an important yet under-studied colonial institution in the history of Chinese migration and settlement in Singapore and Malaysia. This article narrates the history behind the establishment of the Protectorate in the 1870s when ‘racialised governmentality’ of the Chinese population was institutionalised in colonised Malaya. The article underscores the significance of imperial and local contexts of the Protectorate's creation, arguing that it was a product of flexible adaptation of empire-wide practices of ‘protecting’ and governing liberated slaves, indigenous peoples and subsequently, indentured Indian labourers ‘humanely’. It is notable, therefore, that there was a coeval and conjoined discussion of migration control of Chinese as well as Indian labour migrants in Malaya during this period, but this history is hidden from plain sight by popular approaches studying labour migration as components of ethnic diasporas migrating from a single point of origin.

Between East Asia and Southeast Asia: Nanyang Studies, Chinese Migration, and National Jinan University, 1927–1940 (在東亞與東南亞之間：南洋研究、華人移民、與國立暨南大學,1927–1940)

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-56
Author(s):  
Leander Seah (謝枝嶙)
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Port Cities ◽  
Ethnic Chinese ◽  
Chinese Migrants ◽  
History Of ◽  
Chinese Migration ◽  
Chinese Intellectuals ◽  
Trading Networks

Global port cities have played important roles in the migration of ethnic Chinese worldwide. This article argues that the scholarship on Chinese migration between port cities in East Asia and Southeast Asia has overemphasized business and trading networks. It suggests instead that other topics should be examined since Chinese migration has been complex and multi-faceted. This article does so through analyzing the history of Nanyang studies, a Chinese-language scholarly field that is renowned among Chinese intellectuals in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Nanyang studies began with the establishment of the Nanyang Cultural Affairs Bureau at Jinan University, the first school in China for Chinese migrants, because the Bureau was the first systematic attempt by China-based scholars to study the Nanyang (Southeast Asia). This article analyzes the history of Nanyang studies from the Bureau’s founding in 1927 to 1940, when the center for Nanyang studies shifted to Singapore in the Nanyang. 全球港口城市和全球華人移民已有密切關係。本文認為，關於東亞和東南亞的港口城市之間華人移民的學術著作過度注重商業貿易網絡。它建議由於華人移民是複雜的，多方面的，所以其他議題也有重要性。因此，本文將通過南洋研究的歷史而分析華人移民。南洋研究在東亞和東南亞是個著名的學術領域。它的起源於南洋文化教育事業部之暨南大學的創辦。這是因為暨南是中國第一所華僑華人學府，而南洋文化教育事業部是中國學者第一個正式研究南洋(東南亞)的機構。本文將分析南洋研究的歷史，從成立於1927年到1940年轉移到南洋之中的新加坡為止。 (This article is in English).

“We Still Don't Like You but We Want Your Money”

2018 ◽  
pp. 88-98
Author(s):  
Mona Chung ◽  
Bruno Mascitelli
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
Gold Rush ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Migrant Group ◽  
Australian Population ◽  
Chinese Migrants ◽  
History Of ◽  
Chinese Migration ◽  
Colonial Settlement ◽  
Opening Up

The history of Chinese migration goes back nearly as long as colonial settlement. The first major wave, which brought a noticeable number of Chinese to Australia, was the gold rush. Although the Chinese were the first non-British migrants they were heavily discriminated and looked down upon. Under the ‘White Australia Policy', it was guaranteed that the Chinese would not become in any real way, part of the Australian population. Yet despite all these difficulties, by 2010-2011 Chinese migrants became the largest migrant group in Australia. This change is significant as it was a turning point in Australia's demographic makeup (Armillei & Mascitelli, 2016). This paper examines the phenomenon of Chinese migration into Australia and how it evolved from the early years of discrimination to more recent years when the Chinese are seen in more economic opportunist forms. The true motivations of the Australian authorities for opening up to the Chinese are indeed questionable which can aptly be summarised as “we may still not like you but we want your money”.

scholarly journals Contextualising Chinese Migration to Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (8) ◽  
pp. 1173-1187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Sullivan ◽  
Jing Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Population ◽  
Digital Communications ◽  
Homogeneous Group ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Chinese Migrants ◽  
The Media ◽  
Chinese Migration ◽  
Private Entrepreneurs ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Migration Experiences

Who are ‘the Chinese’ in Africa? Why are they there? As China’s engagement with African countries intensifies, and the size of the Chinese population in Africa increases, these questions have elicited substantial attention. Many attempts to provide answers, especially in the media and popular publications, are problematically based on uninformed stereotypes and undifferentiated notions of ‘the Chinese’, by implication a homogeneous group lacking contextualisation. Seeking to address such characterisations, this paper uses the digital communications of present and prospective Chinese migrants to provide a more nuanced picture of the motivations, preoccupations and migration experiences of private entrepreneurs and state-owned enterprise workers.

“We Still Don't Like You but We Want Your Money”

2020 ◽  
pp. 1525-1535
Author(s):  
Mona Chung ◽  
Bruno Mascitelli
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
Gold Rush ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Migrant Group ◽  
Australian Population ◽  
Chinese Migrants ◽  
History Of ◽  
Chinese Migration ◽  
Colonial Settlement ◽  
Opening Up

The history of Chinese migration goes back nearly as long as colonial settlement. The first major wave, which brought a noticeable number of Chinese to Australia, was the gold rush. Although the Chinese were the first non-British migrants they were heavily discriminated and looked down upon. Under the ‘White Australia Policy', it was guaranteed that the Chinese would not become in any real way, part of the Australian population. Yet despite all these difficulties, by 2010-2011 Chinese migrants became the largest migrant group in Australia. This change is significant as it was a turning point in Australia's demographic makeup (Armillei & Mascitelli, 2016). This paper examines the phenomenon of Chinese migration into Australia and how it evolved from the early years of discrimination to more recent years when the Chinese are seen in more economic opportunist forms. The true motivations of the Australian authorities for opening up to the Chinese are indeed questionable which can aptly be summarised as “we may still not like you but we want your money”.

scholarly journals Cultural Negotiation through Food Case study: Chinese Soft Diplomacy in Indonesia

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Amorisa Wiratri
Keyword(s):  
Food Culture ◽  
Chinese Migrants ◽  
Cultural Negotiation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Anthropological Approach ◽  
Chinese Migration ◽  
Chinese Food

Abstract Food is one of the common ways for one culture to penetrate another culture through migrants. Chinese migrants in Indonesia have introduced their food culture to Indonesians for some centuries and now Indonesians might find it difficult to recognize whether they are now local, fusion or Chinese food. The acceptance of Chinese food in Indonesia serves an example on how soft diplomacy and culture negotiation has completely succeeded. Chinese food has already blended with Indonesian culture and Indonesians nowadays are acquainted with. This study will use literature as main resources. Historical and anthropological approach will be used in analyzing the data. This paper tries to focus on three mains issues, which are the history of Chinese migration in Indonesia, the history and acculturation of Chinese food in Indonesia and culture negotiation through food. In conclusion, the acceptance of Chinese food in Indonesia culture is part of the success of soft diplomacy and culture negotiation between Chinese migrants and Indonesian leads to the permission of other form of diplomacy.

Peering Beyond the Imperial Gaze: Using Digital Tools to Construct a Spatial History of Conquest

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy M. Mikecz
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Digital Tools ◽  
Spanish Conquest ◽  
Digital Maps ◽  
Spatial History ◽  
Colonial Texts ◽  
History Of ◽  
Spatial Narrative

Ethnohistorians and other scholars have long noted how European colonial texts often concealed the presence and participation of indigenous peoples in New World conquests. This scholarship has examined how European sources (both texts and maps) have denied indigenous history, omitted indigenous presence, elided indigenous agency, and ignored indigenous spaces all while exaggerating their own power and importance. These works provide examples of colonial authors performing these erasures, often as a means to dispossess. What they lack, however, is a systematic means of identifying, locating, and measuring these silences in space and time. This article proposes a spatial history methodology which can make visible, as well as measurable and quantifiable the ways in which indigenous people and spaces have been erased by colonial narratives. It presents two methods for doing this. First, narrative analysis and geovisualization are used to deconstruct the imperial histories found in colonial European sources. Second it combines text with maps to tell a new (spatial) narrative of conquest. This new narrative reconstructs indigenous activity through a variety of digital maps, including ‘mood maps’, indigenous activity maps, and maps of indigenous aid. The resulting spatial narrative shows the Spanish conquest of Peru was never inevitable and was dependent on the constant aid of immense numbers of indigenous people.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Winter
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
History Of ◽  
Religious Oppression ◽  
The Rich ◽  
To Come

This concluding chapter summarizes key themes and presents some final thoughts. The book has shown that the multiplicity of lived ʻAlawi experiences cannot be reduced to the sole question of religion or framed within a monolithic narrative of persecution; that the very attempt to outline a single coherent history of “the ʻAlawis” may indeed be misguided. The sources on which this study has drawn are considerably more accessible, and the social and administrative realities they reflect consistently more mundane and disjointed, than the discourse of the ʻAlawis' supposed exceptionalism would lead one to believe. Therefore, the challenge for historians of ʻAlawi society in Syria and elsewhere is not to use the specific events and structures these sources detail to merely add to the already existing metanarratives of religious oppression, Ottoman misrule, and national resistance but rather to come to a newer and more intricate understanding of that community, and its place in wider Middle Eastern society, by investigating the lives of individual ʻAlawi (and other) actors within the rich diversity of local contexts these sources reveal.

Rites of Passage

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Axel Michaels
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Sexual Maturity ◽  
Rites Of Passage ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Transformational Process ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Vulnerable Community ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual

This chapter examines the classical Hindu life-cycle rites, the term saṃskāra and its history, and the main sources (Gṛhyasūtras and Dharma texts). It presents a history of the traditional saṃskāras and variants in local contexts, especially in Nepal. It describes prenatal, birth and childhood, initiation, marriage, old-age, death, and ancestor rituals. Finally, it analyzes the transformational process of these life-cycle rituals in the light of general theories on rites of passage. It proposes, in saṃskāras, man equates himself with the unchangeable and thus seems to counteract the uncertainty of the future, of life and death, since persons are confronted with their finite existence. For evidently every change, whether social or biological, represents a danger for the cohesion of the vulnerable community of the individual and society. These rituals then become an attempt of relegating the effects of nature or of mortality: birth, teething, sexual maturity, reproduction, and dying.

An Essay on the Origins of the Novel

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Whitmarsh
Keyword(s):  
Single Point ◽  
The Novel ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Scholarship

This chapter discusses the history of scholarship trying to trace the origins of the novel, and the impossibility of attempting to pin down a single point of origination.

scholarly journals Origins: Colonies and Statistics

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 735-754
Author(s):  
Barbara Arneil
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
English Language ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
State Policies ◽  
Mass Survey ◽  
Waste Land ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
History Of

AbstractIn this address, I examine the lexical, geographic, temporal and philosophical origins of two key concepts in modern political thought: colonies and statistics. Beginning with the Latin word colonia, I argue that the modern ideology of settler colonialism is anchored in the claim of “improvement” of both people and land via agrarian labour in John Locke's labour theory of property in seventeenth-century America, through which he sought to provide an ideological justification for both the assimilation and dispossession of Indigenous peoples. This same ideology of colonialism was turned inward a century later by Sir John Sinclair to justify domestic colonies on “waste” land in Scotland—specifically Caithness (the county within which my own grandparents were tenant farmers). Domestic colonialism understood as “improvement” of people (the “idle” poor and mentally ill and disabled) through engagement in agrarian labour on waste land inside explicitly named colonies within the borders of one's own country was first championed not only by Sinclair but also his famous correspondent, Jeremy Bentham, in England. Sinclair simultaneously coined the word statistics and was the first to use it in the English language. He defined it as the scientific gathering of mass survey data to shape state policies. Bentham embraced statistics as well. In both cases, statistics were developed and deployed to support their domestic colony schemes by creating a benchmark and roadmap for the improvement of people and land as well as a tool to measure the colony's capacity to achieve both over time. I conclude that settler colonialism along with the intertwined origins of domestic colonies and statistics have important implications for the study of political science in Canada, the history of colonialism as distinct from imperialism in modern political thought and the role played by intersecting colonialisms in the Canadian polity.

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