ABSTRACT
From the 1920s, the translocal orientations of Tamil migrants gave way to expanded notions of diasporic identity that had a profound impact on the ways that caste and untouchability were addressed within Singapore. This occurred primarily as a result of the spread of Indian nationalist and Dravidian ideology into Singapore through the emergence of affiliated social reform movements in Malaya. From this period onwards the question of caste prejudice and the articulation of untouchable identities became closely imbricated in conflicting formulations of Indian and Tamil identity in Singapore and Malaya, becoming part of the wider history of the Indian community there. Untouchable identity formulation occurred in relation to the dynamics of intra-Indian community relations in Malaya, but also evolved in a close response to the broader negotiation of transnational identities amongst migrants.
