ABSTRACT
Singapore is a nation-state characterized by the convergence of multiple diaspora populations. The state and citizens alike cannot ignore a sharpened sense of difference that has led to social tensions between “old” and “new” waves of migrants/immigrants, in particular amongst those considered co-ethnics from India and China. Comparative analyses of Indian and Chinese migration are few, resulting in a narrow understanding of how both impact migrant-receiving societies simultaneously. Our paper identifies commonalities undergirding the racialization experienced by co-ethnic migrants/immigrants in Singapore. We argue that multiple dimensions of personhood – to do with one’s skills, class and legal statuses; performances of “authenticity” and temporal framings of migration; and wider civilisational and developmental discourses – work together to create “polysemic immigration hierarchies”. Singapore’s experience illuminates subtle forms of inter- and co-ethnic racialization – drawing on, yet exceeding, tropes of “colour”.
