Challenging of racial boundaries by mixed race individuals in Singapore

This paper examines how mixed race individuals challenge the ‘fixed’ racial categories in Singapore through the negotiation of their racial identity. Based on in-depth interviews that explore their racial narrative, this paper extends to the critical mixed race theory to understand the experience of being multiracial in a society where racial ambiguities are hardly recognized. The main themes of discussion revolves around the possibility of mixed race individuals to i) forge identity through negotiating the external racial gaze, ii) defy racial boundaries through employing strategies in accordance to their cultural capital to subsume their hybrid identity under the broad racial discourse, and iii) react to the influence of religion (focus on Islam) in negotiating their racial identity.Bachelor of Art