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Trying to figure out what was going on re: caste is very difficult – it seems to me that many migrants to Singapore (including untouchable convicts who were shipped over) deliberately chose to leave those details blank. John Solomon describes it as "conscious acts of forgetting"
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Solomon: "The Singapore Story" is the narrative of the achievements of specific elites of society – little emphasis was given to how common people psychologically transitioned from being domiciled migrant residents in a colony, to becoming citizens of a nation-state."
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Was just telling a friend this: while I was raised semi-'caste-blind' by a family + community that's trying to be more polite, globalization + technology means I'm rubbing up against others from around the world who ARE caste-conscious. Discovering one's ignorance is unsettling
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It's an interesting + highly personal dilemma. Diaspora Indian communities are internally conflicted about this: do you tell your children the truth about how some of them are descended from castes that were considered inferior? Should you burn history books that were racist? 🤔
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Why so many untouchable Tamils in Singapore? Colonialism! It was colonial policy to recruit South Indians for menial work– it was cheaper to recruit labor near the eastern port cities such as Negapattinam (pics). They wanted to avoid spending money on train tickets and lodging.
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As a child raised on books and the Internet, I've always been generally disinterested in Hindu temples and the Tamil newspaper – but this is making me realize what is obvious on hindsight – that was their Twitter and FB! It was how they constructed meaning and collective identity
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Great thread. The good news is that newer migrants everywhere are also forgetting caste simply because they’re middle class/urban raised and just don’t know about this shit as deeply as people raised in villages/small towns in large extended family/clan environments.
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Was still only about 20% into the PDF when I stopped! 😅 should pick it back up. And yeah it’s nice to hear people aren’t hung about this stuff as much anymore (though I do still worry that there will be some sort of dumb resurgence at some point)
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