Etnográfica ISSN: 0873-6561
[email protected] Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia Portugal Sarkissian, Margaret BEING PORTUGUESE IN MALACCA: THE POLITICS OF FOLK CULTURE IN MALAYSIA Etnográfica, vol. 9, núm. 1, mayo, 2005, pp. 149-170 Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia Lisboa, Portugal Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=372339145007 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Being Portuguese in Malacca This paper explores what it means to be BEING PORTUGUESE IN “Portuguese” in Malacca today and illustrates MALACCA: THE POLITICS ways in which the journey has been complicated by issues of class tension, colonial positioning, OF FOLK CULTURE IN post-colonial nation building, and modern economic development. The focal point of the MALAYSIA analysis is a gala dinner organized by the Malacca Portuguese Eurasian Association in 2002. This constituted a rare moment in which community members made a public political statement. I argue that a detailed reading of the event as a public performance of “Portugueseness” sheds light upon broader politics of cultural identity in Malaysia today. Finally, I suggest that the “Portugueseness” of today is more flexible and multifaceted than in the past and that new transnational and diasporic Margaret Sarkissian sensibilities