Cultural Configurations of Countries in Southeast Asia

Eric C. Thompson National University of Singapore

American Anthropological Association, Poster Presentation, 1 December 2007

What are the cultural conditions that make possible the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)?

ASEAN is a regional grouping of ten nation-states: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

MYANMAR LAOS THAILAND VIETNAM CAMBODIA PHILIPPINES BRUNEI MALAYSIA SINGAPORE

INDONESIA

STANDARD POLITICAL MAP OF SOUTHEAST ASIA

The broad aims of the project are empirically to enhance our understanding of ASEAN as a regional grouping and theoretically to speak to the concept of culture as learned, shared knowledge. The poster presents four facets of the broader project, based on research from 2003-2007 in all ten ASEAN nations:

(1)Countries as a semantic domain, including discussion of the historical context of its diffusion in Southeast Asia.
(2)Samples from secondary school textbooks from around the region, as a medium for diffusion and reproduction of the domain.

(3)Cognitive maps of the domain from several of the ASEAN nations, based on free-list and judged-similarity (triad) surveys. (4)A comparison of judged-similarities demonstrating the correlation of national and ethnic frames of reference to conceptual relationships among countries in the region.
Note: Only parts 3 and 4 are contained in these slides.

Cognitive Maps of Southeast Asia

The panels here visually represent two sets of data from surveys conducted among university students in four ASEAN countries.
Free list data are used to measure the relative cultural salience of countries in different nations (*countries to refer to the domain items and nations to the places where the research was done); the larger symbol & font representing each country the more salient. Salience is measured using Smiths S.

Judged-similarity (triad-test) data are the basis of the organization of the domain in two dimensions. The closer two countries are to each other, the more similar they are judged to be (the farther apart, the more different). The locations are produced by applying correspondence analysis to the data following procedures outlined by Romney, Weller, Moore, et al. in numerous publications.

Interpretive Highlights
The cognitive maps inferentially demonstrate the different evaluative criteria that students in each country are applying to the domain, producing different patterns of relationship. The patterns of countries suggest that Indonesian and Thai students are primarily applying historical-cultural criteria. For Indonesians Malay-Muslim countries (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia) are most similar. Thai students differentiate Mainland (right side) and Maritime (left side) countries, but do not cluster Muslim countries. Filipino and Singapore students emphasize economic-developmental criteria. Filipinos cluster countries by wealth; Singaporeans by development (wealth and modernity). Note the relative positions of Singapore and Brunei (the latter is wealthy but not developed). In the East Asia maps, is Singapore part of East or Southeast Asia?

Indonesia Cognitive Map of Southeast Asia

MALAYSIA

INDONESIA
BRUNEI
CAMBODIA

LAOS

MYANMAR
VIETNAM

THAILAND

SINGAPORE
PHILIPPINES

Thailand Cognitive Map of Southeast Asia

INDONESIA

MYANMAR
CAMBODIA VIETNAM

PHILIPPINES

BRUNEI

SINGAPORE

MALAYSIA

LAOS

THAILAND

Philippine Cognitive Map of Southeast Asia

BRUNEI

SINGAPORE

VIETNAM

THAILAND

MALAYSIA

MYANMAR

LAOS

CAMBODIA

INDONESIA

PHILIPPINES

Singapore Cognitive Map of Southeast Asia

PHILIPPINES

INDONESIA
BRUNEI

MALAYSIA

THAILAND

MYANMAR

VIETNAM
LAOS

CAMBODIA

SINGAPORE

Thailand Cognitive Map of East Asia

BRUNEI

INDONESIA

PHILIPPINES

SINGAPORE

MALAYSIA
TAIWAN

JAPAN

SOUTH KOREA

LAOS

VIETNAM

CHINA
NORTH KOREA

CAMBODIA

THAILAND MYANMAR

Singapore Cognitive Map of East Asia

SINGAPORE

MALAYSIA
BRUNEI

INDONESIA
PHILIPPINES

TAIWAN

THAILAND

CHINA
JAPAN

LAOS

CAMBODIA

VIETNAM
MYANMAR

SOUTH KOREA

NORTH KOREA

National & Ethnic Comparison

Panels in this section represent direct comparisons of co-national and co-ethnic subjects. Correspondence analysis of data from all subjects produces an aggregate map (ALL). The average position of each country is then plotted for each group. These graphs compare Malay-Singaporean, ChineseSingaporean, Malay-Malaysian, Chinese-Malaysian, and Indonesian subjects. These five groupings represent overlapping ethnic and national frames of reference. Comparing the graphs visually allows us to consider competing hypotheses that perceptions of countries may be driven by either national or ethnic frames of reference. Do co-ethnics (Malays & Indonesians; Chinese) or co-nationals (Indonesians; Malaysians; Singaporeans) produce more similar results? How do the results vary among these groups?

SG-MsiaC

SG-SingM

SG-SingC SG-ALL

MA-MsiaC BN-SingM MA-SingM

SG-MsiaM

BN-MsiaM MA-MsiaM MA-ALL BN-Indo

SG-Indo

BN-MsiaC BN-ALL MA-SingC

Comparing Perspectives The graph presented here compares the perspectives of (1)Malay-Malaysians, (2)Chinese-Malaysians, (3)Malay-Singaporeans, (4)Chinese-Singaporeans, and (5)Indonesians. (1,2) and (3,4) are co-nationals. (1,3,5) and (2,4) are co-ethnics. The graphs demonstrate the relative similarities and differences in perspectives on the relationship among Southeast Asian nations correlated with national and ethnic frames of reference. Only the location of the Maritime Southeast Asian countries are shown; no substantial difference is found with regard to Mainland countries.
BN-SingC

MA-Indo

Domain Terms SG: Singapore MA: Malaysia BN: Brunei ID: Indonesia PH: Philippines

ID-SingM ID-MsiaM ID-Indo ID-ALL ID-SingC ID-MsiaC PH-SingC PH-MsiaC PH-Indo PH-ALL PH-MsiaM PH-SingM

Malay Malaysians (MsiaM) Chinese Malaysians (MsiaC)

SG-MsiaC

MA-MsiaC

SG-MsiaM

Results from Malay and Chinese Malaysians differ in several notable ways. Malays judge Singapore, Malaysia, Burnei, and (to a lesser extent) Indonesia all more similar to each other compared to their Chinese co-nationals. Malays place the greatest distance between the Philippines and all other Maritime Southeast Asian countries.
BN-MsiaC

BN-MsiaM MA-MsiaM

Domain Terms SG: Singapore MA: Malaysia BN: Brunei ID: Indonesia PH: Philippines

ID-MsiaM

PH-MsiaM

ID-MsiaC PH-MsiaC

Malay Singaporeans (SingM) Chinese Singaporeans (SingC) Malay and Chinese Singaporeans produce notable similarities and differences. Relative to Malaysians and Indonesians, they produce a very similar location for Singapore. Chinese judge Malaysia to be more different and Brunei much more different relative to Singapore. Malays judge the Philippines to be much more different. Note also, the relative distance (difference) between Malaysia and Indonesia is similar for both groups.
MA-SingC BN-SingC

SG-SingM

SG-SingC

BN-SingM MA-SingM

Domain Terms SG: Singapore MA: Malaysia BN: Brunei ID: Indonesia PH: Philippines

ID-SingM

ID-SingC PH-SingM PH-SingC

Malay Malaysians (MsiaM) Malay Singaporeans (SingM) Indonesians (Indo) Malays in Singapore and Malaysia produce remarkably similar results; the main difference is the position of Singapore. Malay Singaporean differentiate their own country to a greater degree from its neighbors. Here and in other data, Indonesians see Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia as similar, Malay-Muslim countries ("Serumpun Melayu"). Malays in Singpaore and Malaysia distance Indonesia from Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore. Indonesians exhibit the strongest sense of overall commonality among countries of Maritime Southeast Asia (including the Philippines).

SG-SingM SG-MsiaM BN-SingM BN-MsiaM SG-Indo

MA-SingM MA-MsiaM BN-Indo

MA-Indo

Domain Terms SG: Singapore MA: Malaysia BN: Brunei ID: Indonesia PH: Philippines

ID-SingM ID-MsiaM ID-Indo PH-Indo PH-MsiaM PH-SingM

Chinese Malaysians (MsiaC) Chinese Singaporeans (SingC)

SG-MsiaC

SG-SingC

MA-MsiaC

BN-MsiaC MA-SingC

Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore do not produce results as similar to each other as those of Malays in the two nations. Chinese in Singapore put greater distance between their own country and Malaysia; Chinese in Malaysia see the two countries as more similar. Chinese Malaysians place a much greater distance between Malaysia and Indonesia. Chinese in the two nations do not emphasize the difference of the Philippines as stongly as their Malay co-nationals.
BN-SingC

Domain Terms SG: Singapore MA: Malaysia BN: Brunei ID: Indonesia PH: Philippines

ID-SingC

ID-MsiaC PH-MsiaC

PH-SingC

Chinese Malaysians (MsiaC) Indonesians (Indo)

SG-MsiaC

MA-MsiaC

Chinese Malaysians and Indonesians produce the most different results. Indonesians provide the strongest sense of similarity among Maritime Southeast Asian countries, while Chinese Malaysians judge the countries to be most different. Note also, the proximities of Brunei and Malaysia, relative to Singapore and Indonesia are reversed.
SG-Indo BN-MsiaC

BN-Indo

MA-Indo

Domain Terms SG: Singapore MA: Malaysia BN: Brunei ID: Indonesia PH: Philippines

ID-Indo PH-Indo

ID-MsiaC PH-MsiaC

Interpretive Highlights
The results suggest that for these subjects overlapping ethnic and national frames of reference influence their perceptions of the relationships among Maritime Southeast Asian countries. Despite divergent national school systems and mass media, the graphs suggest that there are distinct Malay and Chinese perceptions of Maritime Southeast Asian countries among Singaporeans and Malaysians; with the convergence of perceptions stronger among Malays than Chinese. At the same time this convergence is much weaker with respect to predominantly Malay-Muslim Indonesians.
National convergence is also clearly stronger in Singapore as compared to Malaysia. Other results (not shown here) demonstrate that in the case of Thailand, Thai and Sino-Thai subjects exhibit no difference with regard to ethnic frames of reference.