Cultural maintenance within the Tamil minority in Kuching: spanning three generations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2016
Abstract
This paper intends to determine whether the minority Tamil immigrant community in Kuching, Sarawak still maintains its heritage culture or has assimilated it with the dominant cultures in Sarawak. Are the Tamils in Kuching still maintaining their cultural norms? The data comes from a set of questionnaires investigating language, social and cultural identity, and unstructured interviews spanning three generations. The results show that, while some assimilation has occurred, the community has maintained its cultural identity. The most interesting revelation is the growing number of the younger generation who are adapting their heritage and cultural norms, clearly demonstrating Gibson’s accommodation and acculturation without assimilation.
Keywords
Culture maintenance, Accommodation, Acculturation without assimilation, Minority community, Tamils, Kuching, Malaysia
Divisions
FLL
Publication Title
Journal of Intercultural Communication Research
Volume
45
Issue
2
Publisher
Taylor & Francis