Decolonizing global cultures: searching for cultural identity through the Chinese orchestra in Malaysia

The history of the modernized Chinese orchestra dates back to the 1919 New Cultural Movement in China, revolutionized by the state from pre-existing traditional Chinese music. It is then spread to other regions with significant Chinese population sizes, including diasporic Chinese communities such a...

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Main Author: Tan, Elynn
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/59057/
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author Tan, Elynn
author_facet Tan, Elynn
author_sort Tan, Elynn
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description The history of the modernized Chinese orchestra dates back to the 1919 New Cultural Movement in China, revolutionized by the state from pre-existing traditional Chinese music. It is then spread to other regions with significant Chinese population sizes, including diasporic Chinese communities such as Malaysia. Literature on the Chinese orchestra in Malaysia is limited to mostly historical studies of particular orchestras. Hence, this research adds on to the field of study by examining the Malaysian Chinese orchestra from another perspective using William’s theory on hegemony and Hall’s concept of diasporic identity. With a focus on deconstructing the cultural identity of the Malaysian Chinese diaspora, the Chinese orchestra is examined from its origins and development in China that has political foundations related to China’s modernizing and Westernizing policies. Additionally, processes of becoming of the Chinese orchestra in regions like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia are briefly discussed for a better understanding of hegemonic structures and their effect on the dissemination of cultural products, especially since cultural identity is reconstructed and transformed over space and time. In negotiations of a heterogenous identity, the minority position of the Malaysian Chinese diaspora opens creative space for the hybridization of Chinese orchestra music, to develop transcultural and transboundary music in its own trajectory that relates to its rootedness to motherland cultures and its current social context. The comprehension of transculturation from the Malaysian Chinese viewpoint is a strategy to decolonise heterogenous cultures for the recognition of differences from multiple angles.
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format Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
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institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
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language English
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publishDate 2020
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spelling nottingham-590572020-05-06T10:32:13Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/59057/ Decolonizing global cultures: searching for cultural identity through the Chinese orchestra in Malaysia Tan, Elynn The history of the modernized Chinese orchestra dates back to the 1919 New Cultural Movement in China, revolutionized by the state from pre-existing traditional Chinese music. It is then spread to other regions with significant Chinese population sizes, including diasporic Chinese communities such as Malaysia. Literature on the Chinese orchestra in Malaysia is limited to mostly historical studies of particular orchestras. Hence, this research adds on to the field of study by examining the Malaysian Chinese orchestra from another perspective using William’s theory on hegemony and Hall’s concept of diasporic identity. With a focus on deconstructing the cultural identity of the Malaysian Chinese diaspora, the Chinese orchestra is examined from its origins and development in China that has political foundations related to China’s modernizing and Westernizing policies. Additionally, processes of becoming of the Chinese orchestra in regions like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia are briefly discussed for a better understanding of hegemonic structures and their effect on the dissemination of cultural products, especially since cultural identity is reconstructed and transformed over space and time. In negotiations of a heterogenous identity, the minority position of the Malaysian Chinese diaspora opens creative space for the hybridization of Chinese orchestra music, to develop transcultural and transboundary music in its own trajectory that relates to its rootedness to motherland cultures and its current social context. The comprehension of transculturation from the Malaysian Chinese viewpoint is a strategy to decolonise heterogenous cultures for the recognition of differences from multiple angles. 2020-02-22 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/59057/1/Tan%20Elynn%2018023422%20-%20MLAC4008%20Dissertation.pdf Tan, Elynn (2020) Decolonizing global cultures: searching for cultural identity through the Chinese orchestra in Malaysia. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] Chinese orchestra Chinese music Malaysian Chinese diaspora cultural identity music hybridization
spellingShingle Chinese orchestra
Chinese music
Malaysian Chinese diaspora
cultural identity
music hybridization
Tan, Elynn
Decolonizing global cultures: searching for cultural identity through the Chinese orchestra in Malaysia
title Decolonizing global cultures: searching for cultural identity through the Chinese orchestra in Malaysia
title_full Decolonizing global cultures: searching for cultural identity through the Chinese orchestra in Malaysia
title_fullStr Decolonizing global cultures: searching for cultural identity through the Chinese orchestra in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Decolonizing global cultures: searching for cultural identity through the Chinese orchestra in Malaysia
title_short Decolonizing global cultures: searching for cultural identity through the Chinese orchestra in Malaysia
title_sort decolonizing global cultures: searching for cultural identity through the chinese orchestra in malaysia
topic Chinese orchestra
Chinese music
Malaysian Chinese diaspora
cultural identity
music hybridization
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/59057/