Racing whiteness in Asian bodies: The influence of American conservatism on Singaporean anti-colonial nationalism

In contemporary Singaporean sociopolitical discourse, comparisons with the West—particularly the USA and the UK—have become pervasive across a wide range of critical social issues. These comparisons often serve to reinforce the political positions of the Singaporean state by contrasting them with perceived shortcomings in the Western world. Utilizing a linguistic anthropological framework, this paper explores the phenomenon of anti-colonial nationalism, wherein state representatives dismiss challenges to the Singaporean status quo as unpatriotic, Western-influenced, and thus dangerously "white." By demonstrating how Singapore's anti-colonial politics is paradoxically shaped by the anti-liberal and populist rhetoric of the contemporary American right, this paper argues that anti-colonialism is a product of twenty-first-century neoliberal nationalism. Underscoring the importance of examining how political rhetoric crosses international borders, this study seeks to invite a conversation on the dynamics of nationalist discourses in the twenty-first century, and how the language of decolonization can be co-opted by new forms of state power and control through a racing of "whiteness."