SMU researcher Orlando Woods awarded grant to study religious diversity in Singapore

By Juliana Chan

SMU Office of Research & Tech Transfer – Singapore Management University (SMU) Assistant Professor Orlando Woods has been awarded a Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund (AcRF) Tier 2 grant to better understand new types of socio-cultural diversity in Singapore. The co-principal investigator on the grant is SMU President Professor Lily Kong.

Traditionally, the Singapore Government has emphasised racial and religious harmony between people that represent different religions (Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Muslim) and racial groups (Chinese, Indian and Malay). While the promotion of inter-racial and inter-religious harmony has proven to be very effective in mitigating against the potentially divisive effects of racial and religious pluralism, new forms of division in society linked to immigration have since emerged.

“When speaking of religious pluralism, we often think of inter-religious relations. In Singapore, this means how Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and other groups can coexist in a state of harmony. Our notion of new religious pluralisms, however, focusses on intra-religious differences – the differences not just between but also within religious groups,” Professor Woods said.

In the project, titled “New Religious Pluralisms in Singapore: Migration, Integration and Difference”, Professors Woods and Kong will study how religion intersects with new categories of difference – such as class – as well as new forms of difference within pre-existing social groups – such as the differences between Singaporean Chinese and Chinese migrants. Through their findings, they hope to identify the extent to which new religious pluralisms exist in Singapore, how they manifest across different religious groups, and the strategies deployed by different religious groups to manage them.

This study builds upon earlier work (funded by an MOE AcRF Tier 1 grant) that focussed specifically on Christian groups in Singapore. Based on findings from the earlier study, they have broadened the scope of the current project to cover other religious groups (Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist/Taoist, Sikh and those with no religion) and migrant categories (including those from Asian and non-Asian countries). They have also included a digital research component in their project, based on earlier findings that digital media plays an important role in the formation of religious communities.

“Even when migrants come from countries that share putative ethno-linguistic commonalities with Singaporeans, such as China, India or Malaysia, there remain differences in attitude and behaviour,” said Professor Woods. “Through this study, we hope to better understand how religious groups can help or hinder the management of new types of diversity taking root in Singapore.”

For more information, please contact:

Goh Lijie (Ms)
Office of Research & Tech Transfer
DID: 6828 9698
Email: ljgoh [at] smu.edu.sg 

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