Welcome to Singafrica Connections!! This is a project of cultural collaboration between Singaporean students of the National University of Singapore and South African students of Vega. This blog is the medium through which we (the Singaporean students) decided to present our findings. This blog consists of several posts relating to music, contexts of crime, perceptions of value, language, and city/township slangs that attempt to explore the youth cultures withing Singapore and South Africa. This blog is for academic purposes as well as for students studying intercultural communications to engage in a dialogue to further discuss certain theories.
Cultural Similarities and Differences Diagram
The main medium used to communicate back and forth between Singapore and South Africa was Facebook. Due to time differences, internet problems and holiday clashes it wasnt possible for us to discuss ideas over other forms of communication. Hopefully, this blog itself will become another medium as we publicize it on Facebook.
Feel free to comment on any of the posts an explore the photographs and videos to understand the similarities and differences between the youth cultures of both Singapore and South Africa.
Recommendations:
- This project was very different and challengning however the major issue was that it was too open-ended. There were too many options for us to explore and when that happens it becomes difficult to be selective and choose certain aspects.
- The project can be more specific.
- A report might be more comprehensive as that way the cultural theories of communication can be applied and elaborated in detail like a research paper.
- It was definately an interesting project and one that teaches you a lot about Computer Mediated Communication and about how (yes) it decreases geographical distances and time issues but how asynchronous communication via the internet can be difficult to encode and decode for various cultures.
Information stated below was taken from http://www.geert-hofstede.com/ Hofstede's cultural dimensions are used for comparison between Singapore and South Africa's cultural similarities and differences.
Power Distance Index (PDI) that is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. This represents inequality (more versus less), but defined from below, not from above. It suggests that a society's level of inequality is endorsed by the followers as much as by the leaders. Power and inequality, of course, are extremely fundamental facts of any society and anybody with some international experience will be aware that 'all societies are unequal, but some are more unequal than others'.
Individualism (IDV) on the one side versus its opposite, collectivism, that is the degree to which individuals are inte-grated into groups. On the individualist side we find societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after him/herself and his/her immediate family. On the collectivist side, we find societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and grandparents) which continue protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. The word 'collectivism' in this sense has no political meaning: it refers to the group, not to the state. Again, the issue addressed by this dimension is an extremely fundamental one, regarding all societies in the world.
Masculinity (MAS) versus its opposite, femininity, refers to the distribution of roles between the genders which is another fundamental issue for any society to which a range of solutions are found. The IBM studies revealed that (a) women's values differ less among societies than men's values; (b) men's values from one country to another contain a dimension from very assertive and competitive and maximally different from women's values on the one side, to modest and caring and similar to women's values on the other. The assertive pole has been called 'masculine' and the modest, caring pole 'feminine'. The women in feminine countries have the same modest, caring values as the men; in the masculine countries they are somewhat assertive and competitive, but not as much as the men, so that these countries show a gap between men's values and women's values.
Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) deals with a society's tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity; it ultimately refers to man's search for Truth. It indicates to what extent a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations. Unstructured situations are novel, unknown, surprising, different from usual. Uncertainty avoiding cultures try to minimize the possibility of such situations by strict laws and rules, safety and security measures, and on the philosophical and religious level by a belief in absolute Truth; 'there can only be one Truth and we have it'. People in uncertainty avoiding countries are also more emotional, and motivated by inner nervous energy. The opposite type, uncertainty accepting cultures, are more tolerant of opinions different from what they are used to; they try to have as few rules as possible, and on the philosophical and religious level they are relativist and allow many currents to flow side by side. People within these cultures are more phlegmatic and contemplative, and not expected by their environment to express emotions.
Long-Term Orientation (LTO) versus short-term orientation: this fifth dimension was found in a study among students in 23 countries around the world, using a questionnaire designed by Chinese scholars It can be said to deal with Virtue regardless of Truth. Values associated with Long Term Orientation are thrift and perseverance; values associated with Short Term Orientation are respect for tradition, fulfilling social obligations, and protecting one's 'face'. Both the positively and the negatively rated values of this dimension are found in the teachings of Confucius, the most influential Chinese philosopher who lived around 500 B.C.; however, the dimension also applies to countries without a Confucian heritage
While discussing characteristics of youth cultures in South Africa and Singapore, we came across a theory that in fact there is a new phenomena developing around the world called the "Global Youth Culture.
The following passage was picked out of a sociological paper by Richard Kahn and Douglas Kehller:
"Global youth culture is the transdisciplinary category by which theorists and policy analysts attempt to understand the emergence of the complex forms of hybrid culture and identity that increasingly occur amongst youth throughout the world due to the proliferation of media like film, television, popular music, the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) in their everyday lives. While some measure of hybridity is a common aspect of culture generally, and the global exchange of products, people, culture, and identities, has characterized all colonial histories, recent corporate globalization and the corresponding rise of a so-called Information Society based on new media technologies has produced a particularly dynamic media culture."
Basically, the cultures of the youth around the world, homogenizing and diversifying, are in fact merging into a collective culture that appears to be uniform around the world. This is primarily because of globalization and the increasing media accessibility as mentioned above. The youth is generally the most media and technologically literate sector and MNC's that trade in globale media commodities actively target the youth in most countries.
This is most evident in the type of music that South African youth and Singaporean youth enjoy. Both have an overlap of music genres that are popular in their respective cultures and globally. Its really interesting because the attitudes of the youth are also somewhat similar.
The youth are constantly responding to and identifying with modernized Western ideas and culture. There is a huge influence of the West both in South Africa and in Singapore. Yes, they have their respective multicultural societies and deal with different dynamics, traditions, etc, but at the end of the day, the youth share a similar set of interests, attitudes and behaviors.
Like Singapore, South Africa is a multilingual country. Besides the 11 officially recognized languages with equal status to cater for the country’s diverse people and their cultures as the country lies at the crossroads of southern Africa where there are Africans, Europeans and Asians etc. can be found.
The 11 official languages in South Africa are- Afrikaans, English,isiNdebele, isiXhosa isiZulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda and Xitsonga.
This is similar to Singapore, which is located in Southeast Asia comprising of Chinese, Malays and Indians where the 4 official languages English, Chinese, Malay ans Tamil are also given equal status in the constitution.
School children at Imperial Primary School in Eastridge, Mitchell's Plain (Cape Town, South Africa). Picture taken by Henry Trotter, 2006.
It is imperative to acknowledge the various utterances of these migrants who eventually become citizens in South Africa and Singapore where both have a migrant population, which eventually become citizens of the countries. Having a culturally diverse background makes language an important issue to be handled carefully on a political level since it is not only an emblem of an individual’s heritage, it can also act as boundary markers among the races. This has to be handled carefully at a political level and thus it is imperative to acknowledge the various languages to be equal to prevent discontent.
A trio of Malay, Indian and Chinese women at a bus stop. Courtesy of http://www.entersingapore.info
Other than the official languages, many white South Africans also speak other European languages, such as Portuguese (also spoken by Angolan and Mozambican blacks), German, and Greek, while many Asians and Indians in South Africa speak South Asian languages, such as Telugu, Hindi, Gujarati and Tamil, there are also Khoi, Nama and San languages, Gujarati, Hebrew, Telegu and Urdu. There are also a few indigenous creoles and pidgins. This is similar to Singapore where the Chinese have their dialects such as Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka, Hainanese, while the Malay may speak Javanese and Indians may speak Hindi and Malayalam too.
South Africa's linguistic diversity means the 11 languages have had a profound effect on each other. South African English, for example, is littered with words and phrases from Afrikaans, isiZulu, Nama and other African languages; also, African-language speakers often pepper their speech with English and Afrikaans. In Singapore, this phenomenon is commonly found in the colloquial English used in our everyday lives which is often referred to as Singlish- Singaporean English littered with a mix of Chinese dialect, Malay words, most of the times ending with a ‘lor’. ‘lah’, ‘leh’, for different emphasis.
One major difference is, in Singapore, despite Malay being the national language of the country, English is widely used to link the different ethnic groups and is the language adopted by the educational system. This is different in South Africa, while English is generally understood across the country, and the country's lingua franca, it only ranks joint fifth out of 11 as a home language. (http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/demographics/language.htm) According to the 2001 National Census, the three most spoken first home languages are Zulu (23.8%), Xhosa (17.6%) and Afrikaans (13.3%). (http://www.statssa.gov.za/census01/html/default.asp)
We learn that language can act as boundary markers, now, in Singapore, one's socioeconomic status can be judged from the way he speaks, from a white collar worker to a blue collar worker, to the most obvious group we know as the 'bengs' and 'lians', the teens now that people differentiate from other teens through their dressings and speech (often in Singlish).
This video is taken from a national television channel which aptly describes this phenomenon:
This can also be seen in the South African's case, in this case, other 'whites' from other countries are making fun of their 'white' counterparts in South Africa:
This form of racism may be posted for humour but it is pertinent to note the differentiation of oneself from 'the other' through such portrayals in the form of speech. One's accent can tell in itself the person's hometown and background, and distinguish oneself from another in terms of social status and nationality.
My post is a foray into the cultural similarities and differences between the youths of South Africa and Singapore, specifically in terms of music, a field noted for its general popularity among the youths. The following findings are heavily based on information drawn out of Facebook, a social-utility web page cum Internet liaison to facilitate communication between teams from the two countries.
Generally, music is loved among the youths of both nations. Since the most notable commonality that South Africa and Singapore share may be that of cultural diversity, the Singaporean and South African youths, who have long been dipped into such culturally diverse milieu, enjoy a wide spectrum of musical genres, presumably no less diverse than the popular musical genres themselves: house, hip-hop, jazz, rock, pop, RnB, rap, trance, rave… not to mention the various sub-genres of the above-mentioned.
It is also very important to note that youngsters, especially those who breathe the urban air and enjoy relative economic comfort, are eager enthusiasts of Western musical trends. This may be explained by the process of Westernization/Americanization. In the case of South Africa, in which huge gap between the rich and the poor is still present, cultural traditions actually, and interestingly, survive most strongly among rural habitants who lead impoverished lives. The young generations of blacks are continuously Westernized, sharing more and more interests in the Western musical themes, much like their Singaporean counterparts.
A ghetto site in South Africa
In the case of Singapore, since stark economic disparities are not apparent, the youths possess a more "unified" image: all is able to rejoice in the country's tremendous economic success, and under the substantial influences of Westernization, their taste of music are closely in conjunction with that of the Western trends. To make it clearer, both the youths of the two countries follow Western trends of music. If any elucidation is to be furnished on such commonality of music taste, it perhaps comes from the fact that urban youths enjoy the availability of various advanced communication technologies which render them able to plug-and-play and stay tuned to the up-tempo trends of global musical themes.
However certain economic and cultural dissimilarities entail differences between South African and Singaporean youths' music taste which is explained in later part of this post.
MarinaBay Panorama – Singapore
Music also has its influences over fashion. The primary information that we have from Facebook is basically observations by the youths themselves, and it reveals that fashion styles are often found coherent with genres of music consumed. This is evident in both nations.
For instance, emo rock fanatics have their distinctive dress code of tight jeans and tight t-shirts; black-dyed and straightened hair with long bangs brushed sideways; old, beat-up shoes or sneakers; and studded belts... whilst hip-hop styles stand out with baggy and sagging jeans; gold or platinum chains; large-size t-shirts; dreadlocks and wristbands... Such influences are found among large portions of the youngsters, not solely the keen followers of fashion.
Since fashion is often linked to self-expression or self-image, it indicates that through music and indirectly fashion we can actually identify certain common themes or likings that the youths of both countries share.
Emo-rock dressing style in comparison with hip-hop style
Music is also an important element in the youths' social gatherings. At weekends, the youths' get-togethers are often held at clubs, bars/pubs... where a wide range of musical genres can be found. In these settings, amplified music is often involved as well as the heavy consumption of alcoholic drinks. Such activities are very common among the youths: several similar answers (which contain descriptions of such get-togethers) to questions about weekend activities reverberate among different teams.
Braais (pronounced similarly to "bry", an equivalent Afrikaans word for barbecue) is widely regarded as a social custom in South Africa and its popularity spreads not only among the youths to also to a larger population of society. During weekends and holidays the youths would hold trips "to the parks with big dams and lot of tree to chill, eat, braai (herein interpreted as "to grill") beef, play, swim, and dance to loud music" or "those who decide not to go out to the parks, they will choose one of their friends' house, each will bring some amount of money, join cash until it makes up a large amount, then they will hire a nice little tent, chairs, place them on open space with grass, DJ, buy a lot of booze and food. They will dance till the morning comes..." Similar activities of 'braais ' are common among Singaporeans youths, like the informal potluck parties, yet different in manners. Perhaps owing to the lack of natural settings like those of South Africa, barbecues are organized in someone's home more often, in comparison to the South African contexts, and not necessarily involve the music scene with dancing. In fact, according to our own observations and interpretations, dance plays a role no less significant than music in South African youths' culture. Many youths practice dance routinely.
Another notable difference in such social gatherings is the pre-organized manners of the barbecues sections: Singaporean youths often hold their barbecues sections upon pre-agreed date, time and venue, whilst South African youths seemingly like to improvise along a poppep-up idea: someone gives another a call, the news spreads and people bring their own contribution (food, camping equipments, speakers...) to the get-together whose venue and time can also be decided upon conversation.
Music, albeit the continuous process of increasing globalization, is actually a channel and facilitator of the local elements of culture. More than often we can observe musical trends/genres in a certain culture that not only possess the global elements, but reflect the addition of features from the local cultures as well. In the case of South African music, this particular "blending phenomenon" is very apparent. Among the various musical genres, Kwaito, a distinctive derivative of the global house and hip-hop music blended with indigenous African culture, has gathered much popularity among youths. Kwaito has its origin in Johannesburg city in the early 1990s, and is based on house music beats but with a slower tempo. Artists of Kwaito are generally males, and they shout or chant their lyrics, which can be in English or local vernacular (not only one but a variety of local languages can be adopted) rather than sing or rap. In the meantime Kwaito is being transformed as well, most notably the addition of the hip-hop genre's elements, like rapping, or sped-up tempo and reduction of chanting and shouting lyrics. Another characteristic that makes Kwaito distinctive is its unique dance moves. A typical Kwaito clip would portray groups of people dancing joyously and energetically:
The following video clip demonstrates the typical and distinctive Kwaito dance moves:
We are specifically looking at Kwaito here since it appears to have gained the most popularity among South African youths currently, but it is important to also acknowledge many different genres which are more peculiar to particular languages/ethnic groups, in other words, certain sub-cultures yet are gaining popularity as well. For example, Umbacanga as Zulu music.
This characteristic of the diversity of musical genres bring us back to the topic of music's influences over fashion, which has now appeared in a clear sight. A quote from a South African individual reveals to how diversity of music entail various fashion themes: "There are Kwaito, House, HipHop, Jazz, CoolMusic, AfroPop, Umbacanga (Zulu music) and others. Ethnic groups of different languages have their own kind of music. People get dressed up according to the occasion/event and music they are going to enjoy at that place e.g. Kwaito (Casual clothes), House (Casual clothes), HipHop, Jazz (smart casual or formal), CoolMusic (smart casual or formal), AfroPop (Traditional design kind of clothes mix with smart casual), for the Cultural music like Umbacanga (Zulu music) they dress up in their own traditional clothes" Music and fashion are indeed two effective channels of self-expression of the youths.
In the case of Singapore we also attempted to identify a genre that can be considered a counterpart of Kwaito, but only achieve a rather elusive result. As we tried to find a particular musical genre that can be a representative of Singapore, our secondary research of academic resources reveal xinyao (an abbreviation form of Xin-jia-po ge yao, meaning "Singapore songs") as a genre distinctively Singapore. Basically xinyao is performed by a group of people singing and harmonizing together in clean acoustics (performance accompanied solely by the acoustic guitar). Its topics centralize stories of life in the small Singapore island. However, for our primary research's findings xinyao does not really enjoy the popularity it used to have, and it is taking new forms. A wide variety of musical instruments is incorporated in the genre in stead of , as well as its topics: any aspect of life can be portrayed in xinyao. The name itself is interpreted differently from the initial: xinyao can be understood as "new songs" (xin: new and yao: song) and it is noted that a rising number of young Singaporeans are getting involved in xinyao bands/clubs, who perform composed songs of their own. The most prominent characteristic of xinyao and its artists which makes it stand out from other genres may be that of the intermingling of English and Mandarin (songs can also be entirely in Mandarin), which appears to be very similar to Kwaito in terms of blending of global and local musical elements. The following song is credited to Weiliat, a friend of mine who is also a member of a xinyao band.
Throughout our observational research and interpretation of findings we have actually come to a conclusion that when studying culture in general and an aspect of culture as music in particular it is impossible to ignore the impact the youths impose on the culture of their own. They, indeed, consume, influence, facilitate and even create what is regarded as popular culture. Thus it is crucial in the study of culture to examine not only culture per se but the people of that culture. Eventually it boils down to the ultimate goal of studying culture is to understand people. In the context of communication being able to understand people is equivalent to having great advantages to effectively communicate with them. When trying to examine music as our subject of interest we actually realize that despite immense geographical distance Singaporean and South African youths share many commonalities, and through the identified similarities and differences we gain a certain degree of understanding into each other's culture: we know ourselves better by looking at things that we usually take for granted, and we know others better by acknowledging things which, at first glance, appear peculiar to us. And through that we improve the effectiveness of our communication.
Crime rates are much higher in South Africa than Singapore. The last statistics available showed that between April 2004 and March 2005, 18,793 people were murdered in South Africa, an average of 51 a day in a nation of 47 million. There were 24,516 attempted murders, 55,114 reported rapes and 249,369 assaults with grievous injury.
There are several reasons for this, though it might be difficult to point out which is the major cause for the high rise in its crime rates. To summarise the causes for the high crime rates in South Africa, the culture of violence, proliferation of firearms, rapid urbanisation, youthful population and weak criminal justice system are some of the causes to be highlighted. Culture of violence’ theories similarly argue that the effects of apartheid coupled with years of political violence and the continued exposure to violence in the home and in the neighbourhood have produced a destructive culture which manifests itself in what the Nedcor Project on Crime, Violence and Investment called ‘murderous intolerance’.16 It also means that South Africans quickly resort to violence as a means of solving conflicts — whether in the domestic, social or work environment.
Age and Aids will be significant contributors to an increase in the rate of crime in South Africa over the next ten to twenty years. In a decade’s time, every fourth South African will be aged between fifteen and 24. It is at this age group where people’s propensity to commit crime is at its highest. Most criminologists concur that there is a direct relationship between age and the propensity to commit crime. Persons most likely to commit murder aged between eighteen and 24. A person in this age group is almost three times as likely to commit a murder than a person in the 25 to 34 age group, and more than six times as likely than a person aged 35 to 49. Juvenile prison population figures have shown a marked increase over the past few years. In mid-1999, there were just over 25 000 juveniles in South Africa’s prisons, an increase of almost 6 000 since 1996. Of the incarcerated juveniles, some 9 596 are serving jail terms for murder, attempted murder and vehicle hijacking. A further 3 100 have been imprisoned for committing serious sexual offences. In contrast, Singapore youth crime rates has decreased over the years.
Figure 1: youths in Singapore arrested for crime
It is also important to highlight that most youth in South Africa engage in these crimes due to the loss of parents, mostly both parents, to Aids and HIV, hence without a father figure, they tend to be led astray. Though juvenile crime rates are rising, National Youth Commission director for policy development, Tembinkosi Ngcobo, said it appeared that high commission’s programmes could not adequately deal with the causes of juvenile crime: "The rate of increase in unemployment and high fatality rates among breadwinners as a result of Aids in some parts of KwaZulu-Natal [where the juvenile incarceration rate is the highest have led to more youths starting to fend for themselves."
In contrast, Singapore has relatively high success rates with its solutions in dealing with youth crimes e.g. the Anti-Drug Ambassador Scheme (2005), DanceWorks!(1998). Nonetheless, it is not to say that no efforts were made to discourage youth crimes in South Africa. Youth Crime Watch (YCW) of South Africa has used sports strategy to instil a sense of morality into youths, and thus to turn them away from crimes. Sports provide leadership opportunities that enhance the establishment of sound communities, societies and families. It can be utilized as a means to fight boredom among the youth, resulting in a decreased rate of crime, aggressiveness and social disorders.
Figure 2: YCW South Africa at a game of football
To end off, the culture of South Africa – its high incidence of HIV and violent political history has thus shaped its citizens with a criminalized society being a norm. In contrast, Singapore’s high level of security and racial harmony has developed its citizens to view peace as a norm. Singapore’s policing slogan “Low crime does not mean No crime” illustrates its high regard toward stability, which is in contrast to South Africa.
In South Africa, there are a total of 18 major cities. In Singapore, we have only one sunny island.
Within South Africa itself, there is an obvious income disparity. The rich are becoming richer and the poor are, sad to say, becoming poorer. The different towns of Johannesburg actually display such imbalance. In Soweto, where the majority of the residents are blacks, lays squatters as well as mansions. In Sandton, where the majority of the residents are whites, lays the wealthiest of Johannesburg. Not too far away from Sandton is Alexandra, where the poorest of Johannesburg resides. This is, thankfully, not a common sight in Singapore.
While talking to one of my South African group mates, Vicky, it was interesting to find out that each city in South Africa has unique descriptions for the other cities. Vicky lives in Johannesburg, the largest and richest city in South Africa.
Cape Town is one of the three capitals of South Africa. It is in charge of legislative matters of the country. It has the reputation of being one of the most beautiful cities of the world as well as the most laid-back city of the country. However, Vicky begs to differ. According to her, it seems that the youths of Johannesburg and Cape Town have a mutual dislike for the other.
Apparently, the Jozis (that’s what people who live in Johannesburg are called) say that the Capetonians (that’s what people who live in Cape Town are called) are hippies or are slow.
“Capetonians compared to Jozis are a lot slower. People are just slower, literally. They drive a lot slower than Jozi people and it gets frustrating for us Jozi people.” - Vicky
Vicky mentions that every time she goes to Cape Town and tells the Capetonians she’s a Jozi, “there is an immediate negativity” towards her. This is how severe the dislike is between the two cities.
Because Johannesburg is the wealthiest city in South Africa, Capetonians often stereotype Jozis as stuck up and arrogant because of their wealth, as such they call the Jozis “Sandton dolls”. Capetonians also have names for Jozi girls who are very conscious about their physical appearance “Kugels”. This is the equivalent of the “Plastics” in the movie “Mean Girls” starring Lindsay Lohan.
On the other hand, Jozis think Capetonians are snobby because they are always boasting about their nature – being surrounded by the sea and mountains makes them the most beautiful city in South Africa. Likewise, Jozis call Capetonian girls who aspire to be models “Shmodels” or “poodle”.
The situation in Singapore is very different. Singaporeans do not have city/town clichés. In Singapore, we don’t judge people by their residential area. There are no negative connotations or labeling towards people from different heartlands. We don’t have distinctive stereotypes of youths who live in different districts or areas of Singapore. We don’t say things like “Hougang youths are hip whereas Boon Lay people are boring”. We’re very united as a whole. Perhaps this is due to the size of the country. The cultures within the different heartlands of Singapore are very much the same. The only stereotypes we may have are that of ethnicity. But in South Africa, they have that too. (However, this is not my main focus, therefore I should not venture into that discussion.)
The context in which perceptions of family have been developed in the respective cultures by the youth are very different. Singapore is a small island nation. Even when children move away from home or decide to live on their own while they are working, they arent really that far away from home. In South Africa youngsters leave their townships to either travel, goto the urban areas to study or find a job.
Singapore Skyline
South African Suburbs
South Africa being a larger country with a greater multicultural population has its conservative families who are very close to each other and also has its modern independent families that simpl rely on their nuclear families for support. Hence it has families of both extremes as well as those who lie in between on the spectrum. Singapore has a simialr situation on a smaller scale. Singapore is modernizing at a faster rate every day. The cultures prevalent in Singapore (that of the Chinese, the Indians and the Malays) are by nature conservative. They have their religions that provide certain regulations for life, their nuclear societies that further establish rules and ways of living and hence these get translated into the ways of the family members as well.
Singaporean Family (extended)
Traditionally both in Singapore and in South Africa the extended family is as important as the nuclear family. Family members are usually very close to one another and they maintain and intedependent unit. However, with the increasing influence of Western values in both cultures is causing a lot of changes to occur.
South African Family (extended)
In Singapore the divorce rate has tripled over two decades from 2313 in 1983 to 6561 in 2003 (http://www.singapore-window.org/sw04/040623a2.htm). Divorce was usually considered to be the last resort however now it is increasingly becoming a norm in Singapore.
I found out from Lauren (one of the students from Vega) that divorces are also common in South Africa. Broken families are an increasing occurrence. When i went on to read discussions in other groups I found out that women and children are highly protected by the government (in terms of laws) in South Africa. This is because of the high crime rates and the domestic violence cases of the past. When men beat up their wives the government comes to the rescue as though the world has fallen apart. However, there is no real law that protects men from domestic violence. If men complaiend to the police that their women were beating them up then they'd only be laughed at. Hence men leave their families if they cant cope with their committments and leave mothers to raise their own children. Men in South Africa are apparently discouraged from getting married and would prefer being single and true to themselves. They avoid this committment and appear to be changing certain family structures in South Africa.
In Singaporean families the men, usually, are the decision makers. Its clearly a masculine culture however with the advent of tecnology and the modernization of Singapore women are climbing the social ladder. They are taking on equal roles in the corporate real as well as in the domestic realms. they have become income earners and share the responsibilites with men in their families shoulder-to-shoulder. However, there are still several orthodox and conservative families in Singapore that clearly have men leading the families and being looked up to.
In South Africa there seems to be a similar shift in culture from men asserting their power in the families to women asserting their rights. However, in townships (just like in orthodox Singaporean families) the family structure remains traditional and patriarchal.
In terms of independence amongst family members, Laura said that she was the best example. She had already moved away from home with her sister to study at the university. She also said that people usually move out of their homes before they begin their studies or get married and usually move in with their boyfriends/girlfriends before they decide to tie the knot. This was interesting as although it happens in Singapore, it is still a rare and delicate issue (i.e. moving in together with your bf/gf). Families are deeply rooted in their religions and they are very much concerned about their reputations in society hence would not approve of their children moving in with their boyfriend/girlfriend before marriage.
This brings us into the concept of face. In Singaporean families this is a very prominent concept that influences family dynamics. Children must respect their parents to maintain face in society. No member of the family should do something that would make the entire family lose face in society. Respect, honor and positions in society are central to families in Singapore. In certain families it plays out stronger than others.
Asian Face Concept - Mask of Honor
In South Africa, Laura said that even friends are so close to one another that they become part of your "family". Social and familial ties are very important in South Africa hence it seems as though every close relationship you have can in turn be interpreted as familial relationshipsl I found this very interesting as in Singapore friends and family are clearly distinguished and the relationship dynamics are very different amongst both groups.
This is a comical video about how Singaporeans are not aware of the 5 core family values that the government has been promoting:
Hence the perceptions of family in both Singapore and South African youth cultures are somewhat very similar to one another. Both have a traditional background and a group of conservatve families. Both are increasingly influenced by the West and western values which result in divorces and nuclear families being on a rise. However they have certain differences of their own. For example the concept of face in Singapore, friends being a part of families in South Africa, the government protection of women in South Africa influencing families, etc. Hence family is a constantly changing structure precisely because it is influenced by culture which by nature is so fluid.
