VISITING SPEAKER

Thursday, 4^th Sept 2.00 -4.00 pm

Room 1001, First Floor, Hardiman Research Building

Professor Charles Hirschman

Census Classifications and Racial Ideology in Malaysia

The official classifications of ethnicity used in population censuses are generally thought to be non-controversial administrative products that reflect commonly understood population categories. Cultural and phenotypical differences are, however, are rarely unambiguous, and the creation and revision of ethnic categories often reveals the assumptions of dominant groups that shape government policy. Tracing changes in ethnic classifications in Malaysian censuses from the colonial era to the present shows the imprint of ideology on how groups are defined and measured.

Professor Charles Hirschman is the Boeing International Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at the Department of Sociology, University of Washington. He is the author of numerous works on the sociology of race, ethnicity, immigration, demography and education in Southeast Asia and the United States.

School of Political Science & Sociology

Power, Conflict & Ideology Research Cluster