Discourse On 'Peranakanness' With Focus On The Peranakan Chinese Community In Contemporary Kelantan, Malaysia

The issue of 'social organization of difference' in a society has been an integral part of human life as-social being. One way to address the issue is by organizing social differences according to ethnicity. When interplay of majority and minority ethnic groups subsequently produces an amalgam, it tend to be referred to in negative manner. However, this is not the case with Peranakan, a concept used in Malay Archipelago to refer to amalgams which consist of local-born of non-indigenous descents and have localized culturally. Instead, it is one of a rare concept that is neutral in nature and embracing differences. Nevertheless, Peranakan is said to be on the verge of extinction. Modernization and the pressing need to re-orient themselves with mainstream ethnic group are seen as main push factors which rendered the 'extinction' of Peranakans inevitable. By analyzing a Peranakan Chinese community in Kelantan, Malaysia as a case study, this paper shows that instead of going 'extinct', Peranakanness has instead moved in different 'trajectories' even within the same community.