![unpack the knapsack unpack the knapsack](https://cdn.rohde-schwarz.com/pws/videopreview/solution_screens_1/more_5g/5G-MNT-Unpacking-the-5G-Backpack_previewimage~1_w1300_hX.jpg)
This paper presents that despite the varied understandings of the term, an understanding of what it means is starting to take shape, giving it a sense of coherence and visibility to what was once, invisible. This backpack burdens them and restricts their movements, usually for many yearsuntil they recognize that they are carrying it and choose to do something embodied about it. Thus, this paper presents findings from existing academic literature revolving racial relations in Singapore, from interviewing individuals from different racial groups and from the existing discussions on Chinese privilege in Singapore, and hopes that by combining these “voices”, the reader will get a sense of it meant. Furthermore, when the minority racial groups articulate it in concrete terms from the day-to-day experiences, to the Chinese, these “privileges” remain mostly invisible. The essay, published in 1988, likens the founding privileges upon which American institutions are built to an 'invisible package of unearned assets' and unpacks those assets in terms of power, identity and self-image. They may say they will work to improve women's status, in the society. Through work to bring materials from Women's Studies into the rest of the curriculum, I have often noticed men's unwillingness to grant that they are over-privileged, even though they may grant that women are disadvantaged. However, despite the active discussion on the term, there are still varied understandings of what it actually meant, partly because there is not much weight given to seriously unpack the term in academia as of yet. The classic work Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh now holds a place in the modern liberal canon. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. As such, the term challenges this belief in meritocracy in Singapore, that the Chinese, have an advantage over other racial groups on the basis of race. The reason the term Chinese privilege had triggered active discussions on it is because Singapore is known to be a multiracial and meritocratic society, where one is rewarded based on their own efforts, regardless of race, language or religion. This paper seeks to provide an understanding of the term, ‘Chinese privilege’ a term only fairly recently coined in 2014 but have already stimulated active debates in the public domain on its existence and what it entails. Chinese Privilege in Singapore: Understanding the Invisible Knapsack. Chinese Privilege in Singapore: Understanding the Invisible KnapsackĬHEE SHEN CHUN CHRISTOPHER ().