Style, Identity and Literacy: English in Singapore is a qualitative study of the literacy practices of a group of Singaporean adolescents, relating their patterns of interaction – both inside and ...outside the classroom – to the different levels of social organization in Singaporean society (home, peer group and school). Combining field data gathered through a series of detailed interviews with available classroom observations, the study focuses on six adolescents from different ethnic and social backgrounds as they negotiate the learning of English against the backdrop of multilingual Singapore. This book provides social explanations for the difficulties and challenges these adolescents face by drawing on current developments in sociolinguistics, literacy studies, English language teaching and language policy.
The Malay population makes up Singapore's three largest ethnic groups. This book presents holistic and extensive analysis of the 'Malay Muslim story' in Singapore. Comprehensively and convincingly ...argued, the author examines their challenging circumstances in the fields of politics, education, social mobility, economy, leadership, and freedom of religious expression. The book makes a significant contribution to the understanding of Muslims in Singapore, and the politics of a Malay-Muslim minority in a global city-state. It is of interest to researchers and students in the field of Singaporean studies, Southeast Asian Studies and Islam in Asia.
To present a multifaceted and holistic perspective of what makes Singaporeans happy, Tambyah, Tan and Yuen discuss the findings and insights from the 2022 Quality of Life Survey, which examines the ...perceptions and views of 1,905 Singapore citizens. This is the latest survey in a series of studies on the wellbeing of Singaporeans. While the impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic on wellbeing is a timely discussion, the findings are also compared with previous surveys conducted in 2011 and 2016 to provide a longitudinal perspective of how Singaporeans’ wellbeing has evolved over the years. Key aspects of this topic include life satisfaction and satisfaction with specific life domains, aspects of affective wellbeing (e.g., happiness, enjoyment and achievement), economic wellbeing, psychological flourishing, personal values, value orientations and views on socio- political issues. Pertinent differences due to demographics such as gender, marital status, age, education and household income are also highlighted. The book also features four archetypes and clusters of Singaporeans, which are representative of the unique demographics, values and wellbeing outcomes examined. The findings and insights will be useful to academics, policy makers, practitioners, students and the general public who are interested in understanding the life satisfaction and wellbeing of Singaporeans.
The Singapore Perspectives series is a yearly publication that provides critical analysis of emerging trends and issues Singapore faces in terms of social, economic and political development. It is a ...quick and essential reference for understanding the broad policy discussions that animate thought leaders, policy-makers and the public in the country during the immediate period or that are likely to do so in the short and medium term.
While eating is a universal experience, for Singaporeans it carries strong national connotations. The popular Singaporean-English phrase Die die must try is not so much hyperbole as it is a ...reflection of the lengths that Singaporeans will go to find great dishes. In Eating Her Curries and Kway: A Cultural History of Food in Singapore, Nicole Tarulevicz argues that in a society that has undergone substantial change in a relatively short amount of time, food serves Singaporeans as a poignant connection to the past. Covering the period from British settlement in 1819 to the present and focusing on the post–1965 postcolonial era, Tarulevicz tells the story of Singapore through the production and consumption of food. Analyzing a variety of sources that range from cookbooks to architectural and city plans, Tarulevicz offers a thematic history of this unusual country, which was colonized by the British and operated as a port within Malaya, but which is without a substantial pre-colonial history. Connecting food culture to the larger history of Singapore, she discusses various topics including domesticity and home economics, housing and architecture, advertising, and the regulation of food-related manners and public behavior such as hawking, littering, and chewing gum. Moving away from the predominantly political and economic focus of other histories of Singapore, Tarulevicz provides an important alternative reading of Singaporean society.
This volume is a book of reflections and encounters about the region that the Chinese knew as Nanyang. The essays in it look back at the years of uncertainty after the end of World War II and explore ...the period largely through images of mixed heritages in Malaysia and Singapore. They also look at the trends towards social and political divisiveness following the years of decolonization in Southeast Asia. Never far in the background is the struggle to build new nations during four decades of an ideological Cold War and the Chinese determination to move from near-collapse in the 1940s and out of the traumatic changes of the Maoist revolution to become the powerhouse that it now is.
This book provides a comprehensive examination of the contemporary English-language theatre field in Singapore. It describes Singapore theatre as a politically dynamic field that is often a site for ...struggle and resistance against state orthodoxy, and how the cultural policies of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) have shaped Singapore theatre. The book traces such cultural policies and their impact from the early 1960s, and shows how the PAP used theatre - and arts and culture more widely - as a key part of its nation building programme.
Terence Chong argues that this diverse theatre community not only comes into regular conflict with the state, but often collaborates with it - depending on the rewards at stake, not to mention the assortment of intra-communal conflicts as different practitioners and groups vie for the same resources. It goes on to explore how new forms of theatre, especially English-language avant garde theatre, represented resistance to such government cultural control; how the government often exerts its power 'behind-the-scenes' to preserve its moral legitimacy; and conversely how middle class theatre practitioners' resistance to state power is strongly influenced by class and cultural capital.
Based on extensive original research including interviews with theatre directors and other theatre professionals, the book provides a wealth of information on theatre in Singapore overall, and not just on theatre-state relations.
