Editorial-Heritage Challenges in the New Century

The paper considers the case of Raffles Hotel in Singapore which has been the subject of a conservation project with a significant element of redevelopment. The circumstances are discussed within the context of heritage tourism in colonial cities and changing approaches to conservation in Singapore. Built colonial heritage exhibits a symbolism which affects how it is presented and interpreted, serving as a tool for nation building and as a tourist attraction. Policies about conservation and use are influenced by these alternative and often contested meanings, while economic imperatives may demand that buildings generate revenue. Raffles Hotel illustrates the difficulties involved in managing and marketing colonial heritage and securing an acceptable balance between commercial and conservation objectives, with possibilities for confusion as a consequence of the combination of restoration, reconstruction and new building techniques employed.The case has a wider relevance which extends to other forms of built heritage around the world and highlights the dilemmas facing those making decisions about how to present the conserved past as a contemporary tourist space.     

Teaching Economic Geography in Two Contrasting Asian Contexts: Decentering Anglo-American Economic Geography in China and Singapore

Teaching economic geography outside Anglo-American countries presents a particular pedagogical challenge, as theories and concepts developed in these countries might not be directly applicable outside their intellectual and national contexts. In this paper, the authors show how the peculiar institutional and development environments in China and Singapore have shaped the ways in which the economic geography curriculum is developed and taught in institutions of higher education. They also examine how students respond to the intellectual challenges presented to them. In their view, successful pedagogy in teaching economic geography requires a significant degree of localization of the curriculum.     

History, Memory, and Identity in Modern Singapore: Testimonies from the Urban Margins

In 2006–2007, I interviewed elderly Singaporeans on theirexperiences of resettlement from an urban kampong (village)to emergency public housing after a great fire in 1961. I learnedmuch about the lives of semiautonomous dwellers in an unauthorizedsettlement and the individual and social transformation followingtheir rehousing. My informants also highlighted what the experiencesmeant to them and their identity in a modern city-state. Thispaper treats the testimonies as both source and social memoryand seeks to avoid the essentialism into which many social historians,oral history practitioners, and memory scholars have fallenin their approach toward the craft. As a source of social history,when used in conjunction with other historical sources, thereminiscences are patently useful for understanding the roleof public housing in transforming a marginal population intoan integrated citizenry. This enables the writing of a new socialhistory of postwar Singapore that departs from the discursiveofficial accounts of urban kampong life and of the 1961 inferno.At the same time, the oral history also underlines powerfulsocial and political influences on individual memory, beingmarked by nostalgia for the kampong and ambivalence toward theimagined character of younger Singaporeans. Statements on therumors of government-inspired arson in the 1961 calamity, however,constitute a significant countermyth in contemporary society,revealing a more critical side to the social memory.     

从文化殖民的视角重读新加坡海峡华人的失根与寻根

论文从文化殖民的视角分析了新加坡海峡华人的失根、寻根与保根的文化现象,并对海峡华人知识分子掀起的以传统文化为基础的现代化改革运动进行了回顾和解读。这一段从"西化"至"再华化"、从"文化殖民"至"去文化殖民"的经历,跟新加坡独立后的西化发展,以及20、21世纪之交的华族语言文化复兴运动有许多相似之处。海峡华人知识分子复兴传统的努力自有其积极意义。他们致力推广华语和复兴儒学之举,例如提倡女权女学思想、创建女校,其贡献是深远的。     

二战前新加坡华人基督教教育探析

论文以二战前新加坡华人基督教教育为研究对象,初步考证了新加坡华人教会创办学校的历史,分析了影响新加坡华人基督教教育发展的主要因素、新加坡华人教会办学宗旨的转变以及这一转变所产生的效果。认为二战以前的华人基督教教育对教会在新加坡华人社会中传播起到了重要的促进作用。新加坡华人社会在各个时期所呈现的不同特点,也成为影响教会教育,乃至基督教传播的关键因素。正是基于华人社会的变迁,1885年前后卫理公会调整了教会学校的办学宗旨,从而使新加坡华人基督教得到了长足的发展。     

二十世纪二三十年代南洋华侨在地观念发绪及其动因初探——以新马为中心

论文梳理了前期相关的研究成果,在此基础上对南洋意识的发生和发展、南洋意识的＂具地化＂、在地观念产生和发展的动因等问题进行了分析阐述。认为20世纪二三十年代,新马华侨就一些问题已流露出程度不等的南洋意识、马来亚意识。这表明新马华侨对居住地的认同已有一定程度的发展,其在地观念已开始萌发。新马华侨在地观念发绪的原因是多方面的。适应华侨生存、发展的需要,顺应华侨社会的发展变化,受世界潮流和殖民政策的影响,受新马地区独特的历史特点影响等是主要原因。     

新马华侨华人妇女史研究述评

本文将国内外对新马华侨华人妇女的研究情况进行了评述 ,指出这些研究在华人女性人口、妓女问题和劳工问题上取得了一定成就 ,但在华人妇女在婚姻与家庭中的作用、妇女的社会参与和社团组织、妇女对经济的贡献、移出地和移入地妇女关系的互动、妇女史料的挖掘等方面研究不足。     

退缩与进取:论新加坡华文知识分子及其角色的演变

本文先论析在特定的历史与现实情境下 ,“新加坡华文知识分子”的语义 ;再从历史发展的角度考察殖民地时代、独立建国时代和踏入二十一世纪后 ,新加坡华文知识分子的出身和特征 ,以及他们所扮演的角色如何从政治、教育和文化舞台上逐步退缩 ,而今后又将会有怎样的转变和突破