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“The Storytelling State: Performing Life Histories in Singapore”, by Cheng Nien Yuan John Legge Thesis Prize Winner

Can you tell us a bit about your thesis. What’s the problem it explores and what did you find? My thesis identifies and explores Singapore’s newfound interest in a specific form of narration as a phenomenon I call the storytelling state. Over the last decade, public (auto)biographical storytelling, elicited through visualised narrative interviews, have proliferated

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Las Vegas in Singapore: Violence, Progress and the Crisis of Nationalist Modernity

This post is based on the author’s recent book published with NUS press. Marina Bay Sands (MBS), one of Singapore’s two Integrated Resorts (read: casino), is probably the most recognisable building in and outside of Singapore today. During an open-house session I attended in 2017, a spokesperson of the company boasted that “anyone who ‘googled’

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The darker side of Singapore’s economic miracle

Singapore’s prosperity is being sustained by the exploitation of migrant workers The Singaporean owner of a Melbourne brewhouse was recently taken to task by Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman for underpaying a Filipino welder hired on a 457 visa, an employer-sponsored temporary work visa. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the worker was underpaid by more

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Singapore at 50 reflects on its past and contemplates the future

In its 50 years since independence, Singapore has become a first-world nation. But times have changed and, says JASON LIM, Singapore will have to change too if it’s to meet new challenges. On 9 August 2015, Singapore celebrated its 50th year of independence. The annual National Day Parade (NDP) at the Padang became a masterful

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