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As a broadly compatible, socially motivated analysis, this book understands and illustrates reading as a dynamic, critical activity which investigates texts and textual representations in their social conditions, seeing them in relation to their discursive origins. The specific texts and discursive constructions it submits are based on Singapore, Singapore life and its citizenry. The collection of papers covers a wide range of disciplines, most notably communication and media studies, and provides a timely challenge to the long tradition of critical theory/West equations. ... Read more

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How does one comprehend the phenomenon of the modernization of an Asian society in a globalized East Asian context?With this opening question, the author proceeds to give an account of how the modernization processes for postcolonial societies in Asia, ones such as India, Malaysia, and Singapore, are fraught with collaborations and conflicts between different socio-political, historical, economic and cultural agents.Such ambivalent dynamics contribute to what Wee argues as a 'distortion' of the extant models of Western modernity, which is nonetheless rooted in the politics of worldwide capitalism.

Wee's narrative refuses to accept the uncritical interpretation of the modernizing processes in Asia as liberation from the hegemony of Euro-American capitalism.Nor is Wee prepared to concede that all cultural initiatives in the postcolonial societies are, therefore, denied all power to devise alternative forms of expression in the face of this haunting presence.It is the persistent effort to see the many faces of modernization in Asia in their full complexity that marks this book apart.

Readers will discover that what seems to be the modernization of a single geopolitical entity is inevitably linked to the dynamics of various agents in other locations at different times which makes us reflect on the existence of the many 'distortions' in our societies. ... Read more

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Veering away from the usual tourist information, Discover Singapore provides an insight into the history and culture of the Lion City.Each of the entries is well researched and reveals little known facts and interesting nuggets that will appeal to both locals and visitors. For instance, did you know that the tombstone of Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim is supposed to be at Bidadari Cemetery in Upper Serangoon? Singapore is also known for its campaigns but before the advent of the Courtesy and Speak Mandarin campaigns, there was Stop at Two and Eat More Wheat! Read the book and find out what was the country's first public campaign and lots more. With specially commissioned photographs that capture the essence of the text, the reader will be thrilled and fascinated by interesting and little known facts about Singapore!Key Features:- Coverage of both popular and lesser known places, events and traditions- Well-researched facts from diverse sources- Specially commissioned colour pictures- Integration of history and culture in one volume- Colourful icons for easy reference- Tips on getting to the places featured ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, published by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) on October 1, 2008. The length of the article is 1681 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Singapore: The State and the Culture of Excess.(Book review)
Author: Kenneth Paul Tan
Publication: SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2008
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS)
Volume: 23Issue: 2Page: 283(5)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

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Culture and Customs of Singapore and Malaysia examines all aspects of contemporary life in these two geographically close and historically and culturally connected nations, starting with the people fighting to maintain a balance between the new and the traditional.

The book shows how religion has evolved through time in the two nations and examines how literature and traditional crafts thrive today. It highlights the performing arts and entertainment, noting how Western culture has influenced and shaped new customs. Housing and architecture, both modern and traditional, are discussed, along with cuisine and fashion. Students can use the book to analyze gender roles and family life. They can also read about the ways in which festivals are celebrated and can compare and contrast leisure activities of Singapore and Malaysia with their own. The volume concludes with a look to the future of these two evolving countries, both moving toward modernity, but still holding on to the traditions of the past.

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This volume collects together and reprints four classic books written in the 1950s by Dr Leon Comber: "Chinese Ancestral Worship"; "Chinese Festivals in Malaya" (with Dorothy Lo); "Chinese Magic & Superstition in Malaya"; and "Chinese Temples in Singapore". These books on Chinese life and customs were reprinted many times but have long been out of print. Written for the layperson, the style is simple and unpretentious, yet Comber meticulously presents a veritable cornucopia of a culture still relevant and extant in modern Southeast Asia. Completely reset and attractively designed this new publication portrays the rich heritage of the overseas Chinese community's roots and practices. Those interested in the Chinese communities of Southeast Asia and their traditional practices and customs will find it a ready source of information and knowledge. Completely reset and attractively designed this new publication addresses the rich heritage of the overseas Chinese community's roots and practices, and for those reading about or visiting Southeast will find it a ready source of information and knowledge of ancient and classic Chinese culture in all its glory. ... Read more

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By taking a series of readings of Singapore’s urban culture, Contours of Culture discusses the emergence of a new city form. Multidisciplinary in approach, it takes as its data not only government policy and official discourses, and the more quantitative elements of population census information on religion, income, race and nationality, but also a wide range of related cultural discourses in film, literature, media texts, social behaviour and other interventions and interpretations of the city. The main parameters of Singapore’s socio-national construction — public housing, social elitism, racial and linguistic plurality and their management, colonial remnants and their transformation — are explained and analysed in terms of Singapore’s colonial past, its rapid modernization, and its current push to compete as a global city and tourist destination.

This book should be of interest to a correspondingly wide readership, including architects and urban planners, political scientists, cultural analysts and theorists, colonial discourse scholars, urban geographers and sociologists, Asian studies specialists, graduate and undergraduate students in the above areas, and a general readership interested in cities and cultures. ... Read more

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Filmmaking in Singapore has seen a dramatic revival since the 1990s with the success of movies such as Royston Tan’s 15, Djinn’s Perth, Jack Neo’s I Not Stupid, Eric Khoo’s 12 Storeys and it continues to be highly active with several new productions this year including I Not Stupid Too, Love Story, Smell of Rain and Singapore Dreaming.Yet, many are only vaguely aware of Singapore’s glorious past as a filmmaking hub attracting producers, directors and actors not just from all over the Malay archipelago, but also from China, India and the Philippines.Interest in filmmaking in Singapore began as early as 1926 with a little-known production, Xin Ke, a film about newly arrived Chinese immigrants to Singapore. And it reached its peak with the legendary Cathay and Shaw studios in the post-World War II period. These two giants produced hugely successful Malay films which still resonate with people in the region today – the films of P. Ramlee including the popular Bujang Lapok series and the cult classic of vampire genre films, the Pontianak series. The recent Singapore cinema industry is also covered in some detail, with comprehensive information on how and why the Singapore filmmaking scene has been transformed, enjoying both critical and commercial success, from the rise of dynamic young filmmakers to the support of organisations such as the Singapore International Film Festival and the Singapore Film Commission. ... Read more

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Singapore is viewed as a model of an orderly,economically developing successful society on the Pacific Rim. Basedon eight years of field work, the author analyzes how modernizationeffects an Asian society and which value conflicts prevail. TheSingapore government's program to shape its version of a modern, yetAsian national identity is described in light of the dominantideology. In addition, the values and beliefs of opposition movementsare presented. The work explores the tensions between theseideological sets and the likely outcome of the complex, inconsistentprocesses currently underway. ... Read more

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Book Purchase - The Struggel over Singappore's Soul: Western Modernizatin and Asian Culture
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Covering various fields in political science, this new text presents a historical and political-cultural analysis of Buddhism and Confucianism.

Using Singapore and Burma as case studies, the book questions the basic assumptions of democratization theory, examining the political science of tyranny and exploring the rhetorical manipulation of religion for the purpose of political legitimacy.

A welcome addition to the political science and Asian studies literature, McCarthy addresses many of the currents that underlie the field of democratization in comparative politics and discusses the issue of imposing Western cultural bias in studying non-Western regimes by analyzing rhetorical traits that are universally regular in politics. ... Read more

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This book explores the spread of English as a world language and the different ways in which the language has developed and adaapted in new sociocultural contexts. ... Read more

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Taking ideas and frameworks from philosophy, psychology, political science, cultural studies and anthropology, this book tells the larger ‘truth’ about the Singapore state. This book argues that this strong hegemonic state achieves effective rule not just from repressive policies but also through a combination of efficient government, good standard of living, tough official measures and popular compliance.

Souchou Yao looks at the reasons behind the hegemonic ruling, examining key events such as the caning of American teenager Michael Fay, the judicial ruling on fellatio and unnatural sex, and Singapore’s ‘war on terror’ to show the ways in which the State manages these events to ensure the continuance of its power and ideological ethos.

Lively, and well-written, this book discusses key subject areas such as:

• leftist radicalism and communist insurgency
• nation-building as trauma
• Western ‘yellow culture’ and Asian Values
• judicial caning and the meaning of pain
• the law and oral sex
• food and the art of lying
• cinema as catharsis
• Singapore after September 11.

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Singapore has been taken by many researchers as a fascinating living language policy and planning laboratory. Language and education policy in Singapore has been pivotal not only to the establishment and growth of schooling, but to the very project of nation building. Since their inception, 'mother tongue' policies have been established with two explicit goals. Firstly there is the development and training of human and intellectual capital for the expansion and networking of a Singaporean service and information economy. Secondly there is the maintenance of cultural heritage and values as a means for social cohesion and, indeed, the maintenance of community and regional social capital.These tasks have been fraught with tension and contradiction, both in relation to the conditions of rapid cultural, economic and political change in Asia and globally, but as well because of the tensions between the so called 'world language English' and Singapore's three other official languages, Tamil, Malay and Mandarin.This has been complicated, of course, by the challenges of vibrant regional dialects and the emergence of Singlish as a powerful medium of community life. ... Read more

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Chapters: Singaporean Mahjong Scoring Rules, List of Singapore Abbreviations, Culture of Singapore, Censorship in Singapore, Indigenous and Traditional Sports of Singapore, National Courtesy Campaign, Disneyland With the Death Penalty, Public Holidays in Singapore, Dance in Singapore, Asas '50, Integrated Resort, Ez-Link, Singapore Dark Alternative Movement, Little Red Dot, Workplace Safety ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Business Communication Quarterly, published by Association for Business Communication on September 1, 2002. The length of the article is 4833 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: In this issue; Experiential learning methods in Asian cultures: A Singapore case study. (Focus on Intercultural Communication).
Author: Deborah Valentine
Publication: Business Communication Quarterly (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2002
Publisher: Association for Business Communication
Volume: 65Issue: 3Page: 106(16)

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