The Politics of Landscapes in Singapore: Constructions of Nation - Paperback

by Lily Kong (Editor), Brenda S. a. Yeoh (Editor)

This thought-provoking book explores strategies employed by Singapore, a multiracial society, to create a Singapore "nation" with an emphasis on the role of landscape. As such, the authors cast keen eye on religious buildings, public housing, heritage landscapes, and street name changes as tangible methods of nation-building in a postcolonial society. The authors illustrate how "nation" and "national identity" are concepts that are negotiated and disputed by varied social, economic, and political groups--some of which may actively resist powerfuI state-centrist attitudes. Throughout this work, the role of the landscape prevails both as a way to naturalize state ideologies and as a means of providing possibilities for reinterpretation in everyday life.

Author Biography

Lily Kong is associate professor in the Department of Geography and dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the National University of Singapore. Among numerous publications, she coauthored Singapore: A Developmental City State and coedited Globalization and The Asia-Pacific: Contested Territories.