The Politics of Landscapes in Singapore: Constructions of Nation

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: Lily Kong
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 03/01/2003
Pages: 216
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.12w x 0.57d
ISBN13: 9780815629801
ISBN10: 081562980X
BISAC Categories:
- Political Science | History & Theory | General
- Social Science | Human Geography
- Political Science | Public Policy | City Planning & Urban Development

About the Author

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.

Brenda S. A. Yeoh is associate professor in the Department of Geography at the National University of Singapore. She is the coauthor of Singapore: A Developmental City-State, co-editor of Gender and Migration and author of Community and Change: The Tanjong Pagar Community Club Story.