Everyday Life of Chinese Singaporeans: Past & Present

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course is a critical analysis of the rhythms and transformations of everyday life in Singapore from the colonial period to the present day. A first focus is on the role of Chinese temples and associations in building up Singaporean society from the ground up. A second major focus is on the changes and repercussions to everyday life with the moving of most of the populace into the public HDB housing during the 1970s and 1980s as well as the socioeconomic transformations from the mid-2000s. Although the primary subjects of study are the ethnic Chinese, the analyses and discussions --especially about the developments in the last fifty to sixty years--are applicable to most citizens and residents of Singapore in general. Through this course, students are encouraged to observe and reflect on the everyday life and how it is structured by broader social and political dynamics but also allowing for individual contingencies and singularities.