Jason Lim

Popular Nationalism in the Wake of the 2011 National Elections in Singapore

This article is about the contestation of two different forms of nationalism in Singapore during and after two elections in 2011. Manufactured nationalism is topdown, state-defined and economically driven, concerned mainly about accumulation of national wealth through globalization that would eventually ‘trickle down’ to the masses. This view is promoted by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP). The PAP projects Singapore as a state born out of the party’s triumph over colonialism, racial violence, and communist insurgency. Popular nationalism, on the other hand, is bottom-up and people driven, concerned about local issues concerning national identity, social cohesion, and an appreciation (or at least an understanding) of local heritage. Proponents of popular nationalism emphasize a common beginning (birth of independent Singapore on 9 August 1965), shared historical memories (local heritage), several elements of a common culture (such as the use of Singlish), and an associationwithaspecific‘homeland’(bornandraisedinSingaporeand,formales,the completion of conscription). They view Singapore as a nation-state with a unique and evolving identity destabilized by a liberal immigration policy. The elections generated considerable attention due to the gains by the opposition parties and the public airing of frustrations against the PAP government. These frustrations are strongly driven by the influx of new migrants, especially those classified as ‘foreign talent’ by the PAP government. In this article, I argue that popular nationalism has emerged in twentyfirst century Singapore and examine the debates over the future of Singapore during and after the elections.

Linking an Asian Transregional Commerce in Tea: Overseas Chinese Merchants in the Fujian-Singapore Trade, 1920-1960

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Modern Chinese history; Confucius in East Asia: Confucianism’s history in China, Korea, Japan and Viet Nam

Key Issues in Asian Studies is a series of booklets that covers major issues on Asian culture and history. The series is a timely introduction by the Association for Asian Studies Inc. Complex issu...

Renewal: The Chinese State and the New Global History

role in pre-Ming periods is scant. During late imperial China and in a localised context, one sees that they played important roles in different rituals ranging from funerals and ancestral rites, to jiao festivals of communal offerings. They also often worked with ritual specialists from other religious traditions including Daoist priests and Buddhist monks. Their rituals texts displayed considerable similarities between their rituals and those performed in official religion, and to a lesser extent, those of the Daoists and Buddhists. They are no doubt the mediators between official religion, local religion and other religious traditions. Part III, which includes Chapters 5 and 6, discusses the process of lineage building and its influences and limits in Sibao. Building ornate ancestral halls and compiling genealogies were introduced into Sibao by two native sons who became high officials in the fifteenth century. Their display of cultural prestige was quickly imitated and reproduced by other low-level officials and degree holders throughout the region. The influence was so wide that by the eighteenth century almost every Sibao agnatic group had become a descent group marked by recognisable symbols. Part IV (Chapter 7) then turns to how another major Neo-Confucian-initiated social project, the community compact, took on its own meaning in Sibao society. Apart from performing the regular functions of the compacts, such as giving lectures on the Sacred Edicts and settling local disputes, they evolved into units that were in charge of irrigation works, organising the worship of local gods, and even the opening of a new market. The last part (Chapters 8 and 9) addresses the issue of local religion, reconstructing the meanings of the three layers of Sibao’s territorial cults. Chapter 10 is the concluding chapter that further discusses the theoretical implications of this study on the lisheng. In sum, the book contributes greatly to our understanding of how the cultural and social fabrics were woven and were constantly changing in a rural setting in late imperial China. This hybridisation of cultures has also given us a deeper understanding of the larger encounter between the state and local society. Not only is the book important to social historians and anthropologists; it also has a lot to teach intellectual historians.

Chinese circulations: Capital, commodities and networks in Southeast Asia

tinue to exist. Therein is the danger; while it makes us feel good, its virtualism cannot be realized. Overall, the book is an excellent contribution to the literature on the region, offering an examination of a commodity network that has long been the topic of research in Papua New Guinea. However, few have followed the commodity so carefully. The book however is not limited to just the regional shelf. This is an important contribution to an emerging literature on neoliberalism, unique in its multi-sited approach to the topic. While theoretically and ethnographically thick, it is written in a fluid prose that would make it useful in undergraduate and graduate courses on development, ethnography, consumption and economic anthropology.