SSA2211/GES1

011
Evolution of a
Global
City
INTRODUCTORY
LECTURE
Semester 2,
State
AY2015-16

Dr Donna Brunero

Teaching Team:
Dr Donna Brunero
Mr Tan Chye Guan (Module Coordinator)
Guest Lecturer: Prof Kwa Chong Guan
Tutors: MD Anisur Rahman and Ong
Yanchun

SSA2211: in a nutshell
Does not take a conventional
nation building approach.
Explores 1299,1819 and 1965 as
all holding relevance for
understanding the past.
Reflects on overlapping forces
such as trade, culture and
military/conflict that have
shaped the history of this island.

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Tissue Packet from Singapore Day, New York 2012

WHAT IS HISTORY?
All that has happened in the past?
Our past/heritage/social memory?
As students of history we examine the past
through: documents, artifacts, oral interviews
and try to understand how and why particular
things happened.

History as an objective examination of

evidence to find out what happened, why, when
and where.
Study based on the idea that evidence is
accurate and VERIFIABLE.

Case Study: History in our midst

KTM railway and the Tanjong Pagar Railway
Station being returned to Singaporean hands.

HISTORY:
Of Politics?
Of transportation?
Of Singapores role as a
trading hub/staple port for
Malay rubber and tin?
Of local history and
community memories?
What does this mean to you?
What memories would you
preserve? What history would
you write?

Traditional Approaches
History as elitist, the records of
great men and big events.
Rafes? Lee Kuan Yew?
Official documents/memoirs of
political leaders.
Policies, big picture, official
accounts of events.

Traditional Approaches (II)

Linear: we trace the
progression of history
from early times
through to the present.
The story of the
development of a
nation state

Recent approaches:
Excavations at Fort Canning, Empress Place

Archaeology: uncovering evidence of Singapores pre-1819 settlements.

Temasek era (end of 13th Century). A trading emporium catering to
regional and China traders.

Recent Approaches (II)

Idea of CYCLES of trade and geo-politics that affected
Singapore.
--This island was successful at times, at others it
was subordinate, and it has also been sidelined .

Is is possible that sometimes the waters around Singapore

were more important than the island?!

 A Peoples History? Providing a richer view of the

Singapore Story?
Local culture?
How can these histories help us to consider Singapores
development?

Over the semester well

examine Singapore as:
A port city
Part of the early Malay World
Part of the China-Southeast Asia
interaction with the founding of
Temasek in the late 13th Century
A colonial port in the East-West Trade
A nation state and a global city

Our Module:
Challenges you to examine the arguments
for and against 1819 as the traditional
starting point for Singapores history.
Challenges you to QUESTION your
assumptions on Singapores development
and history.
Asks you to consider the role that
geopolitics and trade has played in
Singapores early modern and modern
history.
Examines the tensions between Singapore
as a nation state and its evolution as a
global city-state.