{"product_id":"reimagining-singapores-history-essays-on-pre-colonial-roots-and-modern-identity","title":"Reimagining Singapore's History: Essays on Pre-Colonial Roots and Modern Identity","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhat is history? How is it made? And why does it matter?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eReimagining Singapore’s History \u003c\/i\u003ebrings together leading historians\nto discuss these questions within the context of the decades-long project to\nrediscover pre-colonial Singapore. 2019 was a milestone in Singapore’s\nhistory as it marked the 200th anniversary of Stamford Raffles’ landing in\n1819. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHowever, in a powerful turn of events, government-sponsored\ncelebrations used the occasion to highlight Singapore’s longer pre-colonial\nstory, in the process officially pushing back the modern country’s origins to\nthe 14th-century trading post of Temasek. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eContrary to popular belief, Singapore was not a forgotten\nland between Temasek and Raffles; it remained a rich crossroads of trade,\nculture, religion, and merchant empires (both Asian and European). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe discovery of this pre-1819 period has led to Singapore’s\n‘new history’, also known as its ‘700-year narrative’. While this narrative has\nlong been common knowledge among academics, it was only in the past decade that\nit began to make its way into the public consciousness.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n​Why and how did these changes come about? Where did they come from? Why did it\ntake so long to bridge academic and public knowledge? And what is pre-colonial\nSingapore’s relevance for us in the 21st century? Surveying topics from archaeology\nto post-colonial theory, this essay collection explores the above questions and\nintroduces the sources, discoveries, and ideas that led to the literal\nre-writing of Singapore’s official historical narratives over the past decades.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nContributors include renowned National University of Singapore professors and\npublic historians:\u003cbr\u003e\n• Professor Wang Gungwu – recognized as ‘one of Asia’s most important public -\nintellectuals’\u003cbr\u003e\n• Professor Peter Borschberg – pioneer of using non-English European archives\nto study pre-colonial Singapore\u003cbr\u003e\n• Professor Kwa Chong Guan – leading proponent of the long-cycles, 700-year\napproach to Singapore’s history\u003cbr\u003e\n• Professor Syed Farid Alatas – sociologist and among Singapore’s top\npostcolonial theorists\u003cbr\u003e\n• Chris Hale – documentary filmmaker and non-fiction writer, author of A Brief\nHistory of Singapore and Malaysia\u003cbr\u003e\n• Tim Hannigan – travel writer and author of numerous books on Southeast Asia,\nincluding Raffles and the British Invasion of Java\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eMatthew Oey\u003c\/b\u003e is an Associate Editor at Tuttle\nPublishing, part of Periplus Publishing Group. Previously, he was a Research\nAssistant at Columbia’s Graduate School of International and Public Affairs,\nwhere he worked with Professor Stuart Gottlieb and U.S. National Security\nAdvisor Robert O’Brien. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eMatthew was the lead organizer of the ‘Reimagining Southeast\nAsian History’ conference at the Asian Civilisations Museum, held on August 23,\n2023. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History summa cum laude from Columbia\nUniversity and is a Juris Doctor candidate at Harvard Law School.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"TIMES DISTRIBUTION PTE LTD","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44826478248143,"sku":"9789815323757","price":29.32,"currency_code":"SGD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0574\/5662\/3823\/files\/download_191fec99-57b8-4861-b834-bac5c4b8b98f.jpg?v=1770193705","url":"https:\/\/popular.com.sg\/products\/reimagining-singapores-history-essays-on-pre-colonial-roots-and-modern-identity","provider":"Popular Book Company Pte Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}