Fuming and fogging memories: civil society and state in communication of heritage in Singapore in the cases of the Singapore Memories Project and the ‘Marxist Conspiracy’ of 1987

Abstract

This paper seeks to discuss the ecology of memories in contemporary Singapore as reflective of emerging tensions between the state and civil society in remembering the development of the nation-state for close to about five decades of independence. At the core of the tension are competing efforts to curate public memories through traditional and new media. As the state establishes a nostalgic community that sentimentalizes the dominant narrative of development in the Singapore Memory Project, alternative campaigns emerge to remember a more troubled past of arbitrary detention of political activists. Using the metaphors of ‘fumigating’ and ‘fuming’ to frame the staging of a more reified reminiscence of the past against the resurfacing a more traumatized history, the authors seek to position the recent contestations as the beginnings of a new chapter of communicating and personalizing history in the republic.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kai Khiun Liew

Dr Liew Kai Khiun is an Assistant Professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at the Nanyang Technological University. His research interests include transnational cultural memories and new media in the East and Southeast Asian contexts.

Natalie Pang

Dr Natalie Pang is an Assistant Professor in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her primary research interest is in participatory forms of engagement using new media, and she investigates this theme in the domains of civic engagement and information behaviour. She practices both basic and applied research.