Going global and staying local: nation-building discourses in Singapore's cultural policies

Abstract

Utilizing the ‘Singapore Story’, this study will explore cultural policies implemented and aimed towards cosmopolitanism, and how these policies have affected the international arts scene, which has led to a polarization within the community by excluding the elderly and disadvantaged members of the population from participating. Singapore's cultural policy has served the function of nation-building and at the same time goes with globalisation and thus calls for constructing a cosmopolitan yet patriotic citizen in terms of identity. This article considers the role of nationalism as a guide to the understanding of cultural policy discourses and argues that a top-down cosmopolitan construction of national identity in cultural policy discourses lacks representation of people's daily life.

Keywords:

• cultural policy
• nationalism
• Singaporean identity
• nation-building
• cosmopolitanism
• Singapore Story

Acknowledgement

This article is supported by the project funding of Taiwan's National Science Council (99-2410-H-003-158; 101-2410-H-003-020-MY2). The author wishes to thank anonymous reviewers and editors for their valuable comments and Derek Lindamood for his editing assistance.

Notes

1. As delineated in National Arts Council's website under the title of “Mission, Vision, alues & Logo”. Available from: http://www.nac.gov.sg/about-us/mission-vision-values-logo [Accessed 16 November 2012].

2. Other ‘hardware’ or infrastructural projects include a new National Library building and the redevelopment of the Singapore History Museum and the like.

3. Singapore Arts Festival 2012 was held from 18 May to 2 June. Twenty-three programmes are from Singapore, and two programmes are co-opted by Singaporeans and artists from other countries. Out of a total 93 programmes, 25 programmes are marked ‘Singaporean.’ See http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/events?d [Accessed 4 May 2012].

4. See http://www.centralsingaporecdc.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/forms/CS_DAP_Schedule_FA2.pdf [Accessed 30 Apr 2012].

5. Outreach activities were organised for engaging the community.

6. Wayang, a Malay word meaning a theatrical performance employing puppets or human dancers, commonly refers to Chinese street opera in Singapore. In Mandarin, Chinese street opera is known as jiexi (‘street show’). This traditional Chinese dramatic form was brought to Singapore by immigrants from China during the nineteenth century as part of their religious rites.

7. In Prime Minister's 1999 National Day Rally speech, Singaporeans are divided into two categories: heartlanders and cosmopolitans (see Tan 2003, pp. 758–759).