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Acknowledgements In 2000, Professor Wang Gungwu pointedly asked, ‘Don’t you have enough work yet for a small book on Singapore?’ He then proceeded to refer me to a university press that had asked him for a book on ‘Asian values’, as he thought my work might fit what they had in mind. It did not, in the end; but the ‘small book’ in question has finally appeared, though after some effort. This study is in many respects a companion work to an earlier book, Culture, Empire, and the Question of Being Modern (2003). Jointly taken, they represent an attempt to reflect upon the changing historical relationship between colonialism (and its aftermath), modernity and national culture. The crosscultural aspect of national-identity formation has been a key concern in both studies, first between the imperial centre and its colonised periphery, and now, between the ‘modernised’ periphery and not only the former British imperial heartland — the original home of industrial modernity — but also the newer centres of the modern in both the advanced West and in East Asia. Singapore has been the case study for this latter reflection on culture and modernity because, first, its small territorial size and concentrated post-independence history allow a comprehensive survey on ‘national’ development not always possible with larger societies; and, second, because it is an indicative example for many of the issues I had in mind. Consequently, this is ‘a small book on Singapore’, and yet, not really .… There are both strengths and limitations to the approach taken, naturally. The following friends and colleagues have engaged in valuable discussions with me in regard to various parts of the book over the years: Lee Weng Choy, Ray Langenbach, Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Sharon Siddique, Benjamin K. S. Wong, Tay Acknowledgements xii Kheng Soon, Mala de Alwis, Pradeep Jeganathan, Chen Kuan-Hsing, Ien Ang, William S. W. Lim, Yao Souchou, Tejaswini Niranjana, the late Paul Wheatley, Note Osamu, Janadas Devan, Nick Freeman, Barbara Watson Andaya, Cheah Boon Kheng, T. N. Harper, Chris Connery, Bob Hefner, Gyanesh Kudaisya, Medha Kudaisya, the late Kuo Pao Kun, Mok Wei Wei, Tan Kok Meng, Tan Liok Ee, Heinrich Blömeke, Aihwa Ong, Don Nonini, Victor P. H. Li, Jeannie Martin, Meaghan Morris, Mark Berger, Ong Keng Sen, Tay Tong, Arun Mahihznan, Norma Field, Hans-Dieter Evers, Ooi Giok Ling, Terence Lee, Gillian Koh, Lucy Davis, Kwa Chong Guan, Marc Askew, Leslie E. S. Teo, Yip Chun Seng, Dinesh Naidu, Charles Lim, Ashis Nandy, Audrey Wong, S. Gopinathan, Mark Seldan, Stephen Hazell, Charlene Rajendran, Bruce Robbins, Pang Tit Khuen, Pang Kim Lock and Julia Morgan-Pang. A few persons require special mention. Chua Beng Huat has been critically engaged with many aspects of the work for a decade. Elizabeth Helsinger and Jean Comaroff, both former teachers in Chicago, have soldiered on, despite busy schedules, with my requests for their differing thoughts on ‘culture’. Vicente Rafael, Philip Holden and Rob Wilson have been part of a community of ideas that have helped me complete the book. Kwok Kian Woon shared his sociological insights on culture and Singapore with me. Dipesh Chakrabarty’s and Arjun Appadurai’s responses to the globalisation processes in my corner of the world have always been illuminating. Ronald Inden’s acerbically stated and revealing ideas on modernity, colonialism and the global modern in Chicago (and also in London) linger on and contributed to the arguments in the book. The historical-anthropological work of the late Bernard S. Cohn — another Chicago teacher — has also remained. In general, I am grateful for the work of the historical and cultural anthropologists and the historians who challenged me to think beyond the realm of literary humanism when mulling over the nuances of that complex term, ‘culture’. I also thank Wang Gungwu and Anthony C. Yu for their encouragement. The late Krishen Jit and Marion d’Cruz maintained an enlightening and ongoing discussion on Malaysian and Singapore theatre. Thanks too to Traslin Ong and Lucilla Teoh at TheatreWorks (Singapore) Ltd., and also to Wong Yen Yen of the Practice Performing Arts School for their help with various and only seemingly mundane matters. I thank the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University for a visiting fellowship in 2006 that helped me complete part of the revision of the manuscript; particular thanks here go to Caroline Turner. The specific and ongoing support of Lubna Alsagoff, the head of English Language and Literature, was also important in this regard, as was staff development leave...

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