COMPETING VISIONS OF NATIONHOOD: CHINESE LANGUAGE THEATRE IN SINGAPORE, 1965-1976
TAN YI LIN MICHELLE
TAN YI LIN MICHELLE
Citations
Altmetric:
Alternative Title
Abstract
This thesis provides a cultural perspective of Singapore's early nation-building
process through an analysis of Chinese-language theatre in Singapore from 1965 to 1976.
Using the 1976 Internal Security Act incident as a starting point, this thesis questions the
characterization of Chinese-language theatre as 'communist' or 'leftist' in existing
scholarship and argues that a more nuanced understanding of this medium is required.
Chinese-language theatre in this period was a social movement concerned with the impact
of Singapore's modernization on the populace as a whole. It presented themes of worker
exploitation, rising costs of living and "unhealthy" culture that provides a glimpse into the
experiences of the people living in this transitional period of socio-economic change.
Through this medium, a narrative of underlying social tension and conflict that has been
overlooked in the traditional nation-building narrative is presented. Chinese-language
theatre of this period also reflects a rejection of the individualistic social values influenced
by the advent of industrial society and instead envisions a more communitarian society for
Singapore. This thesis argues that the conflict between the government and theatre
practitioners that culminated in the 1976 incidents was not simply a conflict between
political ideologies, but rather between conflicting visions of nationhood.
Keywords
Source Title
Publisher
Series/Report No.
Collections
Rights
Date
2016
DOI
Type
Thesis