REMINISCING THE SEASIDE

Abstract

Today, the seaside is commonly known as a place of pleasure. Yet, it did not begin with such stereotyped notions. How does the seaside eventually come to be known as a "paradise of pleasure?" How do people come to know about this leisured place? This study looks at how Singaporeans appropriated the seaside for their own use in the 1960s and 1970s. The social activities of the seaside provide the springboard for discussions on meanings of place and communities at the seaside itself. Communities are often regarded as having ties to place, with a sense of loyalty to people and places as well. Thus, the potential of community formation at the seaside will be discussed, together with other issues like the experience of beach-going and its meanings for the beach-goers. In excavating the past, it is inherent that the present is also brought into play. When the condition of the present is considered negative in relation to the past, nostalgia kicks in. In fact, nostalgia is largely about the construction of the past, as certain elements are embellished while others selectively deleted from memory. Hence, in the analysis of nostalgia for the seaside in the 1960s and 1970s, it is the present that we understand-lost youth, the decline of the extended family, the loss of seaside place communities.