The living and the dead: changing geographies of death in postwar Singapore

Abstract

This paper is intended as an overview of Chinese burial grounds in post-WWII Singapore. The aim is to show that the changing necro-geography both reflected and was implicated in the wider social transformations, including those which undergirded the transition from colonial to nation state. The main focus is on the change from landscapes and practices of burial to those of cremation. This study of the abodes of the dead draws on several traditions within historical and cultural geography. The main lines of development of Chinese landscapes of death and disposal cannot be fully comprehended without an understanding of Chinese cultural and religious practices. These necro-landscapes occupy a strategic place within Chinese cultural and religious beliefs. The historical perspective, particularly the changing context from colonialism to independence, also helps illumine this changing geography. Spaces devoted to the dead are situated in and shaped by the politics of power among the living. -from Authors