Keramat, Sacred Relics and Forbidden Idols in Singapore

Keramat, Sacred Relics and Forbidden Idols in Singapore
Author: William L. Gibson
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2024-08-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1040118135

Keramat, holy graves and shrines, represent physical markers of Singapore’s history as a multi‐ethnic maritime trading center. They offered sanctified spaces not only for Muslims but also for the entire community in which they emerged. Maintained by self‐appointed caretakers, the stories of keramat often interweave fact with folklore that mirror the history and sensibilities of the community. While once an abundant part of the social landscape of Singapore, many keramat were destroyed during the post‐independence rush to develop. These keramat now face a second vanishing with memories of them fading as caretakers and community members age and pass away. In parallel, many modern Muslims consider keramat as a form of shirk, or polytheism, and tacitly consent to their destruction. This book concludes by critically examining the often‐tense relationship between keramat and authority, both secular and religious, from colonial to modern times. The dilemmas of grappling with puritanical norms and grassroots elaborations in varying modes of preservation are investigated using case studies from Singapore and the wider region. A vital resource for scholars, this work contributes to a people’s history of Singapore, one that both deepens and problematizes official historical accounts.

Keramat, Sacred Relics and Forbidden Idols in Singapore

Keramat, Sacred Relics and Forbidden Idols in Singapore
Author: William L. Gibson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024-08-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781032785882

This book critically examines the often-tense relationship between keramat and authority, both secular and religious, from colonial to modern times. A vital resource for scholars, this work contributes to a people's history of Singapore, one that both deepens and problematizes official historical accounts.

Singapore Black

Singapore Black
Author: William L. Gibson
Publisher: Monsoon Books
Total Pages: 175
Release: 2013-10-29
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9814423416

Singapore/Malaya, 1892: When a dead American is found floating in Rochor Canal, Chief Detective Inspector David Hawksworth begins an investigation that quickly leads into a labyrinth of deceit and violence in the polyglot steamcooker of turnofthecentury Singapore. As Chinese gangs verge on open turf war and powerful commercial enterprises vie for control of the economy, a stolen statue that houses an ancient Hindu goddess becomes the object of a pursuit with a mounting body count, and its seems that everyone is suffering from maniacal erotic nightmares. Will Hawksworth be able to restore order before the colony is tipped into a bloodbath? Explore the dark underbelly of nineteenthcentury Singapore’s Chinatown and colonial district in this hardboiled historical thriller trilogy, comprising Singapore Black, Singapore Yellow and Singapore Red.

Alfred Raquez and the French Experience of the Far East, 1898-1906

Alfred Raquez and the French Experience of the Far East, 1898-1906
Author: William Gibson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-05
Genre: Europeans
ISBN: 9780367702465

"A study of an enigmatic travel writer and his work in colonial Asia during the fin de siècle. In 1898, a man calling himself Alfred Raquez appeared in Indochina claiming to be a writer travelling the world to escape unfathomable sorrows back home in France. He published thousands of pages of highly detailed travel accounts that open a unique window onto the European presence in the Far East. He travelled far into the Zomia of upland Southeast Asia, a peripheral zone populated by people who lived beyond official state power. Raquez explored the nightlife of Shanghai and operated a popular cabaret in Hanoi. An amateur anthropologist, he helped mount expositions of colonial material in Hanoi and Marseille. Raquez met people in the highest circles of Belle Époque Indochina, as well as the kings of Annam, Cambodia, Laos and Siam. And yet, despite the charm and the ebullience and the erudition, through all his travels and rising fame, the man kept a secret that was so mortifying that even his closest companions would not learn of it until after his death in 1907. In truth, Alfred Raquez did not exist. A fascinating read for students and scholars of colonial Southeast Asia, and European colonialism more broadly"--

Reframing Singapore

Reframing Singapore
Author: Derek Thiam Soon Heng
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN: 9089640940

Over the past two decades, Singapore has advanced rapidly towards becoming a both a global city-state and a key nodal point in the international economic sphere. These developments have caused us to reassess how we understand this changing nation, including its history, population, and geography, as well as its transregional and transnational experiences with the external world. This collection spans several disciplines in the humanities and social sciences and draws on various theoretical approaches and methodologies in order to produce a more refined understanding of Singapore and to reconceptialize the challenges faced by the country and its peoples.

Singapore Yellow

Singapore Yellow
Author: William L. Gibson
Publisher: Monsoon Books
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2015-06-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9814423661

Singapore/Malaya, 1892: Chief Detective Inspector David Hawksworth, orphaned, middle-aged and gimlet-eyed, travels to Malacca to meet a mysterious woman who claims his mother is alive, only to find a British Resident has been brutally murdered and a Singapore police expedition has vanished in the jungle. Children are being snatched from villages, sinister commercial syndicates are fighting over virgin resources, and a seductive vampiric pontianak is on the loose. When native kids start turning up butchered in Singapore, Hawksworth finds himself increasingly isolated as the evidence points to the involvement of the colonial elite. Bringing justice to the powerful perpetrators while saving his own skin and uncovering the secrets of his dark past pushes the detective past the brink in this thrilling sequel to Singapore Black. Singapore Yellow is volume two in the 19th-century Detective Hawksworth Trilogy set in Singapore and Malaya that includes Singapore Black and Singapore Red.

Cultural Heritage and Peripheral Spaces in Singapore

Cultural Heritage and Peripheral Spaces in Singapore
Author: Tai Wei Lim
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2017-09-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9811047472

This book documents through first-hand experience and academic research the historical, cultural and economic interactions affecting land use in Singapore. Offering a unique study of nostalgia in Singaporean heritage, it discusses the subjective nostalgic meanings and interpretations that users of peripheral, heritage and green spaces in Singapore create and maintain, through a combination of informal observations and interactions combined with research into local history and heritage. It addresses the subjective meaning-making processes of individuals within the larger theoretical frameworks that structure understandings of changing land use and economical changes which impact on contemporary cityscapes, centered around peripheral and de-privileged areas of Singapore’s economic development.

A History of Pahang

A History of Pahang
Author: William Linehan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2020
Genre: Pahang (Malaysia)
ISBN: 9789672438083

The Rough Guide to Bali & Lombok

The Rough Guide to Bali & Lombok
Author: Lucy Ridout
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 469
Release: 2013-10-03
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1409350525

Make the most of the cultural and natural richness of Bali and Lombok with this comprehensive and up-to-date guide. The full-colour introduction shows off the islands' highlights, from dramatic cliff-top temples to sparkling white-sand beaches. Whatever kind of traveller you are, from beachcomber to eco-tourist, on a budget or money's-no-object, you'll find the accommodation, restaurants and experiences that are right for you, whether you're looking for bargain hostels and beach shacks or chic spas and boutique hotels. Alongside great coverage of family-friendly destinations and activities, the unique volcanic landscapes, Balinese pop music and performing arts there's advice on where to dive, how to arrange treks up the island's volcanoes and the top surf breaks. The Rough Guide to Bali and Lombok gives you all the practical advice you'll need for a great adventure. Originally published in print in 2011. Now available in ePub format.