Singapore History and Nation-building: Examining Multiple Perspectives

The significance of commemorating historical development beyond the founding myth

This year, Singapore celebrates its bicentennial - 200 years since the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles, commonly taken as the year of the founding of modem Singapore and marking the start of its dramatic transformation The event commemorates this, yet it also brings up the question of what aspects of historical development one should commemorate. 

Read the article 'In search of the real Singapore stories, beyond Raffles', Channel NewsAsla, 3 February 2019.In what way is there more than one history for any nation?Drawing on the course materials, examine the link between a nation's history and nation- and state-budding processes. 

This assignment requires you to demonstrate a basic understanding of the arguments put forth in Study Unit 1 and its readings. Additional research, only if needed, can be done via both academic and news databases in the library's c-resources,Sage Sociology collection, SOC Index for academic resources, Factiva for news). You may familiarise yourself with the bicentennial celebrations from reports in the local media. 

The TMA allows you to recognise the socio-histoncal factors that contributed to the development of Singapore and Singapore's national character. Using evidence from the course readings, consider and discuss the way national history is linked to nation-building and its motivations. You should also consider some of the implications of these selected accounts for the building of the nation-state.

1. The concepts 'history', 'state', 'nation' and 'nation-state' as used by sociologists and social scientists; the processes of state-building and nation-building — you should differentiate between the two

2. Singapore as a secondary nation-state, and the way this contributed to the histoncal exigencies of post-independence nation-building,

3. The significance of accounts of national histories for the building of nation-states, e.g., Singapore's founding myths and national interests as defined by the state, and how these have had impact on nation-building; the concepts 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' .