Singapore as a Creative City: vignettes from the perspective of la flâneuse tropique

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.17.2.2018.3660

Keywords:

ethnographic flânerie, flâneur, flâneuse, creative cities, Singapore, heritage, graffiti

Abstract

The tropical metropolis of Singapore is on a quest to become a creative city. Its policies explicate the need to transform into a ‘renaissance city’, a global hub of creative industries and economies. Yet, for Singapore – better known for its panoptic rather than creative imaginary – the question remains ‘how does the government’s policy of creativity translate on the ground?’ As a theory and method of critically meandering through the city in order to participate and observe quotidian practices at the street level, flânerie offers a way of engaging and contributing to an ethnography of urban life. This paper explores flânerie through the perspective of the female flâneuse. Two vignettes – one concerning heritage and the other graffiti – provide thick descriptions of encounters with creative practices in Singapore.

Author Biographies

Sneha Chaudhury, James Cook University Singapore

Sneha Chaudhury completed her Graduate Diploma in Research Methods (Tropical Environments and Societies) at James Cook University Singapore with Distinction. Her research interests lie in cultural sustainability, creative cities, arts culture and heritage. Her current project, for which she won the “My Research in 3 Minutes” award, engages with Singapore’s shift to become a global city of the arts.

Sneha also has a Bachelor of Business Degree in International Business from James Cook University Singapore and was on the Dean’s list for outstanding work. She is extremely active in extracurricular activities, and has been involved in numerous projects in India working with women, youth, mental health awareness and cultural sustainability with various United Nations Organizations.

Anita Lundberg, James Cook University Singapore

Associate Professor Anita Lundberg is a cultural anthropologist whose research engages people and places of South East Asia. Her work concerns the lived experiences of tropical liminal spaces. Anita’s projects include ethnographies in Singapore, and previously, Malaysia and Indonesia.  Anita has received awards for outstanding teaching, research supervision, and innovative research. She has held numerous international fellowships, including with LIA TransOceanik (JCU, CNRS, Collège de France). She has curated exhibitions in Singapore, NY, LA, Paris and Sydney and her own research, theoretical, and artistic works have been exhibited at the Australian National Maritime Museum, the National Art Gallery of Malaysia and Alliance de Française. Anita has a PhD from the University of New South Wales, Australia and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow with Cambridge University, UK.

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Published

2018-09-04

How to Cite

Chaudhury, S., & Lundberg, A. (2018). Singapore as a Creative City: vignettes from the perspective of la flâneuse tropique. ETropic: Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics, 17(2). https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.17.2.2018.3660