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	<title>s/pores &#187; nation-building</title>
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	<link>http://s-pores.com</link>
	<description>new directions in singapore studies</description>
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		<title>National Songs Revisited</title>
		<link>http://s-pores.com/2010/03/national-songs-revisited/</link>
		<comments>http://s-pores.com/2010/03/national-songs-revisited/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:12:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>s/pores</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[6 the arts I]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nation-building]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://s-pores.com/?p=772</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[From Propaganda to Pop to Anti-cool Kitsch
Tan Shzr Ee

There was a time, when people said that one Singapore song was too many – but maybe they were wrong.
Lame attempt aside at parroting that famous opening line of our 1987 hit, We Are Singapore, what can be gleaned from rusty minds which have forgotten how to [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Hide-and-Seek History</title>
		<link>http://s-pores.com/2009/10/hide-and-seek-history/</link>
		<comments>http://s-pores.com/2009/10/hide-and-seek-history/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:51:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>s/pores</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[5 detention]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nation-building]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[political detention]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://s-pores.com/?p=653</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Teng Qian Xi 
An edited version of this article first appeared in Today, 9 March 2006.

What picture does the phrase “political detainee” conjure up for you? What picture does the phrase “political detainee” conjure up for you? Have you ever thought that the person behind you in line at the café, or opposite you in [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Reminiscences on a HDB Point Block</title>
		<link>http://s-pores.com/2009/07/hdbblock/</link>
		<comments>http://s-pores.com/2009/07/hdbblock/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:46:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>s/pores</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[4 if]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economic development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nation-building]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://s-pores.com/?p=341</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ho Weng Hin


Landscapes of Home
Until we settled down in a landed property in my secondary school days, my family has moved house a grand total of seven times, and always to a public housing flat. It was a priceless initiation into Singapore’s inimitable public housing architecture and landscape. I have no recollection of my first [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>学语以外 : Beyond Language Learning</title>
		<link>http://s-pores.com/2009/07/beyond/</link>
		<comments>http://s-pores.com/2009/07/beyond/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:44:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>s/pores</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[4 if]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cultural politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[identity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nation-building]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://s-pores.com/?p=453</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[李慧玲 : Lee Huay Leng
English version
Translated by Francis Lim Khek Gee, with additional translation by Tan Siok Siok


我们回到上海时，赶紧把在汕头买的潮语配音《白雪公主》卡通片拿出来播放，听着皇后用潮州话问那镜子：“魔镜，魔镜，世界上那个芝娘最美丽？”全家人都被逗乐了。

小时候由外婆照顾、有点潮州话基础，但后来疏于应用的表弟这次跟我一起到潮汕去。才几天在潮汕浸濡，他的潮州话大有进步。表弟比我小了将近12岁。我哥问他现在知不知道“厕所”潮州话怎么讲，他可以字正腔圆的说出。换作以前，他一定用“toilet”取代。表弟说，在岛国的经验里，潮州话是老人、至少是成年人的语言。没有想到在潮州，碰到三岁的小孩，原来都是说潮州话的。它就像在岛国英语会从孩子的口里源源不断的流出来一样，词汇丰富，表述生动。
我不知道从哪年开始，我们日常的语言有了年龄之分，甚至有阶级之分。但是我确实经常听到这样的说法，不是关于方言的——方言已经不在家长选择的语言之列了。是关于孩子入学前，一些会讲华语的祖父祖母在家跟他们华语，有的父母也跟孩子讲华语，而小孩上了学跟其他同学接触，说的都是英语，回到家跟兄弟姐妹讲的也是英语。
在他们的概念里，华语成了老年人（至少是部分成年人）的语言，平时跟自己同辈的人说话，正常还是用英语的。
这样对不对，好不好？家里该讲什么语言？父母分别讲英语和华语，还是全都讲一种语言？孩子的语言学习是个费力的工程，家长要趁早尽心怎样的规划？
回去祖父和外婆的潮汕老家，不同的空间，让人有不同的体悟。我观察那里碰到的店员、路上的行人、亲戚的小孩。除非是外省来的人，否则人们彼此交谈，都是用潮州话。我心里纳闷，他们为什么不用普通话？或者，他们也应该知道英语的市场价值有多重要吧？为什么亲戚似乎一点不急于教小孩英语？我问了一下，孩子学英语吗？父母都说等入了学，课堂老师会教。
后来我问在村里当小学华文老师的长辈，他说，老师们也还在学英文，学了就教孩子。谈起来，似乎也都不很当真。我分辨不出那是按照我们的标准看时，一种眼界不够开阔，目光不够长远的表现，又或者是一种在完全不同的国情里的自信和自得。我的潮汕亲戚没有想要做世界第一，或者全国第一，只想在原来的土地上继续生活。而本事和他们的语言是没有关系的——至少我感觉他们是这样的思维方式。还有一点：他们不要求我们，但是自己家里的孩子如果不会说潮汕话，对他们来说是比较难接受的。
我参考着他们的方式，想象如果我也有小孩，到底要怎么教育他们，用什么语言教育他们。我在北京的一个朋友，牛津大学回来的，但我见她跟两岁的孩子一句英语不说，都只有普通话，甚至逗着让孩子学给我们听听幼儿园里山西人的口音。我问她时，她一副不着急的样子，觉得英语以后自然是会的。
回到岛国，完全是另一个环境，另一种思维。有用和没有用，有多少用处，是一个总在思索求生存的国家衡量人和事情的标准？我读过历史，不怀疑国力强大能使某一种语言和文化地位攀升，识时务者自然要紧跟其后。有时也想到路易十四时代，法文如何盛行。但是如果换一个方式思考，语文的学习，不是因为它的现实价值，采用哪一种方法比较理想，也就同样不是关键了。孩子小时，大人教他们一种不一定能与全世界对话的语言，为的是那是属于他们自己文化与传统的一部分——这样的教育，着重自我面对的态度，是一种自我尊重和对原则的坚持。这不重要吗？
而后，再去想实用价值和教授的方法的问题。


李慧玲，新闻工作者，曾经担任《联合早报》驻香港、北京记者。也是公民团体圆切线创社社员。


As soon as we got back to Shanghai, we played back the dubbed in Teochew version of  “Snow White”, which we bought in Shantou. The whole family was tickled pink when we heard the Queen asked the [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Singapore in Mid-twentieth Century: The Deep Divide</title>
		<link>http://s-pores.com/2009/06/divide/</link>
		<comments>http://s-pores.com/2009/06/divide/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:06:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>s/pores</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[3 commemoration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cultural politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nation-building]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[postcolonial]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://s-pores.com/?p=233</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[CN Chen

It is usual not to expect too much of a glossy and beautifully bound book destined to decorate the top of a coffee table but the National University of Singapore centennial celebration publication Imagination, Openness and Courage was an exception. Its lead article was a masterly dissertation by Professor Wang Gungwu on the state [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Hankering for National Heroes</title>
		<link>http://s-pores.com/2009/02/heroes/</link>
		<comments>http://s-pores.com/2009/02/heroes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2009 04:35:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>s/pores</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[3 commemoration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exhibition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nation-building]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://s-pores.com/?p=206</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hong Lysa 

Heroic celebrations, 2008
‘This year, we celebrate the heroes of Singapore’, declared the Singapore HeritageFest which had its anchor exhibition at Suntec City entitled, ‘Who’s Your Hero?’ (12-27 Jul 2008). The activities were not only confined to the popular shopping mall, but also fanned out to sites such as the popular disco, Zouk for [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Making of the Singapore History Gallery: Some Personal Reflections</title>
		<link>http://s-pores.com/2009/02/history-gallery/</link>
		<comments>http://s-pores.com/2009/02/history-gallery/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2009 03:07:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>s/pores</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[3 commemoration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exhibition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nation-building]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://s-pores.com/?p=198</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Mark Ravinder Frost

Ordinarily research scholars seem to ignore the fact that the past is of interest to us only in so far as it was living and that unless they discover it for us in such a way as to make us feel its life, we may admire them for their patience and industry but [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>New University, Three Generations: China, Malaya, Singapore, 1949-2007</title>
		<link>http://s-pores.com/2008/02/generations/</link>
		<comments>http://s-pores.com/2008/02/generations/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:26:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>s/pores</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[2 archives & memory II]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cultural politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nation-building]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[postcolonial]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://s-pores.com/?p=169</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Wang Gungwu
Text of the public lecture given on 8 July 2007 in conjunction with the official opening of the National University of Singapore Bukit Timah Campus.

A new University of Malaya was founded in 1949 in the shadow of the Malayan emergency and the communist victory in China. For the next decade, there was for many [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Continuing Saga of Singapore’s Story</title>
		<link>http://s-pores.com/2007/04/singapore-story/</link>
		<comments>http://s-pores.com/2007/04/singapore-story/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:41:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>s/pores</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[1 inauguration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nation-building]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://s-pores.com/?p=59</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hong Lysa

Ever since its inception, The Singapore Story has attempted to saturate the content and meanings of Singapore history for Singaporeans. It is the narrative by PAP leaders of their sacrifices, hardships, courage, endurance, and achievements, and of how their successors have continued with their good work.
Ten years down the road, in 2006 however, National [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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