Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

6-1996

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the links between place and time, and the intersections between the geographical imagination and the historical mind. These issues are explored in the context of Singapore by looking at the links between place and three concepts usually associated with the temporal sense - history, nostalgia and heritage. We argue that the two imaginations can be simultaneously engaged by means of a focus on the concept of place. The making of a place is closely intertwined with individual biographies and collective histories; at the same time, place does not record history in an unproblematic way. We next argue that a sense of nostalgia is a yearning to return to a lost period and place and why memory is often best served by anchoring it in the materiality of place. This is precisely the case in the inscription of heritage into the concrete elements of specific sites as a stare strategy to codify and naturalise its own version of heritage as part of the the everyday, visible world. In concluding, we reflect on the salience of place. While it lends itself to ideological uses by the powerful, a sense of place is also equally significant in the experiences and aspirations of a people.

Discipline

Asian Studies | Human Geography | Urban Studies

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography

Volume

17

Issue

1

First Page

52

Last Page

65

ISSN

0129-7619

Identifier

10.1111/j.1467-9493.1996.tb00084.x

Publisher

Wiley

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9493.1996.tb00084.x

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