Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
8-2002
Abstract
This paper focuses on one category of the 'unofficially sacred'-namely, those secular spaces which are used for worship and, in particular, residential spaces which are turned into 'house churches'. Using the case study of a house church in Singapore, the paper examines issues about the politics of religion in urban landscapes in a secular and simultaneously multireligious state. Contrary and in addition to current wisdoms about the politics of religious space, it is argued that various politics are observed: a politics of inclusion; a politics of hybridisation and in-betweenness; a politics of appropriation and nationalisation; and a politics of impermanence and precarity. Through this analysis, the paper seeks to bring added conceptual perspectives to the notion of 'sacred space' within the context of modern, urban, secular settings.
Keywords
cultural landscape, political process, public space, religion, urban politics, land use, Singapore
Discipline
Asian Studies | Religion | Urban Studies
Research Areas
Humanities
Publication
Urban Studies
Volume
39
Issue
9
First Page
1573
Last Page
1586
ISSN
0042-0980
Identifier
10.1080/00420980220151664
Publisher
SAGE
Citation
Kong, Lily.(2002). In Search of Permanent Homes: Singapore's House Churches and the Politics of Space. Urban Studies, 39(9), 1573-1586.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1730
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1080/00420980220151664