Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
3-2019
Abstract
This paper looks at how cosmopolitanism is practised amongst Singaporeans who have experienced Singapore’s education reform in the 1990s. Cosmopolitanism in Singapore is tied to state-intervention with a national orientation. To complement Singapore’s push towards cosmopolitanism, the education reform in the 1990s promoted the idea of a national citizen with a global orientation. I looked at 40 Singaporeans born after the year 1990 to investigate cosmopolitan attitudes that have emerged from the tensions between cosmopolitanism and nationalism. To meet the state’s ideals of cosmopolitanism, these Singaporeans employed strategies to practice a particular form of cosmopolitan openness which prioritise national interests. Nationalism and cosmopolitanism co-exist in Singapore and share a dialectic relationship as I argue that these Singaporeans are global national citizens.
Keywords
Cosmopolitanism, Education, Foreign others, Globalisation, Nationalism, Singapore
Discipline
Asian Studies | Leadership Studies | Political Science | Public Affairs
Publication
Globalisation, Societies and Education
Volume
17
Issue
4
First Page
500
Last Page
515
ISSN
1476-7724
Identifier
10.1080/14767724.2019.1573659
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Citation
THIAN, Wen Li.(2019). How to be Singaporean: Becoming global national citizens and the national dimension in cosmopolitan openness. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 17(4), 500-515.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2851
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/10.1080/14767724.2019.1573659
Included in
Asian Studies Commons, Leadership Studies Commons, Political Science Commons, Public Affairs Commons