Crucial Pre-Registration Information

The second class lecture time on 20 August, Tuesday will be a compulsory class trip to the Bicentennial Exhibition. We have block-booked the 11am presentation at Fort Canning.  Anyone unable to make this trip is strongly discouraged from registering for this module. The first Assignment, which is 15% of the total grade, will be based on this Exhibition.  A chartered bus will ferry us to and from Fort Canning. Students interested in reading this module must regard the first lecture, 13 August, Tuesday as compulsory since I will give a short pre-trip briefing during our Introduction Lecture.

If you have another class at 12noon on Tuesday, please approach me on the first day of class, 13 August, to talk about alternative arrangements.

Module Introduction

Welcome to the University Scholars Programme History Module USE2304, entitled Singapore: The Making of a Nation. In order to benefit from this module, you will need to understand its requirements and modes of assessment.

The course serves as an introduction to history in general and the history of modern Singapore in particular. It adopts a wide-angled approach to an understanding of national history, identity and heritage, with due attention to both international and internal developments which have together shaped present-day Singapore. The first section, a brief chronological exploration of the years before independence, includes the Second World War, the Japanese Occupation, the fight for political independence, the struggle for Malaysia and finally Separation in 1965. The second section, centering on the nation- building processes since 1965, analyses the evolution of the economy, culture, education, ethnicity, housing, gender, defense and diplomacy. Through the investigation of multiple sources and voices including official accounts, commercial and documentary films, this module hopes to encourage students to think critically about issues of nation-building, citizenship, identity, ownership and participation.

Module Requirements

You are expected to attend the weekly Lectures, each of which occupies a two-hour slot (with a short mid-lecture break), and the Weekly Tutorials, which also occupy two-hour slots.

Since this module does not require a final examination, tutorial attendance is compulsory. Students absent from tutorials without valid reasons, e.g. medical or personal emergency, will find their CA adversely affected.

The tutorials will be conducted as seminars and students will be expected to have read the assigned readings for discussions. Each student will be expected to give a presentation on one assigned reading from the list. I will assign the presentation slots after the enrollment has been confirmed. The presentation will be 15-20 minutes. Another student will give a 10-minutes critique of the first student’s presentation.