Hidden Hands and Divided Landscapes : A Penal History of Singapore's Plural Society

by Pieris, Anoma

• ISBN13: 9780824833541
• ISBN10: 0824833546
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-03-30
• Publisher: Univ of Hawaii Pr

Summary

During the nineteenth century, the colonial Straits Settlements of Singapore, Penang, and Melaka were established as free ports of British trade in Southeast Asia and proved attractive to large numbers of regional migrants. Following the abolishment of slavery in 1833, the Straits government transported convicts from the East India Company's Indian presidencies to the settlements as a source of inexpensive labor. The prison became the primary experimental site for the colonial plural society and convicts were graduated by race and the labor needed for urban construction. Hidden Hands and Divided Landscapes investigates how a political system aimed at managing ethnic communities in the larger material context of the colonial urban project was first imagined and tested through the physical segregation of the colonial prison. It relates the story of a city, Singapore, and a contemporary city-state whose plural society has its origins in these historical divisions.

Author Biography

Anoma Pieris is senior lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, University of Melbourne, Australia.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Divided Landscapes	p. 30
The Colonial Prison	p. 62
Hidden Hands	p. 95
The Perils of Association	p. 130
The Battle for the City	p. 156
The Citadel	p. 188
Conclusion	p. 217
Appendices	p. 237
Notes	p. 249
Glossary	p. 319
Bibliography	p. 321
Index	p. 343
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