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Looking Back to the Future
New media - Digital Recording

Looking Back to the Future

P.T. Thum and J.F. Warren
2020
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Abstract

Prof James Warren is one of the giants of the field of Singapore history, but he doesn’t receive as much attention from the non-academic world as he should because he works on subaltern history, history from below, the history of people who are often forgotten and overlooked even in their own time. Prof Warren is famous for two books in particular: Ah Ku and Karayuki-San, a history of prostitution in Singapore from 1870-1940; and Rickshaw Coolie, a history of rickshaw drivers. Rickshaw Coolie is a real history of the people, which is why Warren subtitled the book “A people’s history of Singapore 1880-1940.” In this speech, delivered in January 2019 at the National Library of Singapore, he reflects on a long career working on Singapore and raises some issues for discussion about the future of Singapore historical study.

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