Singaporean Geraldine Heng elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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Professor Geraldine Heng says the election to the academy came as "wholly a surprise".
PHOTO: GERALDINE HENG
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SINGAPORE – Singaporean academic Professor Geraldine Heng has been elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
She is a noted scholar of mediaeval studies and was elected in the field of humanities alongside other famous names, including Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh, actor-composer-playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda (of Hamilton fame), writer-producer Shonda Rimes (creator of Netflix hit Bridgerton) and writer Zadie Smith.
Prof Heng, who is based in Texas, told The Straits Times over e-mail that the election came as “wholly a surprise”, adding: “Hilariously, my son and daughter-in-law only became impressed with this latest honour when they learnt that Michelle Yeoh and Lin-Manuel Miranda had been elected to the academy in the arts category.”
On a more serious note, she said: “Given that I’m non-white, non-native-born, and non-male – a highly disadvantageous trifecta for honours and awards in this country – you can see why I was blindsided and stunned by my election.”
As a pioneer of early global studies and pre-modern race studies, she noted that “my work is still considered controversial among various constituencies in the academy, and sometimes still resisted”.
She added: “So an honour of this kind is a special kind of acknowledgment of the value of this new work, and a recognition that my scholarship and teaching belong in the mainstream. It will help ensure that, over time, it will be easier for the young people now doing the new work to win their awards and honours.”
She is possibly the first female Singaporean to enter the academy, which was co-founded in 1780 by such luminaries as John Adams, the second president of the United States, and John Hancock, one of the US’ founding fathers.
Other Singaporeans elected to the academy include Professor Kishore Mahbubani, a former diplomat, and renowned historian Professor Wang Gungwu.
Educated at the then University of Singapore, Prof Heng completed her doctorate at Cornell University and taught at the National University of Singapore.
She is married to Mr Janadas Devan, director of the Institute of Policy Studies and former chief of government communications at the Ministry of Communications and Information.
She paid tribute to two former teachers at the University of Singapore, Professor Koh Tai Ann and Professor Edwin Thumboo: “Prof Koh taught me to read closely and searchingly, to analyse and synthesise.
“And Prof Thumboo taught me to look beyond boundaries, to look globally and with curiosity, and he opened many doors, including a scholarship that enabled me to undertake graduate work.”
She added: “Like my niece, novelist Rachel Heng, I was from a poor family. Education meant needing scholarships and fellowships all the way through. In many ways, Dean Koh and Dean Thumboo made everything that came later possible.”
Now the Mildred Hajek Vacek and John Roman Vacek Chair in English and Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin, Prof Heng has authored several important texts on mediaeval studies.
Her 2019 book, The Invention Of Race In The European Middle Ages, published by the University of Cambridge Press, won several prizes, including the 2019 Academy of American Literature prize in Historical Studies and the 2020 Otto Grundler prize.
