Nostalgia is not harmless. Populists can use it to divide us
Tapped properly, heritage can make us resilient instead of becoming a source of mischief.
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A public tour being conducted at Bukit Brown Cemetery in 2024. The writer argues that Bukit Brown’s unique features can also be used to address climate change.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Liew Kai Khiun
Singapore is no stranger to nostalgia, which Merriam-Webster defines as both “a sad pleasure experienced in recalling what no longer exists” and “a wistful or sentimental yearning for a real or romanticised past, or for an irrecoverable condition or setting”. Derived from the Greek words nostos (homecoming) and algos (pain), the condition has become particularly relevant as reminiscences of the past move alongside the disruptions of modernisation.
As a postcolonial society transformed radically within a single generation, Singapore has seen entire streets, village communities and cultural practices give way to skyscrapers and public housing estates.
