Seminar about working-class literatures in Singapore, China and Malaysia

Wednesday 27 November, doctoral student Luka Zhang Lei will present her PhD project about working-class literatures in Singapore, China and Malaysia at a seminar at Malmö University (13.15-15.00 in The K3 Open Studio, NIC 0541, Niagara). 

The title of the presentation is: From Communist Panic to Capitalist Showcase: Working-Class Literature from Singapore

Abstract:

In this seminar, I will briefly talk about my PhD project on working-class writings from China, Malaysia and Singapore. I will mainly present working-class literature with a focus on three working-class writers from Singapore. By discussing Tan Kok Seng (1939- ), Chong Han (1945-), and MD Sharif Uddin (1978-, born in Bangladesh) who have been largely forgotten or dismissed in Singaporean literature studies, I will delineate a picture of the development of working-class writings from the 1960s to today. Each writer provides a unique story of working-class life in Singapore. Tan was a coolie before the founding of the nation and later an employed worker who stopped writing after having published four books. Chong Han has been a worker for several decades and published many books, including novels, poetry and short stories. Sharif is a current migrant worker who is actively engaged with writing and publishing circles in Singapore. All three represented their everyday life experiences autobiographically, they witnessed and were involved with Singapore’s national history. Unlike some critics who regard working-class literature as “simple stories” of little aesthetic value, I argue that these writings can play a significant role in literary and cultural studies. I will analyze their production and reception along with a contextual reading of their narratives. I thereby propose that working-class writings can be a powerful contribution to “history from below”.