Week 1, Day 1

Content Objective:
Defining Cultural Heritage

Discussion:

1. What is Cultural Heritage?
2. Should anything be done about its management or preservation?
3. If so, what skills / expertise is necessary to do this?
   Discuss: Students’ views / awareness of cultural heritage issues in Singapore today

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Week 1, Day 2

Content Objective:
Cultural Heritage in Singapore

Assigned Reading:
Yuen, Belinda. "Reclaiming Cultural Heritage in Singapore." Urban Affairs Review 41.6 (2006): 830-54.

Discussion:

1. What are the different levels at which cultural heritage is managed? (individual, community, non-state institutions, state)
2. What are the different and possible contrary objectives of these actors with regards to cultural heritage?
3. The article is titled: “Reclaiming...” what are the implications of there being claims to cultural heritage (as opposed to ownership, participation, use, etc...)?

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Week 2, Day 3

Content Objective:
Heritage Management

Assigned Reading:

Greffe, Xavier. "Is Heritage an Asset or a Liability?" Journal of Cultural Heritage 5 (2004): 301-09.

Discussion:

1. What are the benefits of heritage as a business? How does the author calculate them?
2. What are some potential liabilities of heritage-based businesses?
3. This author focuses on France? How might the arguments he raises be of different strength outside of the European context?

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Week 2, Day 4

Content Objective:
Heritage Management in Singapore

Assigned Reading:
Henderson, Joan. "Understanding and Using Built Heritage: Singapore's National Monuments and Conservation Areas." International Journal of Heritage Studies 17.1 (2011): 46-61.

Discussion:

1. What is the institutional framework within which Singapore’s heritage is manage?
2. What is the significance of colonial era heritage in a post-colonial nation?
3. How have efforts to protect local heritage interacted with the policies of economic development in Singapore?

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Week 3, Day 5

Content Objective:
Official and Institutional Narratives

Assigned Reading:
Teo, Peggy, and Shirlena Huang. "Tourism and Heritage Conservation in Singapore." Annals of Tourism Research 22.3 (1995): 589-615.

Discussion:

1. What are the institutions in Singapore that manage heritage?
2. What purpose does the official narrative of Singaporean heritage serve?
3. What is the importance of tourism for Singapore, beyond its economic dimension?

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Week 3, Day 6

Content Objective:
Official and Institutional Narratives

Assignment:

1. Students will visit a museum or heritage site administered by the National Heritage       Board of Singapore.
2. Students will report back to the class on their visit and explain how the official       narrative of Singapore’s history is represented.

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 Week 4, Day 7

Content Objective:
Heritage and Community – The Question of Scale

Assigned Reading:
Graham, Brian, G. J. Ashworth, and J. E. Tunbridge. A Geography of Heritage: Power, Culture and Economy. London: Routledge, 2000.

Discussion:

1. Why is some heritage conceived of in supra-national terms or even global terms?
2. What conflicts can arise between national and supra-national narratives of the same heritage item?
3. Consider what aspects of Singaporean heritage you might consider to have supra-national or global appeal (as heritage, not as a site for tourism).

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 Week 4, Day 8

Content Objective:
Neighborhoods and the Lived Heritage

Assignment:

1. Students will visit either Little India, Chinatown, GeylangSerai or PulauUbin.
2. Students will report their observations of the neighborhood and focus on those characteristics that they consider make the community a heritage site.
3. Students will be encouraged to conduct interviews with local residents or people working in these communities.

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Week 5, Day 9

Content Objective:
Problematic Heritage

Assigned Reading:
Logan, William, and Keir Reeves. Places of Pain and Shame: Dealing with 'Difficult Heritage'. New York: Taylor and Francis, 2008.

Discussion:

1. How do nations and communities come to terms with problematic pasts?
2. What role do monuments and museums play in mediating these memories?
3. How is Singapore’s colonial history presented to the public?
4. How does Singapore’s approach compare with other efforts to come to terms with a problematic past? (Cambodia, South Africa, Spain, USA Confederate monuments?

ASSIGNMENT #1

Reflection Paper (5 pages) addressing one of the students field visits and incorporating the readings in the class thus far.

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Week 5, Day 10

Content Objective:
Difficult Heritage in Singapore

Assignment:

1. Students will visit the World War 2 Trail, the Raffles Hotel, the Fullerton Hotel, or Fort Siloso.
2. Students will report back on how the history of colonial Singapore is presented and how it relates to the contemporary national narrative.

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Week 6, Days11& 12

Content Objective:
Case Study: Bukit Brown

Invited Guest:
A speaker (activist or guide) from Bukit Brown will be invited to speak to the class.

Discussion:

1. What is the significance of the Bukit Brown site?
2. What arguments are being made for the removal of graves? How can this be seen in the wider context of cultural heritage management around the world?
3. How does the case of Bukit Brown affect students on a personal level? How can this level of heritage (non-official, non-institutional) be managed?

Preparation:

1. Students will propose their topics for their semester break assignments and receive feedback from teacher and other students.

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Semester Break

Assignment:

1. Students will prepare a photo or video essay based on one or several of their trips.
2. Photos and video will be accompanied by a short written analysis grounded in the theory encountered in earlier class readings and discussed in class to form a critical understanding of the images and the themes that emerge from them.
3. Meant to be displayed. This will start students thinking about how they themselves become exponents of heritage for the wider public.

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Week 7, Day 13

Content Objective:
Exposition of Photo / Video Essay and Follow-Up Discussion

ASSIGNMENT #2

Submission of Photo / Video Essay

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Week 7, Day 14

Content Objective:
Personal Heritage

Assigned Reading:
Ooi, Giok Ling, and Brian J. Shaw. Beyond the Port City: Development and Identity in 21st Century Singapore. London: Pearson / Prentice Hall, 2004.

Khium, Liew Kai, and Natalie Lee San Pang. "Neoliberal Visions, Post-Capitalist Memories: Heritage Politics and the Counter-Mapping of Singapore's Cityscape." Ethnography 16.3 (2015): 331-51.

 Discussion:

1. What is the relationship between Singaporean identity and the notions of progress and development?
2. Where do the feelings of the citizenry get taken into account when talking about the balance of heritage and development?
3. What role has technology played in increasing the power of citizens over their heritage?

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Week 8, Day 15

Content Objective:
Language as Heritage

Assigned Reading:
Readings will be divided among students who will present in class.

Dixon, L. Quentin. "Assumptions behind Singapore's Language-in- Education Policy: Implications for Language Planning and Second Language Acquisition." Language Policy 8 (2009): 117-37.

Wee, Lionel. "Linguistic Instrumentalism in Singapore." Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 243.211-224 (2003).

Stroud, Christopher, and Lionel Wee. "Consuming Identities: Language Planning and Policy in Singaporean Late Modernity." Language Policy 6 (2007): 253-79.

Wee, Lionel, and Wendy D. Bokhorst-Heng. "Language Policy and Nationalist Ideology: Statal Narratives in Singapore." Multilingua 24 (2005): 159-83.

Discussion:

1. How is language managed in Singaporean education?
2. How is this related to the history of the country and what factors may cause language policy to change?
3. What is ‘Linguistic Instrumentalism’? How does this reflect other themes of heritage and development manifest in other forms of heritage?

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Week 8, Day 16

Content Objective:
Singlish as Heritage

Assigned Reading:

Readings will be divided among students who will present in class

Hoon, Chng Huang. ""You See Me No Up": Is Singlish a Problem?" Language Problems and Language Planning 27.1 (2003): 45-62.

Rubdy, Rani. "Singlish in the School: An Impediment or a Resource?" Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 28.4 (2007): 308-17.

Discussion:

1. What is Singlish? What is its role in Singaporean society?
2. How does the Singaporean government discourage the use of Singlish? Why?
3. Is Singlish part of Singaporean Heritage? If so, how should it be managed?

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Week 9, Day 17

Content Objective:
Language Transition / Language in the Familial Context

Assigned Reading:

Readings will be divided among students who will present in class.

Schiffman, Harold F. "Tongue-Tied in Singapore: A Language Policy for Tamil?" Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 2.2 (2003): 105-25.

Saravanan, Li Wei Vanithamani, and Julia Ng Lee Hoon. "Language Shift in the Techew Community in Singapore: A Family Domain Analysis." Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 18.5 (1997): 364-84.

1.  Discussion:
   
   What is language shift? What has been the main direction of Language shift in Singapore?
2. What are the reasons / causes for language shift? What consequences does this have for individuals that undergo it?
3. What is the significance of the ‘family domain’? What research methodologies are in evidence in these articles for the study of language transition in the family domain?

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Week 9, Day 18

Content Objective:
Qualitative Research – Interviews & Coding

Assigned Reading:

Saldaña, Johnny. The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. London: Sage, 2009.

Class Activity:

1. What is language shift? What has been the main direction of Language shift in Singapore?
2. What are the reasons / causes for language shift? What consequences does this have for individuals that undergo it?
3. What is the significance of the ‘family domain’? What research methodologies are in evidence in these articles for the study of language transition in the family domain?

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Week 10, Day 19& 20

Content Objective:
Data Collection – Changing Language Practices

Assignment:

1. Students will conduct interviews with a minimum of three family members on their language practice history.
2. Students will meet with instructor individually to plan their data collection and prepare them for analysis.

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Week 11, Days21& 22

Content Objective:
Data Coding and Analysis

Assignment:

1. Students will continue data collection as necessary.
2. Students will code data in class and cross-reference their results with other students and begin analysis.
3. Conference meetings will be arranged as necessary.
4. Students will discuss whether it is appropriate to apply inductive coding to their data.

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Week 12, Day 23 & 24

Content Objective:
Building a Singaporean Language Heritage Archive

Assignment:

1. Students will gather their analyzed interviews and upload them to a common archive.
2. Students will add explanatory text and commentary to link the selected video clips to each other as well as the themes studied in the class.
3. Meant to be exhibited as a website.

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Week 13, Day 25 & 26

Content Objective:
Final Student Presentations of their Interviews

   ASSIGNMENT #3

1. Students will each present their own contribution to the Heritage Language Archive.
2. Students will submit a critical reflection paper on their research incorporating the issues studied in class to locate their own family history within the wider national heritage narrative.

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Key Assignments

1. Critical Reflective Essay on Heritage

Locating oneself and one’s own heritage in the critical issues covered in class, this assignment is based on one or several student field trips to sites of heritage in Singapore.

2. Photo Essay on Cultural Heritage

Involves 20 photos or short video clips accompanied by approximately 1500-2000 words of critical discussion rooted in the readings and concepts of class. Meant to be displayed, either as web presence, or in hallways at the university.

3. Archive of Singapore Linguistic Heritage

Coded, cross-referenced archive spanning the linguistic repertoires and histories of each cohort of students taking the module. The archive is intended to be expanded/elaborated with every iteration of the module and become a repository accessible for others beyond the course who want primary data on language and cultural heritage.

The data collection instruments will be designed in collaboration with students as part of the course work. They will consist of detailed family histories focusing on language use, in light of government policy, significant historical episodes, and sociological indicators (gender, religion, age, class, etc.).

Coding will also be designed in collaboration with students (and as part of the module) and allow for the analysis and presentation of collective research findings. The goal of the assignment here is to represent and publicize socio-cultural dimensions of language heritage—meaningful categories including senses of loss, success, ambition, resilience, sacrifice, that cut across the data set and can be represented in engaging ways that illustrate the centrality of language and culture in heritage, how it conflicts or conforms with government policy, and how students locate their own specific heritage practices within the family domain.

Grading

Critical Reflective Essay on Heritage (week 5)	25%
Photo Essay on Cultural Heritage   (week 7)	30%
Archive of Linguistic Heritage (week 13)	25%
Participation	20%
Total	100%

Readings

Dixon, L. Quentin. "Assumptions Behind Singapore's Language-in- Education Policy: Implications for Language Planning and Second Language Acquisition." Language Policy 8 (2009): 117-37.

Graham, Brian, G. J. Ashworth, and J. E. Tunbridge. A Geography of Heritage: Power, Culture and Economy. London: Routledge, 2000.

Greffe, Xavier. "Is Heritage an Asset or a Liability?" Journal of Cultural Heritage 5 (2004): 301-09.

Henderson, Joan. "Understanding and Using Built Heritage: Singapore's National Monuments and Conservation Areas." International Journal of Heritage Studies 17.1 (2011): 46-61.

Hoon, Chng Huang. ""You See Me No Up": Is Singlish a Problem?" Language Problems and Language Planning 27.1 (2003): 45-62.

Khium, Liew Kai, and Natalie Lee San Pang. "Neoliberal Visions, Post-Capitalist Memories: Heritage Politics and the Counter-Mapping of Singapore's Cityscape." Ethnography 16.3 (2015): 331-51.

Logan, William, and Keir Reeves. Places of Pain and Shame: Dealing with 'Difficult Heritage'. New York: Taylor and Francis, 2008.

Ooi, Giok Ling, and Brian J. Shaw. Beyond the Port City: Development and Identity in 21st Century Singapore. London: Pearson / Prentice Hall, 2004.

Rubdy, Rani. "Singlish in the School: An Impediment or a Resource?" Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 28.4 (2007): 308-17.

Saldaña, Johnny. The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. London: Sage, 2009.

Saravanan, Li Wei Vanithamani, and Julia Ng Lee Hoon. "Language Shift in the Techew Community in Singapore: A Family Domain Analysis." Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 18.5 (1997): 364-84.

Schiffman, Harold F. "Tongue-Tied in Singapore: A Language Policy for Tamil?" Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 2.2 (2003): 105-25.

Stroud, Christopher, and Lionel Wee. "Consuming Identities: Language Planning and Policy in Singaporean Late Modernity." Language Policy 6 (2007): 253-79.

Teo, Peggy, and Shirlena Huang. "Tourism and Heritage Conservation in Singapore." Annals of Tourism Research 22.3 (1995): 589-615.

Waterton, Emma, and Steve Watson, eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Heritage Research. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

Wee, Lionel. "Linguistic Instrumentalism in Singapore." Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 243.211-224 (2003).

Wee, Lionel, and Wendy D. Bokhorst-Heng. "Language Policy and Nationalist Ideology: Statal Narratives in Singapore." Multilingua 24 (2005): 159-83.

Yuen, Belinda. "Reclaiming Cultural Heritage in Singapore." Urban Affairs Review 41.6 (2006): 830-54.