Neoliberal Nationalism in Contemporary Singaporean Fiction and State Culture a Dissertation Submitted to Th

IMAGINED DIASPORAS: NEOLIBERAL NATIONALISM IN CONTEMPORARY SINGAPOREAN FICTION AND STATE CULTURE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH MAY 2014 By Narumi Naruse Dissertation Committee: Laura E. Lyons, Chairperson Cristina Bacchilega Cynthia Franklin John Rieder S. Shankar Monisha Das Gupta Keywords: Cheryl Naruse, Singapore literature and culture, nationalism, postcolonialism TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………iii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………v Imagined Diasporas: an introduction..............................................................................1 Singapore: an overview…………………………………………………..11 Neoliberalism, Nationalism, and Neoliberal Nationalism……………….22 Imagined Diasporas……………………………………………………...32 Overview of Chapters…………………………………………………....37 Works Cited……………………………………………………………...42 Chapter One: Transnational Lives, Nationalism, and the Production of Diaspora in ‘Singaporean Abroad’ and Conversations on Coming Home….. ..46 Diasporic Discourse: “Singaporeans Abroad” History and Context…….51 Transnationalizing and Biopoliticizing the National Imagination……….64 Typifying Diasporic Singaporeans in Conversations on Coming Home...76 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….92 Works Cited……………………………………………………………...96 Chapter Two: Staging Singapore: Neoliberal Nationalism, Diaspora, and Singapore Day 2012………………........................................................100 Performing Heritage and History ………………………………………103 Neoliberal Nationalism at Singapore Day 2012………………………..112 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………..140 Works Cited…………………………………………………………….142 Chapter Three: Hwee Hwee Tan’s Mammon Inc. as Bildungsroman, or the Coming-of-Career Narrative………………………………145 i Mammon Inc. as social critique ………………………………………..149 Reading Mammon Inc. as a coming-of-career narrative………………..155 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………..185 Works Cited ……………………………………………………………188 Chapter Four: Alternative Histories and Antidevelopmental Narratives in Lydia Kwa’s Pulse………………………………………………191 Pulse and transnationalism……………………………………………..198 Pulse and Singaporean literature ………………………………………211 Pulse and erotohistory…………………………………………………..220 Conclusion……………………………………………………………...234 Works Cited…………………………………………………………….236 ii Acknowledgements I have been fortunate to receive the help of many audiences, friends, colleagues, teachers, and mentors throughout the course of this project. Thank you to Laura Lyons who has given me copious amounts of her time, patience, and guidance over the years. From my MA to PhD she has suffered through my incessant emails, sloppy drafts, unannounced office visits, tears of frustration, and my stubborn attachment to a vague use of “this.” In return I have always received thoughtful feedback on my work and incredible intellectual, professional, personal guidance. I am lucky to have Laura as my chair. I am also indebted to my dissertation committee. Through their multiple readings of drafts and incisive questions that will haunt the afterlife of this project, the combined forces of Cristina Bacchilega, Monisha Das Gupta, Cynthia Franklin, John Rieder, and S. Shankar have made this a better project and me a better reader, writer, and thinker. Outside of my committee, Candace Fujikane and Greta LaFleur generously offered to read chapters. I have very smart colleagues and friends who put aside their own work in order to read my project. Kristine Kotecki, whose excellent work is an inspiration to mine, has been a true friend and writing buddy over the years. Thank you to Keala Francis, Jennifer Sano- Franchini, and Chad Shomura for your comments on my writing. The careful feedback you offered undoubtedly made my dissertation committee’s work a little bit easier. I have been fortunate to work with a number of UH faculty over the years, all of whom have been a positive influence on the final iteration of my dissertation. Special thanks to Jeffrey Carroll—our coffees and your zen calm have been a grounding source of support through my graduate study. I benefited from teaching guidance, hallway conversations, coffee, and courses with Stephen Canham, Jim Caron, Craig Howes, Lisa King, Vernadette Gonzalez, Paul Lyons, Kristin McAndrews, Bob McHenry, Michael Shapiro, Mari Yoshihara, and John Zuern. Outside of UH, Weihsin Gui has been an important interlocutor and mentor. Thank you Seow Leng Ang, Philip Holden, Angelia Poon, Wan-Ling Wee for meeting with me during visits to Singapore and your willingness to answer my many email queries. Fun times, good food, shared coursework, and stimulating exchanges with friends both near and far have made my pursuit of a Ph.D. more bearable. Thanks to Ranjan Adiga, Kim Compoc, Philip Drake, Joy Enomoto, Sahoa Fukushima, Lydia Kwa, Rajiv Mohabir, Edwin Ng, No‘u Revilla, Anjoli Roy, Nikki Rosenblatt, Lyz Soto, and Susy Wu. I have been lucky to have taught a number of excellent students. From them I have learned more about reading and writing. Special thanks to the students from the Asian American Literature course I taught in Fall 2011 for a really great class. iii The bulk of this dissertation was written amidst the calming green of Pālolo Valley and with the support of many families. The time I have shared with the residents of Millipede Mansion—Steven Gin, Bryan Kuwada, Aiko Yamashiro, and Tula—has been meaningful and formative. Bryan and Aiko have been inspirational friends who have taught me about the importance of place and community. Steven has been a caring and supportive partner. His willingness to read my work and make it better, his curly sense of humor, and his companionship have been invaluable throughout the writing of my dissertation. Thank you to the Gin family for their care during visits. Thank you to my family in Singapore for being willing to host me whenever I return. My parents, Fuminori Paul and Boon Keow Judy, have given me their unconditional support and belief in me throughout my education. I am thankful for their patience with my desire to pursue my dreams, especially when it has taken me so far from home. This dissertation is dedicated to them. I have shared parts of this project with audiences at UH English Department colloquia, the Modern Language Association, and the American Comparative Literature Association and have received valuable questions that helped me in clarifying my thinking. Travel grants from the Yun T. and Chen Chuan Tu Student Endowment in English, ACLA, MLA, and Graduate Student Organization at UH made it possible to attend conferences. The Research Corporation of University of Hawaii fellowship and The Moscotti Fellowship for Graduate Studies of Southeast Asia gave me valuable writing time and research support. Articles developed from Chapter One have appeared or are forthcoming in CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture and biography: an interdisciplinary quarterly. For years to come, I will still be trying to articulate how UH and Hawai‘i have played a role in my thinking and trying to convey the deep impact of the many friends, mentors, and teachers I have had over the years. Without you all, this would not have been possible. Thank you, thank you, thank you. iv Abstract In Imagined Diasporas: Neoliberal Nationalism in Contemporary Singaporean Fiction and State Culture, I compare the diasporic Singaporean figure as it is constructed in state narratives and contemporary fiction, making two central arguments: first, although the liberal humanist underpinnings of cosmopolitanism present attractive ideals for overcoming national difference, we must be cautious of the ways cosmopolitan thought can be retooled in the service of neoliberalism and at the expense of class consciousness; second, through my reading of a wide range of texts—including novels, performances, newspapers, and political speeches—I argue that an attention to genre and narrative can enrich an analysis of the cultural logics of neoliberalism. The first half of the project shows how the Singaporean state’s cultural production of diaspora serves to create and manage a population of cosmopolitan knowledge workers to maintain its position in a global economy through readings of the “Singaporean Abroad” series (2008-2012) from the Straits Times; a state-produced booklet, Conversations on Coming Home (2012); and a heritage festival known as Singapore Day. In contrast, the second half of the project examines how Singaporean authors Hwee Hwee Tan and Lydia Kwa use diasporic figures to perform critiques of neoliberal state policies that rely on the erasure of history, notions of human capital, and heteronormative family values. As a whole, my study of Singapore complicates the tendency in postcolonial studies to privilege geo-political sites where independence has been predicated on anti- or decolonial struggle. When Singapore was expelled from Federation of Malaya, the newly independent state conceived itself as linked with its former British colonizer which has v resulted in a postcolonial nationalism that is consciously complicit in many neocolonial practices. In its attention to the emergence of the diasporic figure as it relates to this unusual postcolonial past, my project offers important historical considerations to theorizations of neoliberal culture in a non-western context. vi Imagined Diasporas: an introduction “The case of Singapore is particularly instructive. It has combined neoliberalism in the marketplace with

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