Author: Sandra Hudd File Type: pdf The Site of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus in Singapore Entwined Histories of a Colonial Convent and a Nation, 18542015 explores key issues and developments in colonial and postcolonial Singapore by examining one particular site in central Singapore the former Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, established in 1854 and now a food and entertainment complex. The Convent was an early provider of social services and girls educationalmost a mini-city within walls, including a thriving community of schools, an orphanage, and a womens refuge. World War II and the Japanese occupation, followed by the creation of the new Republic of Singapore, presented a new set of challenges, but it was the convents size and prime location that made it attractive for urban redevelopment in the 1980s and led to government acquisition, demolition of some buildings, and the remainder put out to private tender. The chapel and the former nuns residence are classified as National Monuments but, in line with government policy of adaptive re-use of heritage sites, the complex now contains bars and restaurants, and the deconsecrated chapel is used for wedding receptions and events. Tracking the physical and usage changes of the site, this book works to make sense of that eventful journey, a paradoxical journey that moves only in time, not in space, and includes abandoned babies, French nuns, Japanese bombings, and twenty-first century dance parties. In a society that has undergone massive change economically and socially, and, above all, transitioned from a small colonial enterprise to a wealthy independent city-state, those physical changes and differing usages of the Convent site over the years track the changes in the nation. The wider ongoing tensions between heritage conservation and the modern global city are explored by examining what has been chosen for preservation, the quintessentially Singaporean hybridity of the commercial reuse of historic buildings, as well as the nostalgia for what has been lost. **Review Sandra Hudd tells the absorbing story of colonial and post-colonial Singapore from a distinctive perspective that of a particular site and the purposes of its occupants. The site was for nearly 130 years in the hands of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus. Now, updated and commercialized, it is Chijmes, designed to attract tourists, shoppers, and fine diners. Dr. Hudd argues that heritage conservation, a problem in many cities, is in an especially ambiguous position in restlessly changing Singapore. Her thoughtful book and its many insights will be welcomed not only by historians of Southeast Asia, but also by those, there and elsewhere, concerned with repurposing built heritage. (Nicholas Tarling, University of Auckland) CHIJ Victoria Street holds a very special place in the hearts and minds of many generations of Singaporean women who take pride in being Convent girls. Sandra Hudd, however, shows us that CHIJ was not only a school but a place that reflected the fast-paced history of Singapore, from its beginnings as a colonial nation to its traumatic experiences during the Japanese occupation, and then to its current dramatic changes as a young nation aspiring for cosmopolitanism. A riveting read of a humble convent which inadvertently became a metaphor and a symbol for a nations history and its urban re-imaginings. (Catherine Gomes, Senior Lecturer, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University) Sandra Hudd ably analyzes empire and Christian missionaries by highlighting the impact of a Catholic convent in British Singapore. She demonstrates that the instruments of colonization and decolonization of Singapore continue to influence the nations aspirations and development. This book draws on history, social geography, religion, urban studies, and heritage conservation and is complemented with personal narratives, contemporary media reports, and visual images from historical and contemporary photographs. (Cecilia Leong-Salobir, University of Wollongong) A timely and important addition to the historiography, this book brings together the colonial and post-colonial worlds in a vivid and innovative analysis. Hudd presents a skillful yet sensitive examination of the complex interrelationship between empire, gender, memory, place, and space. (Ernest Koh, Monash University) Through a rich account of the site of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, this book provides fascinating insights into the management of urban space in Singapore as a colony, an occupied territory, and a nation. Based on extensive research and innovative in approach, it will be of interest to any reader seeking a better understanding of Singapores history and contemporary culture. (Joanna Cruickshank, Deakin University) About the Author Sandra Hudd is university associate in the School of Humanities at the University of Tasmania.

Author: Bruce Bawer File Type: epub Respected author, critic, and essayist Bruce Bawerwhose previous book, While Europe Slept How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West from Within, was a New York Times bestseller and a National Book Critics Circle Award finalistnow offers a trenchant and sweeping critique of the sorry state of higher education since the campus revolutions of the late 60s and early 70s. In The Victims Revolution, Bawer incisively contends that the rise of identity-based college courses and disciplines (Womens Studies, Black Studies, Gay Studies, etc.) forty years ago has resulted in an impoverishment of thought and widespread political confusion, while filling the brains of students with politically correct mush. Timely, controversial, and brilliantly argued, Bawers The Victims Revolution is necessary reading for students, educators, and anyone concerned about the contemporary crisis in academiaa serious and important work that stands with other essential books on the subject, like The Shadow University by Alan Kors, Illiberal Education by Dinesh DSouza, and Allan Blooms The Closing of the American Mind.br ReviewBawer scores lots of entertaining points against the insufferable posturing and unreadable prose that pervades identity studies.Bawers is a lively, cantankerous takedown of a juicy target. (Publishers Weekly )br Bawer is passionate in his criticism of the current state of academia and its effects on broader American culture. (Booklist )br The developments described by Mr. Bawer will not surprise readers familiar with the campus wars that broke out in the 1980s, when entire departments devoted to these fields began to be established. Where the authors text shines is in explaining their root causes. (Wall Street Journal )br The book is terrific, exposing the academic criminality that those programs encourage i.e., teaching naive and impressionable students things that either are utterly false or are merely wild-eyed opinions as truth....I strongly recommend the book. (National Review ) From the Back CoverAn eye-opening critique of the identity-based revolution that has transformed American campuses and its effect on politics and society today.The 1960s and 70s were a time of dramatic upheaval in American universities as a new generation of scholar-activists rejected traditional humanism in favor of a radical ideology that denied esthetic merit and objective truth. In The Victims Revolution, critic and scholar Bruce Bawer provides the first true history of this radical movement and a sweeping assessment of its intellectual and cultural fruits.Once, Bawer argues, the purpose of higher education had been to introduce students to the legacy of Western civilizationthe best that has been thought and said. The new generation of radical educators sought instead to unmask the West as the perpetrator of global injustice. Age-old values of goodness, truth, and beauty were disparaged as mere weapons in an ongoing struggle of the powerful against the powerless. Shifting the focus of the humanities to the purported victims of Western colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism, the new politicized approach to the humanities gave rise to a series of identity-based programs, including Womens Studies, Black Studies, Queer Studies, and Chicano Studies. As a result, the serious and objective study of human civilization and culture was replaced by theoretical approaches emphasizing group identity, victimhood, and lockstep progressive politics.What have the advocates of this new anti-Western ideology accomplished?Twenty-five years ago, Allan Bloom warned against the corruption of the humanities in The Closing of the American Mind. Bawers book presents compelling evidence that Bloom and other conservative critics were right to be alarmed. The Victims Revolution describes how the new identity-based disciplines came into being, examines their major proponents and texts, and trenchantly critiques their underlying premises. Bawer concludes that the influence of these programs has impoverished our thought, confused our politics, and filled the minds of their impressionable students with politically correct mush. Bawers book is must-reading for all those concerned not only about the declining quality of American higher education, but also about the fate of our society at large.