venue:  Basement 1, Central Lending Library @ National Library, 100 Victoria Street
date / time: Saturday, 11 Oct 2008, 2.30 – 4.00pm

The 2003 SARS epidemic reminded Singaporeans of the fragility of life and the selfless devotion to life as healthcare workers braved the risks of deadly infection to stand by the stricken. However significant its impact, such experiences are not new in Singapore’s history. In this respect, three post-65 Singaporean researchers seek to examine the historical contexts of health and illness in the country to explore places of suffering and healing. From the cradle, Ms Kelly Fu will examine the socio-cultural heritage of childbirth in colonial Singapore from village midwives to modern hospitals. Determined that the sufferings of leprosy patients should not be forgotten, Mr Loh Kah Seng intends
to bring us back to the segregated compounds in which they had endured both the pains of the disease as well as
the stigmas of society. With the recent concerns of emerging and re-emerging diseases, Dr Liew Kai Khiun would demonstrate how diseases like the Spanish Influenza in 1918 had affected Singapore and how its populace had responded to the pandemic.

Dr Liew Kai Khiun is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore. He has undertaken studies on the social and labour, and Medical Histories of both Singapore and Malaysia.

Ms Kelly Fu is currently a PhD Candidate at Goldsmith College. Her research entails the study of the historical dimensions of reproductive health, midwifery and childbirth in Singapore.

Mr Loh Kah Seng is currently a PhD candidate at Murdoch University researching into the social history of slums in Singapore, particularly that of Bukit Ho Swee. He has also written about the social experiences of ordinary people in Singapore during the Great Depression in the late 1920s as well as leprosy patients

Flyer: Places of Suffering & Healing- a talk by Ms Kelly Fu, Mr Loh Kah Seng & Dr Liew Kai Khiun