A Public Talk

Date: Saturday, 31 January 2015
Time: 2:30pm- 4:30pm. Registration starts from 2pm
Venue: Seminar Room, level 2. National Museum of Singapore. 93, Stamford Road, Singapore 178897
Please register by 28 Jan 2015

Since the establishment of colonial rule in Singapore, Indians have constituted a significant minority in the port city, a position that has continued to the present. Focusing on this important component of Singapore’s cultural mosaic, the seminar will explore the formation and development of the Indian diaspora from the advent of colonial rule to the end of the Japanese Occupation, revealing the dynamism of diasporic identities in the island’s landscape. In examining the journey of diverse economic and cultural communities in the bourgeoning multi-ethnic settlement, Dr Rajesh Rai will narrate the distinct and complex experience of the Indian diaspora in a frontier outpost that gradually transformed into a metropolis of global significance.

This special Public Talk is based on his latest book, published in October 2014.

About the Speaker

Dr Rajesh Rai is Assistant Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) and faculty member of the South Asian Studies Programme (SASP), National University of Singapore (NUS). His research interests are in the areas of diaspora studies, South Asian nationalisms, and the postcolonial history and politics of South Asia. Author of Indians in Singapore, 1819- 1945: Diaspora in the Colonial Port City, Rai has also edited several books on the South Asian diaspora including the Encyclopedia of the Indian Diaspora (2006) for which he was the Assistant Editor. Dr Rai’s articles has been published in premier academic journals such as Modern Asian Studies, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies and South Asia Diaspora. In addition to research, he has a passion for teaching and has won several teaching awards at NUS.