Blucher Design Proceedings

Setembro 2016, vol.8, num.2 - The 10th Conference of the International Committee for Design History & Design Studies
Article - Open Access Idioma principal | Segundo principal

Gracious: Modern living in post-independence Singapore

Gracious: Modern living in post-independence Singapore

O'NEIL, Jesse

Article:

In the 1960s, Singapore began a rapid period of urbanisation, altering city and domestic sphere. In 1969, the concept of ‘gracious living’ was introduced to capture the ideal qualities of modern Singapore, but it remained ill-defined. This paper explores the dissemination of gracious living in 1969–75 through Singapore’s popular press. It shows how gracious living was adopted as a counterpart to modernity, transformed, embraced advertising, and came to be derided as empty materialism. Gracious living shows us an important ideological device in Singapore’s programs of nation building and modernisation, and this study attempts to account for the core principles underpinning its uses.

In the 1960s, Singapore began a rapid period of urbanisation, altering city and domestic sphere. In 1969, the concept of ‘gracious living’ was introduced to capture the ideal qualities of modern Singapore, but it remained ill-defined. This paper explores the dissemination of gracious living in 1969–75 through Singapore’s popular press. It shows how gracious living was adopted as a counterpart to modernity, transformed, embraced advertising, and came to be derided as empty materialism. Gracious living shows us an important ideological device in Singapore’s programs of nation building and modernisation, and this study attempts to account for the core principles underpinning its uses.

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DOI: 10.5151/despro-icdhs2016-01_004

Referências bibliográficas
  • [1] Ah, Fook and Mei, Lin. (1975, November 13) Talking Point. New Nation, p.20.
  • [2] An Observer. (1971, December 17) Sad – But Only Money Makes Gracious Living Possible… Straits Times, p.19.
  • [3] Bassapa, Thomas. (1971, February 25) How About Trapping Them? New Nation, p.8.
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  • [7] Chua, Amy. (1971, April 16) The Style of Living That Turns Out to be Graceful, Not Gracious… New Nation, p.8.
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  • [18] Not Just Grace of Place. (1972, October 30) Straits Times, p.14.
  • [19] Powell, Robert. (1996) Urban Morphology: Values Embedded in the Singapore Landscape. Journal of Southeast Asian Architecture (1), pp.46–59.
  • [20] Pratt, Joseph B. (1932) The Door to Gracious Living: The Art of Hospitality, New York: Butterick.
  • [21] Trade Fair Will Emphasise Gracious Living. (1971, October 22) New Nation, p.3.
  • [22] Tunstall, Elizabeth D. (2004) In Design We Trust: Design, Governmentality, and the Tangibility of Governance. Paper presented at the Society for Applied Anthropology. <http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/228132>
  • [23] Yeo, Cheng Chuan R. Dream. (1971, March 13) New Nation, p.9.
Como citar:

O'NEIL, Jesse; "Gracious: Modern living in post-independence Singapore", p-19-23. In: Wong, Wendy Siuyi; Kikuchi, Yuko & Lin, Tingyi (Eds.). <strong>Making Trans/National Contemporary Design History [=ICDHS 2016 – 10th Conference of the International Committee for Design History & Design Studies]</strong>. São Paulo: Blucher, 2016.
ISSN 23186968, DOI 10.5151/despro-icdhs2016-01_004

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