Kampungs : remembering the places that live in our memories.

• Main Author: Nurulhuda Maamon.
• Other Authors: Teo You Yenn
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Sociology::Culture
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/19003
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This exploratory study of the Malay kampungs, as located within the collective remembrance of the Malays in Singapore, describes and analyzes the social processes of remembering kampungs. Identifying the Malay family and ethnic as ‘mnemonic communities’, oral history interviews and focus group discussion were conducted with 23 respondents from three birth cohorts of 1950s, 1980s and 2000, to locate and understand the process of ‘mnemonic socialization’. Secondary data was derived from a content analysis of a socio-cultural ethnography of Malay kampungs in Singapore. Findings indicate firstly, that the social memory of kampungs is organized around the themes of idyllic childhood and communal life. Secondly, that the remembrance of Malay kampungs is learned and that personal storytelling of kampung memories is the primary vehicle for transmitting vicarious memory and collective identity. Finally, beyond nostalgia, the remembrance of kampungs is an active, purposeful and rationally organized effort.