Multiethnic elites and the management of tropical heat in colonial Malaya, circa 1870s-1930s

• Main Authors: LOWRIE, Claire, TARULEVICZ, Nicole, WILLIAMSON, Fiona, LAM, Charmaine H.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2024
• Subjects: Asian History; Physical and Environmental Geography
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/223; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/cis_research/article/1222/viewcontent/MultiethnicElites_TropicalHeat_Malaya_Oct_2023_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This article considers the responses of multiethnic urban elites to living with tropical heat in colonial Malaya by analysing attitudes towards the meteorological study of temperature, commercial cold storage and hill stations. A transcolonial and transimperial approach is used to illustrate that interest in managing and monitoring temperature was slower to develop in Malaya compared with other tropical colonies. The article also considers how access to methods of ameliorating heat was shaped by colonial hierarchies based on ideas of race and class.