Human geography: Singapore perspectives

Abstract

Geography has been taught as a university subject for over 75 years and the Department of Geography at the National University of Singapore is the only fully fledged academic Geography Department in Singapore. Based on the last 15 years (1990-2005) this paper looks at the research contributions on human geography of mainly the Singaporean geographers in the Department. This article asserts that the Department has gone through a renaissance in the last 15 years reflecting a new influx of young geographers, the changing university system from a British to an American research-driven system, and the catalytic research impact of three faculty members in the Department: Lily Kong, Henry Yeung and Brenda Yeoh. The research output in human geography in the Department has been prodigious and reflects mainly contributions in three areas: Singapore as nation, city and urban ecosystem; diasporas, migration and gender issues; and varied operational aspects of globalization dealing with global cities, cosmopolitan populations, transnational corporations, and global-local dialogues.