tag:peatix.com,2011:1 2020-10-07T20:32:18+08:00 Peatix NUS Baba House tag:peatix.com,2020:event-1583381 2020-09-09T19:00:00SGT 2020-09-09T19:00:00SGT

[Speaker Series] Dialects & Dialogues: Languages and Identities Before the Nation-state9, 23, and 29 September, and 6 October7.00pm - 8.30pmOnline SeriesAll talks will be conducted via Zoom Webinar. Please register your attendance on Peatix to receive your Zoom Webinar link.About the Dialects & Dialogues Language Speaker SeriesComplementing discussions on identity formation among early settlers in colonial Singapore posited by NUS Baba House’s exhibition Glossaries of the Straits Chinese Homemaking, this speaker series explores the intangible in the representation of culture: language. Wang Gungwu, in his chapter “Before Nation: Chinese Peranakan,” suggested that languages in early Singapore were pre-national – they observed no national borders. Eventually, however, Malay became the language of communication in the Malay Archipelago, and was used by individuals independent of their country of origin.Singapore has therefore experienced multiple shifts in the local landscape of language, ranging from the use of Bazaar Malay and dialects as lingua franca, to the widespread push to use English in the post-independence era. In this series, we invite individuals to present their research and thoughts on language evolution, literature, and their roles in cultural identity formation, from past to present. 1: Language, Change, and Identity in the Baba-Nyonya Community Wednesday, 9 September 2020The talk will present a fascinating history of early identities in Singapore, with special focus on the Baba-Nyonya community in Singapore, as examined through the retrospective lens of history and language.  A long view has been chosen for its advantage in fleshing out unexpected socio-political and linguistic insights. Talk: 7pm – 8pm Q&A: 8pm – 8.30pm Zoom opens 10 minutes before talk beginsAbout the speaker Dr. Phyllis G. L. Chew was a professor at the National Institute of Education until her retirement in December 2019. She was Fulbright Visiting professor to Harvard University in 2010 as well as the 2012 Leverhulme Visiting professor to the UK. She is past president of the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware), the University Women’s Association of Singapore (UWAS), and the English Language and Literature Association of Singapore (ELLTAS).2: Syair from the Peranakan: Insights into Cultural and Social VisionWednesday, 23 September 2020This lecture will highlight the varieties of syair produced by several Chinese Peranakan writers in the Nusantara. Syair as a rhymed narrative was a popular literary medium in the nineteenth century right until the end of the Second World War. While Peranakan pantuns have received abundant attention, this is not the case for syair, although as a literary document it could provide insights into the intellectual and cultural ideas amongst Peranakan intelligentsias.Talk: 7pm – 8pm Q&A: 8pm – 8.30pm Zoom opens 10 minutes before talk beginsAbout the speakerAzhar Ibrahim, PhD is a Lecturer at the Department of Malay Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS). He teaches Malay-Indonesian literature and ideologies of development at the Department. His research interest includes sociology of religion, sociology of literature and critical literacy, and the Malay-Indonesian intellectual development. Amongst his published books are: Historical Imagination and Cultural Responses to Colonialism and Nationalism: A Critical Malay(sian) Perspective (2017), Menyanggah Belenggu Kerancuan Fikiran Masakini (2016), Contemporary Islamic Discourse in the Malay-Indonesia World: Critical Perspectives. (2014), Narrating Presence: Awakening from Cultural Amnesia. (2014). 3: The Endangerment and Documentation of Baba MalayTuesday, 29 September 2020Traditionally the home language of the Peranakans, Baba Malay is a contact language that can be contexualised within the broader field of language endangerment. This talk features documentation research that is taking place in response to language endangerment, and points out different potential trajectories of such documentation research. Talk: 7pm – 8pm Q&A: 8pm – 8.30pm Zoom opens 10 minutes before talk beginsAbout the speakerNala H. Lee is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the National University of Singapore. She is interested in the spectrum of language change brought about by multilingualism. Specifically, her research interests include language endangerment, language death, and creole studies. She wrote a grammar of Baba Malay for her PhD dissertation, and is a co-developer of the Language Endangerment Index, which is used by the Catalogue of Endangered Languages (www.endangeredlanguages.com).  She has published in journals such as Language in Society, Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, Language Documentation and Conservation, and the Annual Review of Linguistics.4: Writing the Chrita-Chrita Baba: a means to save the Peranakan languageTuesday, 6 October 2020The native language of the Peranakan Chinese, Baba Malay, is at the verge of obscurity and at great risk of being lost within a few generations. The loss of the native language of the Peranakan Chinese in Singapore will eventually spell the end of its rich intangible heritage, which has already seen generations of degradation. The writing of Chrita-Chrita Baba is an attempt to reintroduce various elements of not only its language, but also various traditions, folklore, rituals, and beliefs that were once commonplace to any Peranakan person. Talk: 7pm – 8pm Q&A: 8pm – 8.30pm Zoom opens 10 minutes before talk beginsAbout the speakerKenneth Y. K. Chan is an educator and is currently involved within the Peranakan community with efforts to revive the use of Baba Malay. The effort to revive the language is in response to the fact that Baba Malay is an endangered language in a critical stage where it is at risk of being lost within a few generations. He is also the author of Mari Chakap Baba, the first ever Baba Malay textbook which is currently being used to teach Baba Malay language classes, and Chrita-Chrita Baba, a collection of short stories, written in both Baba Malay and English presented side-by-side on facing pages. Chrita-Chrita Baba is the first book written in Baba Malay, the Peranakan language of the Baba Nyonya, since the early 1900s.

tag:peatix.com,2020-09-09 13:02:45 2020-09-09 13:02:45 The event description was updated. Diff#730908