Title
Year
Author
Watching the astonishment of the native: early audio-visual technology and colonial discourse
Watching the astonishment of the native: early audio-visual technology and colonial discourse
Tofighian, Nadi
Collection | Singapore, 1867-1914 |
---|---|
Author/Creator |
Tofighian, Nadi |
Title |
Watching the astonishment of the native: early audio-visual technology and colonial discourse |
Source Title | Early Popular Visual Culture |
Publisher | 2017 |
DOI |
http://libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17460654.2016.1237882 |
Subject |
Phonograph -- Singapore -- History Cinematography -- Singapore -- History Motion pictures -- Singapore -- History Kinetoscope Audio-visual equipment -- Singapore -- History |
Page | 26-43 |
Language | English |
URI |
http://libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17460654.2016.1237882 |
Content Type | Journal Article |
Terms of Use |
openAccess |
Repository | NUS Libraries |
Volume | 15 |
Issue | 1 |
Description |
In this paper, I give an overview of early exhibitions of phonographs, kinetoscopes and cinematographic devices in colonial Singapore. Beyond giving an overview of the different exhibitions, the paper also sets them in the context of the colonial discourse prevalent in Singapore and many parts of the world. In the newspaper discourse these new technologies from Europe and United States were depicted as an illustration of 'Western' progress and civilisation. These technologies, be it railways, roads, steamships, telegraphs or cinematographs, were used to impress and astonish the colonised, and functioned as a way to signal Western power in colonial territories, something Brian Larkin calls the colonial sublime. Newspaper reports frequently commented on the amazement and perplexity of the local, 'native' population when encountering public exhibitions of phonographs, kinetoscopes and cinematographs. This was largely a constructed narrative as it helped create and emphasise differences between coloniser and colonised, and justify colonial structures. The paper demonstrates how new technological devices within a few years were exhibited by people from different Asian backgrounds, and thereby diminished perceived and constructed differences between European and Asian people. |
Wong Ah Fook: immigrant, builder and entrepreneur
Wong Ah Fook: immigrant, builder and entrepreneur
Collection | Singapore, 1867-1914 |
---|---|
Author/Creator |
Lim, Patricia Pui Huen |
Title |
Wong Ah Fook: immigrant, builder and entrepreneur |
Publication Date | 2002 |
Publisher | Singapore : Times Editions |
Call Number | DS599.51 Waf.L 2002 |
Subject |
Wong, Ah Fook, 1837-1918 Immigrants -- Singapore -- Biography Chinese -- Singapore -- Biography Chinese -- Malaysia -- Biography Singapore -- Social conditions -- 19th century Malaysia -- Social conditions -- 19th century |
Page | 185 |
Language | English |
Content Type | Book |
Object Type |
Text |
Terms of Use |
openAccess |
Repository | NUS Libraries |
Description |
Has a chapter on Kwong Yik Bank, the first Chinese bank in Malaya |
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