East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal, 2024
Scholars of trust and misinformation typically assume that the only two poles of legitimacy are d... more Scholars of trust and misinformation typically assume that the only two poles of legitimacy are democratic pluralism and scientific technocracy. This paper examines Singapore’s response to Covid-19 to argue that this nation-state instantiates an alternative ideal: political technocracy. Singapore’s ruling party of sixty years, the People’s Action Party (PAP), has long positioned itself as a long-term steward, whose authority rests on the trust it has cultivated among citizens, which it attributes to governmental transparency. We present a taxonomy of the state’s rhetorical strategies – ontological, moral, and statistical – to highlight the government’s active role in shaping public perceptions of national problems and the aptness of its policies. This taxonomy elucidates how Singapore’s political technocracy differs from scientific technocracy, while still highlighting the state’s strategic deployment of the rhetoric of science and ad hoc experts for legitimacy. In so doing, we invite further consideration of the relationships between science and public trust in illiberal authoritarian states.
While differences often threaten ethnonationalist projects, the Singaporean state has rendered a ... more While differences often threaten ethnonationalist projects, the Singaporean state has rendered a particular configuration of racial-religious diversity constitutive of nationalism in the city-state. In this paper, we approach nationalism through an often-overlooked avenue: intangible heritage such as everyday myths, customs, and taboos. A total of 150 interviews were conducted in three neighbourhoods in Singapore, where guided conversations were conducted regarding common customs, myths, and taboos in individuals’ families and communities. We found that respondents imagined their (state-designated) racial-religious groups as communities of shared customs, while also demonstrating familiarity, even deference, to the customs of other groups. However, this intimacy with other groups’ practices did not undermine the integrity of respondents’ own group identity, since they remained committed to their cultural practices as embodying ancient and useful – even “scientific” – knowledge. The data thus showed that citizens are deeply reflexive about the nature, origins, and justification of the practices they undertake. This domain of everyday practices was neither simply defined into being by the state, nor is it some heroic realm of defiance: instead, it is one where people display creativity and agency in making sense of cherished cultural similarities and differences, all while using state-prescribed categories as resources for their meaning-making.
East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal, 2024
Scholars of trust and misinformation typically assume that the only two poles of legitimacy are d... more Scholars of trust and misinformation typically assume that the only two poles of legitimacy are democratic pluralism and scientific technocracy. This paper examines Singapore’s response to Covid-19 to argue that this nation-state instantiates an alternative ideal: political technocracy. Singapore’s ruling party of sixty years, the People’s Action Party (PAP), has long positioned itself as a long-term steward, whose authority rests on the trust it has cultivated among citizens, which it attributes to governmental transparency. We present a taxonomy of the state’s rhetorical strategies – ontological, moral, and statistical – to highlight the government’s active role in shaping public perceptions of national problems and the aptness of its policies. This taxonomy elucidates how Singapore’s political technocracy differs from scientific technocracy, while still highlighting the state’s strategic deployment of the rhetoric of science and ad hoc experts for legitimacy. In so doing, we invite further consideration of the relationships between science and public trust in illiberal authoritarian states.
While differences often threaten ethnonationalist projects, the Singaporean state has rendered a ... more While differences often threaten ethnonationalist projects, the Singaporean state has rendered a particular configuration of racial-religious diversity constitutive of nationalism in the city-state. In this paper, we approach nationalism through an often-overlooked avenue: intangible heritage such as everyday myths, customs, and taboos. A total of 150 interviews were conducted in three neighbourhoods in Singapore, where guided conversations were conducted regarding common customs, myths, and taboos in individuals’ families and communities. We found that respondents imagined their (state-designated) racial-religious groups as communities of shared customs, while also demonstrating familiarity, even deference, to the customs of other groups. However, this intimacy with other groups’ practices did not undermine the integrity of respondents’ own group identity, since they remained committed to their cultural practices as embodying ancient and useful – even “scientific” – knowledge. The data thus showed that citizens are deeply reflexive about the nature, origins, and justification of the practices they undertake. This domain of everyday practices was neither simply defined into being by the state, nor is it some heroic realm of defiance: instead, it is one where people display creativity and agency in making sense of cherished cultural similarities and differences, all while using state-prescribed categories as resources for their meaning-making.
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Papers by Sharad Pandian