Negotiating Class, Taste, and Culture via the Arts Scene in Singapore: Postcolonial or Cosmopolitan Global?

The state of selected theatre productions in Singapore reflects the complexity of the nation-state's identity as both a postcolonial entity and a cosmopolitan city situating itself as a major player in the global economy. Using Pierre Bourdieu's theories on symbolic violence and the interexchangeability of different forms of capital, this paper demonstrates how class, taste, and cultural consumption both reflect and are reflected by the nation's positioning in the neo-liberal milieu. Melissa Wong is a doctoral candidate in theatre at the Graduate Center, CUNY. As an Enhanced Chancellor's Fellow, she has taught at Baruch College and she is currently a writing fellow at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. She is also chair of the Graduate Students Committee at Performance Studies international. Her dissertation looks at the performance of social justice and human rights in four Asian cities, and issues of embodiment and subjectivity.