What Makes An Animal Singaporean?
Singaporeans love animals, but only selectively. Otters, Ah Meng the orangutan, and Inuka the polar bear are among the beloved. Less favoured are monkeys in the Botanic Gardens, many of which were culled before WWII, and pesky Aedes mosquitoes. Environmental historian Timothy Barnard tells us how some of these migrant animals came to be here, how they’ve been treated, and what makes them Singaporean.
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What Timothy Talked About
02:26 – Monkeys in the Botanic Gardens before WWII
07:15 – Understanding Singapore’s history through its animals
08:41 – What makes a creature Singaporean?
10:10 – How the Garden City concept shaped human-animal relationships
in Singapore
12:34 – Why some recognisable Singaporean animals were left out of the
book
14:31 – Otters as returning migrants
16:33 – Singaporeans’ fondness for the zoo and its creatures
20:31 – How Tim came to be interested in environmental history
23:37 – Challenges in teaching environmental history in Singapore
26:01 – The animal he would like to interview
27:13 – The profession he would pick if he weren't a historian
About the Guest
Timothy P. Barnard is an associate professor in the department of history at the National University of Singapore, where he specialises in the environmental and cultural history of island Southeast Asia. He is the author of Imperial Creatures and Nature's Colony, and the editor of Nature Contained and Singaporean Creatures.
Resources
Timothy Barnard, ed., Singaporean Creatures: Histories of Humans and Other Animals in the Garden City (Singapore: NUS Press, 2024).
Timothy Barnard, Imperial Creatures: Humans and Other Animals in Colonial Singapore, 1819–1942 (Singapore: NUS Press, 2019).
Timothy Barnard, Nature's Colony: Empire, Nation and Environment in the Singapore Botanic Gardens (Singapore: NUS Press, 2016).
Timothy Barnard, ed., Nature Contained: Environmental Histories of Singapore (Singapore: NUS Press, 2014).
Choo Ruizhi, "Animals, Anxieties and Aspirations: The Earlier Years of the Singapore Zoo," BiblioAsia 20, no. 3 (October–December 2024).
Credits
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Doppler Soundlab. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Timothy for coming on the show.
About the Podcast
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.