HistoriaSG at the National Museum of Singapore

Recovering the complex legacies of Kampong Melaka and Kampong Bengkulu: Two forgotten neighbourhoods of early communities By Dr Imran Tajudeen
29 July 2020, 7.30pm | Livestreamed on the National Museum’s Facebook page

The urban wards named Kampong Melaka and Kampung Bengkulu appear in several maps of colonial Singapore. How did these two neighbourhoods of early communities develop when they were not reflected in the Raffles Town Plan (the “Jackson Plan”) of November/December 1822? In this talk, Dr Imran Tajudeen will discuss what actually developed in colonial Singapore within and beyond the colonial grid of representation and, through the micro-histories of Kampong Melaka and Kampong Bengkulu, reconsider the conventional narratives and framing of the colonial city, particularly our present assumptions about the “Jackson Plan”.

About the Speaker
Imran bin Tajudeen is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore. His work focuses on the architecture and urban histories of Singapore and maritime Southeast Asia across the longue durée from the pre-colonial period (16th to 18th centuries) through their transregional interactions, continuities and transformations with the colonial encounter, and subsequently their framing via colonial and nationalist tropes in contemporary history narratives and heritage discourse.

Image caption (if any): Plan showing alteration and addition to compound house at 239 Bencoolen Street, later renumbered as 81 Bencoolen Street, 1926. Courtesy of the National Archives of Singapore.