Protector, surrogate parent, role model: is there anything an eldest daughter can’t do? Cherry Tan reads three new Singaporean books that examine sisterhood and daughterhood—Sister Snake, The Original Daughter, and The Story Game—and considers how eldest daughters might (re)write their own story.
Some claim that tiny forests can bring relief from dangerous heat. Mere greenwashing? And even if not, can the concept grow roots in a city uncomfortable with wildness?
Young Singaporean men beset with economic anxiety, navigating changing gender norms, and fed on a social media diet of conspicuous consumption are charting new career paths both worrying and brave.
Deterrence and public opinion are used as justification for retaining the death penalty. We interrogate both notions, as we argue for abolition.
Despite colonialism’s incessant efforts to conjure and enforce new categories to better exploit vast populations, Malaya’s dizzying plurality could not be contained.
When the state brings itself to relinquish some control, tantalising new possibilities of being, living and thriving emerge.
