Public Spaces

Identity of

Culture Space & Identity

As renowned geographer Yi-Fu Tuan puts it the meaning of places are never fixed in priori but relies on human imagination subjected to change (1971, 442). In less academic terms, our impression of spaces can be likened to taking a still shot of a place. The product is a reflection of our values, and the meaning we make out of the subject(s). Hence, public spaces like the Nickelodeon Theater and the vernacular food culture present in Hawker Centers of Singapore can be perceived to be theatres reflecting complex culture and space identities. This essay wishes to expound on how culture-space dynamics in defining identities are dialectical in nature, and the agents involved in the performance of identity.

Consumption Defining Space

The politics of membership in defining who belongs within a space inevitably defines peoples geographical imagination of the physical landscape (Massey, 1995). Masseys enculturation of landscape theory runs deep in Merritts work about the early Nickelodeon Theater where he attributed the theatres working class identity to the lion share of audience coming from the ghetto and [catering to] workers effectively disenfranchised from older arts (2004, 22). The popular as opposed to high art label upon the nickelodeon theatre, reinforces the dominance of working class supporters, further suggesting how consumer profiling gives meaning to spaces. In similar fashion, the backdrop of hawker centers as spaces that caters to Singaporeans of the lower socioeconomic status juxtaposed against elites who prefers fine dining, complies with the enculturation of landscapes through consumer profiling. As noted by local cultural geographer Hamzah Muzani, the frequent used of colloquial dialects and unrefined dining etiquettes that has no place in the cosmopolitan vision of Singapores tomorrow impresses upon the public imagination that the hawker center is grubby and for Singaporeans who have yet caught up with the nations blueprints of tomorrow (2009, 231). Parallels indeed, the geographical imagination of both spaces seemed inevitably tied to whom and for whom the space is created for. Hence, consumption becomes an act of performance where ones identity are closely tied to the space he chooses to consume in

Challenging Definitions
It is native to think that place identities remain in stasis. Stakeholders often act as gatekeepers in redefining spaces to their preferred identities. As noted by Merritt, theatre owners exercised discrimination through various mechanism, such as bans and price control against the working class and in attempt to attract the middle class, so as to attained greater respectability for theater art (2004, 24). The malling of hawker centers, transforming its appearance to the modernized food courts in malls to appeal to the middleclass Singaporeans, is seen by local urban geographer, Pow, to be in the same vein of redefining space identity. Although, the older forms co-exist with the modernized food courts today, it is arguable that the middle-class perception to hawker food has changed. Multi-national enterprise like Food Republic selling the local food culture worldwide suggest that the uppermiddleclass may not have only embraced the culture but also further transformed it into a respectable culture, worthy of international showcase.

consumption is an act of performance where ones identity are closely tied to the space he chooses to consume in

Our World

Is NOT a Blank Canvas

The missing link in many cultural studies lies in the perception of culture as finished product; when it is also an important agent shaping peoples world. Although not made explicit in Merritts article, he reckons that early films in the Nickelodeon theatre served as a social agent in rehabilitating the poor (2004, 23). Public spaces like the hawker centers in Singapore are also similarly employed to socialize Singaporeans to a set of desired conduct. For instance, the demarcation of non-smoking zones re-enforces the notion that smoking is a marginalized activity harmful to public health. Through the aforementioned, culture can also be seen to be purposefully employed to shape peoples conduct, thus shape the ethos of a society. In all, culture as demonstrated by the Nickelodeon theatre and Singapores hawker center expounds complex social-power dynamics. Public spaces are certainly not blank slates but canvas painted with identities both impressed upon and impress on.