TOWARD A POSTCOLONIAL CRITIQUE OF THE STATE IN SINGAPORE

Contrary to definition, postcolonial critique is not even about colonialism, literally. What it really refers to on the other hand and in what sense it is 'post' are more difficult to answer. In short, the advent of postcolonial critique as a broad-based theoretical movement may have developed full scale in the 1990s, but its meaning and focus for scholars entrenched in different disciplinary frameworks and mindsets were very different. Mainly incompatible discourses have accounted for much of the debate and confusion that resulted, but definitional problems are in fact a crucial point of departure for how one should understand the potential of postcolonial critique and its broader ramifications for theory. In this regard, I attempt to follow up on one definition or frame of reference then develop this into a critical theory of institutions and practices, with particular reference to contemporary Singapore.