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Random thought of the day:
Are cities predisposed towards pro-colonialism sentiment? This urban experience is framed in binary with the anti-colonialist rural experience. Ref: Singapore, circa 1945.
(Probably not)
posted by Mezzo @ 9:23 pm
2 comments
2 Comments:
I think part of the equation is that many people who depend on colonial structures for their livelihoods live in the city (e.g. civil servants, merchantts).
Rural people are often exploited more directly by colonialism and see the incentive to fight back. So do the ideologues in the cities. They have less to lose with a regime change.
Commercial people in the cities have plenty to lose.
Oh absolutely. I've always been fascinated by the whole tension in the urban/rural relationship.
I mentioned this because of something that I read for the course I'm tutoring. There was some mention of Malaysia (then Malayan peninsula) being more rabidly anti-colonialist than Singapore. I ended up applying the old rural/urban divide - rural Malaysia versus cosmopolitan Singapore.
I used it to explain part of the inherent tension between the two countries during merger period to my class. I'm alright with how it worked out, but it just seems so simplistic that I got worried.
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