Lived experience in a neighbourhood wet market culture and social memories of a disappearing space 1

LIVED EXPERIENCES IN A NEIGHBOURHOOD WET MARKET: CULTURE AND SOCIAL MEMORIES OF A DISAPPEARING SPACE GALVEZ VICTORIA FRANCESCA (B.Soc.Sci. (Hons.), NUS) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2013 ii Acknowledgements The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. ~ Ecclesiastes 9:11-12, The Holy Bible I dedicate this thesis to the Lord, who is the God of divine appointments and timings. God had wonderful plans for me at every stage of this work – from inception, to fieldwork and completion. Having called me to run this (academic) race, He promised that His presence and favour would go before me. And He has been absolutely faithful to His Word, patient and reassuring in my moments of weakness, and encouraging during times of joy. I am proud to say that I have fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith – 2 Timothy 4:7. I have been blessed with an incredible family, and I am immensely grateful for my loved ones. My mother, Florence Teo, has been a competent interpreter during my fieldwork, and my most fervent cheerleader during the two and a half years that I have spent on this thesis. For years, I scoured academic feminism for models of strong women to emulate, never realizing that the quiet, unassuming, sacrificial, and godly strength of my mother would become the model of femininity that I would deeply respect and uphold – and still do today. She has given me both roots and wings, and raised me up to be the woman who I am today. I dedicate this thesis to her. I also thank my elder brother, Marcello Galvez, for letting me pursue my dream of doing postgraduate studies; he has been exceedingly understanding of and patient with this ‘book smart’ sister. To my beloved sister, Alexandra Galvez, I sincerely hope that my endless anthropological adventures (and mishaps) have sparked her passion and empathy for (social) life and people(s). I extend my heartfelt appreciation to my marvellous supervisor and teacher, A/P Maribeth Erb. I could not be more thankful for her. She has walked me through this entire thesis, remaining ever inspiring, enthusiastic, supportive, and caring. As one of the anthropologists who ignited my anthropological imagination during my undergraduate years, A/P Erb has nurtured it and kept it aflame throughout my postgraduate journey. Her meticulous and finesse assessment of my work has constantly challenged me to up my game – to rethink and refine my ideas, and to become a more sensitive and skilful writer, researcher, and thinker. For her kind and diligent guidance during my undergraduate and postgraduate years, I am deeply indebted. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Dr Erb! When I was an undergraduate, A/P Roxana Waterson also fuelled my anthropological imagination and curiosity for diverse forms of social life and peoples. She was an outstanding academic and teacher to me then, and is even more so today. It was in her Social Memory course that my interest in the (disappearance of the) wet market was piqued. Her discussion of the 2009 Sheng Siong-Housing Development Board saga captivated my imagination, and eventually culminated in the birth of this thesis. I also continued to learn much about anthropology and teaching from A/P Waterson during my postgraduate journey, and am very fortunate to have her help all these years. Thank you, Dr Waterson. iii A/P Hing Ai Yun has been a blessing to me in more ways than one. She has been an attentive spiritual and academic mentor, having been there for me during many trying periods and two theses. She has offered me many pearls of wisdom when it came to a future career – and life in general – and has showered me with many years of unconditional love and care. Dr Hing, the Galvezes cannot thank you enough for being a dear and precious family friend, and for being a godly figure. (And of course, I assure you that all your branded and beautiful handbags have been put to excellent use!) Since my honours year, Dr Kelvin Low has been a remarkable mentor and friend. He has given me much needed – and appreciated – career and postgraduate advice, kept me on track with my thesis, and seen me through various phases of life as I matured from my undergraduate years. Besides being my voice of reason and a professor whom I greatly respect, I thank him for the many enjoyable, light-hearted and unforgettable talks, laughs, gatherings, and dinners. For being ever so patient and objective with Vicky, I thank you for the past few years of friendship (and delectable treats – chocolates!), Dr Low. (And I am also delighted to report that I can finally differentiate avocadoes and small bitter gourds in the marketplace!) Dr Noorman Abdullah is a brilliant and critical academic, and a talented writer who yields his pen mightily. It has been a great pleasure to work with him and read his works. He is a seasoned sociologist and teacher whom I look up to, and I have gleaned numerous insights into medical sociology, Singapore society, and teaching from him. He is also an excellent listener and friend, and a sharp and witty conversationalist. He is always ready to lend a listening ear to my (fishmongering) (mis)adventures in Bedok Market, cat stories, travel experiences, and (unfortunate and recurring) ‘Aunty’ fashion disasters. For all these and so much more, Aunty Vicky extends her utmost gratitude to you, Dr Noorman. I am surrounded by terrific friends who have held my hand not only through my postgraduate stint, but through some of life’s finest as well as darkest hours. I thank these loved ones for the years of friendship we have shared, and rejoice in the fact that we have many more years to come. My best friends from secondary school and junior college: Dr Sarah Yong, Furzanne Faudzi, Stephanie Chan, Wu Zhi Yun, Gladys Goh, Seah Simin and family, Cheung Ka Yan, Chew Jia Ying, and Chan Yu Xin. My university friends: Cherie Goh, and Emilyn Yeo. My Sociology and intellectual playmates: Leong Si Ngah, Lionel Loh, Crystal Abidin, Teresa Tan, Cindy Liu, Woo Wee Meng, Mohammad Khamsya, Shamil Zainuddin, and Pamela Chia. The young and bright spark who is mature beyond his years, lights up and stretches my (academic) imagination, and breathes into me a zest for life: Ng Ding Jie. Finally, four groups of people have been the heart and soul of this ethnography, and this thesis would not have been possible without them. Thank you, Evan and Jacqueline, for your thoughts about the National Heritage Board’s (NHB’s) Community Heritage Project. My appreciation also goes out to the five heritage bloggers who have shared their memories of vanishing/vanished marketplaces and spaces in Singapore, and their ideas of nostalgia and heritage. My engagements with the bloggers have been intensely revealing, and have made me critically reflect on my iv own (taken-for-granted) notions of nostalgia and heritage. I thank my five customerinterviewees for their stories of Bedok Market too. I am extremely indebted to the hawkers of Bedok Market – especially my key informants – for their assistance in this study. They did not merely allow me to conduct research with and about them, but integrated me into their social circles and the marketplace itself. They patiently taught a novice researcher and wet market patron about their culture and memories, and blessed me with their care and friendship (along with many sumptuous foods!). My hawkers have bestowed me with so much more than I can ever reciprocate; I always left Bedok Market with a full heart (and stomach). They are the very heartbeat of this work, and I can only pray that this ethnography remains faithful to their lived and everyday realities. This thesis is about my hawkers, and for them. Victoria Galvez February 2014 v Table of contents Page Declaration page ii Acknowledgements iii Table of contents vi Abstract ix Chapter 1. Framing the lived experiences and memories of the marketplace 1.1. Orienting the view: Presenting Bedok Market 1 1.2. Crafting a meaning-centred approach to Bedok Market 1 1.3. Why an ethnography of a neighbourhood marketplace? 5 1.4. On sociality, performance, and social memory 1.4.1. Sociality 15 1.4.2. Performance 18 1.4.3. Social memory 20 1.5. Exploring the culture and social memories of the marketplace 21 Chapter 2. Methodological issues and a saunter through Bedok Market 2.1. Erecting a multi-method framework 23 2.2. Participant observation, tours, and ruminations on the role of an interpreter 24 2.3. Interviews and popular literature on the marketplace 31 2.4. A history of hawking and wet markets in Singapore 33 2.5. A saunter through Bedok and the marketplace 38 Chapter 3. Exploring socialities in Bedok Market 3.1. Framing Bedok Market as a social space 42 3.2. Customer-customer socialities: Fleeting relationships 43 3.3. Hawker-customer relationships: Transitory relationships 48 vi 3.4. Hawker-hawker socialities 3.4.1. Familial relationships 56 3.4.2. Business networks 59 3.4.3. Anchored personal relationships 63 Chapter 4. Dramatizing transactions in Bedok Market 4.1. Casting the drama of marketplace transactions 69 4.2. Exploring four performance ingredients 4.2.1. Erecting the front stage 70 4.2.2. ‘The ability to talk’ 74 4.2.3. Differentiating customers in the marketplace 80 4.2.4. Negotiating price 86 4.2.5. A middle class drama of transactions 89 4.3. A working class theatre of transactions 90 4.4. Back stages of the drama 93 4.5. Dramas of conflict, exclusion, and asymmetry 95 Chapter 5. Narratives of the vanishing marketplace 5.1. Framing the narratives of the disappearing marketplace 101 5.2. Of hardship and resignation: the hawkers’ narrative 103 5.3. Of inconvenience and resignation: the customers’ narrative 109 5.4. Of formal history and ‘social heritage’: NHB’s narrative 113 5.5. Of childhood, nostalgia, and loss of heritage: the bloggers’ narrative 124 Chapter 6. Coming full circle: Concluding the ethnography 140 Bibliography 146 Appendix 1. Biographies of my informants 155 vii Appendix 2. Map of Bedok Market 162 Appendix 3. Interview schedule for the hawkers 163 Appendix 4.1. Interview schedule for the customers 167 Appendix 4.2. Interview schedule for Samantha 169 Appendix 5.1. Interview schedule for Peter (blogger) 171 Appendix 5.2. Interview schedule for Brandon (blogger) 173 Appendix 5.3. Interview schedule for Kenneth (blogger) 175 Appendix 5.4. Interview schedule for Daniel (blogger) 177 Appendix 5.5. Interview schedule for Stephanie (blogger) 179 Appendix 6.1. Interview schedule for Evan (NHB staff) 181 Appendix 6.2. Interview schedule for Jacqueline (teacher) 183 Appendix 7. Food glossary 184 Appendix 8. Scenes in Bedok Market 196 viii Abstract This thesis is an ethnography of Bedok Market, a neighbourhood wet market in Singapore, in which I strive to capture some sense of the variegated peoples, actions, and dynamics that compose the marketplace. In particular, I adopt a meaningcentred perspective to explore two constituents of the micro-level culture of Bedok Market – the kinds of socialities, and dramaturgical ingredients that comprise what I call the theatre of buying and selling in this space. Hence, I elicit the complex everyday realities of two groups in the marketplace – hawkers and customers. I argue that the ‘social’ is a multiplicity of lived interactions and connections; the qualities of Bedok Market engineer a range of relationships in this space. A similar sense of diversity and differentiation surfaces when I consider four performance components that go into the drama of transactions – the front stage set up; what hawkers call ‘the ability to talk’; the differentiation of customers; and the negotiation of price. There are many ways to enact these techniques; a spectrum of dramaturgical know-how proliferates. When this range is kept to, exchanges are free of conflict. Nevertheless, degrees of inclusion, exclusion, and asymmetry may influence transactions, and such interactions teem with tension. In recent years, a number of wet markets have vanished, and a flurry of memories has been released vis-à-vis these disappearances. While some stories recollect the multifarious rhythms of the marketplace, others do not. Therefore, I complement my ethnography with a narrative angle that builds upon marketplace culture. Speaking with four categories of people – hawkers, customers, the National Heritage Board (NHB) staff and their collaborators, and heritage bloggers – I contend that these groups (dis)engage marketplace culture, and ideas of nostalgia and heritage, ix to varying extents. Their tales too, lay out the disparate capacities and vested interests from which the various groups appropriate the marketplace. x  ... of the vanishing marketplace 5 .1 Framing the narratives of the disappearing marketplace 10 1 5.2 Of hardship and resignation: the hawkers’ narrative 10 3 5.3 Of inconvenience and resignation: the... marketplace? 1. 4 On sociality, performance, and social memory 1. 4 .1 Sociality 15 1. 4.2 Performance 18 1. 4.3 Social memory 20 1. 5 Exploring the culture and social memories of the marketplace 21 Chapter... popular literature on the marketplace 31 2.4 A history of hawking and wet markets in Singapore 33 2.5 A saunter through Bedok and the marketplace 38 Chapter Exploring socialities in Bedok Market