Por , Heong Hong
(2016)
Transnationality And Nationalism:
Shared And Contested Memories Of
Wu Lien-teh Across East And
Southeast Asia In Post-sars Era.
International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS), 12 (2).
pp. 83-103.
ISSN ISSN: 1823-6243
Abstract
Maurice Halbwachs proposed that the reading of the pasts is shaped by
interests and needs of the present. The surging interest in Wu Lien-Teh—
Penang-born, Cambridge-trained plague fighter in China—across East and
Southeast Asia in post-SARS era appears to affirm Halbwachs' view.
Utilising Halbwachs' presentist and constructionist approach, this article
reads post-SARS memories of Wu Lien-Teh as a contested terrain where
various historical actors, under a mix of fortuitous as well as intentional
circumstances, come to construct what they presently perceive as relevant
and important. Memories of the past is thus a site that tells about the
present. Drawing on a variety of publications and online sources, this
article makes post-SARS accounts of Wu in the region a case for the study of
how the pasts are reconstructed to communicate the present. Given that the
commemoration of Wu spans across various countries, the case also allows
investigation of memory variation across the region. The findings show that
the reconstruction of Wu's pasts in the region has been shaped by varying
subjective concerns of different historical actors, politics and social
conditions in the region, and the transnationality, locality and materiality of
Wu's legacies.
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