Running Head: HISTORY 1The Life and Work of Hong Lysa
HISTORY 2Introduction Southeast Asian Studies refers to education and research on the culture, languages and history ofdifferent ethnic groups and states of Southeast Asia. There are several scholars, which had agreat impact on the studies in the Southeast Asian region. They have supported the education,history and culture in the area. Conducting the study about any scholar may assist inunderstanding the history of that region or particular country. Here, the chosen scholar is HongLysa, who is a famous Singaporean historian. The job of a historian is very difficult, becausethey need to do the work of reviewing and understanding the past. When the people require thedetailed information about the history or past, they prefer to approach historians. These peoplepublish the books and writings about all the topics, different types of people and places. Thisessay includes different aspects related to Hong Lysa, such as; her writings, books, biography,legacy etc. Different websites and journals have been searched to collect the data about the workof Hong Lysa. There are different books, which have beliefs, facts and traditions related to the life, career andinterests of Hong Lysa. Her writings have a significant impact on the field. The books, which areauthored by Hong are assisting the government and political activists in managing the history ofnation. It can assist the country in managing its culture and education among students. The booksof Hong Lysa are very much focused on the learning and teaching for the students, so they arevery useful to the students, who are interested in studying history (Blackburn, 2016). This essaywill assist in understanding the books and life of Hong Lysa as a scholar in her field.Furthermore, it will have the discussion about the people, who were very important in the life ofHong Lysa and who have motivated her to become an active historian in Thailand andSingapore. About Dr. Hong Lysa Dr. Hong Lysa is a popular historian, who was born in a Singaporean middle class family. Shehad completed her studies from primary right up to pre-university at CHIV Victoria Street.Currently, it is known as CHIJMES. Then, Hong entered in the phase of adulthood after thecompletion of her tertiary studies. She had done her education from a well-known university, i.e.University of Singapore. Then after, she had completed her PhD course from Sydney University,Australia. After the completion of this course, she was known as Dr. Hong Lysa. Dr. Hong Lysa
HISTORY 3is a historian, who worked on 19th century history of Thailand prior to turning to the history ofSingapore (Gomes, 2016). From 1984 to 2000, she had worked as a historian and researcher in National University ofSingapore (NUS). National University of Singapore is one of the top ranked universities in theworld. In this period, she was working as a member of History Department and simultaneouslyfrom 1992, Southeast Asia Education Program. After leaving her academic center, which shewas having, Dr. Hong Lysa has worked as an independent writer and researcher. In addition tothis, she is also involved in politics of the history writing in Singapore country (Spector, et al,2014). Hong Lysa possesses different skills and abilities in her field, such as; effectivecommunication skills, research and investigative skills, ability to evaluate and predict therequired data and information and interest in culture, society and human behavior. She has all theessential skills, which assisted Hong in enhancing her image and popularity in this discipline.People can follow her on her blog, although she denies that she does not update her blogroutinely. Link for her blog is “https://minimyna.wordpress.com/. The comments on this blog arevery much important, when they are related to history. Moreover, people can follow her worksand contributions on an e-journal website, i.e. “www.s-pores.com”. Dr. Hong is a foundingperson of this e-journal website, which provides students new directions in the studies inSingapore. Hong Lysa is one of the publishers of “The 1963 Operation Coldstore in Singapore”that was published in the year 2013 (Caruth, 2016). There are various books and writings of Dr.Hong Lysa, which are influential for the society and students in the country. Along with herbooks, she has also published on history and historiography of Thailand and Singapore as well.She was very good scholar as she has argued that native scholars do not require to justify theirfocus on nation and in fact have a captivating sense of mission in doing their own work andtasks, which generally cannot be separated from their roles and responsibilities as the membersof that particular society (Chong, Hye-Kyung & Lim, 2014). There are various books and contents, which are authored and co-authored by Dr. Hong Lysa.Before discussing about her own work on the history of Singapore and Thailand, here is thediscussion about her scholarly interests. The scholarly interests include different work andwritings of other authors. These are some books and writings, which are very important to thelife of Dr. Hong and meant most to Hong. Some of these books are stated below;
HISTORY 4Tan Jing Quee and Jomo KS,Comet in our Sky: Lim Chin Siong in History(2001)Michel-Rolph Trouillot,Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History(1995)Shahid Amin,Event, Metaphor, Memory: Chauri Chaura 1922-1992(1995)Rachel Leow,Taming Babel: Language in the Making of Malaysia(2017)There are some titles of books, which motivate her to perform and execute the things in aneffective manner. By looking at these titles or themes, it can be realized that this SingaporeanHistorian is very passionate about the power and how it impacts the heritage or past records(Entwistle, 2015). Tan Jing Quee and Jomo KS,Comet in our Sky: Lim Chin Siong in History(2001) is one of themost preferred books for Dr. Hong Lysa. This book is the combination of personal and academicreflections on Lim Chin Siong, who was a magnetic political person in the post war history ofSingapore Country. Lim was the founding person in the People’s action Party (PAP) that is well-known political party in the country (Harrison, & Jackson, 2010). He was a rising political star in1960s. After considering the facts, it can be seen that on the book of Lim Chin Siong, the scholarDr. Hong stated that she realized that this book was the path breaking art in order to reduce there-launching the inhibited past of post-war history of Singapore. On this, the author also statedthat Dr. Hong feels very strong about providing the voice to the relegated, silenced and forgottenvoice of country’s strategy (Wee, 2002). Moreover, Michel-Rolph Trouillot,Silencing the Past: Power and the Production ofHistory(1995) is another book, which is she waiting for me. Hong Lysa is interested in this bookand learned so many things from this writing. Silencing the Past is one of the thought provokingevaluation of historical structure. Hong is very much passionate about the history, so that it likedvery much about this book (Lau, 2013). This book gives various examples, which range from theHaitian Revolution to Columbus Day. About this book, Hong stated that this was a classic andimportant work on historiography and the book starts with a very interested notion, i.e. there aretwo aspects of the history, i.e. one is socio-historical process and another one is historicaldescription. This book is very useful for the historians and other authors, who like to make senseof unclear work. Thus, this is the major reason that Hong is interested in this book and preferredit as her scholarly interest (King, 2015). The information and knowledge about these aspects
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