Browse

• Learning to read our city: the wall is the only document2026-07-29
  Architectural historian YEO KANG SHUA critiques the unease written into Singapore’s fabric, and argues that conservation is a discipline of attention we can all practise. This essay is adapted from his remarks at the “States of Unease” Public Forum.
• A healthy literary culture helps society recognise different ways of being2026-07-29
  In a world inundated with data, literature helps us seek truth, argues poet POOJA NANSI. It is where we learn to be patient with difference and contradiction, and thus discover how to understand and live with one another. This article is based on her remarks at the “States of Unease” Public Forum 2026.
• A good society means being open to debates that challenge norms about who ‘we’ are2026-07-28
  In his contribution to the “States of Unease” Public Forum 2026, media scholar CHERIAN GEORGE explored the idea of moral progress as a core objective of a good society. This essay elaborates on his argument.
• A theory of change that banks on ‘ordinary people’2026-07-28
  At the “States of Unease” Public Forum 2026, sociologist TEO YOU YENN explained why Singaporeans should not think of the Government as the only relevant conversation partner if they want to change things. This article is based on her remarks at the event.
• Public forum: How can we make space for multiple conceptions of the good life?2026-06-24
  This event co-organised with Ethos Books was held on the evening of Friday 24 July 2026 at the Stephen Riady Auditorium in downtown Singapore. Tickets were sold out within a few days, with hundreds on the waiting list. AcademiaSG and Ethos Books thank all who came and those who wanted to but could not. You… Read more: Public forum: How can we make space for multiple conceptions of the good life?
• The Albatross File Exhibition is bad history that diminishes Lee Kuan Yew2026-06-08
  Historian THUM PING TJIN argues that The Albatross File Exhibition and its accompanying book turn Lee Kuan Yew from a historically consequential actor into a passive victim of circumstance, thus diminishing him. By trying to protect him from moral scrutiny, Singaporeans are given a comforting story instead of an educational one where power, fear, race, ambition, and moral compromise destroyed Malaysia.
• We’re 7. Thank you for your support.2026-05-15
  We launched this volunteer collective in May 2018. Underlying our work is a belief in a more open and just society, and academics’ role in getting Singapore there.
• Why there is only one Teo You Yenn: Academia under the microscope2026-05-09
  Sociologist Teo You Yenn’s previous book was an academic publishing phenomenon; her latest appears to be following suit. CHERIAN GEORGE (Hong Kong Baptist University) explains the structural conditions that make her an exception in Singapore academia.
• Writing the economic history of Singapore: How the city flourished through different eras  2026-04-05
  Drawing from his new book, The Economic History of Singapore, CHOY KEEN MENG identifies continuities over the long span of Singapore’s 700-year history and argues that its economic success can be attributed to both luck and astute decision making.
• Syed Hussein Alatas’s enduring vision for a functioning intelligentsia2026-03-16
  As Hussein Alatas and other Muslim thinkers recognised, only a working community of public intellectuals can save societies from shallow, populistic, and paranoid reactions to contemporary challenges such as inequality and identity politics, argues YAACOB IBRAHIM (National University of Singapore). This is the text of his closing remarks at the launch of a new book inspired by the late Syed Hussein Alatas.
• Hel-LO, goodbye? It’s time to establish the Leader of the Opposition in law2026-02-26
  The formal position of the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament was created in a legal vacuum. Constitutional law scholar KEVIN Y.L. TAN explains why it should be given a proper footing in law.
• What we now know about inequality in Singapore2026-02-24
  Parliament has begun its marathon session reviewing the Government’s plans for the year. Tackling social inequality has been a stated priority of the Government for a while. This year, policy discussions can refer to a new research paper on the topic from the Ministry of Finance. NG KOK HOE (National University of Singapore) examines how it can guide the debate and suggests questions that remain.
• Junior Scholar Seminar: Reimagining Western classics in contemporary Asia2026-02-19
  LESLIE WONG examines The Gatekeeper by Nuraliah Norasid and The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey.
• Bone up for Budget Debate 20262026-02-14
  What are challenges to Singapore’s economy in the contemporary world? What are the challenges people face — from work to care, housing to retirement? How should public policy address the needs of the people, both in the near and the long term? – A reading list.
• What makes a public health crisis? The War on Diabetes through a sociological lens2026-02-05
  Ten years ago, Singapore declared War on Diabetes. MOHAMMAD KHAMSYA BIN KHIDZER (King’s College London) examines the logics behind the campaign and finds that one under-appreciated rationale is economic.