Glossaries of the Straits Chinese Homemaking

Glossaries of the Straits Chinese Homemaking is a presentation conceived to complement the interpretative displays in the first and second floors of the NUS Baba House. Materials and texts are organised around aspects of the Straits Chinese material and social histories, and contemporary perspectives that may complicate them. To support these connections, elements are drawn from past projects developed by the House since 2007. They collectively offer insights and reflections into the programmes developed by the House, its curatorial interests and the varied approaches associated to these. Included into the presentation is a selection of artist projects from earlier exhibitions Objects & Desire (2007), A Psychotaxonomy of Home: Michael Lee Hong Hwee (2008), and Of Fingerbowls & Hankies: Chris Yap Voyeurs Through the Baba House (2009). A group of referenced quotations are drawn from the conferences organized by the House, namely Peranakan Chinese in a Globalizing Southeast Asia (2010) and Peranakan Communities in the Era of Decolonization and Globalization (2015), supported by primary sources that help underpin contexts and complexities. The terms, phrases, names and events mobilized across the galleries propose interconnections and enact relationship potentials, yet each sustains its own agency and independent scrutiny. This is to bring into attention the dynamics of heritage as a site of continuing cultural negotiations, shaped by positioning, institutionally mediated constructions, and responses.