Tensions with Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urban Foodways: Cooking, Eating and Sharing Hawker Food in Singapore
In 2020, Singapore’s hawker culture was designated as “intangible cultural heritage of humanity” by UNESCO to affirm and promote the country’s distinctive food culture. Hawkers were once immigrant street food vendors, but today are required to operate out of stalls in government-owned markets—called...
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| Udgivet i: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/socrep, |
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| Auteurs principaux: | , , |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprog: | Anglais |
| Udgivet: |
Sociétés & représentations
2025
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| Fag: | |
| Online adgang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Summary: | In 2020, Singapore’s hawker culture was designated as “intangible cultural heritage of humanity” by UNESCO to affirm and promote the country’s distinctive food culture. Hawkers were once immigrant street food vendors, but today are required to operate out of stalls in government-owned markets—called hawker centres—that serve as the essential ‘community dining rooms’ of everyday life in the city-state. This paper focuses on tensions and struggles (occurring within and among individuals, groups, and the nation) that emerged alongside the recent inscription. It explores how the elevation of hawkers as living heritage by UNESCO contradicts the actual economic position of hawkers and how it prevents hawker food from reflecting the diversity of cultural identities present in Singapore’s foodways; the competing imaginaries of food authenticity; how hawker food is commodified and exported in doing so, the uniqueness that Intangible Cultural Heritage is meant to preserve. |
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