The Stories Behind the Shrines on Kusu Island
Writer and researcher William L. Gibson undertakes a pilgrimage into the archives to uncover the history of the keramat on Kusu Island, south of the main island of Singapore.
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About the Guest
Dr William L. Gibson is an author and researcher based in Southeast Asia since 2005. His research topic for the Lee Kong Chian Research Fellowship, awarded by the National Library Board in 2021, was an in-depth study of keramat in Singapore. His book Alfred Raquez and the French Experience of the Far East, 1898–1906 (2021) was published by Routledge as part of its Studies in the Modern History of Asia series. Gibson’s articles have appeared in Signal to Noise, PopMatters.com, The Mekong Review, Archipel, History and Anthropology, Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient and BiblioAsia, among others.
Resources
William Gibson, “The Origin Stories of Keramat Kusu,” BiblioAsia 18, no. 4 (2023).
William Gibson, Complete Catalog of Keramat in Singapore, Academia, 2022.
Jack Chia Meng-Tat, “Who Is Tua Pek Kong? The Cult of Grand Uncle in Malaysia and Singapore,” Archiv Orientální 85, no. 3 (2017): 437–60. (From ProQuest via NLB’s eResources website)
Song Ong Siang, One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore (London: Murray, 1923). (From BookSG)
“Singapore’s Kusu Island,” Asia Magazine (16 September 1973), 18–19. (From National Library, Singapore, call no. RUR q950.05 AM)
“The Pilgrimage to Kusu Island,” Straits Times, 1 November 1929, 12. (From NewspaperSG)
Credits
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Gibson Analytics. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to William for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.