In Search of Permanent Homes: Singapore's House Churches and the Politics of Space

Lily Kong
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Lily Kong: Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, 1 Arts Link, Singapore 117570, lilykong@nus.edu.sg

Urban Studies, 2002, vol. 39, issue 9, 1573-1586

Abstract: This paper focuses on one category of the 'unofficially sacred'-namely, those secular spaces which are used for worship and, in particular, residential spaces which are turned into 'house churches'. Using the case study of a house church in Singapore, the paper examines issues about the politics of religion in urban landscapes in a secular and simultaneously multireligious state. Contrary and in addition to current wisdoms about the politics of religious space, it is argued that various politics are observed: a politics of inclusion; a politics of hybridisation and in-betweenness; a politics of appropriation and nationalisation; and a politics of impermanence and precarity. Through this analysis, the paper seeks to bring added conceptual perspectives to the notion of 'sacred space' within the context of modern, urban, secular settings.

Date: 2002
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:39:y:2002:i:9:p:1573-1586

DOI: 10.1080/00420980220151664

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