「被刮除的地名」與國族建構：新加坡地名的個案研究

“Erased Place Names” and Nation-building: A Case Study of Singaporean Toponyms

本文以個案研究方式，透過批判地名學的研究觀點與文獻分析法，檢視新加坡自1960年代以來遭到刪除或是更名而消失的「被刮除的地名」，在國族建構中扮演的角色。研究結果顯示，被刮除的地名並非僅遭到擦去而消失；國家對於地名專名的重新使用，改變了地名的樣式，並使得它們重新復甦在日常生活的文化政治中。由於對於地名專名的重新利用，新加坡舊有的族群記憶被轉化並且整併進新的地方與區域歷史之中，提供國族建構一種混合的、區域的以及跨族群的記憶。

As a case study from the viewpoint of critical toponymics and document analysis, this paper examines Singaporean “erased place names” (EPNs), which have been deleted or renamed since the 1960s. Rather than the existing places names that most critical toponymic scholars focus on, this study emphasizes the significance of EPNs in place-name politics. Moreover, unlike Yeoh (1996), who demonstrated the connection between Singaporean decolonization and nation-building through national toponymic policies, this paper examines Singaporean nation-building on the basis of the EPNs that scholars may have overlooked or neglected.
The results show that EPNs in Singapore have not simply been erased; the reuses of specific terms have modified their toponymic forms to enable their revival in the contested cultural politics of everyday life. Because of the reuse of specific terms, old ethnic memories have been transformed and merged into new local and regional histories and have afforded new mixed, regional, and cross-ethnic memories.