This essay explores how the religious and cultural identity of the Rohingya is crucial in assisting them in coping with the suffering brought on by the government’s crackdown in Myanmar. The essay focuses on three identity motives from Vignoles (2011): the sense of meaning, belonging, and continuity brought to their lives by their religious and cultural practices—such as Islamic beliefs, their ideas about health, and the self-help structure that goes along with them, as well as their calligraphy, poetry, and music. In addition, this essay looks at the challenges of preserving their religious and cultural identities, including inadequate representation and political manipulation by the Myanmar government.
Examining the role of religious beliefs and cultural practices in supporting the Rohingya refugees in the face of a national identity crisis. August 16, 2023
Family Influences on Undergraduate Career Identities in Singapore August 16, 2023
Our essay explores the relationship between an undergraduate’s choice of major and their career identity, specifically examining how family values play a crucial role in shaping this connection within the context of Singapore. We believe it is important and worth studying the way in which parental influence is exerted in different cultures.
Written by Charlotte Jane Loy and Lee Xin Ern, Francesca as part of NUS College of Alice and Peter Tan module UTS2400: Identities In Asia.
The Physics Professor’s Suitcase of Traveling Science Wonders! March 28, 2023
Sow Chorng Haur was a member of the Academy from 2009 to 2018
“To fuel students’ enthusiasm in the discovery of scientific truths and to nurture students’ creative and innovative spirit in tackling fascinating problems”.
How to Effectively Engage Students when Teaching Interdisciplinary Modules March 28, 2023
In recent years, the National University of Singapore has been emphasising the importance of interdisciplinary learning as it helps to equip students with various competencies that will enable them to solve problems outside their area of specialisation, thereby preparing them well for the workforce and giving them the flexibility to engage in life-long learning. It is for this reason that the University made it a graduation requirement for students to read a few common interdisciplinary modules.
A Class Of Their Own: Building the future with data March 27, 2023
“It all started in my childhood with Lego blocks. I’ve always liked to build things,” recalls Dr Clayton Miller, as he muses on the beginnings of his fascination with building science. Dr Miller, who is Assistant Professor at the NUS School of Design and Environment, Department of Building, has since rapidly moved from building blocks to buildings.
A Class Of Their Own: Education and the ecosystem March 27, 2023
Mr N. Sivasothi, or “Otterman”, the moniker he adopted early on in his career to relate and educate, is an educator whose teaching is inextricable from his environmental advocacy. The two, in his own words, exist in an “ecosystem” in which every element “feeds into another”. For Mr Sivasothi, academia does not end in theory, and education is unconstrained by classroom time.
A Class Of Their Own: Engineering the self March 27, 2023
“Doing my best for my students—it’s natural. It’s what we should do as ordinary human beings, that’s one thing. And secondly, teaching is a higher calling; this is what any teacher should do.”
With these words, Associate Professor Lakshminarayanan Samavedham of NUS Engineering modestly waves away any semblance of praise for his pedagogical achievements.
A Class Of Their Own:
Inspiring the next
generation of dentists March 27, 2023
NUS Dentistry’s Associate Professor Kelvin Foong led an MOE- funded Programmatic Tertiary Education Research Fund project that utilised eye tracking technology to discern the areas where students tended to focus on when reading X-rays. Real-time feedback was provided and trainee dentists were thus able to more accurately spot problems in the X-rays.
A Class Of Their Own: Passing on the legacy of thinking March 27, 2023
“All teachers are the sum of all other teachers who have ever taught them. And when you’re being taught, you’re not just being taught by me, you’re being taught by all the teachers who ever taught me”
A Class of Their Own: The accidental professor March 27, 2023
For this “accidental professor”, as Professor Jochen Wirtz wryly describes himself, teaching was never part of the plan.
Prof Wirtz, who is Vice Dean for MBA Programmes and Professor of Marketing at NUS Business School, initially began his career as a services marketing consultant in London.