Exploring the nation-building roles and historical importance of Chinese temples and clan associations in Southeast Asia
Professor Kenneth Dean discusses the past, present, and future roles of these associations in Singapore and beyond
On 4 April 2023, Yale-NUS College Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple Professor and Professor of Humanities (Chinese Studies) Kenneth Dean delivered a lecture on the historical development of temples and clan association networks in Southeast Asia, where he explored the central role these entities played in establishing trade and business trust networks across the region. He described how these networks worked to strengthen nation-building as well, by providing a social framework that could support the local communities that they served. Building upon the historical context of the Southeast-Asian region, Prof Dean shared how these temples and clan association networks evolved together with the urban landscape.
Following an introduction by Assistant Professor of History and Religious Studies at the National University of Singapore, Dr Jack Meng-Tat Chia, Prof Dean dissected how the associations helped to connect regions by facilitating the formation of transnational alliances, connecting regions from Cebu, in the Philippines, to Sarawak, Malaysia. For example, while maintaining their autonomous nature, the temples were connected through a common form of worship to the “Earth God”, in over 60 locations across Southeast Asia.
In the early history of the Southeast Asian region, different dialect groups were much more disconnected from each other, with an emphasis on supporting only their own local communities. These networks helped to open up the region and encourage greater interdependence, by uniting communities via religion which could transcend divisions across dialects and countries.
Prof Dean shared the concept of a growing network of temples throughout the region and elaborated how these temples were able to unite peoples from different lands and connect the region.
“It’s [this] idea of an autonomous node in a network that gains power through its connections.”
In his concluding thoughts, Prof Dean emphasised the future of these networks, and the role of temples alongside state control in the region.
“Each clan association is now creating a global network. And once you have a global network, it has this kind of feedback effect on global levels,” he added.
The insightful lecture provided the audience with new perspectives on the role of temples and clan associations in the current rapidly-globalising societies, and how they continue to evolve today.
The question-and-answer session also saw a variety of questions from members of the public, some of which explored the community-building aspect of the temple, how youths can be involved in temples, as well as political implications of these temples.
Dylan Lee Pak Han (Class of 2025) found the talk particularly intriguing.
“It was fascinating to learn more about the changes and developments these temples and clan associations underwent in relation to other developments throughout Singapore’s history. My favourite part of the talk was when Prof Dean elaborated on the phenomenon of temples merging not only to preserve their cultural traditions, but to increase their leverage in negotiations with government stakeholders.”
