Preface

Next month (September 2007) marks the tenth anniversary of my life in England. Together with the four undergraduate years (1985-89) in Taiwan, I would have spent exactly one-third of my life outside my birthplace, Singapore. This ratio will continue to increase the longer I remain in England, or indeed move elsewhere but Singapore. With middle-age approaching (if not already arrived), the reality – and meaning – of being home and away also change in relation to time and space.

While I have wanted to leave Singapore since my late teens, I am not sure if I would yet call England home even as the tenth anniversary looms. This ambivalence will no doubt be the undercurrent of my postings on this blog. Two recent developments, however, have served as milestones in my life in England and perhaps shifted the balance in ways whose meanings are still unclear to me: acquisition of permanent residency in the summer of 2006 and purchase of my first property in early 2007. For me, being a Singapore citizen does not necessarily make Singapore home, yet I am not certain if I have a diasporic consciousness despite my diasporic state. I can feel at home anywhere and also nowhere.

This blog is a space for me to explore the relationship between home and disapora – its tension, dynamic, contradiction, and ambivalence. The title of the blog is taken from two book titles: the first half belongs to Rey Chow (1993), my intellectual ‘idol’ in academia; the second half to Alan Bennett (1994), a Leeds-born writer whose Yorkshire experience and sexual orientation I share. Thus this blog is also a reflection on the many aspects of identity located in or torn between home and diaspora. And as the Adorno quote beneath the title suggests, the act of writing is not only a way of thinking through some of these issues but has itself become a place to live.

Footnote:
1. The design of this blog is inspired by Orla Kiely's wallpaper for Habitat's VIP range (the design on the left in the picture is the wallpaper in my living room; the one on the right is by Barbara Hulanicki). For those interested in design and print, check out Orla Kiely’s webpage at http://www.orlakiely.com/ and a blog called Print & Pattern at http://printpattern.blogspot.com/.