ACM CONVERSATIONS

First Generation Peranakan Unions: Christianised Peranakan communities in early Singapore, 1830s–1880s
Marc Sebastian Rerceretnam

This lecture is free but registration is required.
Click here to register: https://firstgeneration.peatix.com

Marc Sebastian Rerceretnam’s recent book, A History of Immigrant Roman Catholics and Converts in Early Singapore 1832–1945, explores intermarriages between people of different backgrounds within the Roman Catholic Church in Singapore. These included newly arrived Chinese migrants, indigenous peoples from the Malay-Indonesian world, members of Melaka’s Serani community, Chinese Peranakans, and locally born Indian women. Using information found in church archives, as well as oral interviews and histories, Marc’s talk explores how these intermarriages resulted in the development of a distinct Catholic Peranakan community in 19th-century Singapore.

Speaker

Marc Sebastian Rerceretnam is a Sydney-based historian and research consultant. He has a PhD in Economic History from the University of Sydney. Born in Singapore, he has written widely on the British colonial government of Singapore and the role of religion within colonial societies. Marc was a recipient of a National Library Board Research Fellowship in 2019. His latest book, A History of Immigrant Roman Catholics and Converts in Early Singapore, 1832–1945, was published in 2021.


Moderator

Diane Chee is Curator (Peranakan) at the Asian Civilisations Museum and the Peranakan Museum. She worked on the revamp of the Peranakan Museum’s permanent galleries in 2023, and her current research focuses on expressions of Peranakan identity and intangible cultural heritage across Southeast Asia. She holds an MA in Asian Studies from Leiden University, the Netherlands.


_{Image: Photograph of Mathilda Chia (1896-1985) wearing a traditional nyonya wedding dress at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Singapore, 25 June 1917.}

The ACM Conversations Lecture Series is generously supported by Dalio Philanthropies