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The hawker Centre is an icon of contemporary Singapore and an essential element of national identity, but one that has undergone multiple reinventions. Most recently hawking has repeatedly been presented as approa­ching crisis, prompted by an aging hawker population. The response of the Singapore government has been to begin another historic transformation of the hawker, focusing on the hawker entrepreneur – the hawkerpre­neur. Ahead of reinvention, codification of knowledge about hawking was required and provided by museum exhibitions and cultural celebrations in media. The hawker became romanticized, a figure of history, distanced from an emergent next generation. These new hawkers are imagined by public and private interests as being successful entrepreneurs and glamorous, suit-wearing people. A change in status for hawking, achieved by a new image and structural changes, such as rankings by Michelin, are being used to signal this new phase of Singaporean street food.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Singapore, hawkers, hawkerpreneurs, street food, reinvention
Research Division:	History, Heritage and Archaeology
Research Group:	Historical studies
Research Field:	Asian history
Objective Division:	Culture and Society
Objective Group:	Other culture and society
Objective Field:	Other culture and society not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Tarulevicz, N (Associate Professor Nicki Tarulevicz)
ID Code:	126403
Year Published:	2018
Web of Science® Times Cited:	6
Deposited By:	Office of the School of Humanities
Deposited On:	2018-06-08
Last Modified:	2018-12-04
Downloads:	55 View Download Statistics