Eating Chilli Crab in the Anthropocene


In this era of climate crisis, in which our very futures are at stake, sustainability is a global imperative. Yet we tend to associate sustainability, nature, and the environment with distant places, science, and policy. The truth is that everything is environmental, from transportation to taxes, work to love, cities to cuisine.


This book is the first to examine contemporary Singapore from an ecocultural lens, looking at the ways that Singaporean life and culture is deeply entangled with the nonhuman lives that flourish all around us. The authors represent a new generation of cultural critics and environmental thinkers, who will inherit the future we are creating today. From chilli crab to Tiger Beer, Changi Airport to Pulau Semakau, O-levels to orang minyak films, these essays offer fresh perspectives on familiar subjects, prompting us to recognise the incredible urgency of climate change and the need to transform our ways of thinking, acting, learning, living, and governing so as to maintain a stable planet and a decent future.



Read an exclusive preview of our book here.


And check out our Book Club Starter Pack, which includes chapter summaries, discussion questions and additional reading materials for Eating Chilli Crab in the Anthropocene.  


Also available as an audiobook on Storytel here.


 



Eating Chilli Crab in the Anthropocene

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Reviews

"From paleo-anthropology to culinary culture; animism to activism to animal rights; displaced societies to invasive species to unsustainable icons; Singapore will be transformed after you read these exciting explorations into her past, present and future. Diverse dots are connected, silos deconstructed, sacred cows challenged and eloquent voice given to the forgotten, marginalised, ignored, hidden or unspoken. If 'leadership means influencing the community to face its problems', these writers are our leaders for a sustainable future." —Geh Min, Immediate Past President, Nature Society Singapore and former Nominated Member of Parliament

"This work is a pioneering effort. Not only is it one of the first to synthesise the stories of non-human natures in Singapore from interdisciplinary sources, it centralises youth voices rarely amplified in public discourse. All the contributors to this book are born in the 1990s. It thus presents an emerging environmentalist perspective of a generation steeped in digitally facilitated calls for action against climate change and sensitive to the future vulnerability of living in this epoch." —Bryan Dennis G. Tiojanco, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies


“The interdisciplinary nature of the collection is exciting, presenting a smorgasbord of opinions worthy of the complex nature of Singaporean politics and culture…. The characteristic youthful and transitional voices of the writers—who have inherited a planet in decline as well as the privilege to apply their minds to a stable future—shine through. Collectively, the voices nudge (and sometimes push) the audience to learn more about the climate crisis and to act on their learning. This intention gives the anthology the feel of a gently revolutionary pamphlet.” —Sebastian Taylor, Singapore Unbound

"Guided by the conceptual framework of the environmental humanities and animated by the ethos of activism, the twelve essays centering on Singapore cover an impressive span of topics, from food consumption, infrastructure and energy production, to urban wildlife, waste, and more." —Jamie Wang, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment

EDITORS

Matthew Schneider-Mayerson

CONTRIBUTORS

Michele Chong, Fu Xiyao, Feroz Khan, Heeeun Monica Kim, Lee Jin Hee, Al Lim, Aidan Mock, Neo Xiaoyun, Ng Xin, Mathias Ooi, Sarah Novak, Bertrand Seah, Yogesh Tulsi