NEW BOOK!

I am very pleased that my manuscript “Keramat, Sacred Relics and Forbidden Idols in Singapore” has been accepted for publication by Routledge. This work draws on my three years of research into the topic, both intensive archival research and site visits across Singapore, southern Malaysia, and Riau.

We are going into production very soon and the book will be available by late spring 2024. It will include numerous photographs from my field work and a foreword by a highly-respected scholar of Islamic studies in the region. I’m thrilled to see my work being recognized by a major international press and excited to extend my relationship with Routledge which began when they published my book Alfred Raquez and the French Experience of the Far East, 1898-1906 in 2021.

Some comments from the anonymous peer reviewers:

“This work will contribute to understandings of the complex and yet specific histories of cultures of Islam in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore and Malaysia. The dilemmas of grappling with puritanical norms and grassroots elaborations will be addressed. At the same time, this will also contribute to a people’s history of Singapore, one that both deepens and problematizes official/ state historical accounts.”

“What Dr. Gibson has done is to take a forgotten aspect of Singapore’s society and culture from a not very distant past with the aim of bringing it to the attention of a modern-day audience. In doing so, he has enhanced our understanding of that earlier time and made sure it is not forgotten by future generations.”