Author Description

Much of what has been written on Singapore's wartime past is set against the Japanese invasion and occupation of the island. In Diaspora at War: The Chinese of Singapore between Empire and Nation 1937 - 1945, Ernest Koh maps a war history that is far wider in geographical and temporal scope. From the skies over Western Europe and the Mediterranean to the Burma Road, from the Atlantic Ocean to the cities of China, individuals and small groups of Chinese from the British colony worked, fought, and flew in a variety of fighting and labour units. Drawing from oral history accounts and archival sources, Koh recovers a rich and insightful historical reality that has long been submerged under the weight of a teleological national narrative.