Taken from Edward Said’s Representation of the Intellectual. Said sees ‘amateurism’ as “an activity that is fueled by care and affection rather than by profit and selfish, narrow specialization.” He goes on to say:

“The intellectual today ought to be an amateur, someone who considers that to be a thinking and concerned member of a society one is entitled to raise moral issues at the heart of even the most technical and professionalized activity as it involves one’s country, its power, its mode of interacting with its citizens as well as with other societies. In addition, the intellectual’s spirit as an amateur can enter and transform the merely professional routine most of us go through into something much more lively and radical; instead of doing what one is supposed to do one can ask why one does it, who benefits from it, how can it reconnect with a personal project and original thoughts.

Every intellectual has an audience and a constituency. The issue is whether that audience is there to be satisfied, and hence a client to be kept happy, or whether it is there to be challenged, and hence stirred into outright opposition or mobilized into greater democratic participation in the society. But in either case, there is no getting around authority and power, and no getting around the intellectual’s relationship to them. How does the intellectual address authority: as a professional supplicant or as its unrewarded, amateurish conscience?”

The tree depicted is indeed a Banyan tree. Why a Banyan tree? A clue - George Yeo, 1991.

The Tree

The tree depicted is indeed a Banyan tree. Why a Banyan tree? A clue - George Yeo, 1991.

The Citizen Historian

Heard of the term citizen journalist? Well, a citizen historian is the same - except maybe taking their time about it, and getting to use bigger words. A citizen historian is simply a person who takes it upon herself or himself to write histories. They may be big volumes, they may be scribbled blog entries somewhere - but the overall result is the same - the action of recording and analysing to create narratives.

And these people are valuable, because they tap into the ground and into the little stories that are around. There’s power in numbers, and that’s what citizen historians have - the strength of the collective, recording and remembering and researching more than any one professional can do. And in a place like Singapore, where the real histories are in people’s heads, tapping into this collective memory is particularly important. Professional historians are always needed, of course, but that doesn’t mean the laymen shouldn’t get involved.

History belongs to everyone.

Amateurism & Responsibility

The phrase in the masthead is sampled from one of Edward Said’s lectures on the Representation of the Intellectual. Said sees “amateurism” as “an activity that is fueled by care and affection rather than by profit and selfish, narrow specialization.”

While the selfish and narrow side of professional life is not openly desired, it is also somehow not enough to live our lives with a devil-may-care attitude - at least perhaps not for those of us who have been fortunate enough to pursue higher education.

There should be a greater sense of “giving back” to society, a sense of amateurism. It is important to realise that our attainment of that Ph.D or MA is by no means a purely individual effort. We are provided with funds derived from society, references and advice from our mentors, and love and support from family and friends. So yes, seen from this perspective, we do owe society something.

This is where the idea of responsibility comes in. As scholars of our chosen discipline cum profession, we have dues to pay to the intellectual community we choose to enter - (History in this case). As professional citizens, we too have dues to pay - not only to our family and benefactors, but also to society in general.

Said also suggests that the intellectual could act as authority’s “unrewarded, amateurish conscience.” Rather than let hard-earned knowledge and hard-won arguments gather dust on never-to-be-seen bookshelves, it is a citizen historian’s responsibility to find meaningful ways to participate in the society he or she works and lives in.

- by Ho Chi Tim and Sarah Ismail, editors.