Spaces of afterlife: A Lefebvrian lens on Singaporean Chinese remembrance practices

Abstract

Scholars have extensively studied the spiritual and cultural interpretations of the afterlife. This paper builds on these works by exploring how the afterlife can be discussed as a ‘place’ meriting geographical discussion. To do so, I consider how the afterlife is spatialized drawing on the ‘trialetic’ interactions described in Henri Lefebvre's work. This is done in the context of Singaporean Chinese beliefs that place emphasis on ritualistic remembrance. Firstly, the emotive‐affective aspects of remembrance imbued into material practices produce spaces of representation that prolong the deceased's ‘presence’. At the same time, the Singapore state exercises significant regulation of these practices. While common understandings of the afterlife relate to spirits and culture, the analysis charts how in Singapore's case, the spatialization of the afterlife becomes a contested politicized process. Conceptualizations of the afterlife are not statically enshrined in cultural beliefs but evolve with changing times. This paper thus elaborates Lefebvre's spatial triad to examine networks of prescription, alteration, and negotiation, whereby the afterlife is a dynamically produced space charged with power relations among various actors.