"When the battle's lost and won": the environmental history of the Japanese occupation of Singapore

Abstract

This thesis charts the environmental history of the Japanese Occupation of Singapore. Through the examination of three case studies—the Punggol Zoo, the Singapore Botanic Gardens, and the Anti-Plague Laboratory—this study uncovers how the shift of power from the British colonial period to the Japanese rule reshaped human-nature relationships in Singapore. This study also adopts a multidisciplinary approach by incorporating a multispecies lens to trace how different human and non-human species interacted with one another and became imperial subjects during both the British and Japanese rule in Singapore. In doing so, this thesis hopes to provide a comprehensive yet modest examination of environmental change in Singapore and offer a reevaluation of human and non-human interactions during the Japanese Occupation. Ultimately, this thesis argues that the Japanese Occupation of Singapore engendered simultaneous processes of construction and destruction across different urban environments, underscoring the complex interplay between imperial ambitions and ecological devastation.