Shifting Identities

Identity of an entity is neither monolithic nor fixed. It is ever changing and can simultaneouly acquire plural and multilayered levels. It is a product of social construction in a particular time and setting.


Not only the identities of human beings become different over time and context but also the identities of non-living entities change. This is the picture of the famous Fullerton Hotel Singapore whose identity has passed through a long, pluralistic trajectory. It was born in 1928 with a colonial identity and now enjoying the transformed identity of a luxurious Hotel situated at the mouth of the Singapore River and at the heart of Singapore’s financial and arts districts. Its history shares the level of multiple identities such as the General Post Office, The Exchange, the Chamber of Commerce and The Singapore Club all of which played important economic roles in ensuring that Singapore remained the trading hub in South-east Asia at the time.