Spectropolis
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Spectropolis: The Enchantment of Capital in Singapore

Spectropolis: The Enchantment of Capital in Singapore


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About the Book

How economic transformation and the spirit world collide in hypermodern Singapore   In Singapore, the financial center of Southeast Asia, hyperurbanization and commercial development exist alongside enduring belief in the economic power of ghosts: in their ability to control the flows of money and value and to determine the outcome of investments and wagers. Spectropolis explores the unlikely collusion of these two systems, demonstrating both the productive role of popular beliefs in the modern world and the surprising correlations between “late” capitalism and the workings of the spirit realm.   Detailing the logic and practices of Singapore’s ghost economy-from performing exorcisms on real estate development sites to offering money and commodities to the dead as a hedge against precarious real-world transactions-Joshua Comaroff shows how speculative finance, largely governed by chance and volatility, is understood via its inherently spectral qualities. Through the influence of Chinese Buddhist-Taoist thought, the movement of capital is placed under the sway of cosmology and geomancy, resulting in a built environment that is both technologically advanced and quite literally enchanted.   Based on detailed case studies and years of extensive fieldwork, Spectropolis argues for the power of popular belief systems to theorize contemporary socioeconomic conditions and to give form to collective affect as well as shared aspirations and anxieties. As Comaroff demonstrates, the uniquely all-consuming nature of Singapore’s tightly compressed urban economy is such that it may subsume even that which lies beyond the threshold of life itself.     Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.

Table of Contents:
Contents Preface Introduction Part I. Spectro-Capital 1. Specters and Spectral Economy 2. Hell Money: Value Across the Paper Horizon 3. Spectro-Commodities Part II. The City and the Ghostly Ecology 4. Ghosts in the Garden 5. Apparition and Insecure Space 6. Unreal Estate: Building Sites and Spirit Fields Conclusion: Ghost-Modernism? Notes Index

About the Author :
Joshua Comaroff is assistant professor of architecture at National University of Singapore. He is coauthor of Horror in Architecture: The Reanimated Edition (Minnesota, 2024).


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Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9781517919337
  • Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
  • Publisher Imprint: University of Minnesota Press
  • Height: 216 mm
  • No of Pages: 272
  • Returnable: 03
  • Sub Title: The Enchantment of Capital in Singapore
  • Width: 140 mm
  • ISBN-10: 1517919339
  • Publisher Date: 04 Nov 2025
  • Binding: Hardback
  • Language: English
  • Returnable: 03
  • Spine Width: 14 mm
  • Weight: 482 gr


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