Ruth E. Toulson

Ruth E. Toulson, an anthropologist and trained mortician, explores the necropolitics in Singapore, revealing how state policies reshape ancestral traditions into a controlled form of Buddhism. She discusses the emotional turmoil caused by forced exhumations and the political contestation surrounding cemeteries. The conversation highlights personal grief against societal expectations, particularly a father's heartache over his daughter's suicide, and the complex dynamics of mourning rituals that reflect deeper issues of identity and colonial legacies in a rapidly changing society.