EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Creative freedom is something all artists hold close and dear to heart. However, many of them are bound by legislation and out-of-bounds (OB) markers. With Singapore society tilting towards being one that is considered conservative (Chong, 2019), this then brings to question whether local authors hold creative freedom. Our project, centered around the research question, “What do local artists experience in regards to censorship and creative freedom?”, aims to shed light on both the growing literary scene in Singapore as well as the experiences of those involved. Through interviewing three established authors and one professional who is familiar with censorship, we examine creative freedom in the Singapore literary scene as well as how much censorship local writers face.

With guidance from our mentors, we completed a report and poster that was written from a sociological point of view.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE TASKS

This project aims to let us have a better understanding of the social sciences and to employ a sociological approach to study social and cultural behavior. More precisely, this project aims to spark off a discussion about creative freedom in the literary scene, as most established work is currently centered on censorship in the theater, the press and film. Additionally, since literature is known to be written in intimate closeness to a person’s experiences, it then becomes more complicated as there is no distinct right or wrong that acts as a basis of censorship. Since literature is also seen as a “collective recognition to the creative forms that capture and record the spirit of its people '' and its worth is not dependent on the approval of the audience, it is a worthy pursuit to delve into creative freedom in the literary arts.

We were thankfully able to contact local established authors for interviews. Additionally, we were also able to tap into resources such as reference books and research papers to gain a better understanding of the subject.

The task we were engaged in was to conduct a study on the topic we have chosen from scratch and to deliver a report as well as a poster at the end of the attachment period. We decided to view the topic of creative freedom from the perspective of artists, more precisely, authors. To conduct this study, we would have to employ a sociological lens to view our resources and interview notes. This is crucial as it places emphasis on the “why” and “how” of the behavior of the group in question.

ELABORATION OF ACTIVITIES DONE

We first identified a suitable research question, namely “What are the experiences of authors regarding creative freedom?”. This sparked off discussions and we tapped on news articles, research papers and reference books on the subject matter of creative freedom and censorship for our research. We faced some challenges when conducting research in the early phase of the project as we were unable to find much work on creative freedom or censorship in the literary arts. Most works were instead on creative freedom in the press or the media. This also made us realise the value of our project as not much light is shed on the topic we are conducting research on. Subsequently, we crafted an interview guide and started to interview established authors in the Singapore literary scene as well as another person who is familiar with censorship. This allowed us to be familiar with the context of Singapore society and its history with creative freedom and censorship. By conducting interviews, we were also able to get first-hand accounts that would better illustrate the experiences authors in Singapore have with creative freedom. Additionally, we coded our interview notes to highlight similar and different opinions in regard to a question or issue discussed. We also identified important quotes or stands that the author took. Doing coding on our interview notes was extremely helpful especially when it came to writing the report as we were able to conduct better analysis. It also helped in terms of giving a structure and sequence to our report.

The deliverable we produced was a report as well as a poster, which we presented about to our mentors and classmates at the end of the attachment. The learning objectives include allowing us to experience the social science approach to studying social and cultural behaviour and subsequently applying it to our area of interest. We were able to achieve them through our project which examined creative freedom in the literary scene through a sociological lens.

3 CONTENT KNOWLEDGE LEARNT

An interesting thing I learnt about censorship is its paradoxical nature. Censorship can become a tool for publicity in the midst of suppressing a piece of work. This is evinced by how light is shed on the body of work in question when it is to be censored, drawing attention, and ultimately promoting what it is trying to suppress.

Another content knowledge I learnt was that literature is actually a platform with lesser monitoring. Authors are able to express themselves and their experiences more honestly and boldly, without fear of repercussions that might follow should that body of work have been a movie or others. The reason behind this is actually because literature is taken as one that will reach a much smaller audience.

Lastly, I learnt that Singapore actually allows quite a bit of creative freedom. Authors are given direct access to editors and publishers. Additionally, a notable quote from an interviewee would be that creative freedom is something we should learn to embody instead of relying on our environment to determine it for us. This is highly inspirational and emphasizes the message that we should not allow ourselves to be solely guided by external influences.

2 INTERESTING ASPECTS OF LEARNING

It was exciting to learn about the importance of ethics and how to ensure that we are ethical when conducting interviews. In our Language Arts lessons, we learnt about how a researcher breached ethical guidelines and endangered many people. Hence, it was interesting to develop this knowledge further by learning how to craft our interview guide ethically with very deliberate choice of diction. Through the many revisions of our interview guide, I was able to gain a better understanding of ethics in research, as well as the many ways to protect the identity of our interviewees if necessary.

Another interesting aspect of learning would be how doing research requires much tedious reviewing, and that we should not be afraid to change and amend our ideas, and if necessary, replace the original idea completely. Though it may be frustrating, it is ultimately a rewarding experience as we are able to delve into researching more meaningfully. During the project, we actually had to make a few changes in terms of our research question and interview guide. In the end, encountering setbacks and redoing bits of our work is but part and parcel of the research experience, and most researchers are already prepared to meet obstacles and challenge them.

1 TAKEAWAY FOR LIFE

My takeaway for life is the importance of always remaining true to ourselves, and how we should always be grounded by our own principles and beliefs. Although the going may get tough and we may be dealt bad cards, we should always remain positive and remind ourselves of the passion and belief we hold close and dear. This would then become an anchor in the storm and motivate us to continue fighting for what we love and to never cave in to anything less or detrimental. This is evinced by how an author mentioned that he faced pressures of censorship in the beginning, but ultimately, he preserved as he embraced his identity and experiences instead of shying away in fear. Additionally, this sentiment is echoed in how another author mentioned that creative freedom should be embodied rather than something given by the environment or external forces. Truly, it taught me that being true to ourselves will not only help us find and hold on to purpose, it will also empower us to go against the odds and stand for what matters to us.