Connotations of ephemeral spaces of consumption: a case study of Singapore’s Little India

Abstract

The practice of consumption is intrinsically integrated into our post-modern society and is fundamental in exercising, defining and re-defining people and group identity. Consumption occurs somewhere and somewhen it is a spatial activity, it is shaped by time and space. The site of this investigation, the touristic enclave of Little India, appears to hold a “distinct” culture of consumption within Singapore and ephemeral spaces of consumption that are continuously produced and re-produced everyday and every night seem to be essential for the distinctive behavior of consumers. This case study analyzes the processes of production, de-production, reproduction of the mentioned temporary spaces of consumption and their significance for a multicultural/multiethnic society.