FASS Staff Profile

PROFESSOR TAN TAI YONG
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT (ACADEMIC AFFAIRS), YALE-NUS COLLEGE
DEPARTMENT of HISTORY

Appointment:
PROFESSOR
Office:
AS1/0512
Email:
tantaiyong@nus.edu.sg
Tel:
66012100/6516-3850
Fax:
Homepage:
http://profile.nus.edu.sg/fass/histanty/
Tabs

Brief Introduction

Professor Tan Tai Yong works on South and Southeast Asian history. A graduate of NUS and Cambridge University, he has been teaching at NUS since 1992. He has researched and written on the Sikh diaspora, civil-military relations, the social and political history of colonial Punjab, the partition of South Asia, and the history of Singapore. Professor Tan’s various roles include: department head, museum chairman, think-tank director, board member and senior university administrator. He was formerly Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in NUS. Married with two children, he enjoys spending time with his family. He keeps a regular gym routine so that he can indulge in his love for food without guilt. He is a fan of kung fu movies.


Research Interests

History of Contemporary India, India and Southeast Asia, History of Singapore


Other Information

Academic Awards

British Academy Visiting Professor, 2003 (attached to Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College London);

Moncado Prize, 2001, (for outstanding essay published in the Journal of Military History), Society of Military History, USA;

Overseas Commonwealth Fellowship and Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College and Centre for South Asian Studies, Cambridge University, 1999;

Teaching Excellence Award, National University of Singapore, 1992, 2000

Shell Medal in History, NUS, 1986

Straits Steamship Book Prize, 1985

 

Professional Activities

Member, NUS Press Senior Advisory Committee

Vice President, The Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies (Singapore)

Member, International Editorial Board, India Review (USA)

Member, International Editorial Board, International Journal of Punjab Studies (US)

Member, Editorial Board, Modern Asian Studies (Cambridge)
 

Public/Social Service

Chairman, National Collections Advisory Panel, National Heritage Board

Member, Social Science Research Council

Member, Singapore HistorySG Steering Committee, National Library Board

Member, Board of Trustees, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

Honorary Chairman, National Museum Board

Member, Indian Heritage Centre Advisory Board

Member, Board of Governors, St Gabriel’s Foundation

Member, Catholic Junior College School Management Committee

Member, Management Board, Institute of South Asian Studies

Member, Management Board, Asia Research Institute

Member, Panel of Advisors, Young Sikh Association (Singapore)


List of Publications

Books/Monographs Authored

  • Tan, T Y, Singapore Khalsa Association, Singapore: Times Books International, 1988.
  • Tan, T Y and E S C Lee, Beyond Degrees: The Making of the National University of Singapore, Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1996.
  • Tan, T Y and Gyanesh Kudaisya, The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia, London: Routledge, 2000 and 2002.
  • Tan, T Y, The Garrison State Military, Government and Society in Colonial Punjab, New Delhi: SAGE, 2005.
  • Tan, T Y, Creating Greater Malaysia: Decolonization and the Politics of Merger, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Publications, 2008.
  • Tan, T Y, C G Kwa and D Heng, Singapore: A 700-Year History - From Early Emporium to World City, Singapore, 2009.

 

Editorial Work on Books

  • Tan, T Y, Mark Frey and R. W Pruessen, eds., The Transformation of Southeast Asia: International Perspectives on Decolonisation, Armonk, New York: M E Sharpe, 2003.
  • Tan, T Y and Gyanesh Kudaisya, eds., Partition and Post-Colonial South Asia: A Reader, Afghanistan: Routledge, 2007.  (Volume 1: History Writing, Violence, Borders; Volume 2: Gender, Minorities, Migrants and Volume 3: Identities, Geopolitics, Reconciliation).
  • Tan, T Y, eds., Socio-Political and Economic Challenges in South Asia, New Delhi: Sage, 2009.
  • Tan, T Y, eds., South Asia.  Societies in Political and Economic Transition, New Delhi: Manohar, 2010.
  • Tan, T Y and S. D. Muni, eds., A Resurgent China.  South Asian Perspectives, London: Routledge, 2012.
  • Tan, T Y and M M Rahman, eds., Diaspora Engagement and Development in South Asia, London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2013.  
     
  • Rahman, M M and T Y Tan, eds., International Migration and Development in South Asia, London and New York: Routledge (UK & USA), 2015.
  • Rahman, M M, T Y Tan and Ahsan Ullah, eds., Migrant Remittances in South Asia: Implications for Development, Afghanistan: Palgrave Macmillan (UK), 2014. 320 pp.

 

 Journal Articles - International Refereed

  • Tan, T Y, "Prelude to partition: Sikh responses to the demand for Pakistan, 1940-47".  International Journal of Punjab Studies, 1, no. 2 (1994): 167-195.  (India).
     
  • Tan, T Y, "Maintaining the military districts: Civil-military integration and district soldiers' boards in the Punjab, 1919-1939".  Modern Asian Studies, 28, no. 4 (1994): 833-874.  (United States).
  • Tan, T Y, "Assuaging the Sikhs: Government Responses to the Akali Movement, 1920-1925".  Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 29, part. Part 3 (1995): 655-703.  (United States).
  • Tan, T Y, "Punjab and the making of Pakistan: The roots of a civil-military state".  South Asia, Vol. XVIII (Special Issue) (1995).  (Australia).
  • Tan, T Y, "'Sir Cyril goes to India’: Partition, boundary-making and disruptions in the Punjab".  International Journal of Punjab Studies, 4, no. 1 (1997): 1-18.  (India).
  • Tan, T Y, "An imperial home-front: Punjab and the First World War".  Journal of Military History, no. 64 (2000): 371-410.  (United States).
  • Tan, T Y, "Mobilisation, Militarisation and Malcontentment: Punjab and the Second World War".  South Asia, 25, no. 2 (Special Issue on Essays in Honour of Professor D. A. Low) (2002): 137-151.  (Australia).
  • Tan, T Y, "Surviving Globalisation: An Historical Perspective".  Commentary, 18 (Special on Globalisation) (2002): 17-22.  (Singapore).
  • Tan, T Y, "Port Cities and Hinterlands.  A Comparative Study of Singapore and Calcutta".  Political Geography, (2007).  (United Kingdom).
  • Tan, T Y and C M See, "The Evolution of India-ASEAN Relations".  India Review, 8, no. 1 (Jan-Mar 2009).  (United Kingdom).
     

 Chapters in Books

  • Tan, T Y, "The challenges of history".  In World of Humanities, ed. Brenda Yeoh and Chua Beng Huat, 12-15.  Singapore: Gifted Education Unit, Ministry of Education, 1994.
  • Tan, T Y, "India and Indians in the making of Singapore, 1819-1990"(with Andrew Major).  In Singapore-India Relations: A Primer, ed. Assoc Prof Yong Mun Cheong, 1-20.  Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1995.
  • Tan, T Y, "Punjab and the making of Pakistan: The roots of a civil-military state".  In Freedom, Trauma, Continuities, ed. D A Low and Howard Brasted, 199-215.  Studies in Contemporary South Asia.  New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1998.
  • Tan, T Y, ‘A Post-war history of the Asia-Pacific’ , Asia-Europe Foundation, Lund, 2000
  • Tan, T Y, "Singapore: Civil-Military Fusion".  In Coercion and Governance: The Declining Political Role of the Military in Asia, ed. Alagappa, Muthiah, 276-293.  Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001.
  • Tan, T Y, ‘Social Development in Post-War Asia’, Asia-Europe Foundation, Singapore, 2001.
  • Tan, T Y, "Sepoys and the Colonial State: Punjab and the Military Base of the Indian Army 1849-1900".  In British Raj and its Indian Armed Forces, 1857-1939, ed. Prof P. S. Gupta, 7-44.  New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002.
  • Tan, T Y, "The "Grand Design" : British Policy, Local Politics, and the Making of Malaysia, 1955-1961".  In The Transformation of Southeast Asia: International Perspectives on Decolonisation, ed. Marc Frey, Ronald W. Pruessen, Tan Tai Yong, 142-160.  Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2003.
  • Tan, T Y, "Sir Herbert Emerson".  In New Dictionary of National Biography, comp. British Academy and Oxford University Press.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
  • Tan, T Y, "Government of British India".  In Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia.  Santa Barbara: ABC - CLIO, 2004.
  • Tan, T Y, "Subhas Chandra Bose".  In Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia.  Santa Barbara: ABC - CLIO, 2004.
  • Tan, T Y, "Indian National Army from Ang Kor Wat to East Timor".  In Southeast Asia : A Historical Encyclopaedia.  Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2004.
  • Tan, T Y, "Early Southeast Asian Maritime Trade and Historical Overview of Pre-colonial Singapore".  In Maritime Heritage of Singapore, Singapore, 2005.
  • Tan, T Y, "The Indian Ocean - Arabs and Indian Traders".  In Maritime Heritage of Singapore, Singapore, 2005.
  • Tan, T Y, "Early Entrepot Portal - Trade and Founding of Singapore".  In Maritime Heritage of Singapore, Singapore, 2005.
  • Tan, T Y, "Singapore’s Story: A Port City in Search of Hinterlands".  In Port Cities in Asia and Europe, ed. Arndt Graf and Chua Beng Huat.  London: Routledge, 2009.
  • Tan, T Y, "The Armed Forces and Politics in Singapore".  In The Political Resurgence of the Military in Southeast Asia. Conflict and Leadership, ed. Marcus Mietzner.  London: Routledge, 2011.
  • Tan, T Y, "The Cold War and the Making of Singapore".  In Cold War Southeast Asia, ed. Malcolm H. Murfett, 132-164.  Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2012.
  • Tan, T Y and M M Rahman, "Diapora engagement and development in South Asia – An Introduction". In Diaspora Engagement and Development in South Asia. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
  • Tan, T Y and K C Ho, "Evolution of the Social Security System in Singapore". In Asset Building - Strategies and Innovations in Asia.  China: Peking University Press, 2014.
  • Rahman, M M, T Y Tan and Dr Ahsan, "Migrant Remittances in South Asia: Introduction". In Migrant Remittances in South Asia. London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan (UK), 2014.
  • Tan, T Y and K C Ho, "The Evolution of Singapore's Social Security System". In Asset-Building Policies and Innovations in Asia, ed. Michael Sherraden, Li Zhou, H.B Ku, Sou Deng and SB Wang. New York: Routledge, 2015.
  • Rahman, M M and T Y Tan, "International Migration and Development in South Asia - Introduction". In International Migration and Development in South Asia. London and New York: Routledge (UK & USA), 2015.

   

Book Reviews

  • Tan, T Y.  Review of "The Settlement Literature of the Greater Punjab: A Handbook", comp. Clive J Dewey.  Modern Asian Studies, 26 (1994): 215-216.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Tan, T Y.  Review of "Khizr Tiwana, the Punjab Unionist Party and the Partition of India", by Ian Talbot.  Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, XXVI, no. 3 (1998): 156-157.  United Kingdom.
     
  • Tan, T Y.  Review of "The Sepoy and the Raj: The Indian Army, 1860-1940", by David Omissi.  International Journal of Punjab Studies, 4, no. 1 (1997): 151-154.  New Delhi.
  • Tan, T Y.  Review of "Divided Cities.  Partition and the Aftermath in Lahore and Amritsar, 1947-1957", by Ian Talbot.  International Journal of Punjab Studies, no. 1 (2007).  India: New Delhi.
  • Tan, T Y.  Review of "The State of War in South Asia", by Pradeep Barua.  Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, no. 1 (2006).  London: United Kingdom.
  • Tan, T Y.  Review of "Punjab Politics: 1 Jan 1944 - 3 Mar 1949.  Last Years of the Ministries", by Lionel Carter.  Journal of Cold War Studies, 1 (2007).  USA: Harvard.

 

 

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