Sherman Tan

Sherman is interested in youth culture, everyday fantasies and the social aspirations of modernity in Singapore, focusing on familial, romantic and other intimate/sexual relationships. He is interested in mass-mediated, public representations of these relationships in film, theatre and the arts, as well as their evolution in/through various forms of online matching services and mobile dating applications. Overall, this involves an analysis of love, desire and (capitalist/other forms of) enjoyment in Singapore, incorporating perspectives from Psychoanalysis, Semiotics and the "Affective turn" in Philosophy and Cultural Studies.

He graduated from the ANU with a Bachelor of Philosophy (Hons) in Sociology and Linguistics, and First Class Honours in Anthropology. Sherman's honours thesis ("Charting the Affective Landscapes of Social Life: Towards a Semiotic-Anthropological Understanding of Affect"), completed in May 2013, examined intersections between linguistic and semiotic anthropology, and affect theory.

Sherman's other research interests include Linguistic and Semiotic Anthropology, Sociolinguistics and Discourse Analysis, Visual and Material culture, as well as contemporary Social, Political and Literary Criticism. He has written on Gender/Sexuality, (Neo)Liberalism, Social Movements, Social Theory, Intergenerational Language Attitudes and the politics of language in Singapore. He has also spoken widely on urban and democratic developments in the Singaporean context as well as the limits of political discourse, dialogue and dissent in the country.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Social Ontology and Epistemology, Sociology of Knowledge, Power, Domination and Resistance, Social, Cultural and Political Theory, Continental Philosophy, Memory and Heritage Studies, Affect and Emotions, Sociolinguistics, Semiotic and Linguistic Anthropology, Sociolinguistics, Social Theory, Bilingualism, Language and Identity, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Psychoanalysis, Affect (Cultural Theory)

Education

• Certificate in Higher Education Teaching (In Progress) Harvard University Graduate School of Education (2021 — 2021)
• Certificate(s) HarvardX (2021 — 2021)
• Certificate in Critical Issues in Urban Education (via Coursera) (In Progress) University of Chicago (2021 — 2021)
• Doctor of Philosophy - PhD The Australian National University (2014 — 2021)
• Bachelor of Philosophy - PhB (Hons) The Australian National University (2010 — 2013)

AFFILIATIONS

• The Australian National University, Anthropology, College of Asia and the Pacific, Graduate Student
• The Australian National University, Gender, Media and Cultural Studies, Graduate Student
• Nanyang Technological University, Sociology, Visiting Scholar (Sep 2015 - Dec 2016)
• National University of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Visiting Researcher (Jan 2012 - Jun 2012)
• University of Canberra, ANZSOG Institute for Governance, Visiting Research Scholar (Jul 2013 - Sep 2013)
• The Australian National University, School of Archaeology & Anthropology, Alumnus
• The Australian National University, School of Sociology, Alumnus
• The Australian National University, School of Language Studies, Alumnus